U.S., Russia fail to bridge gaps on Syria

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, June 29, 2012, in St. Petersburg, Russia. / Pool,AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

(AP) GENEVA - The United States and Russia failed on Friday to bridge differences over a plan to ease Syrian President Bashar Assad out of power, end violence and create a new government. That set the stage for the potential collapse of a key multinational conference that was to have endorsed the proposal.

On the eve of Saturday's conference, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met one-on-one for about an hour in St. Petersburg, Russia, but could not reach agreement on key elements of U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's proposed plan for a Syrian political transition, officials said.

A senior U.S. official traveling with Clinton said areas of "difference and difficulty" remain and was not optimistic that the gathering in Geneva would produce agreement. "We may get there tomorrow, we may not," the official told reporters as Clinton left Russia for Switzerland, where she arrived early Saturday morning.

The official said Clinton and Lavrov would try to resolve differences in Geneva out of respect for Annan, the former U.N. chief whose efforts to end the Syrian crisis have thus far fallen short.

U.S., Russia hold talks on Syria's future ahead of Geneva

The inconclusive results of the Clinton-Lavrov meeting may presage the unraveling of Annan's plan to end 16 months of brutal violence in Syria by creating a national unity government to oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.

The United States and its allies attending the conference are adamant that the plan will not allow Assad to remain in power as part of the transitional government, but Russia insists that outsiders cannot dictate the composition of the interim administration or the ultimate solution to the crisis.

"(We) agreed to look for an agreement that will bring us closer based on a clear understanding of what's written in the Annan plan that (all) sides in Syria need an incentive for a national dialogue," Lavrov said after meeting Clinton, according to the Interfax news agency.

"But it's only up to the Syrians to make agreements on what the Syrian state will be like, who will hold (government) jobs and positions," he said. Lavrov predicted the meeting had a "good chance" of finding a way forward. "But I am not saying that we will agree on every dot."

But failing to agree on every dot may well be the plan's undoing, particularly if Russia refuses to except the implicit demand that Assad leave power.

Annan on Friday laid out his expectations for the conference in an op-ed in The Washington Post that tracked very closely to the draft of his proposed plan, according to diplomats familiar with it.

.The future government in Syria, he said, "must include a government of national unity that would exercise full executive powers."

This government could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation would be excluded," Annan said.

Such a proposal does not explicitly bar Assad, but the U.S. and other Western powers that will participate in the conference said that is obvious and that the Syrian opposition will not sign on to the plan unless it excludes Assad.

The senior official said Clinton and Lavrov also discussed the real danger for the region if the uprising in Syria that has killed some 14,000 people doesn't end peacefully. Already, Syria has shot down a Turkish warplane and Turkey has responded by setting up anti-aircraft guns on its border with Syria. They also discussed the "serious risk" of destabilizing Jordan and the potential impact on Israel.

On Friday, Syrian troops shelled a suburb of Damascus, killing an estimated 125 civilians and 60 soldiers..

Russia is Syria's most important ally, protector and supplier of arms. Diplomatic hopes have rested on persuading Russia to agree to a plan that would end the Assad family dynasty, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades.

[silvereagle2718]

There will probably be no progress in negotiations until November. The US position could conceivably change if the presidency changes hands. The US bargains for moral right and extended influence (ironically after twenty years of American military presence in the Middle East and the deaths of how many civilians?), the Russians bargain for their status as a superpower (which the US seems reluctant to recognize), and both sides in the civil war bargain for their lives.

The UN, having been created as a diplomatic tool, has some moral standing, but it has been said that there is no honor among thieves (perhaps referring to everybody except the UN). I think there is no incentive for anybody to do anything other than what they are doing right now. The wounds of the past may be too deep to be forgotten easily, except, perhaps, by those who have seen and felt greater wounds.

Syria in ruins may suit the needs of some of the interested parties.

This is the Holy Land. The wisdom of Solomon. The true mother gives her child to her enemy rather that be the cause of its death. Who yields in Syria?

[audemus]

So, because Russia wants to show their ass, the rest of the world has to stand by and watch people massacred every day ?

[verrz]

A stupid, pointless comment.

[honest_pols]

IS SYRIA AND ASSAD RUSSIA'S RED LINE?

Could a deal be in the works to have Russia and The U.S., make sure that Syria and Israel will soon negotiate a 'genuine peace and mutual recognition treaty' ?

