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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 26 (ANI): <keyword id="15323576" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jio-financial-services" source="Orion">Jio Financial Services</keyword> Limited (JFS) and BlackRock [NYSE: BLK] on Wednesday announced an agreement to form <keyword id="18155266" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="jio-blackrock" source="Orion">Jio BlackRock</keyword>, a 50:50 joint venture that combines the respective strengths and trusted brands of BlackRock and JFS to deliver tech-enabled access to affordable, innovative investment solutions for millions of investors in India. According to a press release, Jio BlackRock brings BlackRock's deep expertise and talent in investment management, risk management, product excellence, and access to technology, operations, scale, and intellectual capital around markets, while JFS contributes local market knowledge, digital infrastructure capabilities, and robust execution capabilities. "Together, the partnership will introduce a new player to the Indian market with a unique combination of scope, scale, and resources. JFS and BlackRock are targeting an initial investment of US$150 million each in the joint venture", it added <keyword id="4992253" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rachel-lord" source="Orion">Rachel Lord</keyword>, Chair and Head of APAC, BlackRock said, "India represents an enormously important opportunity. The convergence of rising affluence, favorable demographics, and digital transformation across industries is reshaping the market in incredible ways. We are very excited to be partnering with JFS to revolutionize India's asset management industry and transform financial futures. Jio BlackRock will place the combined strength and scale of both of our companies in the hands of millions of investors in India." Speaking on this transaction, Hitesh Sethia, President and CEO, JFS said, "This is an exciting partnership between JFS and BlackRock, one of the largest and most respected asset management companies globally. The partnership will leverage BlackRock's deep expertise in investment and risk management along with the technology capability and deep market expertise of JFS to drive the digital delivery of products. Jio BlackRock will be a truly transformational, customer-centric, and digital-first enterprise with the vision to democratize access to financial investment solutions and deliver financial well-being to the doorstep of every Indian." The joint venture will launch operations post-receipt of regulatory and statutory approvals. The company will have its own management team. BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being, the release stated. "As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock", it further stated. Further, the release said, "<keyword id="18155200" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="blackrock-india" source="Orion">BlackRock India</keyword> is at the very heart of our global operating platform, enabling us to innovate our business to benefit clients. Over the past 17 years, our India platform has grown to over 2,400 employees across offices in Mumbai, Gurgaon, and Bangalore powering our global network by employing talents across investments, alternatives, operations, analytics and modelling, and corporate functions." Jio Financial Services Limited (JFS) through its operating subsidiaries and joint ventures will offer a broad range of financial services solutions addressing the needs of both consumers and merchants. JFS will use technology as a key enabler to reach customers directly, it added. (ANI)

Jio Financial services and BlackRock to form India asset management joint venture

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Russia has begun using an Iranian air base to launch airstrikes against rebel groups and militants inside Syria for the first time, the Russian <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> ministry confirmed on Tuesday.It is the first time since Moscow intervened in the war on behalf of Syrian president Bashar Assad in last September that Russian warplanes have used a foreign nation as a base for their air operations, apart from the two air bases Russia established last year inside Syria itself.It is also apparently the first time since before the 1979 Iranian revolution that Tehran has allowed a foreign power to use its territory for military operations, Reuters reported.For many analysts, it's a sign that Russia has no plans to wind down its air campaign anytime soon. The use of Hamadan air base in northwest Iran, they say, is designed to facilitate more intense operations while demonstrating a strengthened Russian-Iranian axis aimed at further deterring US involvement in the region."Basing out of Iran saves Russians hassle and fuel," Andrew Tabler, the Martin J. Gross fellow in the Program on Arab <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Politics">Politics</keyword> at The Washington Institute, told Business Insider on Tuesday. "But its more important politically in showing Russia on the side of the Iranians in the overall regional fight in Syria."Analysts seem to agree that Russia's use of the air base is more&#xa0;a political move than a dramatic change in military strategy. But they also note that the use of Hamadan will at least allow Russia to increase the tempo of its air campaign in Syria - perhaps not coincidentally, the use of Hamadan comes as pro-Assad forces suffer setbacks in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, where rebel forces are on the verge of breaking a month-long government siege.Roughly 275,000 people remain in the rebel-held eastern half of the city.