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The harsh and uncompromising tone delivered by the two sides, so soon after the talks started with an opening ceremony and speeches by various representatives, was a bad omen for the gathering.
The political leader of Jaysh al-Islam described the government as a "terrorist" entity and called for groups fighting alongside it, including Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, to be placed on a global list of terrorist organisations.#IsraeltheRegion #Syriacivilwar #Kazakhstan #Astana Harsh exchanges on first day of Syria talks in Kazakhstan https://t.co/uYm1MGht7J— Israel News (@IsraelNewsNow) January 23, 2017
Mr Alloush said the rebels wanted to stop "the horrific flow of blood" by reinforcing the truce brokered by Russia and Turkey at the end of last month, which both sides have accused each other of violating.
He warned: "A political solution in Syria is our choice but it is not the only one because we fight for our rights; our right to live; the right of freedom; the right to decide our fate and the people's right to decide who will represent them."
BBC News - Syria conflict: War of words as peace talks open in Astana https://t.co/VHqKN9yOjI— Esna (@Esna_Su) January 23, 2017
At Russia-led talks, Syrian rebels and government meet for the first time https://t.co/eKdKBynxLl— Mike Nova (@mikenov) January 23, 2017
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M.N.: Putin wants to extricate himself from the Syrian conflict because of the potential risks this continuing involvement carries for the Russian economy, deep unhappiness about it among the Russian military and the parts of the elites, and most importantly, the risk of his removal from power as the result of these factors. However, as always, he wants to turn his weakness into strength, and to claim the "mission accomplished", by marking this checkbox as his "success and victory", adding to his list of "credits". This is the real reason behind his hypocritical, "pragmatic", but in fact, self-defeating compromises with the opposed to each other Turkey and Iran, with the some of the rebel groups, and, most visibly, his shameful betrayal of the Kurds under the Turkish pressure. It is highly unlikely that this "high wire" juggling act and performance will succeed, and he might end up with the gaping failure of the Syrian conflict resolution due to the unrealistic and impossible option of reconciling the irreconcilable, and he also risks to be removed from power anyway, due to this and other geopolitical and internal failures. His famed political agility and acumen appear to be wearing off, well past their prime, due to the almost invisible but unmistakable general intellectual and emotional decline, probably, and at least in part related to his serious health problems. If he, indeed, leaves or is removed from power, with or without some benevolent heavenly assistance, it is foreseeable, that with Medvedev constitutionally filling the Presidential chair, Shoigu will be considered for the Premiership, with the consequent changes in the military leadership.
Встреча с Заместителем Председателя Правительства Дмитрием Рогозиным. - 1.23.17
I read in this facial expression some surprise, almost shock, sorrow, sadness, some understanding and compassion, and at the same time a call to calmness, rationality, patience, and sobriety.
"Для тех компаний, которые будут закупать российскую авиационную технику, мы предоставим необходимые льготы, включая и правильный, выгодный маршрут, а также специальные льготы экономического характера, в том числе связанные с лизингом авиационной техники. Поэтому работа идёт по плану, и думаю, что в начале весны мы будем готовы Вам доложить уже о первых результатах."
With I. Sechin.
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Russia takes power-broking role as Syria peace talks to begin in Astana https://t.co/w00sQmLSgj— Mike Nova (@mikenov) January 23, 2017
Russia takes power-broking role as Syria peace talks to begin in Astana - The Guardian - Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor - Monday 23 January 2017 02.36 EST
Russia faces a new set of challenges as it attempts to move from participant in the conflict to peace broker.
Leaders of the Syrian opposition delegation, representing as many as 12 factions, claimed on the eve of the Astana talks that Moscow genuinely wanted to move to a neutral stance but was being held back by the Iranian and the Syrian governments.
Mohammed Alloush, the leader of the opposition delegation, said the failure of Moscow to put pressure on Iran and the Syrian government to end what the opposition says are widespread violations of the Turkish-Russian brokered ceasefire would be a blow to its influence in Syria.
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In return for the Turkish flexibility, Russia has gone along with the continued Turkish insistence that the Syrian Kurdish PYD is barred from talks. Washington has relied on the PYD, particularly its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), to oust Isis in north-west Syria and it looks as if the Trump administration has not yet acceded to a Turkish request to abandon the Kurds.
Turkey and Russia are working together militarily in northern Syria to show they can provide an alternative to the PYD.
With the talks formally due to end at lunchtime on Tuesday - early in the morning UK time - any agreement is unlikely to spread beyond the terms for deepening the ceasefire and providing humanitarian access, as well as agreeing on broad principles for a future Syria.
But the talks may reveal the extent to which tensions between Tehran and Moscow over the future of Syria can be contained.
So far, there has been silence, for example, over whether the Iranian-backed Hezbollah should be forced to quit Syria.
Russia and Iran are both seeking to exploit the military and political victory with commercial and military deals with Assad.
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Iran’s strategic defeat in Syria before Astana talks - JANUARY 22, 2017
“The regime in Tehran is the source of crisis in the region and killings in Syria; it has played the greatest role in the expansion and continuation of ISIS. Peace and tranquility in the region can only be achieved by evicting this regime from the region,” said Maryam Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella group of organizations including the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
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Never mentioned are the Iranian people and their interests. The mullahs only seek to preserve their establishment, at all costs. And yet with the sudden death of former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the regime in its entirety is now utterly weakened as he played the highly important role of a balancing mast.
This is a regime bracing for further strategic defeats.
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