Posted on 03/04/2009 2:16:49 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John Kerry said Wednesday that Syrian President Basher Assad told him last month in Damascus that Syria is prepared to resume peace negotiations with Israel and embrace a 2000 Arab initiative offering peace in exchange for territory captured from the Arabs in the 1967 Mideast war. "Syria would like direct American participation in these peace talks," said Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Reversing the Bush administration's dismissive stance on Syria, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Tuesday during a visit to Israel she would send two senior officials to Damascus this week.
Endorsing President Barack Obama's decision to dispatch the U.S. envoys to Damascus, Kerry said Assad is looking past Iran to improved relations with Arab countries and with the West.
Kerry said that Assad "told me recently in Damascus he is prepared to resume peace negotiations with Israel and embrace the Arab Peace Initiative once again."
Kerry's February trip to Damascus appears to have been a precursor to Clinton's move, but Kerry had not previously revealed the details of his talks with Assad, saying only the Syrian leader offered prospects of "real cooperation."
Kerry warned that Syria will "still try to play both sides of the fence for as long as it can." But Kerry said he believes Assad understands its "long-term interests lie not with Iran but with its Sunni neighbors and the West."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Let’s just set up a permanent post in Munich where the West can come and appease dictators. Why bother with the charade that we are any better than Nevile Chamberlain in dealing with these types.
They’re going to get us killed.
Didn’t he get like 17 purple hearts or something ?
I think he got shot in the a$$
WE HAVE PEACE IN OUR TIME!
Yes, they are.
Exactly, Syria has been ready to make that deal for many years. Nothing new here.
Russian warships have returned to the naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, used by the Soviet Union since the late sixties, after more than a decade of absence.
In August 2008, Syrian president Bashar Assad, during his visit to Russia, pointed out that his country is open for talks with Russia about reactivating the use of the naval base in Tartus.
It was in 1967 that the Soviet Navy started using this Syrian port as one of its main Mediterranean stations.
Back in Soviet times about nine Russian warships used to be on constant service in the port of Tartus.
“We really helped Syria to build up its naval fleet. But it is also necessary to maintain it. Very often Syrian commanders would come to one of my ships asking to share some spare parts or oil and so on,” remembers Admiral Valeriy Selivanov – commander of the 5th Soviet Mediterranean Navy Squadron, the man who was in charge of this naval force – in regards to how warm relations were back then.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia withdrew its ships from the region, but the relations never faded. During the past few years the Russian ships of the Black Sea Fleet have started visiting Syria again. At the beginning of this year, for the first time in 13 years, the fleet dropped anchor in Tartus.
Many see it as a sign that Russia could be seeking to revive its naval influence in the region.
“I think he got shot in the a$$”
You misspelled “pounded.”
What's that, a superoxymoron or a megaoxymoron?
That would be soooooooooooooo beneath him.
He would actualy have to get his hands dirty, oh the horror actual dirt.
Kerry sits to scratch his hindquarters and howls at the moon. Anybody who pays attention to (faux)JFK deserves what they get. A glowing example of why Taxachusettes should be subjected to sanity tests before voting.
Kerry is the snake oil salesman’s dream.
This assclown Kerry is so very stupid. Does he have any idea how absolutely stupid he looks on a daily basis?
If you'd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Did he give Assad a “Dear Commandante” letter? P.S....Kerry leans to the west whenever he is facing north.
Diplomats: Syria pressures Cyprus over ship cargo
Cyprus unloads suspected Iran weapons cargo from ship
Iran says ship held by Cyprus not carrying arms
“Sen. John Kerry said Wednesday that Syrian President Basher Assad told him last month in Damascus that Syria is prepared to resume peace negotiations with Israel and embrace a 2000 Arab initiative offering peace in exchange for territory captured from the Arabs in the 1967 Mideast war. “
Too bad Bibi isn’t playing.
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