US allies must forsake Assad outer plan: Commentator

Press TV has interviewed Fred Weir, a journalist and political commentator in Moscow, to discuss the remarks made by US Secretary of State John Kerry, calling for a political transition to resolve the conflict in Syria and prevent the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group from spreading to other countries.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all give us your thoughts on the recent comments made by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Weir: Well this is an ongoing process. It is clear that it is a very constructive and so far amazingly fruitful process and I think that what John Kerry said is a reiteration of the American vision which I think the Russians agree with is that you need to get this political process on track so that there is a formula that most Syrians can somehow agree with.

There has been a really bitter civil war but these wars always end and the key thing is to find some way to make sure that most of the Syrians, that means big parts of the opposition as well as those who support the government, can agree on some kind of a transition to stable regime that they can all live with and that will have also the effect of isolating and alienating those irreconcilable elements, I think they are like al-Qaeda and Islamic State (Daesh) and creating the conditions for their defeat.

This process is now on track. Nobody would have predicted this six months ago but here we are and it is a really, really positive thing.

Press TV: You mentioned that this is a reiteration but also behind all the diplomatic talk, there is also some deep contradictions and inconsistencies when we see John Kerry stating that every effort must be made to end the Syria conflict but we also see the United States and its regional allies - Saudi Arabia, maybe Turkey – are among the supporters of extremist groups in Syria?   

Weir: There are some rumors that the United States is shutting down its own supply lines to the rebels, not confirmable but it should be part of, if a lot of the things that are happening are the result of deep deals largely between Russia and United States, then that should be one of the Russian conditions, I would guess.

As for other countries - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey - yes, they are deeply conflicted. It is an American problem that they cannot bring their allies to the table, make them give up this idea that they are going to overthrow the Syrian regime because that is what the United States has to convince them, its allies of.

But nevertheless we are seeing a lot of progress and now I guess on the other side the Russians will be talking to the Americans about a transition that will at some point make President Assad step down as well but there are a lot of unresolved issues here, a lot of them, but the speed and efficiency with which it is going so far is really impressive.

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