Kofi Annan of the UN and Russia's Vladimir Putin make no progress on Syria

     Although the Russian President claimed that he would do everything he could to support Anna's six point peace plan meant to end the violence in Syria neither side seems to be willing to make the plan work or  follow its directives. Violence has been constantly increasing. There is now an obvious civil war in Syria.
    This is Annan's first meeting with the Russian president since Putin won a third term. Annan hopes to avoid a Russian veto of a new resolution that threatens Syria with new sanctions. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov insisted he could "see no reason why we cannot also agree at the UN Security Council. We are ready for this". However, so far there is no sign Moscow is willing to take a harder line against the Syrian president or his regime.
   Putin maintained: "From the very start, from the first steps, we supported and continue to support your efforts aimed at restoring civil peace,"  However, Annan's efforts have so far come to naught as the fighting continues to increase rather than decrease. There is a Friday deadline for the monitors mission to end or receive an extension.
     A western backed resolution is being presented on Wednesday that threatens Syrian authorities with sanctions if they use heavy weapons in towns. Russia promises to block this move. The west insists that Assad step down as a condition of any resolution of the conflict. However Assad shows no sign of willingness to do so even though some officials who were part of his inner circle have now defected. For more see this article.

Syria accepts UN peace plan

Kofi Annan praised Syria's acceptance of the six point plan. However, it remains to be seen if Assad will carry out the requirements. In the past he has often simply continued with his crackdown. Annan said that acceptance of the plan was a first step to creating a dialogue between the government and opposition.

There is to be a cease-fire by the government forces and a two hour halt to allow humanitarian aid in conflict areas. There are also to be talks to attempt to agree to a political solution.

The opposition in the form of the Syrian National Council welcomed the plan and the Assad government's response. Bassma Kodmani a member of the group said: “we welcome all acceptance by the regime of a plan that could allow the repression and bloodbath to stop.”We hope that we can move toward a peace process,”

For his part Assad said:"Syria is ready to make a success of any honest effort to find a solution for the events it is witnessing." But Assad added that he cannot stop protecting his citizens. Translated that might mean he cannot stop shelling rebel held areas. I hope my translation is incorrect. Assad said:"No political dialogue or political activity can succeed while there are armed terrorist groups operating and spreading chaos and instability,” Given that Al Qaeda linked groups will keep on with terror attacks Assad's statement is not a good omen. He will use any violence to maintain his own violence.

Both Russia and China support the UN initiative and so there will be considerable pressure on Assad to comply. For more see this article.