After all these years of bloggin’ on Syria, it seems to me we are witnessing the best opportunity ever for a Syrian ceasefire. And, yet, there is this strange disconnect with the media coverage regarding Syria? We are supposed to believe, having been told for years now, that the cessation of fighting in Syria was always the goal. No military solution, just a political solution. The recent deal worked out between Russia, Turkey and Iran looks, to me, to be the closest the world has come to making/witnessing this cessation of hostilities actually taking place in Syria. An actual move towards peace and resolution truly occurring! Yet..... there is this huge vacuum between reality and msm presented narrativeThe mainstream media is choosing to present the entire situation in Syria as a failure of "humanitarianism"- I'm sure you've seen, heard and read it, everywhere... so we won't get into that. Instead let's focus on what is getting no mention at all.There is nearly non existent western coverage (alt or msm) about the deal made between Russia, Turkey and Iran- Covered in this post : December 20/2016 :Russia,Iran,Turkey: Guarantors of the Moscow Declaration Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria- Working this all out together. In their 'neck of the woods' so to speak. They have a huge interest in settling Syria. Therefore their willingness to be guarantors of a settlement should be considered pretty good, right? If you said right, you would of course, be wrong. The US and company never wanted the war to stop. They wanted Syria destroyed. Balkanized. Assad overthrown. Etc.,Today it was reported Putin, speaking on behalf of Russia believes that a cross country ceasefire can take place- Today being December 23rd when I initially began work on this post. Article dated December 24/2016- The NationalHappy Syrians..
"The liberation of Aleppo from radical elements is a very important part of the normalisation in Syria, and I hope, for the region overall," Mr Putin said in a meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu."Everything needs to be done for fighting to stop on all Syrian territory," Mr Putin said. "In any case, we will strive toward this."He called Mr Al Assad on Friday to congratulate him on the recapture of AleppoMr Putin said that Russia wanted ceasefire talks to take place in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, as the location had already been approved by Syrian president Bashar Al Assad and the leaders of the other power brokers in the Syrian conflict – Iran and Turkey"
Astana, Kazakhstan- The venue agreed upon by all parties to this long over due ceasefire.Syria, Iran,Turkey, Russia - All agree. Astana Kazakhstan is the place for those concerned parties to be! Putin says Assad, Iran, Turkey agree on Astana as venue for Syria talksRussian President Putin attends his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had all agreed that the Kazakh capital of Astana should be the venue for new Syrian peace talks.Russia, Iran and Turkey held talks in Moscow on Tuesday after which they said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal.
Russia, Iran, Turkey and Bashar al Assad all agreed that Astana is the place to be!Sputnik
The negotiations in Astana are an important step, they will prompt the United States and the European Union to accept the necessity to stop the bloodshed and to reach peace in Syria as soon as possible," Selcuk Ozdag said.
Stop bloodshed and reach peace asap! I'll bet lots of Syrians like this ideaThe US is of course the killjoy. The party that kills joy. And hope. akipressJohn Kirby speaks...
“The decision on when and where to hold the next round of intra-Syrian reconciliation talks should be made by the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura" TASS reported citing a US Department of State spokesman.Commenting on the possibility of moving the talks from Geneva to Astana, as suggested by the government of Kazakhstan, John Kirby said "we believe that this process should continue to be under UN auspices and that should be led by Staffan de Mistura.""And it is up to him to determine where and how and when they will occur, not to the United States; we’re not taking a position on that," he said”
Why should this or any decision be made by the UN Envoy? It seems that negotiators from Iran, Turkey, Russia and Syria are perfectly capable of deciding for themselves. No need to be dictated to.. The entire UN process has been a fail! Staffan de Mistura has been a total fail. Geneva has been a fail. It really appears the US is determined to turn the potential ceasefire into yet another one of their fails!Pushing for UN involvement only makes sense in the context of the US wanting this agreement and a potential Syria wide ceasefire to fail!Some additional news you probably missed!December 23/2016 US imposes sanctions against Syrian Central Bank chief, cabinet members
Washington has imposed sanctions against Syrian Central Bank Governor Duraid Durgham, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ghanem, Finance Minister Maamoun Hamdan, Industry Minister Ahmad al-Hamu, Information Minister Mohammad Ramez Tourjman and Minister of Communications and Technology Ali al-Zafir, the US Department of Treasure said in a statement, APA reports quoting TASS.
December 24/2016: New US Sanctions Against Russia
Russian Foreign Ministry said that the new US sanctions against some Russian figures aim to punish Russia for the support it has provided to the Syrian government in the fight terrorism. “The new US sanctions adopted by the outgoing US President Barack Obama are detrimental to the US interests only,” Sputnik quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement Saturday. “This widening of American sanctions against Russia … at a time when the bloody attacks in Ankara and Berlin should bring reasonable people together to fight the terrorist threat shows that Washington has completely lost its grip on reality. Nonetheless, the outgoing Obama administration has set out, in the past few years, to vigorously search for ways to harm Moscow. But this had not happened the way they wanted it,” the ministry added.
Putin, Erdogan discuss Syria over phone
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan talked about the Syria issue over phone on Sunday, the Kremlin said in a statement.The two leaders exchanged views in details on the situation in Syria, the Kremlin said, adding that President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is currently on a working visit to Russia, also took part in the discussion.
Which brings us back around to..