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         US Prepared to Negotiate Political Solution With Syrian Regime

   by Victor Beattie

   As the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year, U.S. Secretary of State
   John Kerry said it is time to "reignite a diplomatic outcome" to a
   conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced
   millions. Secretary Kerry said an effort is underway to convince
   President Bashar al-Assad to "change his calculation" and enter into
   negotiations.

   Speaking Sunday on the CBS program Face the Nation from Egypt, where he
   took part in an investment conference, Secretary of State John Kerry
   said it is time to restart negotiations to end the Syrian civil war.

   "We are working very hard with other interested parties to see if we
   could reignite a diplomatic outcome. Why? Because everybody agrees
   there's no military solution.  There's only a political solution. But,
   to get the Assad regime to negotiate, we're going to have to make it
   clear to him that there is a determination by everybody to seek that
   political outcome and change his calculation about negotiating. That's
   underway right now. And, I am convinced that, with the efforts of our
   allies and others, there will be increased pressure on Assad," said
   Kerry.

   Kerry said the United States has always been willing to negotiate in
   the context of the Geneva 1 process, a reference to the 2012 talks that
   led to the Geneva Communique, a document outlining a six-point plan to
   stop the violence and create a transitional governing body. That was
   rejected by the Syrian government. A subsequent Geneva 2 meeting in
   2014 ended in an impasse.

   The latest effort at negotiations was sponsored by Russia in January,
   but the main opposition Syrian National Coalition refused to attend.

   Asked if he is prepared to negotiate with the Syrian leader, Kerry said
   the U.S. has to negotiate with the regime. Media reports suggested he
   was referring to Assad. But U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie
   Harf later issued a statement saying that U.S. policy has not changed,
   adding "there is no future for a brutal dictator like Assad in Syria."
   Further, she said "by necessity, there has always been a need for
   representatives of the Assad regime to be a part of' the peace
   process."

   Middle East analyst Ian Lustick of the University of Pennsylvania
   believes the warring factions may be closer now than ever to reaching a
   political settlement.

   "Many of the options that people fought for and imagined that
   negotiations could work in relation to are not now being entertained.
   For example, the idea that Assad will simply leave [power] of his own
   accord with a graceful set of negotiations to allow him to do so,
   nobody is imagining that anymore. So, some things have been
   accomplished in the sense that some quote-unquote solutions seem to be
   impossible now. What I don't think we're closer to is a negotiating
   process that would lead to a re-establishment of the Syrian state
   united across the territory that has been traditionally governed by
   Damascus," said Lustick.

   Analyst Jonathan Adelman of the University of Denver said the Kurdish,
   Sunni and Shi'ite factions emerging from the conflict reflect a
   rejection of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement defining British and French
   spheres of influence in the former Ottoman Empire.

   "This is very much possibly a model for what's likely to happen in
   Iraq, a division of a country into its Sunni, its Shi'ite and Kurdish
   parts, and it's going to back 90 to 100 years to the Sykes-Picot treaty
   during World War I. This is when the colonial powers just decided where
   the borders [in the Arab lands of the Ottoman Empire] were, and in a
   very, very horrible way these people are trying to decide they don't
   want to be part of this Syria, except for the Alawites and some of the
   Christians. They support overwhelmingly Bashar al-Assad, but they're
   not a majority of the population," said Adelman.

   Friday, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told
   representatives of the Syrian opposition and members of the
   Syrian-American diaspora the United States remains committed to a
   genuine political solution to end the war and restore the nation.

   Blinken said the conflict has pushed 80 percent of the population below
   the poverty line, life expectancy has been cut by 20 years to 55 and
   nearly half of Syria's pre-war population has been displaced.

   The deputy secretary of state said the Obama Administration is asking
   Congress for another $70 million in foreign assistance to the moderate
   Syrian opposition, bringing the total to nearly $400 million U.S
   support since the conflict began. He said the United States will offer
   additional humanitarian assistance to displaced Syrians during a
   forthcoming Kuwait donor's conference.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-prepared-to-negotiate-political-solution-with-syrian-regime/2681471.html