Turkey is to blame for no outcome in the US-Russia talks over the situation in Syria, an analyst says.
“Grave differences” remained between Moscow and Washington to finalize a ceasefire in the war-ravaged Muslim country, according to US President Barack Obama.
“We’re not there yet,” Obama said on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday. “It’s premature for us to say that there is a clear path forward, but there is the possibility at least for us to make some progress on that front.”
Reporters had been invited by the US for a planned announcement of ceasefire by US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov but the department later cancelled it as the two failed to reach a deal.
According to Washington-based author and investigative journalist Wayne Madsen, the reason for such a failure is “because the US is giving a green light to Turkey to invade northern Syria, where the Turkish military, including Turkish armored divisions, are successfully seizing ground from both the Syrian army and the Syrian Kurdish groups.”
Madsen anticipated that “as long as the Turkish army has its military forces in Syria and [they] are acting as proxies for the Pentagon, the US sees no need to come to a ceasefire.”
On the other hand, it is “difficult” for Russians to clinch a deal with the Obama administration, which will not stay in power for long as the November presidential election approaches.
Meanwhile, “the perceived successor to Obama, [Democratic nominee] Hillary Clinton has made no secret of the fact that she intends to wage war against the Russian forces in Syria and any other country that refuses to follow her orders.”
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.