The Wall Street Journal’s Yaroslav Trofimov wrote in today’s edition (March 3, 2017) that progress in Geneva on negotiations to end Syria’s six year civil war is impeded because the new administration has not yet settled on its strategy for Syria (“Syria Talks Face Hurdle—U.S. Disengagement”).
Considering that the U.S. was pointedly excluded from a series of negotiations between Russia, Turkey, and the anti-Assad opposition (resulting in Syria’s current cease-fire), it seems unlikely that Russia has suddenly discovered the U.S. to be indispensable to progress. What is true is that Russia and the opposition want to enlist U.S. in the pursuit of their agenda, principally reining-in Iran.
At SPC, we continue to call on the United States to be the voice of Christians and other persecuted religious minorities. No one in the Geneva peace talks speaks authentically for the Christians; let the U.S. play that role. And not get sucked-in to one side or the other of a Sunni-Shia civil war that is playing out across the Middle East.
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