MIXED SIGNALS OVER SYRIA

The Syria Geneva II peace talks have been successfully torpedoed, just like I said they would be. All that talk a few weeks ago from The Friends of Syria Group in London, during and after which Jihadis Hague and Kerry stated that the talks cannot go ahead unless Assad agrees to go, paid off.

Syrian National Coalition (SNC) President Ahmad al-Jabra has ruled out his faction attending the Geneva II peace talks, or indeed any other peace talks, saying that they’d never meet with the Assad government, or with Iran.

Jabra said he would go to a future conference in Geneva so long as it was entirely a discussion of “a successful transfer of power” discussing the installation of his faction as the new government.

[source : Syrian Opposition Rules Out Peace Talks, Anti War, http://news.antiwar.com/2013/11/03/syrian-opposition-rules-out-peace-talks/, 3rd November 2013]

Now, if Hague and Kerry really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wanted the peace talks to go ahead then there is one blindingly obvious way to force the rebels to attend: CUT OFF OR AT LEAST THREATEN TO CUT OFF ALL AID TO THE REBELS IMMEDIATELY!!

And by all aid I do not mean just financial, but also logistical, moral, political, intelligence and material (and yes, William, that includes the blunt breadknives).

However, this has occured just as sanctions against Syria could be about to be relaxed a little, apparently as a gesture of reconciliation.

Additional easing of Syrian sanctions is expected by mid-November according to staff at the US Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Asset Control (OFAC).

Pressure on Obama from Putin is part of the ‘price tag’ for Russia’s role in bailing out the American president, whose chemical weapons ‘redline’ became something of an albatross.

But another reason for the relaxation is that the White House believes it needs to communicate to Damascus that prospects for better relations, and possibly even some cooperation, are not completely dead, despite the 32-month crisis still raging in the Syrian Arab Republic.

This second easing of sanctions will show more balance and neutrality than those of last June, which were perceived as supporting Saudi and Gulf aid to the rebels while weakening the Assad government just as the Syrian Army had begun gaining back ground from the rebels. At that time, licenses for exports of certain goods related to reconstruction of infrastructure were allowed in areas held by the rebels.

[source : White House Expected to Ease Sanctions Targeting Syria, Veterans Today, http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/11/03/white-house-expected-to-ease-sanctions-targeting-syria/, 3rd November 2013]

So is there a policy split between Obama and Kerry over Syria?

But again, if the White House really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to begin reconciliation then there is one blindingly obvious way to do so: CUT OFF ALL AID TO THE REBELS IMMEDIATELY!!

I know for a fact that Obama wants this. He has gradually realised that talking to his children every morning over breakfast about how he has helped to supply the blunt breadknives used by the cutthroat Jihadis to slit the throats of innocent Syrian children is having a detrimental effect on them.