Hallowed Ritual Meant to Convey Activity and Good Faith

Yesterday Lakhdar Brahimi announced that there would be no Geneva II peace talks in November. Brahimi said that he would meet again with U.S. and Russian diplomats at the end of the month to try to put something together. But after that date one wonders how long Brahimi will stick around. There has been no movement on the most basic issue of who should attend -- which rebel groups, which nations. Nick Cumming-Bruce and Rick Gladstone have the story, "Diplomats Fail to Agree on Details for Syria Peace Talks":

Mr. Brahimi made it clear that the lack of preparation on the part of Syria’s opposition was an acute and immediate cause for delaying a peace conference. “They are divided, that’s no secret for anyone, they are facing all sorts of problems,” he said. 

The opposition National Coalition has no leverage over the armed groups battling Mr. Assad, particularly the jihadist militants linked to Al Qaeda who are among the most effective fighters. They have said that any insurgents who participate in Geneva peace talks would be regarded as traitors. 

Mr. Brahimi also acknowledged that the diplomats had been unable to agree on whether Iran, Mr. Assad’s most important regional ally, would be invited to a peace conference. “Iran is definitely one of the issues that will be discussed further,” he said. 

Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival and a major supporter of the Syrian insurgency, remains opposed to Iranian participation in peace talks. Western governments, recognizing Iran as an important participant, have appeared less resistant to Iran’s attendance. But diplomats say a major obstacle is Iran’s reluctance to endorse the communiqué of the first Geneva conference in June 2012, which called for a transition under a government formed by mutual consent. 

The question of Mr. Assad’s role in a transition government looms as a major obstacle. In a meeting with Mr. Brahimi in Damascus last week, Mr. Assad said “only the Syrian people are authorized to shape the future of Syria,” a formula that rejects American insistence that he step down as part of any peace process. “We are not going to Geneva to hand over power,” Syria’s information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said on Monday, according to Syria’s official SANA news agency. “President Bashar al-Assad will remain head of state.”

Further talks in Geneva to prepare the way for a Geneva II summit are like Kerry shuttling between Netanyahu and Abbas, a hallowed ritual meant to convey activity and good faith while maintaining a status quo of perpetual war and occupation.

In a troubling sign, the odious Samantha Power was back in the news denigrating the Syrian government and questioning the accuracy of its declaration to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The OPCW has said verification is on schedule and the Syrian government is complying. Once again this sets up the familiar conflict between the United States and an international agency responsible for administering a United Nations Security Council resolution. U.S. warmongering goes unsupported by its people, but it is supported by elites and the foreign governments that maintain those elites. So warmongering will continue.

This despite proof that the policy of fomenting war and rebellion is having the opposite effect of the overarching U.S. national security mission (at least as it is formulated for public consumption) of eradicating Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues to consolidate its hold on northern Syria. The caliphate springs up on the border of NATO.

Attempting to break the logjam, Russia is offering to host informal talks between the Syrian government and members of the opposition.

Since I have mentioned "a hallowed ritual meant to convey activity and good faith," I should note that yesterday was Election Day in the United States. There wasn't a whole lot to celebrate. Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat, won the New York City mayor's race in an impressive landslide. That's good news. Corporate Democrat and uber-Clintonite Terry McAuliffe was elected governor of Virginia over a Tea Party troglodyte Ken Cuccinelli. One can debate the merits of McAuliffe's victory. In Washington State, the bad news is that I-522, a GMO-labeling initiative, is headed for defeat. It shared the fate of last year's GMO-labeling initiative in California -- buried by a blizzard of negative advertising paid for by corporate behemoths like Monsanto and PepsiCo.