Syrian War: Will the US Negotiate with Syria's Bashar Assad?

Kerry's statements regarding the US willing to negotiate with Assad are misunderstood. He's not saying the US will negotiate with Assad NOW. What he said was, "Well, we have to negotiate in the end."

"End" is the key word here.


The way Assad sounded in the recent 60 Minutes Interview, he's not yet at the "end." Assad remains unapologetic; he continues to lie; he is adamant that stepping down is not part of the negotiating story.

The US on the other hand, despite what Kerry said about negotiating, is firm that, "Our policy has not changed -- there is no future for a brutal dictator like Assad in Syria, and we remain committed to pursuing all diplomatic avenues to negotiating a political solution."

Regarding the tragedy that's been ongoing in Syria since 2011, it's timely to remember that those who upended the revolution were Assad and the ISIL folks. Unfortunately it took a long time for the "moderates" to figure out the duplicity of the extremists who stole their revolution. The other unfortunate thing is that there has been such a lack of unity among the various rebel groups.  Beyond saying Assad has to go, they never developed a single narrative that appealed to the international community. Further, let's not forget that Russia, China, and Iran have always sided with Assad in UN matters.

My heart goes out to the Syrians who must think they have been forgotten and abandoned.

People have not forgotten.  How can one forget that over 200,000 have died, that there are millions of Syrian refugees?  How can one forget the chemical attack, the chlorine gassing, the barrel bombing?

If ordinary people like me have been quiet, it's because matters have become extremely complicated and there is no solution in sight.

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Tags: #Syria #SyrianWar #MiddleEast #Assad war, Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Syria, genocide, politics, Assad, Middle East

This is all for now,
Cecilia