Posted on 01/16/2014 5:54:37 AM PST by AU72
Thursday, Jan. 16, Iran’s Javad Zarif and Syria’s Walid Moallem flew together to Moscow aboard the same flight and went straight into a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zarif caught the flight in Damascus after a consultation with Syrian President Bashar Assad and a government-building exercise in Beirut. debkafile’s Middle East sources and intelligence sources report that this spurt of diplomatic motion came after Assad gave the nod to the plan Tehran had prepared to put on the table of the Geneva 2 conference, which opens in Switzerland on Jan. 20 for a political solution of the Syrian conflict. The two foreign ministers came to Moscow to collect Putin’s signature on the Iranian plan. debkafile has gained access to its four high points:
1. Since the Assad regime and the rebel movement have no hope of coming to terms at this point in the three-year war they have been fighting, a political solution must be sought in stages. 2. The first stage would be agreement on a truce in the fighting. debkafile notes that a ceasefire has existed de facto in many parts of Syria for the last two months. 3. Humanitarian corridors respected by both sides will be opened up for essential American, Russian and European aid in food, medicines and equipment for withstanding the cold winter, to reach the rebel-held zones of Syria, most of which are under army siege. 4. Al Qaeda militias are counted out of any agreements. Therefore, an initiative must be launched for Syrian and rebel forces to collaborate in fighting al Qaeda elements in the areas under their control. Zarif also planned to show Putin the plan he has drawn up for bringing political stability to Lebanon with Hizballah’s cooperation. It centers on forming a national unity government of 24 ministers – eight for Hizballah and its allies and eight for the opposition bloc, each grouping holding the right to veto ministerial appointments. The Iranian foreign minister has clearly lost no time in filling the Middle East role of leading Middle East power broker and strongman, just allocated Tehran by Moscow and Washington.
According to prearranged procedure. Iranian officials first hammer out an accord with local rulers, such as Assad, Nasrallah and Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad. They then present it to the Russian leader for endorsement, after which Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov refers the document to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. The Iranian foreign minister set the new arrangement in motion for the first time in Lebanon. Iran’s next exhibition of muscle-flexing as senior Middle East power will be staged on Jan. 20 at Geneva 2.
My takeaway on this story is that Obama as willingly conceded all US interests in the Middle East to Iran and Russia.
He is a domestic enemy that anybody who takes the constitutional oath are sworn to oppose.
Here is a story on the meeting in the Singapore press:
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia launches a fresh round of Syrian diplomacy on Thursday when it receives the foreign minister of Iran before hosting his counterpart from Syria ahead of historic peace talks on the bloody crisis.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin will also cover Teheran’s acceptance of curbs on its nuclear programme and possible purchase of missiles that could fend off punitive strikes by arch-foe Israel.
Zarif arrived in Moscow Thursday on the same jet as Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, the Iranian IRNA news agency reported, a day after closed-door meetings with President Bashar al-Assad.
The whirlwind diplomacy reflects a bid by Mr Putin to seize the initiative on Syria later this month when world powers try to engage the regime and the rebels in their first direct discussions on ending.
Well, the reality has been that Russia has had a strong influence on the Middle East, and we arguably tried to take some of it from them. Guess who had MiGs and AKs. Iraq did and does, Egypt did and does, Iran did and does. Iraq has opened oil and military correspondence with Russia as well. The whole “War on Terror” is arguably an extension of the Cold War that didn’t really end. We essentially were trying to outplay diplomacy with Russia for the Iraq conflict, as well as the Afghanistan conflict, but we didn’t have very good results.
Israel will form some new and very interesting alliances now.
It is in the interest of the United States that Syria gives up its stockpile of chemical WMDs. This plan which Syria has willingly agreed to, seems to be moving forward on schedule.
What other 'interest' does the United States have in Syria?
I was talking about conceding the entire Middle East to Russia and Iran. Do you think Iran and Russia are going to stop with Syria?
Stop what exactly?
Seems to me like the Shiites are more effective at killing Al Qaeda than the United States in that part of the world.
Maybe less direct involvement by the United State is a good thing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.