Posted on 10/28/2015 4:15:43 PM PDT by keat
Russia's intervention in Syria is "not going particularly well" and it should instead push for political transition in the country, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's deputy Antony Blinken told France 24 television.
Russia says it has destroyed more than 800 terrorist targets in Syria since it began its campaign of air strikes on Sept. 30, an intervention Moscow says is aimed at destroying extremist Islamic militants, but which Washington says is also targeting moderate rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"They cannot win in Syria, they can perhaps prevent Assad from losing, but they cannot win," Blinken said of Russia.
"Its actions on the ground in support of the regime are not going particularly well, they have made very little progress despite the onslaught of Russia airpower," he said after taking part in talks on Syria in Paris.
"Russia now has an incentive and more influence to move Assad and the regime towards a transition. There is a recognition on all sides that there is no military solution in Syria, that is a recognition that is now growing on the Russians."
Blinken also said that Russia "cannot afford to alienate virtually all of the Sunni Muslim world" and that it was clear that Shi'ite Iran would have to be part of the conversation on Syria's future in one way or another.
Asked in a separate interview on French radio RTL if Assad's departure was a prerequisite for any progress, he said: "Not a prerequisite, but the process that will be triggered must lead to Assad's departure."
"What we must do now is to define in more detail a transition process," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Take note Obama.
can you imagine the “transition” government with obummer/kerry in office?
just hand the keys to Assad’s front door to the head of ISIS now.
THAT is why Russia is in there. at least one reason.
I'd like to hear what deputies Winken and Nod have to say.
Really? The guy’s name is blinky? Like on Pac Man?
The jokes write themselves.
Kerry the military genius with rice in the brain that he sits on.
That’s Curb Magnet Kerry to you
Yes they can.
The Russians can depopulate the region of everyone but Assad supporters.
“cannot afford to alienate virtually all of the Sunni Muslim world”
Can anyone explain why we treasure the Sunnis, and hate the Shiites? Other than some theological points that only matter to them, I see no difference.
And is this how the nation state concept works? That at any given time, the Sunnis get to arrange all the countries in the Middle east to suit them?
Odd
BS BS BS
but Putin isn’t that stupid, he won’t fall for any of this BS
(for better and/or worse, Putin has objectives and they do not include ObamaKerry lies or BS or propaganda
Putin’s objectives are very real, tangible....and straight-forward
I think this lickspittle is under the impression that Russia will fight as we do, that is with no intention of victory.
(Please note this is not a knock on the armed forces but rather recognition that the politicians in charge will not allow our military to do what is necessary to win.)
Have Winkin’ and Nod issued an opinion?
The vast majority of Muslims are Sunni, but that does not explain why we have had a close relationship with many Sunnis nations. I think the main reason we have tried hard to work with, for example, Saudi Arabia, is the obvious reason - oil.
The problem with these statements is not so much that they predict that Putin will screw things up. That’s actually pretty obvious. Putin screws up everything he gets involved in. The real problem with these statements is that they will not compensate for the lack of a good American strategy to deal with this crazy area.
Seems Russia has a different criteria for what constitutes “well”.
I wonder who this imbecile means by "we". Clearly, the US has abdicated all voice in what happens to Syria. No one in the region would pay the slightest attention to what "we" think about "transition."
They’re so used to saying that we can’t win that they think the same thing about Russia.
I would guess because 90% of “The Religion of Pieces” is of the sunni flavor. Just a guess though. Also, soetoro was raised a sunni and never renounced it.
Actually the borders of the middle east were drawn by France and Britain to ensure that there were no real nations. They didn’t want the populations united against them. Trying to maintain those fictional groupings is a fool’s errand.
You gotta love this pathetic trash talking from out homo-oriented State Department. Bad Vlad forms a mental image of our senile botox man John effin’ and laughs himself to sleep each night. I am serious, that our State Department is heavily loaded with lesbians and gays. Been this way for years. Heavily leftist-liberal too no matter who is President.
A President Trump has to broom out as many as possible or he will regret it.
It should also be remembered that the nation with more Shiite Muslims than any other nation in the world (Iran) took over our embassy and held our representatives hostage in the late seventies. If we seem to prefer Sunnis, I don’t think it has anything to do with differences in Sunni and Shiite philosophy. We like oil and we don’t like having our people taken hostage by screwball ayatollahs.
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