Syrian Peace Talks

So the first day of the peace talks between Assad and the opposition have gone by and, after 27 minutes of discussion, an Agenda has been agreed/disagreed on multiple times and the talks have ended without, according to Lakhdar Brahimi (mediator) anything much has been accomplished. I think perhaps the main issue is that peace for Assad means him returning to power and killing all those who defied him (which will be a truck load of people) whereas peace for the opposition means the removal of Assad from power which will start with a heckled exit from the Presidential Palace in Damascus and probably end with an execution/lynching.

So first off, a little Background:

1963: Hafez Al-Assad takes power in Syria via military coup and puts country under "Emergency Rule" so he is basically dictator.

2000: Bashar Al-Assad comes to power and an intense period of political debate ensues. Country remains under emergency rule. Multiple human rights offences, incident of police brutality mark Bashar's rule.

2011:
-March Uprising in the city of Daraa sparks Nation wide protest in response to which Assad sends in his military, causing defections and massacres in equal measure.

-July: Free Syrian Army created out of ex army officers and civilian volunteers.

-October: FSA receives backing from Turkey, using a location within its borders as their HQ.

-Several bloody sieges such as Homs and Idlib result in tens of thousands of civilian casualties a long with the "Ramadam Massacre", a country wide crackdown by the Syrian Government killing 142 politicians, generals and other suspected ring leaders or potential "troublemakers".

Other important things:
Sieges of Aleppo and Damascus have been both very important and very bloody with both sides complaining of the usage of chemical weapons and the Assad deploying Gunships, tanks and Infantry Fighting Vehicles against both protests and legitimate hostiles.

Balance of power:
Tactically Assad has armoured vehicles, jets and helicopters. The FSA have usually untrained and poorly equipped fighters.
Strategically: FSA has a lot more support, seemingly, in Syria.

Key Stats:
Over 100,000 people have died.
9.5 Million people have been forced to flee from their homes.

Okay so that is basically how it started (and a broad view of the type of conflict). Throughout the war there have been several ceasefire attempts, with all of them failing usually due to military action by one of the sides during the attempted ceasefire talks. There have been also 16 complaints of chemical weapons to the UN.

So why did these talks fail?
Well the proposed plan was to have the second round of negotiations discussing a transitional government and the third round discussing an end to the violence on the ground. The Assad regime have rejected this plan on the grounds that the "terrorism" must be dealt with first. Equally the opposition are pushing for a transitional government without Assad's involvement which is something that the Assad Regime obviously will not agree to (in fact it is doubtful if they will agree to a transitional government at all).

There is of course a major issue over the secularism of the new Syria. Many of the opposition groups are Muslim fundamentalists or at least have a strong religious background. The Syrian Army, however, are a secular organisation but it is debatable as to how many opposition fighters they directly command on the ground and how much of the anti Assad forces are under their control and so therefore how much of the fighting will be stopped by their signing of a ceasefire and how much of a say they will have in the new political system of Syria. This is the main reason that western military aid has been so limited.

Differing perceptions of the conflict.
Another issue, as I see it, is the different perceptions of the Syrian conflict. In Britain and America most news stations report it as a popular uprising by the people against a pretty hideous regime whereas on Russia today a lot of the coverage sees it as a western instigated  uprising, or at least the "independent speakers" take that line. Personally I am more inclined to believe the BBC.

Final thoughts on the future.
Well some progress has been made. Relief is being delivered to the embattled city of Homs and burden of famine is being reduced but I find it hard to see the peace talks accomplishing a huge amount with such hatred between the two sides a long with a total lack of common ground. Still, we shall have to see.