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>"Russia was already free to use Iranian airspace," Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Washington, DC-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider on Tuesday.He continued: Jeff White, a military analyst and defense fellow at The Washington Institute, largely echoed that assessment."Deployment of the Tu-22M3 [warplanes] to Hamedan allows for shorter turn around times for Tu-22M3 missions, less wear and tear on the aircrew, less fuel costs, and increased weapons loads," White told Business Insider.For now, he said,&#xa0;the use of Hamadan will likely result in an&#xa0;incremental increase in Russian capabilities, "not a sea change."<h2>'A pretty big deal'</h2>The development comes amid negotiations between the US and Russia <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-coordination-with-russia-in-syria-2016-7">to further coordinate</a> their respective air campaigns against al-Qaeda's former offshoot in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra. Nusra severed ties with Al-Qaeda earlier this month and changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS).It is still unclear how this plan will be affected by the newly-fortified Russian-Iranian military alliance, which is expected to give&#xa0;Moscow&#xa0;more leverage and influence in the region as it is boosted by Tehran - a fellow Assad ally."Increased activity on&#xa0;the Russians' part could lead to more issues deconflicting their&#xa0;air operations over Syria with the US',&#xa0;but that is probably manageable," White said. He continued: <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Obama administration officials&#xa0;- who, <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e0033388dea948268a21a149ab112bf1/latest-iran-allows-russia-use-base-syria-strikes">according to the AP</a>, were not aware of Russia's intentions to begin launching air strikes from Hamadan on Tuesday - might spin&#xa0;the development as the result of greater&#xa0;US-Russian collaboration&#xa0;in Syria, White&#xa0;added,&#xa0;which perhaps compelled the Iranians to&#xa0;take on a greater role&#xa0;in the anti-ISIS effort.Still, there is no evidence that Russia will use the base&#xa0;to intensify its air campaign solely against the Islamic State or JFS. The vast majority of Russian airstrikes over the past 11 months have targeted non-jihadist rebel groups in northwest Syria,&#xa0;many of whom are backed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and the US.Russia's defense ministry said&#xa0;the first airstrikes launched from Hamadan on Tuesday had targeted ISIS&#xa0;as well as&#xa0;JFS&#xa0;in Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces. But&#xa0;Russia has consistently used JFS'&#xa0;presence among non-jihadist rebel groups - which often coordinate with JFS&#xa0;against regime forces - as an excuse to target and eliminate any and all opposition to&#xa0;Assad.Indeed, JFS - as part of a&#xa0;military alliance of several rebel brigades known as Jaysh al Fateh, or the Army of Conquest - <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/syria-aleppo-opposition-groups-battle-2016-8">played a big role</a> in helping non-jihadist Free Syrian Army fighters regain control over a significant portion of Aleppo last week.<h2>A long time coming?</h2>It appears that Russia has been preparing to use Hamadan as a base of operations since at least late last year.In November 2015, Russian jets were pictured on satellite images on the tarmac at the Iranian air base, revealing&#xa0;an emboldened Russo-Iranian alliance despite some western predictions that the two countries had disparate objectives in the region.The planes were pictured there shortly after Turkey <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-turkey-downed-jet-2015-11">shot down a Russian warplane</a> in November, leading to tension between the former friends and necessitating a new, more reliable air corridor from Russia to Syria."That corridor must transit Iranian airspace, given the rising tensions between Russia and Turkey,"analysts at the American Enterprise Institute&#xa0;<a href="http://www.criticalthreats.org/russia/kagan-donovan-bucala-russo-iranian-coalition-in-syria-deepening-december-14-2015">noted in December.</a>"But the flights are long, and prudence requires the ability to set aircraft down on the way to or from their runs into what is, after all, a dangerous combat zone. Some sort of agreement for at least in extremis landing and maintenance operations in Iran is therefore necessary."