Posted on 04/12/2017 10:47:04 PM PDT by blueplum
MOSCOW – Striving to salvage ties amid a fierce dispute over Syria, the United States and Russia on Wednesday agreed to work together on an international investigation of a Syrian chemical weapons attack last week that prompted retaliatory American missile strikes. Washington blames Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Moscow says Syrian rebels are responsible.
After a day of discussions with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the former Cold War foes agreed a U.N. probe of events in northern Syria on April 4 was necessary. More than 80 people were killed in what the U.S. has described as a nerve gas attack that Assad's forces undoubtedly carried out. Russia says rebels dispersed whatever chemical agent was found, which the Trump administration calls a disinformation campaign.
The news conference came after Russian President Vladimir Putin met the top American diplomat for almost two hours to see if they could rescue relations between the world's mightiest military powers. Russia's alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election also hovered over the first face-to-face encounter between Putin and a Trump administration Cabinet member.
"There is a low level of trust between our two countries," Tillerson said candidly.
He said working groups would be established to improve U.S.-Russian ties and identify problems. He said the two sides would also discuss disagreements on Syria
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Trump wins again.
The result of the investigation will humiliate one of the two powers. I wonder who that will be.
Both Countries need to probe the US LSM’s Uranus...
So let me get this straight: the US government has launched missiles at Assad army because it believes Assad ordered the chemical attack. Now it wants to investigate who was perpetrator. Shoot first and ask question later?
Russia can’t win this one and they know it. That’s why Putin caved in and met with Tillerson. Russia told that simpering fool Kerry that they’d ensure the removal of all chemical weapons from Syria. Now they’re arguing that maybe “rebels” caused the chemical attack. So what? Either way, they’re admitting there were still chemical weapons in Syria. So they can huff and puff all they want, but the chemical attack has shown Russia was either incompetent in failing to remove the chemical weapons, or was lying. Tillerson is playing a smart game with this by giving them just enough rope. . . .
It’s not too late to task the Rooskies with removing the CW from all sides.
This is strictly my read and may be completely wrong, but I think it’s a little ‘save face’ game. Russia vetoed the UN resolution today that would have put into motion an official war crime investigation - demanding flight logs, interviews with pilots, etc. The veto was expected, with Russia holding to ‘the rebels did it’. This gives him points with his own politik and points with Assad. (And keeps Russia from having to admit their own complicity which would come up in a formal investigation.)
By making a side deal, Putin is preparing Russia that maybe something is afoul but they need definitive proof. Cooperating with the US, outside of the UN’s stringent process, Putin has a better chance of keeping the focus on Assad and not on Russia. Once Putin knows what we know, he can then figure out how to spin it to his politik. Likely followed by Assad having a quite sudden and unexpected Russian heartattack as soon as Russia figures out who to replace him with, that will allow Russia to keep its cozy lynchpin position in the ME. And Russia saves face all the way through.
see post 8 - what do you think?
Amazing, huh?
The draft resolution
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2017/172
Security Council meeting record
http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PV.7919
Russia has been pushing for a full UN investigation. Either they are pretty stupid or confident.
“Russia has been pushing for a full UN investigation. Either they are pretty stupid or confident.”
They are confident - not because they are innocent, but because any UN investigation (if it ever happened) would be a total sham.
.
Maybe, maybe not. If the US actually has intercepted radio communications then Assad imprisons the officer responsible and looks good to the Europeans. Otherwise, the US has bragged about hitting ISIS chemical weapons stockpiles multiple times. On several occasions civilians in the target area died from exposure the chemicals and chemical weapons released by the airstrike.
Just as likely, probably more likely, the US and Russia set up combined operations to get rid of ISIS with a joint team to dispose of any chemical weapons found rather than leaving it to the Syrians, Kurds, US, or Russian, troops who find them.
All this about there being lies told by Assad, Russia, or the Kerry about getting rid of chemical weapons in 2013 is just hot air from the people who are desperately trying to get the US to go in on the ground in Syria. Everything at the time was clearly stated as having gotten rid of chemical weapons in areas then under control of Assad.
Find a map of what the Syrian Army controlled then and what they control now. There are a lot of places the Syrians could have found weapons with some officer way down the chain of command deciding it was a good idea to hang on to them and even possibly making arrangements with friends in the AF to keep them somewhere without reporting it.
The Syrian Army and the Kurds have both been attacked with chemical weapons numerous times. In a country where most of the military officers have known one another for a long time I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if officers in different branches of the service agreed to get some chemical payback.
That's all speculation, though. What isn't speculation is that exactly what the Russians say happened has happened when the US struck ISIS targets in Iraq and I think in Syria as well.
JMHo
Or maybe Trump is exposing rouge elements in his intelligence organization. Remember the rockets didn’t hit much of anything. If the “moderates” we are arming are found to have been storing chemical weapons from whatever source, it’s a way to expose it and cut them off of further support. It may keep the warmongers at bay while he sorts out his deep state problems. No doubt bombs were dropped on rebel positions, but they likely blew up a chemical weapons stash.
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