Can a peaceful, diplomatic solution be forced on Syria?

[Hum Dinger]

The current bill authorizing the use of force in Syria does not mandate the use of force.

A possible solution to the Syrian crisis would be for Pres. Obama to agree not to use military force, if Pres. Putin agrees to force a peaceful diplomatic solution.

This might include:

- An immediate cease fire.

- Russia to stop all military assistance to the Syrian government.

- UN troops, including Russians sent to Syrian to enforce the cease fire.

- Removal of all heavy weapons from the battlefield.

- Pres. Assad and key Syrian government officials to step down

- All non-Syrian combatants to leave Syria.

- UN sponsored negotiations

- The surrender of all chemical weapons and delivery systems to the UN.

- An investigation into all chemical weapons attacks by the world court.

- Agreement that everyone found responsible for the chemical attacks be charged
appropriately and tried in the world court.

 

[Katzndogz]

Here's where your possibilities fall off the rails.

Assad isn't going to step down. The civil war is to force Assad out of power. The Russians have a vested interest in keeping Assad in power. If not Assad, then Assad-the-next.

Another possible solution is the immediate surrender of the rebels.

Another possible solution is an immediate termination of all third party influence and arming of either side. Let the Syrians fight it out.

 

[007]

Here's where your possibilities fall off the rails.

Assad isn't going to step down. The civil war is to force Assad out of power. The Russians have a vested interest in keeping Assad in power. If not Assad, then Assad-the-next.

Another possible solution is the immediate surrender of the rebels.

Another possible solution is an immediate termination of all third party influence and arming of either side. Let the Syrians fight it out.

Yup, just back off and let'em kill each other, then we won't have to.

 

[bravoactual]

The current bill authorizing the use of force in Syria does not mandate the use of force.

A possible solution to the Syrian crisis would be for Pres. Obama to agree not to use military force, if Pres. Putin agrees to force a peaceful diplomatic solution.

This might include:

- An immediate cease fire.

- Russia to stop all military assistance to the Syrian government.

- UN troops, including Russians sent to Syrian to enforce the cease fire.

- Removal of all heavy weapons from the battlefield.

- Pres. Assad and key Syrian government officials to step down

- All non-Syrian combatants to leave Syria.

- UN sponsored negotiations

- The surrender of all chemical weapons and delivery systems to the UN.

- An investigation into all chemical weapons attacks by the world court.

- Agreement that everyone found responsible for the chemical attacks be charged
appropriately and tried in the world court.

I am opposed to any Use of Force in Syria.

You have finally put forward viable options that no one wants to talk about.

Thank You.

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

At this point with the Civil War raging out of control, forcing peace is a contradiction in terms, and the U.S. never indicated it wanted a diplomatic solution anyway.

Syria: What happened to diplomacy? | The Great Debate

Syria: What happened to diplomacy?
By Trita Parsi
September 3, 2013

Obama has presented the American public with a false binary choice: taking military action or doing nothing.

It is perhaps the sign of our times that diplomacy is not even being talked about as an option, though Obama’s 2008 platform included restoring diplomacy as a central tool of American statecraft. ...

But such is the nature of civil wars. They are rarely fought by your ideal negotiating partners. Yet most civil wars can only come to an end through a negotiated settlement. The longer one waits, the higher the death tolls, the deeper the wounds and the harder the task. ...

If it is the responsibility of the United States to intervene because of its global leadership and its values, then the intervention should have started more than two years ago on the diplomatic — not military — front.

The Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts thus far have largely focused on winning Russian support to rebuke Assad, rather than finding a lasting solution.

As I wrote in May, Washington’s appetite for diplomacy was lacking early on in the conflict because Assad was viewed as weak and about to be toppled. So talks under those circumstances could have provided him with an undeserved lifeline.

