Category: Aggregated

The military and diplomatic intervention in Syria by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are rapidly transforming the situation in all of Southwest Asia, and in fact globally. Following last week’s visit to Moscow by Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Putin’s meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani at the Valdai Club event in Sochi, Russia, and the meeting between Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and leaders from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan in Vienna, there are discussions from several sources about progress on international cooperation on the Syria crisis, essentially bypassing Obama.

A Russian parliamentary delegation to Damascus reported that President Assad has agreed to hold preliminary elections in the country, on the condition that the move has the backing of the population, according to TASS. Russian Communist Party MP Aleksandr Yushchenko, one of the delegation, said that Assad is “ready to discuss amendments to the constitution, hold parliamentary elections and, if the people of Syria deem necessary, expressed a readiness to hold presidential elections,” which Assad is confident he would win, according to RT. Assad told the Syrian press that he is expecting a visit from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin, and chair Valentina Matvienko.

Lavrov appeared on a talk show in Moscow Saturday, to talk about the Syria situation and his meeting with Kerry the day before. He said: “We are ready to include the patriotic opposition, including the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), to provide it with aerial support, although we were declined information on where, according to U.S. data, terrorists are located, and where is the patriotic opposition.”

Fahad Al-Masri, a spokesman for the FSA (although there is some dispute about whether he is in fact a spokesman for the FSA), proposed a meeting in Egypt with the Russians. “The Free Syrian Army is ready for dialogue with Russia,” he said, according to RT. “We need to organize a new meeting, so that we can present our position and discuss our collective actions.”

Interestingly, Lavrov said that Kerry had explained to him the U.S. refusal to accept the delegation led by Prime Minister Medvedev. “John Kerry told me: You know, do not take it so literally, because we are in the process. So far, the conditions for such a contact are not prepared. Let’s work on the ministerial level, and then we’ll be ready to consider your other ideas,” Lavrov said.

Presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov told BBC on Friday (the interview is actually to be aired in full on Monday): “Unfortunately all our partners have failed up to now to identify a serious opposition that has no links to terror, no links with extremist organizations, no links with ISIL, Al Qaeda and others. …. It’s important to save Syria’s integrity, territorial and political integrity, not to let the whole region, including the countries that are bordering Syria, to go into a nightmare of collapse and hegemony of terror.”

The Bush and Obama wars on sovereign states caused the refugee disaster in Europe, wrote Prof. Wang Jinglie of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in the Oct. 23 China Daily. After reviewing the refugee crisis both in Southwest Asian coutries and in Europe, Wang hit the western responsibility: “But it is indisputable that the frequent military interventions led by the West, including the United States and Europe, have fueled the chaos that has forced people from their homes.”

“On the one hand, it instigated the `Arab Spring’ to promote `democracy’ in the Arab World,” wrote Wang. “On the other, U.S.-led military actions have more than once overturned `disobedient administrations,’ such as the ones ruled by Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gadhafi in Libya.

“These misdeeds eventually resulted in the latest refugee crisis, which to many Europeans was an unexpected outcome.”

In Syria, Wang wrote, the U.S. armed and funded the opposition forces to overthrow the legitimate government. “Unfortunately, crippling the Syrian government has not only led to endless turmoil and civil war in the country, but it also exposed the local residents to an unchained bloodthirsty monster — the Islamic State group.”

Reflecting the LaRouche policy, Wang concluded: “The refugee crisis will keep haunting all involved parties unless wars and poverty are eliminated in the war-stricken countries, which urgently need peace and stability to restore their economies and convince their nationals that seeking asylum elsewhere is no longer necessary. That being said, major Western powers have to stop intervening to their own liking in Middle East affairs before the regional situation spins out of control.”

In a written interview with African journalists at the third India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the BRICS’ New Development Bank was a significant initiative that can have a profound impact on the global financial order.

“I think Africa will be a major area of focus and we would also, hopefully, have an African window or regional presence of the Bank in the future,” said Modi.

The BRICS Post reported Sunday that representatives of 54 African nations, including heads of state and government of around 40 countries and the powerful African Union, are expected to participate in the four-day India-Africa Summit beginning in New Delhi on October 26.

Among powerful African leaders who have confirmed participation are South African President Jacob Zuma, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

On Friday, Modi also asked the 54 African nations to join India in demanding an overhaul of the United Nations and other global institutions. Modi said that the world is undergoing political, economic, and technological transition on a scale rarely seen in recent history. He warned that the UN and other global bodies run the risk of losing relevance if they do not adapt.