During the GLOBALO breakfast at the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Ambassador ret James D. Bindenagel, now Henry Kissinger Professor for Governance and International Security at Bonn University, discussed possible solutions to the Syrian crisis.
Professor Bindenagel proposed the establishment of safe zones in Syria for the millions of displaced refugees within the country. He was one of the guests at Globalo’s breakfast event on “Codes of Tolerance: Christian Minorities and Daesh.”
Bishop Elias Toumeh, who also attended the breakfast voiced his support for the idea.
Mr. Bindenagel is the most successful diplomat of the United States of America in the last decades, as he has negotiated two of the most innovative and important international agreements.
He was appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues in 1999 and negotiated a compensation of USD 7 billion by the German government and industry.
Later he served as Special U.S. Negotiator for “conflict diamonds”. Now more than 30 countries and De Beer have signed the ban of blood-diamonds.
In both cases he was successful in establishing far reaching comprehensive deals that continue to shape the global order.
His ideas for Syria:
- Regarding the Syrian conflict, Mr Bindenagel pointed to the example of the no fly zones established after the Persian Gulf war to protect the Kurdish minority. In 1991 Operation Provide Comfort achieved exactly what is needed today. As a result of Western commitment to the Kurds, Iraqi troops were withdrawn from the Kurdish regions.The Kurds in turn achieved a de facto autonomy that lasts to this day.
- He pointed out that the same people who oversaw this operation are still active today and could influence the American and Turkish governments to try this.
- This example proves that a compete protection can indeed be established in certain designated areas.