Imad tahhan
- Articles
- Posted
Where is the “Syria File” in the Putin-Biden Summit?
Starting from the first day on which the Biden administration took over the White House, the conversation about US policy in Syria has revolved around one phrase: The US does not have a particular policy in Syria and is not in a hurry to have one.
This is something that many, and mainly US think tanks, have tried to explain as a US “lack of interest” in Syria to the benefit of other “more important” files. The reality of the matter is this false claim of “lack of interest” has allowed the US to achieve two things over the last few months:
First: To continue the same Trump policy of working to deepen the “quagmire”, perpetuate the de facto division, work to whitewash al-Nusra, and continue to work on getting everyone inside Syria and around it to collide and fight against each other. All the while without the Biden administration bearing direct responsibility, Because it “has not yet set its own policy for Syria, it will continue to implement Trump’s”.
Second (and most importantly): The failure to declare a particular policy towards Syria was linked to reaching today’s summit between Putin and Biden. In other words, the US left the issue open in all directions, toward continuing with subversive policies in the event of disagreement with Russia, or toward modifying those policies to allow reaching understandings and advancing the political process.
Syria’s Position Within the Summit?
Some have tried to extend the talk about the “lack of importance” to the expected agenda for the Russian-American summit, and implicitly, as there was a lot of talk about Syria possibly not being on the agenda in the first place. This is really amusing for any sane person who understands the minimum ABCs of international politics, and who therefore understands the importance of Syria within the ongoing conflicts.
In any case, the media leaks circulated by many sides yesterday and today, in addition to confirmed information, say that the meeting will be in two phases: the first is a meeting between Putin and Biden and with them their foreign ministers, and the second is one in which a small number of staff will join them, among whom on the Russian side are the envoys of the Ukrainian and Syrian files. This is something that has clear implications; the issue of the presence of the Syrian file on the table is settled, and not only that, but it is one of the main issues on it.
