Because Iran fights regime change in Syria, they've been disinvited from peace talks in Geneva. The Russians are Pissed Too!
Presumably pressured by the usual suspects to exclude Iran from the Geneva 2 talks, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon moved one step closer to diluting the possibility of any real progress towards Syria's peace in the near term. Tampering, meddling and influencing, under the guise of helpful and impartial mediation, will at best, lead to another Western backed flunky the region will ultimately reject. To consider the worst of all outcomes, is far to dire to contemplate at this time.
The good old days of taking advantage of a nation in crises in order to install a partner Western powers can depend on to keep "the natives" in line are over in most parts of the world. The Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) is experiencing an extremely violent transition period and no external force can do anymore than provide humanitarian support for Syria's refugees and growing diaspora until a cessation of hostilities can be achieved.
Like an out of control wildfire, Syria's civil war has spread beyond any previously defined borders. This is now a fight along sectarian and ideological lines. It is because the conflict has devolved into a free-for-all brawl, everybody and their mother feel they have a right to engage. Since the West can't demonstrate how strong the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutions and Armed Forces really is and if they truly represent the will of Syria's majority, the only approach for the Western outsider is to let it burnout naturally.
From a purely humanitarian perspective, the "hands-off and mind my own damn business" policy appears ruthlessly heartless, but when mankind is determined to solve its problems by drowning itself in a toilette of its own blood, the only thing to do is avoid the splash-back.
With the United States lacking the credibility of an honest broker, the Obama administration is in no position to determine who is allowed a voice in the negotiations and who should be excluded. While the U.S. has just enough clout for the moment, to sway the minds of weaker players, the end result will be the same; Iran's objections to the installation of a transitional government will eventually be considered seriously.
After Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki the West can't afford to create and support another unreliable, unstable and thoroughly corrupt loser. Apparently Washington's defense, national security and foreign policy strategist have paid little attention to the history of U.S. foreign relations, as the Obama administration is poised to revive and regurgitate policies and practices that have been ending consistently in abject failure.
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