<div></div>That agreement seems like a logical extension of Russia's growing military presence in the region from August 2015 onward - in late September, as Russia was preparing to launch&#xa0;its first airstrikes in Syria, Russian, Syrian, and Iranian military advisers <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russias-big-move-in-the-middle-east-2015-9">began&#xa0;building a coordination cell</a> in Baghdad in an effort to bolster Iranian-backed Shia militias fighting&#xa0;ISIS&#xa0;in northern Iraq.Shortly thereafter,&#xa0;Russia said it would supply Iran with its S-300 missile air defense system - a promise Moscow recently made good on. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-video-shows-the-devastation-after-atomic-bomb-drops-in-japan-2016-8">Never-before-seen video shows the devastation from the most powerful weapon ever used</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Z2cHE1NTE6F4Wa-RY6M_Gpyq14h9t1e_" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

'A pretty big deal': Russia's air campaign in Syria is about to get much deadlier

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Thomson ReutersUS Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday to discuss a resolution to the Syria crisis. The US has not been participating in the latest round of peace talks in Ankara, however.</div></div></div>The US was shut out of a new round of secret negotiations between Russia and Syrian rebel factions hosted by Turkish officials in Ankara, a source within the Syrian opposition told Business Insider on Monday.The opposition source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the negotiations, said American officials were not invited to take part in the talks due to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-turkey-rapprochement-2016-10">recent tensions between Turkey and the US</a>."The US is totally out of these talks," the source said. "And they're pretty angry about it."The State Department would neither confirm nor deny that the US had been shut out of the talks. But an official pushed back against the notion that the Obama administration was vexed by the Turkey-brokered negotiations."We have seen reports of talks taking place between Russians and Syrian rebels and we would welcome any genuine efforts to ease the suffering of the Syrian people, particularly in Aleppo, which has endured so much hardship in recent months," the State Department official told Business Insider on Tuesday.The official also said that US representatives are "deeply engaged" with various partners on Syria."The US remains deeply engaged with the Turks, Russians, Saudis, and Qataris, our European allies, and the opposition in Syria," the official said. "Secretary Kerry met with [Russian] Foreign Minister Lavrov and Special Envoy [Staffan] de Mistura in Rome Friday, and has meetings with multilateral partners in Europe this week."The State Department <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/state-department-suspends-bilateral-channels-with-russia-over-syria-2016-10">announced in October</a> that the US was severing its bilateral channels with Russia over Syria amid Russia's "intensified attacks against civilian areas," aid workers, and hospitals in Aleppo. Kerry has continued to meet and speak regularly with Lavrov about Syria since then, however.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Gregorio Borgia/Pool/ReutersRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) attend a bilateral meeting in Rome, Italy December 2, 2016.</div></div></div>Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, did not say last week whether Russian officials were negotiating with Syrian opposition factions in Ankara."We need no mediators with the Syrian opposition, we have direct contacts," he told the Russian news agency TASS.Among those present at the Ankara talks, according to the opposition source, were representatives from the Islamist rebel coalition Ahrar al-Sham. The Islamist al-Zenki rebel faction, which received US-made anti-tank missiles between 2014 and 2015, was also present - <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/01/syrian-rebel-leaders-talks-russian-officials-attempt-end-bloodshed/">reportedly</a> at Russia's invitation.The talks have been aimed at securing a deal to deliver humanitarian aid into eastern Aleppo - the Syrian city that has been besieged and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/world/middleeast/aleppo-syria-bombs-hospital.html">under relentless aerial bombardment</a> for more than three weeks - in exchange for the evacuation of extremists groups like former Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS)."Russia has indicated it would be willing to accept aid access and local council control of the east, in return for JFS's withdrawal," Charles Lister, a Syria researcher with close ties the opposition, tweeted on Saturday.