Sep 11, 2013

A breathing space is now available to think clearly and to act, as much as possible, responsibly. The time frame that the Russian initiative has introduced, undoubtedly, constitutes an opportunity to bring about a possible resolution of the Syrian crisis that has long eluded the international community.

Whether this was prompted by a possible military strike against Syria that US President Barack Obama planned but without sufficient congressional and public support, and whether Russia also realized that it is no longer the superpower that the Soviet Union was, it seems that this realistic awareness from both Obama and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, has provided an opening for the resumption of diplomacy and a preliminary meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva on Thursday, Sept. 12.

In retrospect, Obama overestimated the instant support that he expected to marshal in Congress and in public; so did Putin realize that he overestimated Russia’s global power.

The next few days, perhaps weeks, constitute an opportunity for having a resolution by the UN Security Council which can be approved by all its permanent members, as well as others, to bring about a realistic resolution of the conflict, starting with an immediate and preferably instant cease-fire and dispatching UN inspectors to secure Syria’s compliance with the ban, and then transfer of chemical weapons that the Syrian government has agreed to as indicated by Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

Resumption of the Geneva II process must immediately undertake measures for a firm cease-fire under UN supervision and as short as possible transition period, pursuing simultaneously speedy relief efforts to bring back more than 4 million Syrian refugees and displaced people. This priority has to be on the resumed agenda of the Geneva II conference to ensure the restoration of national unity and expedite the reconstruction, so that the tragic experience of the Syrian people hopefully will never occur again.