Diplomatic follies

The Guardian’s Ian Black inteviewed the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s strongman ready to woo Obama with both fists unclenched.

There is some obvious silliness in the interview:

Intriguingly, he says, in one of ­several thoughtful asides: “You can’t only deal with good people. If they can spoil things or put obstacles in your way you have to deal with them. And I don’t mean Syria and Iran. This is a principle. It applies anywhere in the world. Forget about labels and rhetoric.”

That’s thoughtful? It’s vague to the point of being meaningless. I

However, in direct contradiction to the idea both his fists are unclenched, Assad also has this to say:

Nor is Syria’s strategic relationship with Iran, its ally since the 1979 ­revolution, up for grabs. Dialogue with Tehran should begin at once, he says, and westerners should not “waste their time” on imagining that June’s ­presidential election will change ­anything fundamental.

And yet Senator Cardin said:

“Syria has isolated itself by its partnership of terrorism, by providing safe haven to terrorist organizations, its relations with Hamas and (Islamic) Jihad, and a troubled relationship with Iran,” Cardin told reporters in a press conference at Damascus airport.

“The question we came try to answer here is about whether Syria is ready to make important and significant decisions that will bring us closer together and move forward,” he read from a written statement.

So the United States has made an overture, but that’s been rejected. John Kerry however had a different view of things.

Kerry said the U.S. would renew diplomacy with Syria but in return expected Syria to change its behavior, particularly with respect to Iraq and Lebanon. He said the U.S. also wants Syria to help with the disarmament of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.

“But unlike the Bush administration that believed you could simply tell people what to do and walk away and wait for them to do it, we believe we have to engage in a discussion,” he said.

So let’s see. The Obama administration, anxious to start talking to rogue states like Syria encourage a number of Congressional delegations to visit Syria. Senator Cardin states clearly that if the United States is to develop a closer relationship with Syria, Syria must break with Iran. President Assad says nothing doing. And Senator Kerry blames ex-President Bush for “tell[ing] people what to do.” It seems that Assad is telling the United States what to do and refusing to engage in discussions.

While Senator Cardin was right to place a condition on talks with Syria, he still gave President Assad undeserved attention. Note how the official Syrian news agency, SANA, describes Cardin’s visit:

The delegation had stressed Syria’s important regional role and expressed the new US administration’s eagerness for developing Syrian-US relations in service of stability in the Middle East.
“The meeting with President al-Assad constituted an opportunity to talk about the peace process, the Iraqi refugees issue in Syria and discuss combating terrorism, President al-Assad was very decisive regarding this issue,” Senator Cardin said in a statement to reporters before leaving Damascus.
“We conducted a candid dialogue with the Syrian officials and we will convey what we heard to the US Congress, this information is very important regarding the future vision of the US Administration and President Barack Obama who showed big interest towards this region,” Cardin added.

SANA, of course, mentions nothing about the American demands to break ties with Iran. Cardin’s visit gives Syria a chance to spin American contact as American approval. And now’s a really good time for Syria to get some good press because the defense publication, Jane’s, just reported that Syria is building a chemical weapons plant.

Satellite images from several commercial sources gathered from 2005 to 2008 have shed light on activity at the chemical weapons facility identified as Al Safir in northwest Syria. Imagery obtained by DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1 satellite indicates that the site contains not only a number of the defining features of a chemical weapons facility, but that significant levels of construction have taken place at the facility’s production plant and adjacent missile base.

Elder of Ziyon notes that the American diplomatic mission will now detract attention from this potential threat.

Israel Matzav presents some more details about this chemical weapons plant.

An article in the Telegraph that provides even more background about the plant contains these two paragraphs:

Syria’s role in promoting instability in the Middle East is the subject of deep dispute between foreign powers. Some diplomats insist that overtures to the Ba’athist regime of Bashar al-Assad, the country’s president, holds the key to regional peace. Others have concluded the country is an erratic element that seeks to shore up its strategic position under the guise of negotiations.

The country co-operated with Turkish mediators conducting indirect negotiations with Israel over the return of the occupied Golan Heights at the same time as it now appears to have been developing nuclear facilities and improving its chemical facilities.

That second paragraph seems to clarify the dispute referenced in the first paragraph.

American rapprochement to Syria is ill-conceived and not likely to be productive. Coming at a time when it’s been discovered that Syria’s running a WMD program, this diplomacy could well be disastrous.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.