Syria crisis: Geneva peace talks end in recriminations

[alp227]

Source: BBC

The Syrian government and opposition have traded insults after a week-long peace conference in Geneva ended with no firm agreement.

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the opposition were immature, while the opposition's Louay Safi said the regime had no desire to stop the bloodshed.

However, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said he had seen some "common ground", and scheduled more talks for 10 February.

The opposition has agreed to take part, but Mr Muallem refused to commit.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25983181

---

Al Jazeera: Syria peace talks end without breakthrough

NY Times: Syrian Talks, Ending First Round, Fail Even to Agree on Easing Aid Blockade

[dipsydoodle]

1. Syria talks end first round, government not committed to return

(Reuters) - A contentious week-long first round of Syrian peace talks ended on Friday with no progress towards ending the civil war and the government delegation unable to say whether it will return for the next round in 10 days.

Darkening the atmosphere further, the United States and Russia clashed over the pace of Syria's handover of chemical arms for destruction. Washington accused Damascus of foot-dragging that put the plan weeks behind schedule, and Moscow - President Bashar al-Assad's big power ally - rejected this.

The Obama administration said it was working with partners to ratchet up pressure on Syria to accelerate the process, but stopped short of threatening any action if Damascus did not get the chemical weapons deliveries back on track.

The Russian government said Assad was acting "in good faith" in carrying out last year's international chemical disarmament agreement and a June 30 deadline for eliminating the poison gas agents remains viable.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/01/uk-syria-crisis-talks-idUKBREA0T0W820140201

[bemildred]

2. Good, make the stupid pricks talk even if they don't want to.

Make them sit there and stare at each other until they puke. People are dying, dying in bad ways.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. With "Assad must go" as their premise, these talks are doomed to failure.

Assad isn't going anywhere.

[cqo_000]

4. Talks over, little sign of progress towards Syria peace

BEIRUT: Syrian government and opposition delegations leave 10 days of peace talks with few results and a follow-up meeting uncertain, but analysts and negotiators say the discussions are an important beginning.

The immediate post-mortem on the talks from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was blunt. “I regret to tell you that we have not reached tangible results during this week,” he said as the talks wrapped up in Geneva on Friday.

A second round of talks is proposed for Feb 10, but Muallem said he could not confirm the regime’s participation without first consulting President Bashar al-Assad.

And the tone in Syria’s state media on Saturday was far from conciliatory. “In Geneva, the Syrian [government] delegation spoke as the voice of Syrian rights. They spoke from the heart,” said government daily Al-Thawra.

It said the opposition, by contrast, had said “nothing but what was dictated to them on a piece of paper by their master. They were a subservient humiliated slave, and an obedient client,” it charged, alluding to the opposition’s Gulf Arab and Western backers.

Read more: http://www.dawn.com/news/1084310/talks-over-little-sign-of-progress-towards-syria-peace