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Reuters</div></div></div>Chatter had also grown that the Free Syrian Army, a prominent opposition faction, was also considering withdrawing from eastern Aleppo. But "that is not true," Asaad Hanna, a member of the Free Syrian Army Northern Division's political office, told Business Insider on Tuesday."We will keep fighting," Hanna said. "There are no preparations being made for the FSA to evacuate, and civilians haven't asked us to, either. They feel they need protection from the [Iran-backed] militias and Hezbollah."Forces backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including Iranian-led Shia militias and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, took back roughly 40% of the rebels' territory in eastern Aleppo last week amid heavy airstrikes from Russian and Syrian warplanes.Turkey has apparently been urging Russia to stop the bombing long enough for the 100 to 400 JFS fighters in eastern Aleppo to exit the city, so that they will no longer be embedded with more moderate rebel groups and civilians. Amid thawing relations with Turkey, Russia was considering the request.As of Tuesday, however, a deal had still not been finalized. The talks are expected to continue throughout the week.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Reuters/Omar SanadikiPeople that came back to inspect their homes walk near goverment soldiers in goverment controlled Hanono housing district in Aleppo, Syria December 4, 2016.</div></div></div>Further complicating the negotiations is the feeling that Russia - which changed the tide of the war when it intervened on behalf of Assad in October 2015 - may be losing influence in Aleppo."The Russians would prefer to have a ceasefire, to help their relations with Turkey and show they are interested in peace, but the regime and the Iranians - they don't care," Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who is now political adviser to the opposition High Negotiations Committee, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/01/russians-talk-with-syrian-rebels-as-eastern-aleppo-runs-out-of-food">told The Guardian last week.</a>"They want to take all of Aleppo," Barabandi said. "For the Russians, failing to achieve a ceasefire in Aleppo will show just how weak they are." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-plane-drops-armored-humvees-5000-feet-2016-11">Watch the Air Force drop 8 armored Humvees out of a plane from 5,000 feet</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="gzdjYxNTE6U-A9W52vTBW0yzCfHK7zo2" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Turkey is hosting a new round of peace talks between Russia and Syrian rebels - and it looks like the US wasn't invited

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Ammar AbdullahFighters of the Syrian Islamist rebel group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham cheer on a pick truck after a Russian helicopter had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016.</div></div></div>One rebel group in Syria just denounced its terrorist ties, and its leaders are already trying to rehabilitate its image in the media.Jabhat al-Nusra's split from Al Qaeda is largely thought to be a public-relations move, and it could help the group achieve its ultimate goal in Syria - establishing an Islamic emirate not unlike the one ISIS has declared across the Middle East.Sheikh Mostafa Mahamed, a senior leader within the newly established Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/rebels-unite-in-fight-against-horsemen-of-syrian-apocalypse-10541843">spoke to Sky News this week</a> in a rare interview given to a Western media outlet. Mahamed was educated in Australia, speaks fluent English, and now coordinates with the Western press.In his interview with Sky, he marketed JFS as a defender of the Syrian people and insisted the group's ideology is in line with what the population wants."It's very clear here that by extension [Western governments] are trying to infer that our ideology is completely alien to the general masses of the Syrian population and we totally reject that," Mahamed said. "If Western governments are expecting us to come out and say we want liberal, Western democracy, secular democracy, they have to understand that as a Muslim society our core beliefs and values define all spheres of our life."He also advocated establishing a "system of governance that will remove oppression" and "see justice for everyone." He lamented that Sharia law has a bad reputation in the West.Abu Faisal, a Syrian aid worker who goes by a pseudonym, explained what this means."The primary goal of the split is that al-Nusra now sees itself with a real opportunity to actually govern significant parts of Syria, nothing any Al Qaeda franchise has ever dreamed of," he told Business Insider via email. "Even though it's Al Qaeda's stated goal to create/run an Islamic State, it was always more of a dream than reality."Now that the group has denounced its ties to Al Qaeda, it has a better chance of winning popular support.JFS is selling the split as a move toward unification of Syria's rebel groups against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, including Russia and Iran. Despite the terrorist presence inside Syria, the Assad regime is still widely regarded as the primary enemy of the Syrian people. The Assad regime has relentlessly bombed civilians and killed more people in the country than ISIS or Al Qaeda.Jabhat