US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Foreign Minister of Iran Javad Zarif in Vienna
After meeting in Vienna to discuss the hellish situation in Syria, the participants representing China, Egypt, the European Union, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and the United States reached a mutual understanding. The terms are posted on
the European Union's Foreign Affairs website and at
the Iran Primer:
- Syria’s unity, independence, territorial integrity, and secular character are fundamental.
- State institutions will remain intact.
- The rights of all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination, must be protected.
- It is imperative to accelerate all diplomatic efforts to end the war.
- Humanitarian access will be ensured throughout the territory of Syria, and the participants will increase support for internally displaced persons, refugees, and their host countries.
- Da'esh, and other terrorist groups, as designated by the U.N. Security Council, and further, as agreed by the participants, must be defeated.
- Pursuant to the 2012 Geneva Communique and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2118, the participants invited the U.N. to convene representatives of the Government of Syria and the Syrian opposition for a political process leading to credible, inclusive, non-sectarian governance, followed by a new constitution and elections. These elections must be administered under U.N. supervision to the satisfaction of the governance and to the highest international standards of transparency and accountability, free and fair, with all Syrians, including the diaspora, eligible to participate.
- This political process will be Syrian led and Syrian owned, and the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.
- The participants together with the United Nations will explore modalities for, and implementation of, a nationwide ceasefire to be initiated on a date certain and in parallel with this renewed political process.
The talks will continue in two weeks.
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This is an effort to duplicate the success of the P5+1 nuclear non-proliferation talks with Iran. Having the P5 on board as participants eliminates the risk of a veto so that the UN will be able to validate the outcome of the diplomatic initiative.
Secretary of State John Kerry explained the multi-lateral effort at a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura. To reinforce the understanding, he said that President Obama "authorized a small complement of US Special Operations Forces to deploy to northern Syria where they will help to coordinate local ground forces and coalition efforts in order to counter Daesh."
Of course the US media ignores the connection between the ambitious diplomatic effort and the deployment of 50 Special Ops personnel with the Kurds in northeastern Syria. By focusing on the deployment alone, right wingers can substitute the usual propaganda for the truth.
They say Obama is putting US boots on the ground where they'll be sitting ducks for Russian fighter jets. In reality, the US and Russia are working together on this deal. Their targets have been at the opposite end of Syria anyway.
No reach is too far for the GOP when all it has to say about this important development is: It Took Clinton 17 Days To Flip Flop On Troops In Syria, the headline featured on its website yesterday.
What Clinton said at the debate about the Russians, safe zones, and a coalition for a political diplomatic solution in Syria must have gone over their heads because they're out of the loop.
It's also possible that they're seething over Iran's participation in the talks. As Anne Bagamery of the International New York Times observed on France 24, "Once the US and Iran signed their nuclear non-proliferation deal they were condemned to some kind of a relationship for the next ten years." Now that the two countries are stuck with each other, they have to cooperate on areas of common interest. Multi-Lateralism has ended the Neo-Con Era.
Once the usual suspects of the rightwing have their talking points about Iran, I expect them to leave the plane of reality and go into orbit on this issue.