Major Rebel Faction Withdraws Ahead of Syria Talks
Opposes Any Negotiated Settlement
The sudden invitation and uninvitation of Iran to the Geneva II peace talks, set to begin Wednesday in Montreaux, have stirred up quite a bit of acrimony on their own, but the situation is getting much worse, and the talks much more pointless.
Now the only rebel faction involved in the talks, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), has lost its large internal party, the Syrian National Council, which is withdrawing from the talks, from the coalition, and from participation in the international community’s dealings in general.
The Council is citing its objections to the Geneva II talks as a reason for its decision, saying it rejects any negotiated settlement with the Assad government. This leaves the already small SNC even more irrelevant among the rebels.
Yet the SNC remains literally the only show in town in Montreaux, as the much larger Islamist factions have likewise rejected the talks and in many cases weren’t even invited.
The US insists the goal of the talks is to impose regime change to “end the violence,” but with materially all of the rebel combatants uninvolved in the conference there’s no reason to think it’s going anywhere.
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Guest
January 21st, 2014 at 9:39 pm
The USG, Hillary Clinton demand is for regime change in Syria, the Saudi Arabia among other tyrants in Middle East demanding it, these “major rebel faction” also demanding it, so, what or who is left to negotiate with? Meanwhile the number of Syrians supporting the Syrian government is same as before and head of the stat Bashir Al-Assad is participating in upcoming elections, that is to say if is going to be any peace negotiated in Geneva II talk, if not then it is obvious that only the Syrian people are for peace, all others regimes are not.
Mark Thomason
January 21st, 2014 at 11:01 pm
Without the rebels, it is unlikely that a deal can be done to install the rebels as the new government. However, that is not the same as saying no deal can be done.
The rebels today are proxies for outside powers. Without the money and weapons and flow of people across the Syrian border from sanctuaries, the rebels would evaporate. Such hirelings need the powers for which they are proxy, and it is those powers which can make a deal to end this.
So a deal with Assad can be done. The ones who don't come are the ones who would lose the deal that can be done without them.
The US does not like them anyway, hates and actively kills the largest component, and Russia hates them too. There is very much the makings of a deal there.
Mark Thomason
January 21st, 2014 at 11:01 pm
Without the rebels, it is unlikely that a deal can be done to install the rebels as the new government. However, that is not the same as saying no deal can be done.
The rebels today are proxies for outside powers. Without the money and weapons and flow of people across the Syrian border from sanctuaries, the rebels would evaporate. Such hirelings need the powers for which they are proxy, and it is those powers which can make a deal to end this.
So a deal with Assad can be done. The ones who don't come are the ones who would lose the deal that can be done without them.
The US does not like them anyway, hates and actively kills the largest component, and Russia hates them too. There is very much the makings of a deal there.
David
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:53 am
In states with democratic governance "regime change" occurs via elections by the "demos". Our administration claims that it wants to bring "democracy" to Syria. What a sad lie! It wants to bring about "regime change" in Syria without "democratically" consulting the people of Syria but by external pressure and fiat instead. What if people of Syria want Mr. Assad to run for the presidency? Did they not elect him before? Well, perhaps these elections were not perfect. Are ours perfect? Well, our "opposition" (TP) believes that they are not. Should there be a regime change in our country with President Obama forbidden to in our "interim government"?
Carpenter
January 22nd, 2014 at 4:35 am
What a show. The U.S. makes sure Iran is banned from the talks, even though they have a major interest, with their border just a short bit away from Syria. A country like Mexico is invited, but Iran is banned. The White House continues its tactic, same as Israel's, to impose ridiculous demands that an opponent can't accept. This time they demand that Iran accept that Bashar al-Assad be removed from power – thereby demanding a final decision of the negotiations before the negotiations have even started. (Let's remember the demand placed on Iraq before the invasion: that Saddam Hussein leave power and leave the country. Before that, the U.S. had demanded that Iraq accept an unlimited number of weapons inspectors with unlimited facilities and mobility, which in theory could even include millions of people – of course no country would accept something like that.)
What blackmailing material does the NSA have on Ban Ki-Moon, that made him obey the order to withdraw the invitation and made him keep quiet about the backstage power controlling things? All people do things in their long lives that can be used to blackmail them.