al-Nusra proved to be one of the most well-armed and effective groups fighting the Assad regime on the ground. Its resources alone gained the group many members, but some were still put off by its terrorist image.And al-Nusra ran into problems in Idlib province, where the population rebelled once it tried to govern."Al-Nusra is mostly Syrians and that is on purpose, to make them more palatable to locals," FAisal said. "But still, the only problem was that al-Nusra was Al Qaeda. Most Syrians could not accept this no matter how effective al-Nusra was against the regime. People will cheer them in battle, but when they tried to rule using very similar methods to ISIS, people would push back and say 'go back to the front, your place is not here.'"That could change now that al-Nusra has rebranded.The rebrand <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-rare-interview-with-an-experienced-al-qaeda-commander-shows-how-the-group-is-using-isis-to-make-itself-look-moderate-2015-10">has been a long time coming</a>, and Al Qaeda's awareness of its image problem stretches back to its founding father, Osama bin Laden."Bin Laden actually, before he died, in his letters, he was telling Al Qaeda, 'do not use Al Qaeda's name, I do not want anyone to use Al Qaeda's nam'' because the moment you use Al Qaeda's name, the West and the locals are going to come and they're going to beat you up," Ali Soufan, the CEO of strategic-security firm The Soufan Group, said in May at a national-security conference in New York."Every time they change their name, we get so confused."But all these groups are "poisonous fruits coming from the same evil tree," Soufan said. Despite this, the violence in Syria has made those still living in the country desperate."You see, if the devil himself rode a horse into Aleppo and freed the people from siege, starvation and bombing, people would accept it," Faisal said. "... Very few people outside of Syria realize what it must feel like to live in those conditions every day of your life with no hope that it ends and with only the expectation that it gets worse (as it has)."Al-Nusra's move capitalizes on its power as people inside Syria feel increasingly hopeless about their future."People don't like al-Nusra's ideology (and that has not changed in the 'split') but will accept it more so now given that it's their only hope at maybe living some sort of decent life after years of this war," Faisal said.Ultimately, Jabhat al-Nusra's divorce from Al Qaeda will likely help it outlast ISIS in Syria."This is all the long game," Thomas Joscelyn, an Al Qaeda expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider in March. "The concept of jihad and the notion of jihad as [Al Qaeda] understands it was missing in Syria for decades. Their whole idea is to use the war to inculcate the ideology of jihad among the population." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/president-obama-responds-donald-trump-rigged-election-2016-8">'I don't even really know where to start on answering this question': Watch President Obama respond to Trump's claim that the election will be rigged</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="g4cjc1NTE6TDiWhcwYdxQ6hzy7sXexl0" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

A rebel group's split with Al Qaeda could put it one step closer to achieving its ultimate goal in Syria

AP ImagesBarron Trump pictured on Friday with his mother, Melania Trump, and father, President Donald Trump.<ul class="summary-list"><li>Trump's youngest son, Barron, is really tall.</li><li>The 13-year-old was pictured towering over his six feet, three inch father as he boarded Marine One on Friday.</li><li>It isn't known exactly how tall he is.</li><li>Social media users were quick to joke that Barron's height could make him an exciting NBA prospect.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>US President Donald Trump's youngest son Barron was pictured with his dad and mom, Melania, on Friday, and there's only one thing people on the internet can focus on: how tall he is.Photos and videos of the 13-year-old walking with his parents to board Marine One Friday show him towering over his father, who stands around six feet, three inches tall, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-very-good-health-slight-weight-gain-puts-him-obese-n971811">according to the president's physician.</a>It isn't known exactly how tall Barron is, but he appears to be at least an inch or two taller than his father.As he is rarely seen in public, social media users were quick to express shock at Barron Trump's seemingly extensive growth spurt since Trump's inauguration in 2017.Many joked that if he keeps growing, he could end up as a pretty good prospect in the NBA.Others compared him to seven feet, three inch tall Dallas Mavericks power forward Kristaps Porziņģis, while journalist <a href="https://twitter.com/crousselle/status/1218413345512005632?s=20">Christine Rousselle described him as "the world's tallest 13-year-old." </a><a href="https://twitter.com/betsy_klein/status/1218267132452069376?s=20">CNN reporter Betsy Klein noted on Twitter</a> that the youngest Trump seemed to have grown "half a foot since Thanksgiving."Cameron Kasky, a gun control advocate, and survivor of the Parkland shooting, <a href="https://twitter.com/cameron_kasky/status/1218332944818941952?s=20">described the youngest Trump in a tweet as "A TOWERING COLOSSUS."