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 John Kerry, Geneva II, and the Syria Talks ProblemFrank KaufmannOctober 24, 2013

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Syria, a beautiful part of God’s earth,and home of some of the West’s most

sacred roots is now an ugly thing. Itslong running civil war has claimed thelives of over 100,000 Syrians, hascreated millions of refugees, and hasravished treasure never to be part of our heritage again.

Foreign Policy reports today  thatSecretary of State John Kerry andsenior members of the US Statedepartment are split on whether or

not to pursue what has come to bedubbed Geneva II, namely high profile talks between Syria's main oppositiongroups and government officials from the Assad regime, scheduled for next month

 The issue? Will anyone show up? FP reports in a quote today, “ 'The only personwho wants the Geneva conference to happen is the secretary," a senior U.S.official told FP. 'Who's going to show up? Will they actually represent anyone? If not, why take the risk?'"

What gives the naysayers the sense that no one will come to Secretary Kerry’slet’s get along party, is primarily the growing number of key Syrian opposition

leaders who say they won’t attend the conference unless Assad promises totransfer power to a transitional government and then step aside.

Does this sound like a good start to negotiations in good faith? Imagine PresidentAssad, “Oh, that’s all? Sure why didn’t you say that 100,000 lives ago. Sure I’llcome.” The posture of the Syrian opposition leaders is precisely the stance tookby President Obama during the recent US government shutdown. Pureobstruction in the guise of extreme and meaningless pre-conditions, the veryopposite of negotiation in good faith.

Secretary Kerry’s hopefulness and determination to keep talks on track isadmirable. Hope, longing, and sacrificial devotion for the sake of peace andreconciliation is always to be honored and respected. The point of worry howeveris the subtle calculus of it all. One must always taking great care to prevent nobleaspirations from setting back hoped for results due to missteps as a mediator. Asthe Syria tragedy is such an enduring and heart-wrenching assault on ourhumanity, our fellow families in Syria, it wouldn’t hurt to pray for those trying tounravel the conflict and begin repair.

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 John Kerry, Geneva II, and the Syria Talks ProblemFrank KaufmannOctober 24, 2013

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But there are many problems with the proposed talks that bear closer watch thanblinkered perspectives at play in the clash between Kerry and other State

Department leaders. First, there are no good guys anywhere on the scene at all.Major world and regional powers have exploited local conflict for greed,supremacy, and ideological gain. This stench-ridden appendage of world playerswho have profited from the shed blood of innocents for the sake of base self interest are suddenly shelved and removed from the equation. Shamelesscorporations and governments manipulate affairs, and reap profits from wars untilthey get out of control, and then suddenly the aperture magically narrows to bringlocal combatants to the table, as though “rebels” and the “Government of Assad,”are the whole problem? This untruth in fact is a fundamental contaminant of theprocess Mr. Kerry pushes, Geneva II.

Problem two, is the evident blind eye turned by anyone using the term “therebels” as though there is any one such thing, and that one could reliably counton this violent cacophony to produce negotiators that are truly representative.Everyone knows that Syria is Jihad-central for every ideologically misguided,violent criminal miscreant from Tunisia to Iran. An estimated 5,000 to 10,000foreign fighters have come to Syria since the outbreak of the uprising in March2011. Syrian Free Army leaders are being beheaded by anti-Assad Al-Qaeda, anti-Assad rebels are killing anti-Assad Al-Qaeda, and Al-Qaeda are killing innocentSyrian civilians

Al-Qaeda attacked the city of Hama, ignited dozens of cars and sent up a

column of smoke visible for miles around. One activist said the secondaryexplosions of bursting gas tanks had continued long after the initial blast.

Anyone who’s ever mediated and negotiated resolutions knows that it isimpossible to realize sound outcomes from asymmetric dialogue between aunified entity on one side, and a non-entity that only bears a name at all due tothe laziness of the media.

Problem three is that political and military elements make up only a small part of any clash, and this narrow cesspool of self interest (governments and military) isone of the worst bases from which to negotiate genuine reconciliation and theresolution of conflict. Unfortunately this narrow field is the only community Mr.Kerry represents. Governments operate in a lonely hubris of imaginingthemselves to be the sole arbiter of life in the world, when in fact their roles andresponsibilities should be understood as enormously constrained, and in factunrelated to vast swaths of the human experience, including human familyrelations, religious and spiritual commitments, personal histories, dreams, andaspirations, culture and our shared treasures of matter and meaning.Governments have no affinity or innate orientation for any such things, and

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 John Kerry, Geneva II, and the Syria Talks ProblemFrank KaufmannOctober 24, 2013

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cannot and should not be expected to speak to them. They don't urge peace, atbest they urge compromise, and usually Faustian compromise at that.

 The government has proven itself very capable of relating to non-governmententities for bad, greedy, and selfish purposes, as seen in the evil revolving door of money and politics. So why can’t government show itself to be capable of relatingto non-government entities for good purposes, like bringing about peace andreconciliation for example. Kerry and the US should engage, incorporate, andsupport the many many track 2 initiatives for peace desperately carried out bypeople and institutions, in ways governments (e.g., the US State department)simply could never do.

Should Secretary Kerry push for Geneva II to happen next month? No. The

conditions are not there. Should Secretary Kerry push just as hard for significantpeace efforts to continue with support and resources full steam ahead? Yes. The10s of peace seeking initiatives, including those actually capable of makingheadway on the “rebel representative” problem should be sought and engaged,and the desperate and urgent need to end the horrors in Syria should occupygenuine focus, attention, and resources of John Kerry, and of us all.