'US, UK sabotage any attempts at Syria settlement'

The US and Britain have willfully sabotaged any attempts at negotiated settlement in Syria or peace they’ve insisted on; they want Syria to become the failed state that they’ve turned Iraq and Libya into, according to political writer Dan Glazebrook.

The recent UN Security Council session devolved into a conflict between the Russian and American ambassadors, with both accusing each other of failures in Aleppo. Moreover, UN Under-Secretary General Stephen O'Brien referred to the embattled city as a "kill zone." Russia's envoy Vitaly Churkin criticized him for that statement.

When the time came for the Syrian representative to speak, US envoy Samantha Power chose to leave the room.

RT: Both the UN Under-Secretary General and America's envoy seemed to dismiss the humanitarian pause put in place by Russia. Why would they criticize efforts to help the people of Aleppo?

Dan Glazebrook: This has been the track record of the US and Britain since the start of the Syrian conflict – is that they willfully sabotaged any attempts at a negotiated settlement or peace they’ve insisted on. They’ve insisted on the government effectively admitting defeat as a precondition for talks to continue - a ridiculous demand that was obviously intended to sabotage negotiations. We’ve seen this continuously since 2011. We’ve seen every time the rebels have suffered military setbacks and look like they might be considering negotiations that the British in particular and also the US have stepped up either directly or through their proxies – Saudi Arabia and so on –arms and supplies, and so on to try and boost the morale of the rebels, tell them to keep fighting, to not negotiate. Even in the most recent supposed cessation of hostilities [there was] a direct attack by British and US forces on Syrian government troops resulting in 200 casualties…

[They] are not interested in peace; they want to keep this war ongoing. They want Syria to become the failed state that they’ve turned Iraq and Libya into. They don’t want the restoration of government authority. Yet, it is that restoration of government authority across Syria that is the best chance and the best hope for peace, and that is why they are scared that this peace is about to break out. That is why we’re seeing the British Ambassador shedding crocodile tears at the UN, when the reality is – this is the same British government that killed from one to two million people in these invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan...destroyed Libya, created the migrant crisis… 

RT: Russia offered to work alongside the US army in escorting civilians out of Aleppo, but Washington rejected their offer, and then criticized the initiative. How can America criticize if it’s not willing to help?

DG: This just confirms everything that I have just said. They will dismiss, or worse – deliberately undermine, or try to scupper - any attempts to alleviate the suffering on the ground. This is in part because they want to see as many civilians die as possible in Russian and Syrian airstrikes; this is a good propaganda for them, because their line is – it is only Russian bombs that kill civilians, only Syrian bombs that kill civilians, and never British bombs or American bombs…