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US, Russia basic differences led to failure of Syria talks: Analyst

Sunday, 16 October 2016 10:50 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 16 October 2016 10:52 AM ]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L), US Secretary of State John Kerry (C), Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (R), take part in a meeting on the crisis in Syria, in Lausanne, on October 15, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The latest round of talks aimed at putting an end to the crisis in Syria which was held in the Swiss city of Lausanne failed due to “irreconcilable” differences between the United States and Russia over the conflict, director of Institute for Historical Review Mark Weber told Press TV.

“The US government wants to replace, overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad of Syria and the Russian government wants to defend the government of Syria that is in place. And because those differences are so basic to the conflict, it is very hard to reach any agreement on subsidiary issues and as long as that basic difference exists, there is going to be lack of progress in these talks,” said the analyst.

The four-hour talks on Saturday were convened by US Secretary of State John Kerry with the participation of foreign ministers from Russia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt as well as UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

The meeting came to an end without even the release of a joint statement by its participants.

Weber further noted that the US government’s position is not only irreconcilable with international law, but is also “schizophrenic.”

He went on to say that Washington claims to be opposed to the Daesh Takfiri terrorists and it is supposedly in favor of a government that represents the will of the Syrian people, but it has no viable or reasonable alternative for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which has the largest amount of popular support.

The analyst also argued that US policy in the Middle East has always been subordinate to what Israel wants, adding that the Tel Aviv regime’s goals and interests have been the central primary consideration for Washington.

“What Israel wants is really the maximum amount of chaos and discord within all the countries in the region. Israel has a very strong interest in not allowing any real strong and viable solid Syrian state or any other state to emerge in the region and that makes it very difficult really for the United States to pursue any consistent policy that is going to be in accord with the interests of the people of the region other than Israel,” he stated.

There have been multiple diplomatic pushes to put an end to the conflict in Syria since it erupted in 2011 but all have ended in failure.

The conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people, according to an estimate by de Mistura.

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