FT:
Once they were the diplomatic elite, swooping into hushed meetings with the movers and shakers of Syrian peace talks. But in the new political reality of Russian-dominated diplomacy in Syria, western envoys found themselves relegated with journalists to the plaid-carpeted Irish Pub of a hotel in Kazakhstan.
“We’re like party crashers . . . And we’re completely out of the loop,” one joked, as he and other officials traded information gleaned from rebels or the UN envoy, who was invited by Russia and Turkey, the new power brokers of Syria’s near six-year conflict.
In an era when US dominance of Middle East diplomacy has faded, some rebels smirked at the sight of the western diplomats sidelined. The US did not send an envoy to Astana, instead delegating its ambassador to Kazakhstan to keep an eye on the talks, which ended on Tuesday.
“I’m not feeling so sorry for the US or the west losing its role. They never really pushed for us,” grumbled one opposition delegate.
“Look where they are now — literally in a corner. They’re screwed,” he said, as pro-government journalists eyed him from under a cloud of cigarette smoke.
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Incompetence punished and banished.