Meanwhile the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and all the other media ridicule Ban Ki-Moon, saying he had "planned a sequence of events that had to work perfectly to avoid failure," that he was "ill-advised" and "rash" etc. For inviting a UN nation to take part in UN negotiations about a war where it has a strong interest.
Speaking of the UN, where are the condemnations of Israel's act of war, bombing a Syrian nuclear facility in September, a clear act of war but with no declaration of war? Oh, but it's Israel. All crimes committed are immediately ignored by the media, and therefore by the U.S. politicians who rely on the media to get elected.
Jtt
January 22nd, 2014 at 6:53 am
With so many rebel factions in Syria, this looks more like "American Idol" where everyone is vying for top honors. When it comes down to the final, wonder who Kerry's pick is going to be?
Benjacomin Bozart
January 22nd, 2014 at 10:09 am
Abraham Lincoln is the murderous tyrant that murdered at least 700,000 of his own citizens. Britain and France demand regime change and imposition of a government to bring peace to the US crisis. Lincoln must be brought to justice and a transitional government led leaders such as Nathan Bedford Forest, Robert Rhett, and Edmund Ruffin.
@tomofsnj
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:24 pm
What you are saying is the USA wants a democracy which is made up of foreigners No wonder why democracy is so difficult for the arab mind Some how they suspect s democracy is made up of people of the area the government represent. They should look at the USA which is a federal system pretending to be a democracy but really a land ruled by one religion run by the zionist
Belphegor69
January 22nd, 2014 at 12:46 pm
More Syrians will be exterminated by the foreign Takfiri scum.
A bigger trio of A-holes on the world stage (US, Israel, KSA) you couldn't even dream up.
We need to disassociate ourselves from the likes of these two freedom-loving democracies and their religious fruitcakes – lying down with dogs often means you get up with fleas.
lydia476
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:09 pm
When the US and the coalition of the dummies hijacked the Syrian people’s dissatisfaction with Assad and morphed the conflict into a full blown Civil war to remove Assad, the World became aware of the ‘Syrian Opposition’ supported and funded by US Israel, Takfiris Criminals and Cannibals.
Kerry’s attempts to pretend otherwise is puerile since there is no clearer evidence of US interference than the removal of Ban Ki Moon while Kerry usurps the role as head of the Int. Org.
The US and the coalition of the dummies intervention into Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc stands as dismally failures and the US exerting pressure over the UN is but another nail in the coffin of the Organization. Palestine is living proof where the US One veto has stymied UN objectives to end the illegal 60Y occupation by Israel, who to date remains in blatant violation of some 250UN res.
lydia476
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:09 pm
When the US and the coalition of the dummies hijacked the Syrian people’s dissatisfaction with Assad and morphed the conflict into a full blown Civil war to remove, Assad the World became aware of the ‘Syrian Opposition’ supported and funded by US Israel, Takfiris Criminals and Cannibals.
Kerry’s attempts to pretend otherwise is puerile since there is no clearer evidence of US interference than the removal of Ban Ki Moon while Kerry usurps the role as head of the Int. Org.
The US and the coalition of the dummies intervention into Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc stands as dismally failure and the US exerting pressure over the UN is another nail in the coffin of the Organization. Palestine is living proof where the US US veto has stymied UN objectives to end the illegal 60Y occupation by Israel, who to date remains in blatant violation of some 250UN res.
lydia476
January 22nd, 2014 at 2:09 pm
When the US and the coalition of the dummies hijacked the Syrian people’s dissatisfaction with Assad and morphed the conflict into a full blown Civil war to remove, Assad the World became aware of the ‘Syrian Opposition’ supported and funded by US Israel, Takfiris Criminals and Cannibals.
Kerry’s attempts to pretend otherwise is puerile since there is no clearer evidence of US interference than the removal of Ban Ki Moon while Kerry usurps the role as head of the Int. Org.
The US and the coalition of the dummies intervention into Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc stands as dismally failure and the US exerting pressure over the UN is another nail in the coffin of the Organization. Palestine is living proof where the US US veto has stymied UN objectives to end the illegal 60Y occupation by Israel, who to date remains in blatant violation of some 250UN res.
david
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:18 pm
Put it to you in a very simple words, Assad wont go anywhere, not because he an Angel, you cant send foreigners to a country you dont like, Doesnt work that way. The outcome will be full blown nuclear war which will poison the entire middle east, that includes the beloved Israel.