Russian Federation peace plan would hand Assad 18 more months in power

The discussions will bring together around 20 countries and global bodies to hammer out a roadmap for peace to end Syria’s more than four-year civil war, and diplomats said working level talks are set to begin in advance on Thursday.

Other than the Islamic State group, who are the terrorists? While the U.S. hasn’t outlined its approach to the latest meeting, Kerry is scheduled to do so in a speech in Washington on Thursday.

But the mere fact that they were in the same room was a major achievement.

The plan is for the rapid-fire meetings to continue until success is achieved.

One reason: It is still unclear who would represent the opposition.

But the document did not specify whether Assad could stand in those elections, while officials also took issue with its stipulation that the new president would be in charge of the military and intelligence services.

In its eight-point proposal, Russian Federation suggested forming a constitutional reform commission that would include opposition and regime representatives. The assumption by participants is that if they can reach agreements among themselves, it will eventually be easier to convince the combatants that a deal is viable and to push them toward making compromises that may be necessary.

Any breakthrough for Syria would also require an end to the deadlock over Assad’s future role. They are now circulating a paper with their proposals to governments around the world. This as Russia’s recent tactics in the fight against ISIS have been sharply criticized by the U.S.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the talks were organized to be “very inclusive about participation”.

At the time, the “hard-line Islamic jihadists” were mostly with Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat Al-Nusra (the Nusra Front), which still terrorizes parts of Syria.

“It will require deep breaths on several sides, including the U.S. side”, Hammond said on Tuesday. “The Saudis are never going to sign off on Ahrar al-Sham being categorized as terrorists”. Such publications are usually published with unclear “open source” pictures and videos, so that nobody can confirm or deny this evidence.

Iranian and Hezbollah militia also are coordinating with Syrian forces to take advantage of the air strikes in a bid to regain territory from ISIS and opposition groups.

Putin said that Russian Federation is ready to cooperate with the United States. “We are aware of the Russian proposals”, said Matthew Rycroft, the British ambassador to the United Nations. Russian Federation and Iran would only need to convince Assad to stop fighting.

Russian Federation is accusing the US of hijacking preparatory talks for a weekend meeting focused on ending the Syrian war, while USA officials are expressing surprise that Moscow did not show up for the meetings.

Russia’s plan, which was seen by AP and Reuters, called for drafting a new Syrian constitution that would be voted on and followed by an early presidential election.

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long called for more intensified global efforts to combat the scourge of terrorism in all its forms and shapes”, he said. The effective position of the Western powers and their Gulf allies is that Assad must go before any transition can be discussed, rather than keeping all options on the table.

Taking its lead from Assad, Russian Federation has clumped so many Syrian rebel groups together under the “terrorist” label – including a few vetted by the Central Intelligence Agency – that there would appear to be nearly none left to negotiate with.