© Unknown
Directly after Putin's speech in Dushanbe setting out Russia's position on the Syrian conflict, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad gave a lengthy interview to a group of Russian television stations.
Assad broke no new ground. As we have discussed previously, his offer to enter into a power sharing arrangement with his opponents was one he first made - under Russian pressure - as long ago as 2012.
His interview should instead be seen for what it was - a public restatement of his offer and of the Syrian government's position made in close coordination with Moscow in order to lend support to the planby Putin outlined in Dushanbe the previous day.
Assad's interview was followed by more talks between Kerry and Lavrov, with Lavrov proposing that the US and Russian military talk directly with each other in connection with the Syrian conflict. Kerry subsequently made known his personal support for the proposal.
Anxious not to be left out, the Saudi King telephoned Putin the following day. Officially the two discussed the recent tragedy in Mecca and the Palestinian Israeli conflict. In reality it was almost certainly Syria that was the main topic of their discussion. Significantly , the two agreed to remain in regular contact thereafter.
© www.cnn.comPresident Vladimir Putin
All of this meanwhile is going almost completely unreported by the Western media, which prefers to speculate on various Russian grand strategies - that find no support in anything the Russians have ever said - whilst busily posting satellite photos of building works at an airfield near Latakia, ignoring Russian denials that they are building any sort of air base there.
It is too early to predict the outcome of this latest Russian diplomatic offensive. The US has clearly been wrong-footed by it, as its muddled response and disinformation campaign both testify. However, given the US's single-minded focus on overthrowing Assad, the prospects of success do not look high.
such diplomactic offensive are only meaningful due to the miltary moves on the ground that is being expanded recently. Even just better satellite data means a lot under the circumstances and when 'push comes to shove', it is always best to take the fight far from home... though not too far as to break your support lines. Diplomacy has to be backed up with force under these circumstances, otherwise you might as well give up an commit suicide, something your enemy encourages very much. With the American imperial armies spread so thin around the world, it shouldn't be too difficult to provide them some real opposition, without which, the game is entirely futile on their part.
I don't think this 'endgame' is really Washington's either, but rather higher up the chain of command.
[Link]