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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWTF? Obama, Assad to meet?
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/QUESTION FROM VOTER: Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?
OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them -- which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration -- is ridiculous. Now, Ronald Reagan and Democratic presidents like JFK constantly spoke to Soviet Union at a time when Ronald Reagan called them an evil empire. And the reason is because they understood that we may not trust them and they may pose an extraordinary danger to this country, but we had the obligation to find areas where we can potentially move forward.
And I think that it is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them. We've been talking about Iraq -- one of the first things that I would do in terms of moving a diplomatic effort in the region forward is to send a signal that we need to talk to Iran and Syria because they're going to have responsibilities if Iraq collapses...
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HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)Yet another 180 from the NeoCon in Chief.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars. - Obama 2008
ProSense
(116,464 posts)there was no communication?
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and RICK GLADSTONE
ROME — As new reports of violence flowed from Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned leaders in Europe and the Middle East on Wednesday to lay the groundwork for a conference between rebels and the Syrian government, sponsored by the United States and Russia, that he hoped would begin within a month.
Mr. Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, announced a new diplomatic effort to end the two-year-old Syrian conflict after intense discussions on Tuesday in Moscow. Mr. Kerry then flew to Rome, where aides said that on Thursday he would announce a 25 percent increase in American humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians whose lives have been upended by the crisis. The additional aid, according to a State Department statement, would bring the American total to about $510 million.
The American ambassador to Syria, Robert S. Ford, who accompanied Mr. Kerry during his talks in Moscow, flew to Istanbul to press representatives of the Syrian opposition to agree to talks with an envoy of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. There were initial indications, at least, that both sides were not opposed to the idea.
Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported it with the headline “Lavrov, Kerry: Negotiations Are Vital Tool to Reach Settlement.”
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/world/middleeast/syria-diplomacy-kerry-aid.html
And we know what they did next. I personally called the foreign minister of Syria, and I said to him, “If, as you say, your nation has nothing to hide then let the United Nations in immediately and give the inspectors the unfettered access, so they have the opportunity to tell your story.”
Instead, for four days, they shelled the neighborhood in order to destroy evidence, bombarding block after black at a rate four times higher than they had over the previous 10 days. And, when the U.N. inspectors finally gained access, that access -- as we now know -- was restricted and controlled.
<...>
So now that we know what we know, the question we must all be asking is: What will we do? Let me emphasize, President Obama, we in the United States, we believe in the United Nations. And we have great respect for the brave inspectors who endured regime gunfire and obstructions to their investigation.
But as Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, has said again and again, the U.N. investigation will not affirm who used these chemical weapons. That is not the mandate of the U.N. investigation. They will only affirm whether such weapons were used. By the definition of their own mandate, the U.N. can’t tell us anything that we haven’t shared with you this afternoon or that we don’t already know.
<...>
Full transcript of Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks on Syria
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023563815
tridim
(45,358 posts)
sheshe2
(83,654 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)It's sad to see.
cliffordu
(30,994 posts)Love you!
Recursion
(56,582 posts)
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)You honestly are ill-informed.
Here's a taste of the bile spilled on FreeRepublic a few years back.. it sounds remarkably like DU right now
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2190862/posts
cui bono
(19,926 posts)Backed him no matter what he did. And guess what? Obama's doing a lot of the same stuff he did, and on steroids.
I'd rather stand with Manny than GWB policy.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)shows how deceitful you and YOUR ilk are.
Go ahead and google me on DU: my old name was cryingshame.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Edit- and I despised the selection of Geithner.
Arne Duncan also made me gag but the voucher/testing ship has sailed already.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)But yes, from a lot of other posts I've read of yours I feel you back him on a lot of policies that normally a Dem would not support, and railed against when GWB did them. So when you trot out the FR comparison (which I don't think means anything and has no validity - libertarians are for some civil rights that liberals are also for, there is crossover) it's only fair to mention the blind loyalty comparison. If you are not that blind, then great. There are a lot who are and who cannot stand to hear one iota of criticism of PBO's policy, this is well on display in the BOG. Sickening place that is.