[dayofrageindc]

This post is from someone who has served as an intelligence officer in the US military. The US's Plan B has always been to create chaos. Unless the US admits it has imported and supported al Qaeda terrorists who have committed mass atrocities against the Syrian people and then blamed it on Assad, I really don't see what the use of the conference is except as a means of conspiring by the West. The US government practically demanded the Syrian government just surrender to foreign Sunni jihadists and other radical militants that would rather wage war against Shiites than defend Palestinians from Israeli slaughter. These same fighters slaughter civilians which the Zionist media blamed on Assads forces. When the Sunnis faced the Israeli military they turn and ran while Hezbollah stands and defends the people from Israeli slaughter. As far as Hezbollah being a terrorist organization, this is nonsense. Iit has no offensive capability but is merely a defensive militia. The US and Israelis are mad because Hezbollah can successfully defend against IDF slaughter of civilians in Lebenon. This whole Syria fiasco is about Turkey instigating a proxy war between the US and Iran and Russia. Syrians do not want their country destroyed and polluted for the next 1000 years with tons of depleted uranium causing birth defects and cancer. The domestic forces want to negotiate, but the imported Sunni radical militants do not care if the country is destroyed and the Syrian people poisoned. The Syrian people want these al Qaeda elements out of their country. The US can not control them now and have created a quagmire for the majority of Syrians who want peace. This introduction of al Qaeda and radical Sunnis is another classic case of CIA blowback. It will be up to the Free Syrian Army to kill these al Qaeda elements. I find it highly offensive that my government is supporting the same group who brought down the Twin Tower. By the way, all the 9/11 attackers were Sunni and from Saudi Arabia, so why did we attack Saddam when he was the mortal enemy of both al Qaeda and bin Laden. The US needs to attack Saudi Arabia not Shiite countries. If Bush was not in bed with the Saudis he would have attacked them instead of committing treason against the American people and initiating a war for oil, bases and Israeli interests against Saddam. As all the experts told him at the time, all the Iraq war would do is expand Iranian influence by creating a Shiite government in Iraq. Now it leaves us trying to bring back balance by creating a Sunni regime in Syria. Maybe we need to stop meddling before Hillary starts WWIII.

[melpol12]

Middle-East dictators are no longer useful, they are being replaced with tribal chieftains. Libya has served as a role model for Egypt and Syria to follow. Holy warriors will be busy beheading one another while outside investors sell them the blades.

[BWB2020]

That was the idea, stir up internecine enmity using outsider-funded provocateurs, then remove the existing power structure so the enmity can escalate into civil war, then sell weapons to both sides.

That way any international aid can be sucked up by the arms dealers from the countries supplying such "aid".

It is, in effect reverse money laundering.

[M-Saeed]

Greating all,
Russian is not global power the Soviet where destroyed, its true they do support and any country against US and so called western Nato collaporating Russian underneath. Also the missile sheild is true Russia will fire those missile in Europe its important those missile sheild. You have to know Russian they deployed new missile defence system. The point is Russia isnt golapal power, and unable to deploy masive army like United States and so called Nato. The point is tactical delays and free killing for these dictator that is how it seems. massage to all dictators (When people says we dont want you, please leave)!._.

[netjunkie1]

I think the U.S. will have a new naval base soon previously occupied by the Russians.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

"U.S., Russia fail to bridge gaps on Syria"
No kidding? If we tried to mishandle our foreign relations any more than we already do, we probably couldn't do worse than we have been doing, not just recently, almost since the beginning, of this country. Let's take Russia for example, they are so upset over that totally useless 350 Billion dollar missile shield that we are building in Europe, they can't see straight. It is a direct affront to our relationship with them, and unless there is some pretty good secret info that no one can figure out, it is just a 350 billion dollar gift to the US military contractors.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

Disregard. I screwed up. I'm sorry. I express my regrets. I had the wrong info. Apparently President Obama downsized that thing in a major way. It still ticked of the Russians big time, and of course it was Bush who advanced the idea. Truly the most clueless person to ever lead a country, ever! EVER.

[netjunkie1]

During the Kennedy Administration, a high ranking spy in the soviet service turned and defected to the U.S.
He breifed adminstration officials of the plot to bring down the USA.
The plan was to fake a failed-government crisis, but keep a small core group with all the power hidden in plain sight.
The idea was to fake the US into a false sense of supremacy and work towards destroying our economy.
There are a few books written on this by the spy himself.