Entire article here: Syria: What happened to diplomacy? | The Great Debate

 

[Hum Dinger]

Pres. Putin knows that U.S. military intervention will lead to the fall of the Assad Regime. Only direct Russian military intervention will prevent it - and that will be catastrophic for everyone.

The fact is that the only way that the Syrian army can survive is through the use of heavy weapons (this is why the used the chemical weapons).

Once the U.S. starts bombing - while simultaneously supplying the rebels with medium to heavy weapons - the Syrian army will have to take their heavy weapons off the battlefield.

This means that the rebels will have a decisive military advantage - Assad's days are numbered.

This is the strategy that lead to the end of the Kosovo war.

We don't need to destroy the Syrian Army's heavy weapons we just need to force them off the battlefield.

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

The rebels would not observe a cease-fire.

 

[Katzndogz]

obama was never going to accept a resolution, peaceful, diplomatic or anything else that did not put jihadists in power. Russia is never going to accept a solution (neither will the Syrians) that will put jihadists in power.

As soon as we recognize that obama is on the wrong side, understanding will dawn like a new day.

 

[TemplarKormac]

How does one force peace?

 

[R.C. Christian]

Nope. It's a proxy war between the U.S. and it's terrorist partners plus Russia and China. Syria is too important to all parties involved. Pure foreign policy and selfish interests guide the way to WWIII. Nobody cares about the suffering. That's just a smoke screen. Everyone involved in this fiasco should be subject to war a tribunal and shot, even Putin. This pathetic prequel to a regional nuclear holocaust also rests on that man's hands. That was for the OP.

 

[Crackerjaxon]

This is what Obama is desperately seeking right now, a way out that will leave him a modicum of dignity.

 

[Hum Dinger]

How does one force peace?

Gunboat diplomacy

 

[Katzndogz]

Pres. Putin knows that U.S. military intervention will lead to the fall of the Assad Regime. Only direct Russian military intervention will prevent it - and that will be catastrophic for everyone.

The fact is that the only way that the Syrian army can survive is through the use of heavy weapons (this is why the used the chemical weapons).

Once the U.S. starts bombing - while simultaneously supplying the rebels with medium to heavy weapons - the Syrian army will have to take their heavy weapons off the battlefield.

This means that the rebels will have a decisive military advantage - Assad's days are numbered.

This is the strategy that lead to the end of the Kosovo war.

We don't need to destroy the Syrian Army's heavy weapons we just need to force them off the battlefield.

Do you really think that the US will be permitted to bomb Syria without any retaliation at all?

This all started with obama giving support to al quaeda. That forced Russia to support Assad and started this whole mess.

We are lucky that Russia is a civilized country that hasn't yet thrown our astronauts out of the air lock!

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

How does one force peace?

Gunboat diplomacy

Gunboat diplomacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If it wasn't an obvious ploy to topple Assad that might make sense.

 

[Hum Dinger]

Looks like gunboat diplomacy is starting to work:

Syria 'welcomes' proposal to safeguard chemical weapons - CNN.com

 

[Avatar4321]

Your question is a contradiction. a diplomatic solution doesn't need to be forced. If you have to force something, you are by definition not using a peaceful solution.

 

[Katzndogz]

The headlines will be that Assad agrees to Russian proposal.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Your question is a contradiction. a diplomatic solution doesn't need to be forced. If you have to force something, you are by definition not using a peaceful solution.

Therefore, the only peaceful solution is to remain still.

 

[Hum Dinger]

Your question is a contradiction. a diplomatic solution doesn't need to be forced. If you have to force something, you are by definition not using a peaceful solution.

It seems that you have little understanding of diplomacy:

There is never, ever any diplomacy unless that diplomacy is backed up by force.

It's unfortunate, but that is the way of the world.

 

[QuickHitCurepon]

Looks like gunboat diplomacy is starting to work:

Syria 'welcomes' proposal to safeguard chemical weapons - CNN.com

Let's say they hand over a lot of chemical weapons. Does anyone think that then Kerry will accept that all of them have been turned over?