Late-breaking news from the Bizarro World:
Despite the fact the breakdown of the ceasefire achieved through the mediation of Russia and the United States was preceded by systematic ceasefire violations on the part of the opposition, to which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov drew the attention of his western counterparts, the initiators of the emergency meeting of the Security Council tried to emphasize violations on the part of Damascus.
[…]
Given the abruptly increasing pressure from the West, the opposition, which the West calls “moderate,” has also delivered a new blow to Moscow’s peacekeeping efforts. A communiqué by the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, which unites thirty groups, states that, “as a sponsor and partner of a regime committing crimes against our people,” Moscow’s further mediation is unacceptable.
In this situation, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, was forced to admit for the first time, during the Security Council meeting, that a return to peace in Syria had become an almost impossible task.
Source: Kommersant, September 25, 2016; translated by the Russian Reader
Meanwhile, back on our planet:
As the situation in Syria worsens, the White Helmets are risking their lives to save Syrians trapped and injured by airstrikes and fighting.
They’re a group of volunteers who act as first responders to bombardments.
Ammar Salmo is a spokesman for the White Helmets who says the situation on the ground is worsening by the day.
‘It’s doomsday right now in Aleppo,’ he says.
‘I want the people of the world to move, to make something for humanity.’
The Russian Reader 