© www.topnews.inThe Doubter
Iranian Supreme Leader's
Top Adviser for International Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati raised doubt about
Washington's real intentions in supporting the current ceasefire in Syria. "The Americans don't have good intentions for supporting the Syrian ceasefire.
They seek to affect regime change in Damascus," Velayati told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.
He said the current ceasefire is a pretext to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad, adding that a UN resolution supporting truce in Syria is unprecedented. Stressing that the future of Syria should be decided by its people, Velayati said the UN and outside powers have no right to make decision for the Syrian people.
© www.middleeastmonitor.comAlastair Crooke, Timeout
In relevant remarks on Monday, former
MI6 agent and EU foreign policy adviser Alastair Crooke said the cessation of hostilities in Syria almost certainly does not mean the end of the Syrian war, as US, Turkish and Saudi proxies are using the timeout to regroup, rearm and prepare. The Syrian ceasefire deal, brokered between the US and Russia, almost certainly will not last long and definitely does not mean the end of the war on the ground, Alastair Crooke, former MI6 agent, who was Middle East advisor to Javier Solana, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (CFSP) from 1997 to 2003, said.
The British diplomat analyzed the possible intentions of the parties of the deal. "And one of the intentions is to have
a break, a pause, I think, so that your own proxies — the American, Turkish, Saudi proxies — can regroup, can rearm and prepare," he therefore suggested. "In a sense,
this is a timeout, which is why I said that I don't think this is the beginning of the end."
Comment: Too rich. The EU leaders apparently were counting on the idea that the US debacle in Ukraine was going to succeed, and they would be assured of unlimited gas supplies. Now they are begging Russia and Ukraine to come to some kind of accommodation in a situation where Russia holds all the (legal) cards.