Do Not Kill On Camera

The U.S. Department of State has finally realized that not only a civil but also an interfaith war is about to begin in Syria and may spread over the whole region. Meanwhile, in Moscow, U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman made clear that Washington finally understood the threats that Moscow had been warning them of for months.

The Syrian rebels were told to act less cruel, at least in front of the cameras. Azerbaijan’s press announced that Turkish security officers warned the Syrian opposition officials that they would deprive them of support if they continued to make public photos and videos showing scenes of brutal torture and the execution of prisoners [at the hands of the rebels]. A few days earlier, rebel leaders connected to the Free Syrian Army issued a video showing the shooting of [prisoners] at close distance, slowly cutting off the head of a bound and blindfolded person with a knife and throwing people off tall buildings.

What exactly Sherman was discussing in the Russian Foreign Ministry was left behind closed doors. On the eve of her arrival, however, the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, Victoria Nuland, explained in detail the mission that brought the U.S. diplomat to the Russian capital: “…Undersecretary Sherman’s primary purpose on her stop in Russia is to work with the Russians on the P-5+1 process vis-à-vis Iran, which she is the lead American on. And she’ll be meeting her counterparts there. Obviously, Syria is going to come up. She will say what she say has been saying to Lavrov, what we’ve been saying at all levels, which is that the Russians themselves have expressed to us, has expressed internationally, grave concerns about this turning into a civil war or turning into a proxy war, spilling beyond borders. And we have those exact same concerns. But not allowing the UN to work, not allowing real teeth behind efforts that we’ve all agreed to — that we need a transitional structure, as the P-5 agreed in Geneva, that we actually need the Kofi Annan plan to have enforcement mechanisms — is not helping and is not contributing to stopping the violence and containing this crisis so that we can move on and we can rebuild Syria.”

Sherman’s partner in these talks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov, certainly did not keep silent. He issued a press release to announce Moscow’s reply to the U.S.: “We consider absolutely unacceptable the accusations that Russia is slowing down the Syrian settlement, and we stick to the realization of mutual agreements reached in Geneva. Unfortunately, some of our partners are working in an absolutely different direction, inciting rebels to continue armed conflict.” Victoria Nuland doesn’t negate it. “Well, there’s no question that we are endeavoring through our support to the opposition to hasten the day when the violence ends, when Assad leaves power, and when a democratic transition can begin.”

Transition to whom, exactly? Apparently, to those who cuts off heads, who throw captives from tall buildings and whose terror activity the West is refusing to discuss in the UN’s Security Council.

“For us, it is absolutely not clear why the delegations from the West blocked the proposed Russian draft statement that condemned the recent terror act, carried out near the residence of UN observers. Doesn’t it prove [that the West] is indulging the rebels’ terrorist activities? It’s impossible to start a political process with this approach,” added Gatilov.