VT 12-15-15… “Kerry to Putin: US Grateful to Russia for Cooperation on Syria – Updated”

There seems to be a crack in the (BS) denial of the US State Department about Syria. And perhaps this indicates a softening, of sorts, which is a very direct result of Russia’s “invited intervention” in the Daesh situation in Syria.

[Jim Dean] “This is cuteness on steroids by Kerry. It is not an issue of whether Russia “could” make a difference in Syria… because it has. So this remark was designed to not really acknowledge the pounding that ISIL has gotten not only from the Russians, but others that the US wants to have no recognition. That includes the Syrian Army (Kerry does not want Assad to get that credit), Hezbollah and the Iranian advisers and others there who have been doing the boots on the ground work and to whom almost all of the credit is due along.

“Update 5:15pm EST: The Moscow meeting is over. The big news is the US back off the “Assad must go” silliness. This is good news as the bigger meeting in New Your [York] can proceed. Here are the highlights. JD

[Article] ““Today we focused not on our differences, and not on what can be done immediately in terms of Assad, but we focused on the political process, in the frame of which Syrians themselves can decide the future of their country,” Kerry said, according to RIA Novosti.”

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Kerry to Putin: US Grateful to Russia for Cooperation on Syria – Updated

US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that Washington is grateful to Moscow for cooperation on Syria and appreciates the seriousness of the commitment in time and thought into the situation.

[ Editor’s Note:  This is cuteness on steroids by Kerry. It is not an issue of whether Russia “could” make a difference in Syira…because it has. So this remark was designed to not really acknowledge the pounding that ISIL has gotten not only from the Russians, but others that the US wants to have no recognition.

That includes the Syrian Army (Kerry does not want Assad to get that credit), Hezbollah and the Iranian advisers and others there who have been doing the boots on the ground work and to whom almost all of the credit is due along.

Kerry had to downplay this as the US coalition anti-ISIL charade has been laid bare for the world to see, and all the PR spinmeisters can think to do about that is just pretend that none of it ever happened, and just keep talking about the big US push and how if Assad would just step down it would all be so much easier. This cheap spin game is getting very very old… Jim W. Dean ]

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[ Update 5:15pm EST: The Moscow meeting is over. The big news is the US back off the “Assad must go” silliness. This is good news as the bigger meeting in New Your can proceed. Here are the highlights. JD ]

“Today we focused not on our differences, and not on what can be done immediately in terms of Assad, but we focused on the political process, in the frame of which Syrians themselves can decide the future of their country,” Kerry said, according to RIA Novosti.

Kerry also agreed that neither al-Nusra Front nor Daesh, also known as ISIL/the Islamic State, will be part of the Syrian opposition talks.

“We approved agreements that have been reached between the militaries of the Russian Federation and the United States, and agreements that apply to the US-led coalition, which works against ISIL,” Lavrov added. “And in practical terms we agreed on some further steps that will help make our parallel work more coordinated and more effective.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia and the United States could make a significant difference in Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Earlier in the day, Kerry arrived in Moscow to meet Russian leadership to discuss a range of international issues, including a Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011.

“With regard to Syria, Vienna-1 ad Vienna-2 were a strong beginning, opening up possibilities, and I think there is no question Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov and I have agreed that together the United States and Russia have an ability to make a significant difference here,” Kerry said.

Russia and the United States are jointly searching for the solutions to the most complex crises, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

“You know that we are searching, together with you, for the solutions to the most complex crises,” Putin told Kerry.

At the first round of the talks on Syrian settlement held in the Austrian capital of Vienna, international mediators worked out a nine-point plan on ending the Syrian conflict, including a definition of national unity, the need to defeat extremist groups and to provide assistance to refugees.

During the second round of the talks, mediators agreed to uphold the 2012 Geneva communique on finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict and set a six-month timeframe for Syria to form an interim unity government, while stipulating that elections in Syria should be held within 18 months.