That’s Western ‘nation-building’ and international law for you
John Kerry is an incredible motivator! He has just told Syrian jihadi-controlled rebellion that all it has to do is sabotage the upcoming ceasefire he has agreed to with Moscow and he will reward them with a mini-state carved out from Syria. What better incentive to abide by the deal and cease hostilities could he possibly give them?
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has said he will move towards a plan B that could involve a partition of Syria if a planned ceasefire due to start in the next few days does not materialize, or if a genuine shift to a transitional government does not take place in the coming months.
Oh yes, you may have thought that « partition » is a bad word, but that’s only true when the Russians do it. When Americans partition a foreign country (Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Sudan) that is actually a good thing.
Which presents us with a problem since Kerry is apparently willing to invite Putin to help with the partition:
Kerry suggested partition could form part of an eventual solution, saying “this can get a lot uglier and Russia has to be sitting there evaluating that too. It may be too late to keep it as a whole Syria if it is much longer”.
It is the first time Kerry has spoken of partition, although some believe Putin would be content to see this happen.
This creates a moral problem for us because while a unilateral partition of Syria by the virtuous US would be a good thing, a joint US-Russian partition would be tainted by the virtue of having evil Russian paws over it.
Hopefully the Russian nation-breaking dictator will decline the offer of the nation-building Obama Administration official and avert the possibility of American-Russian collusion in breaking up a sovereign third country.
PS. Wasn’t it just a short few weeks ago that the West was accusing Moscow of plotting partition of Syria? How times change.