Btw... you are super fast at responding!
The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)2009 March - Jeffrey Feltman, acting assistant US secretary of state for the Near East, visits Damascus with White House national security aide Daniel Shapiro in first high-level US diplomatic mission for nearly four years. Meets Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
Trading launches on Syria's stock exchange in a gesture towards liberalising the state-controlled economy.
2009 May - Syrian writer and pro-democracy campaigner Michel Kilo is released from prison after serving three-year sentence.
2009 June - The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says traces of undeclared man-made uranium have been found at second site in Syria - a reactor in Damascus. The IAEA was investigating US claims that the site destroyed in the 2007 Israeli raid was a nuclear reactor.
2009 July - US special envoy George Mitchell visits for talks with President Assad on Middle East peace.
2009 August - Iraq and Syria recall their envoys in a deepening rift over charges of responsibility for a string of deadly bomb attacks in Baghdad. They restore ties later in 2010.
2010 February - US posts first ambassador to Syria after a five-year break.
2010 May - US renews sanctions against Syria, saying that it supports terrorist groups, seeks weapons of mass destruction and has provided Lebanon's Hezbollah with Scud missiles in violation of UN resolutions.
Nationwide uprising
2011 March - Protests in Damascus and the southern city of Deraa demand the release of political prisoners. Security forces shoot a number of people dead in Deraa, triggering days of violent unrest that steadily spread nationwide over the following months.
2011 protests
Anti-government protesters chant in the northern Syrian city of Idlib
The government announces some conciliatory measures in an attempt to damp down unrest. . President Assad releases dozens of political prisoners and dismisses the government, and in April lifts the 48-year-old state of emergency. However, he accuses protesters of being Israeli agents.
2011 May - Army tanks enter Deraa, Banyas, Homs and suburbs of Damascus in an effort to crush anti-regime protests. US and European Union tighten sanctions. President Assad announces amnesty for political prisoners.
2011 June - The government says that 120 members of the security forces have been killed by "armed gangs" in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour. Troops besiege the town and more than 10,000 people flee to Turkey. President Assad pledges to start a "national dialogue" on reform.
2011 June - The IAEA nuclear watchdog decides to report Syria to the UN Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear programme reactor programme. The structure housing the alleged reactor was destroyed in an Israeli air raid in 2007.
Opposition organises
2011 July - President Assad sacks the governor of the northern province of Hama after mass demonstration there, eventually sending in troops to restore order at the cost of scores of lives. Opposition activists meet in Istanbul to form a unified opposition.
2011 October - Newly formed Syrian National Council says it has forged a common front of internal and exiled opposition activists. Russia and China veto UN resolution condemning Syria.
2011 November - Arab League votes to suspend Syria, accusing it of failing to implement an Arab peace plan, and imposes sanctions. Army defectors target a military base near Damascus in the Free Syrian Army's most high-profile attack since protests began. Government supporters attack foreign embassies.
Civil war
2011 December - Syria agrees to an Arab League initiative allowing Arab observers into the country. Thousand of protesters gather in Homs to greet them, but the League suspends its mission in January because of worsening violence.
Twin suicide bombs outside security buildings in Damascus kill 44, the first in a series of large blasts in the the capital that continue into the following summer. Opposition accuses government of staging these and subsequent attacks.
UN pressure
2012 February - Russia and China block a UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria, and the government steps up the bombardment of Homs and other cities, recapturing the Homs district of Baba Amr the following month. The UN says that more than 7,500 people have died since the security crackdown began.
2012 March - UN Security Council endorses non-binding peace plan drafted by UN envoy Kofi Annan. China and Russia agree to support the plan after an earlier, tougher draft is modified. The UN statement falls short of a formal resolution, and violence continues into the summer.
2012 May - UN Security Council strongly condemns the government's use of heavy weaponry and the militia killing of more than a hundred civilians in Houla, near Homs. France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and Australia expel senior Syrian diplomats in protest.
