Germany And France Just Broke The US Boycott Of Syria
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Sun, 10/28/2018
There weren’t exactly any breakthroughs at the four-way summit involving France, Germany, Russia, and host Turkey in Istanbul on Saturday, but the event itself was a significant victory for one side in terms of optics.
Says Syria expert Joshua Landis: “The real importance of France and Germany going to Turkey to meet Putin and Erdogan is that they are effectively hiving off from the US by joining the Astana process.” Ultimately, according Professor Landis:
They are breaking the boycott of Syria, while preserving the “need for elections” talking point.
Alas, as the photo op of summit participants suggests, the United States has indeed effectively been cut out of the Russia and UN-brokered Astana process to bring Syria’s war to a close — which has both set the terms for the current shaky Idlib ceasefire agreement, and brought Turkey and Russia into an orbit of cooperation to seek long-term peace and stability. Notably Germany’s Merkel and France’s Macron now see the Russia-Turkey deal on Idlib as the only workable track that could stave off another mass refugee and jihadi influx into Europe, already reeling from a years-long migrant crisis.
And President Putin, sitting beside his European counterparts, still affirmed that Russia is in the driver’s seat since its 2015 intervention in the war at the request of Damascus. Putin vowed during the summit: “Should radicals… launch armed provocations from the Idlib zone, Russia reserves the right to give active assistance to the Syrian government in liquidating this source of terrorist threat.”
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