[D66] Did the West ignore a Russian offer for Assad to step down as President?

[J.N.]

http://pulsemedia.org/2015/09/20/did-the-west-ignore-a-russian-offer-for-assad-to-step-down-as-president/

Did the West ignore a Russian offer for Assad to step down as President?

September 20, 2015 § Leave a comment

by Brian Slocock

A story published in the Guardian on 16 September entitled “West
‘ignored Russian offer for Assad to step down as President’” has evoked
considerable excitement on both sides of the Atlantic. The story is
based on a claim by former Finnish President and UN Diplomat Martti
Ahtisaari that the West failed to respond to an overture made in
February 2012 by Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. According to
Ahtisaari, Churkin, in a private conversation suggested a means for
resolving the Syrian crisis:

He said: ‘Martti, sit down and I’ll tell you what we should do.’ “He
said three things: One – we should not give arms to the opposition. Two
– we should get a dialogue going between the opposition and Assad
straight away. Three – we should find an elegant way for Assad to step
aside.”

The Guardian seems to have felt the need to “sex up” these comments,
turning them into a “3-point plan”. (Of course this plan already
existed, in the form of the Arab League initiative of 22 January 2012,
of which more below).

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