Assad's Non-Conflict-Ending Speech

Today in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad gave a defiant speech at the city's opera house, ostensibly to offer a plan to resolve the ongoing conflict/civil war that has been roiling Syria for the past 20 months.  Assad's "plan," however, seemed largely divorced from the reality of the situation in Syria, the demands of the opposition, or the hopes of international observers.  As the New York Times notes:

"[Mr. Assad] offered no new acknowledgment of the gains by the rebels fighting against him, the excesses of his government or the aspirations of the Syrian people. Mr. Assad also ruled out talks with the armed opposition and pointedly ignored its central demand that he step down . . . ."

Indeed, Assad used most of his speech to attack the Syrian opposition, reiterating the regime's propaganda line that the opposition groups are made up of "foreigners," "terrorists," and "takfiris."  The Syrian dictator asserted that, "[b]ecause takfiri thought is strange to our country, they [the Syrian opposition] had to import it from abroad, whether in terrorists or thought [sic.] . . . Thus, takfiris, terrorists, Qaeda members calling themselves jihadis streamed from everywhere to command the combat operations on the ground."

Assad seemed to cut off the possibility of negotiations with most of the Syrian opposition groups, stating that "[w]e will have dialogue with all parties and individuals that did not sell our country to the foreigner" and wondering "with whom shall we dialogue - those who are carrying extremist thinking, and do not believe [in anything] except [] blood, killing and terrorism?"

In terms of ending the conflict, Assad offered a three-stage plan with various sub-parts.  We're just going to block-quote it from the somewhat jumbled English translation published by the Lebanon Daily Star:

"The first stage: First of all, regional and foreign countries must stop funding, arming and harbouring militants at the same time that gunmen stop all terrorist operations in order to ease the return of displaced Syrians to their original homes in safety and security.

Immediately after that, all military operations by our armed forces will stop, though they will reserve the right to respond in the case of attack on the security of the nation or residents or public and private property.

Second, a mechanism will be created to ensure commitment to all previous agreements for controlling the borders.

Third, the current government will immediately begin intensive communications with all elements of Syrian society, its parties and organisations...It will hold a national dialogue conference that all forces interested in a solution in Syria can participate in.

The second stage: First, the current government will hold a comprehensive national dialogue to reach a national pact that commits to the sovereignty of Syria and the unity and peace of its territory and the rejection of intervention in its affairs and the rejection of terrorism and violence in all its forms.

This pact is what will outline the political future of Syria and will propose a new constitutional and legal system along with its political and economic features. It will agree on new laws for parties, elections and local administration.

Second, the national pact will be sent for popular referendum.

Third, an expanded government will be formed, which includes all elements of Syrian society and it will implement the articles of the pact.

Fourth, the new constitution will be put to popular referendum and after it is confirmed, the expanded government will use the new agreed laws from the pact and the new constitution and will run new parliamentary elections.

The third stage will be the forming of a new government according to the constitution.

Second, a truth and reconciliation conference will be held and a general amnesty will be issued for all those arrested because of the events, in keeping with civil law.

Third will be the work towards rehabilitating infrastructure and rebuilding and compensation to citizens hurt by events."

Yeah . . . Anyway, in other words, if you were looking for a quick and/or comparatively bloodless plan for ending the Syrian conflict, you ain't going to find it here.  No surprises there.  But it really seems like Assad still hasn't read the writing on the wall and is willing to continue sticking to his guns - literally.  Expect more bloodshed, greater conflict, and a continuously rising death toll.  As expected, members of the Syrian opposition have sharply criticized the speech, and it is unlikely to have any immediate effect on the fighting/killing going on on the ground.

Also, here is the full video of the speech, courtesy of (*gag*) PressTV: