by Stephen Lendman

On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov ruled out further ministerial meetings with America and other nations on Syria until they comply with earlier agreements reached – notably in Geneva last month, saying:

“Frankly, right now I do not see any preconditions for the ministerial meeting. Of course, the ministers are deciding, the situation may change quickly enough. Of course, everything depends on the evolution of the situation on the ground. But, as of today, at issue is the fulfillment of existing arrangements.”

Moscow and Damascus alone observe them scrupulously. Without full compliance from all parties involved in the conflict, diplomatic resolution remains unattainable.

“Nothing of what has been required in the past three days took place, so now the issue of renewing the humanitarian pause is irrelevant,” Ryabkov added.

“The humanitarian pause ended on Saturday. It is clear that in order to return to it, our opponents need to ensure the adequate behavior of anti-government troops that, in particular, disrupted the medical evacuation intended during the preceding humanitarian pause.”

Has Russia finally come around to realize the futility of negotiating with Washington diplomatically? Years of good faith efforts failed every time. Nothing suggests a change of US policy.

Lunatics in charge don’t negotiate. They demand, wanting control over all other nations, their resources and populations, tolerating no sovereign independent ones – using force to topple their governments when other methods fail.

Over the past generation, each US administration exceeded the worst of its predecessors, begging with the first two Clinton co-presidential terms.

Disaster may follow their return to power, likely escalating greater war on Syria, perhaps challenging Iran belligerently, along with seeking regime change in Russia and China – a hellish agenda if undertaken, risking cataclysmic nuclear war.

Russia would be well advised to liberate key parts of Syria before both Clintons assume power – launching a much more muscular effort than so far, starting off their neocon administration on the back foot, making it harder for them to counter what’s been accomplished.

Stop-and-go tactics play to America’s advantage. So does engaging in diplomacy, knowing it’s futile to resolve things.

I’ve said before the only language lunatics infesting Washington understand is force. It’s long past time Russia gave them a bellyful in Syria, giving them pause to decide if they’ll risk war on the US homeland by going too far against a formidable adversary.

It’s hard being optimistic about what lies ahead with neocons infesting Hillary’s administration making policy.