2012 June - President Assad tells his reshuffled government that they face "real war", indicating the authorities' conviction that the conflict will be long-lasting and require the sidelining of all other priorities.
Turkey changes rules of engagement after Syria shoots down a Turkish plane that strayed into its territory, declaring that if Syrian troops approach Turkey's borders they will be seen as a military threat.
2012 July - Free Syria Army blows up three security chiefs in Damascus and seizes Aleppo in the north. A government offensive to recapture the city makes only limited headway.
2012 August - The government suffers further blows. A UN General Assembly resolution demands that President Assad resign, high-level defections gather pace - most notably Prime Minister Riad Hijab - and US President Obama warns that use of chemical weapons would tilt the US towards intervention.
UN appoints veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi as new UN-Arab League envoy for Syria after resignation of Kofi Annan.
2012 September - The Free Syrian Army claims responsibility for two explosions at the military headquarters in Damascus. The government says four guards were killed in the "suicide attacks".
2012 October - Syria-Turkish tension rises when Syrian mortar fire on a Turkish border town kills five civilians. Turkey returns fire and intercepts a Syrian plane allegedly carrying arms from Russia. Both countries ban each other's planes from their air space.
Fire in Aleppo destroys much of the historic market as fighting and bomb attacks continue in various cities.
UN-brokered ceasefire during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha breaks down as government continues attacks.
2012 November - Several major opposition forces unite as National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at meeting in Qatar, including the Syrian National Council. Arab League stops short of full recognition. Islamist militias in Aleppo, including the Al-Nusra and Al-Tawhid groups, refuse to join the Coalition, denouncing it as a "conspiracy".
Israeli military fire on Syrian artillery units after several months of occasional shelling from Syrian positions across the Golan Heights, the first such return of fire since the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
2012 December - The US joins Britain, France, Turkey and Gulf states in formally recognising Syria's opposition National Coalition as "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people.
2013 January - Syria accuses Israeli jets of attacking a military research centre near Damascus, but denies reports that lorries carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit. Unverified reports say Israel had targeted an Iranian commander charged with moving weapons of mass destruction to Lebanon.
International donors pledge more than $1.5bn (£950m) to help civilians affected by the conflict in Syria.
2013 March - Syrian warplanes bomb the northern city of Raqqa after rebels seize control. US and Britain pledge non-military aid to rebels, and Britain and France propose lifting European Union arms embargo. Rebel National Coalition elects US-educated technocrat Ghassan Hitto as interim "prime minister".
2013 April - US and Britain demand investigation into reports government forces used chemical weapons. Prime Minister Wael Nader Al-Halqi narrowly escapes death in bomb attack in centre of Damascus.
Opposition National Coalition chairman Moaz al-Khatib resigns, accusing foreign backers of trying to manipulate the group. His successor is veteran socialist George Sabra, leader of the older opposition Syrian National Council.
2013 May - Israeli and Syrian Army exchange fire in the Golan Heights.
EU leaders agree not to renew the bloc's arms embargo on Syria, in a step seen as potentially freeing EU countries to arm the rebels.
2013 May-June - Government and allied Hezbollah forces recapture the strategically-important town of Qusair between Homs and the Lebanese border. Rebel commanders complain that arms supplies taper off over international concerns about Islamists in the opposition camp.
2013 July In a leadership overhaul, Saudi-backed Ahmed Jarba replaces interim figure George Sabra as leader of the main opposition National Coalition, defeating a Qatar-backed rival. Interim opposition PM Ghassan Hitto quits, citing his inability to form a government in rebel-held territory.
Rebels say they capture Khan al-Assal, the last major government-held town in the west of Aleppo Province, after two months of successful government offensives.
2013 August - Rebels and Western governments accuse pro-Assad forces of using chemical weapons in an attack that killed more than 300 people near Damascus. The Syrian government says it was the rebels that used chemical weapons. The US and Britain take contingency measures for possible military action. Russia and China warn against any attack on Syria.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14703995
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)As if face-to-face meetings are the only means of diplomacy,
This post makes DU dumber.
To the trash it goes.
