Western countries continue to tighten their economic sanctions on Syria, at various levels, including sanctions on individuals and institutions, as well as threats of sanctions against other countries if they deal with Syria economically.
James Jeffrey was reemerged from his almost three-month lull: since Trump announced the withdrawal of his forces from Syria until the beginning of the last week. He reappeared repeating his same «goals» that he had put forward since his appointment, but after he had made rewarding discounts and forced changes on them, imposed by the recession of the US commodity in general, and his own commodity in particular.
He loses his understanding of reality and falls into errors ranging from minor to major, in the national sense, the one who views Astana as a temporary or transitory understanding related to Syria.
Anyone who tries to understand the Syrian crisis can look at Astana's path, its development and impact, as one of the components of this understanding. But stopping at this point in reading, that is to say, to consider Astana as a detail, whether large or small, within the context of the Syrian situation, would narrow the horizons of understanding to the extent that it necessarily turns into a misunderstanding.
Article 2 of Chapter 1 of the current Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic, states that «Sovereignty is an attribute of the people; and no individual or group may claim sovereignty. Sovereignty shall be based on the principle of the rule of the people by the people and for the people». The same meaning can also be found in all previous Syrian constitutions, that is: the starting point in understanding «national sovereignty» is the sovereignty of the Syrian people.
«America will never be a socialist country», said Donald Trump in his annual State of the Union address, in front of members of the Congress a few days ago. Not only this, but he also added: «We are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country».
The dangerous living conditions of the vast majority of Syrians are steadily increasing, and by their timing with the new Western sanctions, they are reaching a new threshold that threatens to reproduce the crisis at a higher and more dangerous level than all previous levels.
During the last week, intensive Russian, Turkish and Syrian statements emerged on the Adana agreement which was signed between Syria and Turkey in 1998 concerning the way of dealing with the PKK. The statements of the three parties expressed their commitment and consensus to the agreement as a starting point to address the situation in northeastern Syria at least, if not along the entire Syrian-Turkish border, as stipulated in the agreement itself.
The term "safe zone" has returned to circulate again after it disappeared for consecutive years, through various statements by Trump, Erdogan and others, and this time it is about northeastern Syria, or parts of it.
Today's evening in Moscow, Mr. Geir O. Pedersen and his accompanying delegation met with Dr. Kadri Jamil, Head of the Moscow Platform of the Syrian Opposition, Secretary of People's Will Party.
