Syria Audio Analysis: Dissecting US-Turkey Negotiations Over “Safe Havens” and a No-Fly Zone

PHOTO: US Vice President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

I spoke with Monocle 24’s The Daily on Monday night about the story — soon pulled back by Washington — that the US and Turkey are moving closer to agreement on safe havens and a no-fly zone in a limited area of northwest Syria.

Listen from 7:06 on The Daily’s homepage or in a pop-out window

See also Syria Special: A Proposal for the Crisis — Safe Havens and “Internal Containment”
Syria Daily. Dec 2: US and Turkey Agree on No-Fly Zone? Not Quite.

My pessimism that there will be an agreement is accompanied by the analysis of President Obama’s continued approach.

The bigger question that lies behind this is whether the United States will put a priority on removing the Assad regime from power or containing it, which is what the Turks really want, instead of Washington just saying, “It’s only the Islamic State.”…

At least for President Obama, carrying out the airstrikes on the Islamic State in Syria appears to be enough while the United States carries out a bigger fight in Iraq. However, for others such as Secretary of State Chuck Hagel — who just resigned — this is not enough. The Turks are telling the Americans the same thing….

But President Obama has backed away, time and time again, has backed away from working with the insurgency. He fears they are extremist. He fears they are almost as jihadist as the Islamic State. That’s stood in the way of the Americans pursing a coherent strategy.