| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Kerry 'Confident' Syria Rebels Will Join Peace Talks |
| 2014-01-13 |
| [An Nahar] The United States on Sunday voiced confidence that Syria's opposition National Coalition group would attend upcoming peace talks in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... with representatives of Bashir al-Assad's regime. "I am confident personally that the Syrian opposition will come to Geneva," U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said after a Gay Paree meeting of the 11-nation "Friends of Syria" group attended by Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba. "It was a very constructive meeting today (with Jarba). I am confident that he and others will be in Geneva. I am counting on both parties to come together." The upbeat tone contrasted with the more cautious note struck by other ministers involved in Sunday's talks, which marked the start of a new round of diplomacy aimed at ending the conflict. Kerry is due to meet Monday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and the U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, as well as holding further talks with Jarba. Kerry's comments came after Jarba's coalition was offered assurances that there will be no place for Assad in a transitional government they hope to see emerge from the so-called Geneva II talks due to start in Montreux on January 22. In a statement, the Friends of Syria group said that once a transitional government is established .... "Assad and his close associates with blood on their hands will have no role in Syria." The Swiss talks have been organized in an attempt to revive the idea of moving to a transitional government including figures from the current regime and the opposition. Whether that could involve Assad himself is an issue that has generally been fudged in the past and may have the potential to capsize the negotiations: Assad's aides have repeatedly said they have no intention of coming to Switzerland to hand over power. Kerry would not be drawn on what would happen if Assad pulled out of the talks. "With respect to the Assad regime we have been told from day one they allegedly are prepared to negotiate," he said. "I am not getting into consequences other than to say that this the test of credibility of everybody." Jarba indicated that he had been reassured by the tone of Sunday's discussions. "We all agreed that there is no future for Bashir al-Assad and his family in Syria," he said. "His departure is inevitable." Jarba added: "We are at a crossroads today in the framework of international decisions regarding the Syrian revolution. "We have passed a milestone on the way to the end of the regime." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 ...how many American |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-01-13 15:50 |