Secretary of State John Kerry reported yesterday that he and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov “have been instructed” by their presidents to try to work out a common strategy on Syria, and to that end, he and Lavrov will meet today. The instructions came at yesterday’s meeting between Obama and Putin, a meeting which Kerry described today as “genuinely constructive, very civil,” and “very candid.”
Kerry’s next statements made clear that with “Obama and The Girls” (as retired Col. Pat Lang is wont to say about Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Valerie Jarrett, et al.) still in power, a common strategy is unlikely. Russia, Syria, Iran, and “we and our coalition friends” could end the violence in a very short period of time, Kerry said—if Bashir al-Assad leaves. “You cannot bring peace in Syria as long as Assad is, in fact, there…. It all depends on one man, and Russia and Iran should not be so stubborn here that they tie this whole thing up simply because of one person.”
Kerry’s “one man,” unfortunately, was not a reference to Obama.
Foreign Minister Lavrov, for his part, told RT from New York City, that the two presidents
“didn’t discuss coalitions in the classical sense of the word. What they did discuss were the possibilities for the United States and Russia to cooperate closely on the most burning issues of today. Syria, first of all, and there we all agreed that our common goal is to defeat ISIL, not to allow ISIL to establish the Caliphate, which it is planning to have on huge territories…. We believe that all those who fight on the ground against the terrorists groups, ISIL and others, must be coordinated. Not necessarily under single command. This is not realistic,”
Putin made the same point about the Baghdad information center’s purpose in his September 28 press conference with Russian journalists, and that it was open to all. He pointed to the utter failure of Obama’s current “coalition” (never mentioning Obama by name):
“Look what is happening: Your colleague asked about airstrikes dealt at ISIS on Syrian territory by representatives of various states. These include Australia and the United States, and France has now joined them. What is the outcome? A few days ago, our military have calculated that U.S. aviation made 43 strikes at Syrian territory within 24 hours. What is the result? Nobody knows if there is any.”
Putin cited Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan as possible regional candidates to join the international “anti-Hitler coalition” he proposed in his UNGA speech.
Asked why he made the comparison with the Nazis, Putin said:
“I believe this was no surprise to anyone. Look at what they are doing, at their atrocities: they are beheading people, burning them alive, destroying monuments of world culture, and so forth. Doesn’t a comparison with the Nazis come natural here? This is exactly what the Nazis did in their time. Therefore, there is nothing surprising here. I would very much like for us to understand this and bring as many countries as possible together to fight this threat.”
Among several meetings Putin held on the sidelines of the UNGA in his one-day visit to New York, were ones with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and Iraqi President Haider al-Abadi.
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