Russia's Syria Peace Talks in Sochi Dissolve into Farce as Lavrov Gets Heckled
Vladimir Putin
Russia âs president Vladimir Putin  wanted to be the world-renowned diplomat that brought peace to Syria. So last year  he  blew off the UN-sponsored peace talks led by Staffan de Mistura  and  he  joined with Iran and Turkey to form  his  own âpeace talksâ process held in Astana  Kazakhstan. And they came up with a peace plan.
Of course  the peace plan was rejected by the parties actually fighting in Syria: the Syrian regime led by the psychopathic president Bashar al-Assad  the âmoderateâ anti-Assad opposition in Syria  the al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)  formerly Jabhat al-Nusra  al-Nusra Front  and the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh). All of those four groups rejected the peace plan  so it was ridiculous for  Putin  or anyone else to believe that the peace plan would work.
And it didnât. They came up with four âde-confliction zonesâ or âceasefire zones.â The fighting slowed down a little in these four zones for a little while  but today the whole agreement is in shambles  as the fighting is in full force. It is a total failure by  Vladimir Putin .
There was a meeting of  Putin âs peace plan group in Sochi on Tuesday that  Putin  was calling the âSyrian National Dialogue Congress.â
The meeting was supposed to take two days  but it was called off after one day  when Syrian opposition representatives heckled  Putin âs right-hand man  Russiaâs foreign minister Sergei Lavrov  and then walked out.
 Putin  announced in December that the Syrian war was over and that Russiaâs troops will be returned to Russia. Less than two months later  it is clear that  Putin âs announcement was garbage. Reuters and CNN and Tass (Moscow)
So Vladimir Putin took over the peace process business. The UN processes held out a fig leaf of being impartial  but Putin was clearly and unequivocally in favor of Bashar al-Assad and committed to supporting his genocide and war crimes while claiming to be promoting peace.
KEYS: Generational Dynamics  Syria  Russia   Vladimir Putin   Sochi  Sergei Lavrov  Syrian National Dialogue Congress  Staffan de Mistura  Iran  Turkey  Recep Tayyip Erdogan  Hayat Tahrir al-Sham  HTS  Jabhat al-Nusra  al-Nusra Front  Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant  IS  ISIS  ISIL  Daesh  Astana  Kazakhstan  de-escalation zones  Eastern Ghouta  Hama  Idlib  barrel bombs  chlorine  ammonia  phosphorous  Sarin gas Peopleâs Protection Units  YPG  Afrin  Manbij
Russia âs president Vladimir Putin  wanted to be the world-renowned diplomat that brought peace to Syria. So last year  he  blew off the UN-sponsored peace talks led by Staffan de Mistura  and  he  joined with Iran and Turkey to form  his  own âpeace talksâ process held in Astana  Kazakhstan. And they came up with a peace plan.
Of course  the peace plan was rejected by the parties actually fighting in Syria: the Syrian regime led by the psychopathic president Bashar al-Assad  the âmoderateâ anti-Assad opposition in Syria  the al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)  formerly Jabhat al-Nusra  al-Nusra Front  and the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh). All of those four groups rejected the peace plan  so it was ridiculous for  Putin  or anyone else to believe that the peace plan would work.
And it didnât. They came up with four âde-confliction zonesâ or âceasefire zones.â The fighting slowed down a little in these four zones for a little while  but today the whole agreement is in shambles  as the fighting is in full force. It is a total failure by  [TGT]  .
There was a meeting of   [TGT]  âs peace plan group in Sochi on Tuesday that  Putin  was calling the âSyrian National Dialogue Congress.â
The meeting was supposed to take two days  but it was called off after one day  when Syrian opposition representatives heckled   [TGT]  âs right-hand man  Russiaâs foreign minister Sergei Lavrov  and then walked out.
 Putin  announced in December that the Syrian war was over and that Russiaâs troops will be returned to Russia. Less than two months later  it is clear that   [TGT]  âs announcement was garbage. Reuters and CNN and Tass (Moscow)
So Vladimir Putin took over the peace process business. The UN processes held out a fig leaf of being impartial  but Putin was clearly and unequivocally in favor of Bashar al-Assad and committed to supporting his genocide and war crimes while claiming to be promoting peace.
KEYS: Generational Dynamics  Syria  Russia   Vladimir Putin   Sochi  Sergei Lavrov  Syrian National Dialogue Congress  Staffan de Mistura  Iran  Turkey  Recep Tayyip Erdogan  Hayat Tahrir al-Sham  HTS  Jabhat al-Nusra  al-Nusra Front  Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant  IS  ISIS  ISIL  Daesh  Astana  Kazakhstan  de-escalation zones  Eastern Ghouta  Hama  Idlib  barrel bombs  chlorine  ammonia  phosphorous  Sarin gas Peopleâs Protection Units  YPG  Afrin  Manbij