John Kerry insists on benefits of "Trans-Atlantic values"

As part of his latest speech in the context of the office of the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry urged his audience at the Munich conference to express the will and courage in order to resolve the current crisis, as it was done 50 years ago, the head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza Orhan Sattorov reports. "Let us remember 1963, when we were constantly speaking about the achievement of peace and felt a new reality here in Germany, seeing the barbed wire which separated the country. We said that if anyone had doubts about the existence of the Cold War he should come to Berlin. I was a young man at that time and studied in Switzerland. Being in Europe, I saw what war was and its consequences. The cold war is in the past, but the situation requires some courage and will again. The number of crises is unprecedented now. We have a large number of hot spots and failed states,’’ John Kerry said.

According to him, Europe is in the most difficult crisis since World War II. "50% of the Middle Eastern population is ready to knock on Europe's door. A whole smuggling industry has been created around this, and many people use it for political purposes. We don’t think that the US is protected from these problems problems either. The US understands the existential nature of the life threat to Europe, that is why we are involved in the NATO operations in order to block the routes and stop the flow of migration due to safety threats to Europe,’’ the US Secretary of State said.

At the same time, John Kerry underlined that the United States expects that Europe will escape the current crisis and it will make it stronger than it had been before. "Many Europeans believe these problems are irresistible, including that the EU potentially lost the UK. But we believe that Europe will overcome this crisis if it remains united, and we are interested in the United Kingdom remaining in a strong European Union,’’ he said, assuring the audience that the US and EU are transatlantic partners, which "support each other in difficult times."

Like other European leaders, the Secretary of State pointed to Russia as an enemy of the West, and once again ignoring the content of the Minsk agreements named the Russian Federation as one of the parties to the conflict in Ukraine and urged it "to realize Minsk-2 or to live under sanctions’’ demanding that full humanitarian access to the occupied territories be given from Moscow, despite the fact that today Russia is the only country regularly providing humanitarian assistance to Donbas.

At the same time, he urged Kiev to fulfill the Minsk agreements. "Ukraine has a certain responsibility for Minsk-2, and it is important for Kiev to fulfill its part of the agreements,’’ Kerry said.

Speaking about the actions of the USA in terms of the fight against extremism, he recalled the terrorist attacks in Sinai, Paris, Ankara and Istanbul and said: "A coalition is working against the terrorists, which includes the NATO countries and the European Union. Our military personnel meet daily. We understand that it is impossible to defeat Daesh immediately. President Obama is determined to make progress in as little time as possible. The President demands new initiatives from the military."

Welcoming the decision of the European countries to join the fight against terrorism, Kerry said, "We have conducted over 10,000 flights, sent special forces to Iraq and Syria, expelled 40% of the terrorists from Iraq and 20% from Syria and liberated Tikrit, Shinji, Cobán and Ramadi. The military operation is being extended daily, but it is necessary to work in the economic direction in order to deprive Daesh of its income. In recent months we've been able to fight oil production and banking communications more effectively. The results are obvious – the militants’ salaries were cut by 50%."

Kerry mentioned another focus of Kerry of the fight against recruiters of Daesh. "In view of the reduction of cash earnings and the constant danger, more and more militants want to leave the region. We are fighting a perversion of Islam and individual terrorists propaganda. We opened centers in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, where experts on Islam inform truthful information about it."

Speaking about humanitarian support for victims of the conflict, Kerry said that the whole region responds to this challenge: "Turkey received more than 2500 refugees, Lebanon, Jordan and Europe provide shelter to millions of people, and Europe, particularly Chancellor Angela Merkel, courageously overcomes this challenge. We must support those who said "no" to racism and intolerance. Our commitment to these values ​​will help  change lives for the better."

The Secretary of State admitted that the crisis doesn't affect the daily life in the US. "We will allocate an additional $525 million in addition to $4 billion for assistance to refugees, but the allocation of funds won’t solve the problem, as we cannot always allocate money. We have to end this war and the only way to do it is to achieve a political settlement in Syria. If the international community and the Syrians miss an opportunity to stop the conflict, the suffering of children, women and violence will continue. And all talk will be useless. Cynicism and distrust of the people toward their leaders will only reinforce. If this attempt fails, then the attractiveness of jihad will increase. Therefore, the International Syria Support Group has agreed with the principles aimed at ensuring stability of an inclusive nature in Syria," Kerry stated once again, repeating this would be impossible if the current president Bashar al-Assad remains in power.

Sergey Lavrov said in Munich: "A ceasefire in Syria is possible with coordination between the Russian Federation and the coalition’’ about agreements reached by the International Syria Support Group.

Despite the very close contact with Lavrov in recent days, who quite convincingly explains how Russian Aerospace Forces operate in Syria, Kerry still sticks to the opinion that the vast majority of Russian attacks were carried out on legitimate opposition groups. "It is necessary to change the purpose of Russian strikes, the  group [of Syria's Support] agreed that it would happen. Sergey Lavrov promised that we will decide together how to airstrike. It is impossible to ensure access of humanitarian aid and a ceasefire without determining all the aspects – humanitarian, political and military. We must decide how airstrikes will be carried out and where in order not to prevent the people from reaching a political settlement ... We have reached a turning point. The decisions that are to be adopted in the coming weeks will either put an end to the war or exacerbate the situation. The end to the conflict should be based on the coordination of the process of a political settlement."

According to the US Secretary of State, a lot of people are concerned about the future of Europe due to the influx of refugees: ‘‘Some people expressed pessimistic opinions, but we have a reason for optimism. The reason for this optimism is the scale, strength, capacity and sustainability of our alliance. Yes, there are serious problems in the world, but the situation has changed. The difference between the 1990s and 2015 lies in the fact that the infant mortality rate has significantly reduced, life expectancy has significantly increased, the number of those living in poverty has fallen by half. 75 years ago millions of refugees escaped from Europe due to the crimes of fascism. In the course of 50 years, half of the European population lived behind the "Iron Curtain". The transatlantic community resisted attempts to divide us and play each other off. And now we need to go beyond  today’s dangers and turn our hopes to the future,’’ Kerry said. However, he mentioned that the United States is to increase its presence in Europe. ‘‘We will increase additional combat brigades in central and eastern Europe fourfold, so that our presence could be more visible, not only military, but also economic. We are to ensure economic growth and employment on both sides of the Atlantic,’’ the US Secretary of State promised, leaving the political scene.