</a>The Mail Online covered Barron's growth spurt with the headline "TRUMP TOWER":Barron Trump, who is the only child from Trump's marriage to Melania, is not the first of the president's sons to tower above their father.Eric Trump, the president's second son from his marriage to Ivana Trump, is around six feet, four inches tall. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/georgetown-professor-reveals-people-wrong-mlk-martin-luther-king-jr-race-black-radical-racism-2017-5">A Georgetown professor explains how Martin Luther King Jr. 'has been severely whitewashed'</a></h3>

Barron Trump is really tall, and people are joking he could be a future NBA star

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;ITEMID=S1AEUAJULFAA&amp;RW=1726&amp;RH=880">Kevin Lamarque/Reuters</a>U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) look toward one another during a news conference following their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland where they discussed the crisis in Syria September 9, 2016.</div></div></div>US Secretary of State John Kerry threatened to suspend negotiations with Russia over Syria unless the Russian and Syrian aerial bombardment of the city of Aleppo ends, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.Hundreds of people <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/hundreds-killed-in-aleppo-in-fresh-fighting-1474823988">have died over the past week</a> in the worst bombings on the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo since the war began in 2011. The bombings, which have also targeted rescue services in the city, punctuated the collapse of a fragile cease-fire brokered between the US and Russia earlier this month.The ceasefire was part of a US-Russian deal <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-coordination-with-russia-in-syria-2016-7">to coordinate their military operations</a> in Syria and share intelligence about terrorist positions. That deal has been jeopardized by the latest scorched-earth offensive on Aleppo, however, with American and Russian diplomats exchanging diplomatic jabs Sunday night and into Monday."What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counterterrorism, it is barbarism," Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, told member nations at a UN Security Council meeting on Sunday.Even so, most analysts who have been monitoring the conflict agree that, absent deliberate US action, only Russia can end the war."The end of the war in Syria will not be just, and it's unlikely to be peaceful," said Emma Beals, an independent journalist and specialist on Syria. "But it will be the Russians who end the war - at this stage, they are the only ones who can."The problem, however, is that they have no incentive to do so.<h2>'A bloody chess game'</h2>Kerry's willingness to walk away from the partnership is unlikely to sway Russia's determination to wipe out any and all opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's most important battleground - especially since Washington has no known plans of intervening in the conflict directly or significantly ramping up its support for moderate rebels."Ambassador Power's rhetoric is entirely hollow," Russian affairs expert Mark Kramer, program director of the Project on Cold War Studies at Harvard, told Business Insider earlier this week. "The only thing that can change Russia's behavior now, in Syria and elsewhere, is forceful action. Rightly or wrongly, the Obama administration has no intention of taking any action vis-a-vis Syria, and thus Power's accusations amount to mere huffing and puffing."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Thomson ReutersDamaged Red Cross and Red Crescent medical supplies lie inside a warehouse after an airstrike on the rebel held Urm al-Kubra town</div></div></div>Ulrich Speck, an independent foreign policy analyst, presented a similar assessment on Wednesday of the fundamental dilemma facing Washington's efforts to negotiate with Moscow: Russia has no incentive to end the war, and the US has no leverage."Russia has no incentive to end the war in Syria as long as the rebels fail to win massive Western support," Speck <a href="http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=64714">wrote for Carnegie</a> on Wednesday. "The military alliance between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran, and Russia has managed to make constant progress and appears set to regain control over the whole of Syria."In fact, walking away from the deal at this point may serve as a signal to Russia that the US is washing its hands of the conflict, decisively forfeiting the country to Moscow as a Russian sphere of influence."The absence of the United States from the field leaves most of the shots available to the Kremlin," Gianna Riotta, of the Council on Foreign Relations, <a href="http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=64714">wrote for Carnegie</a> on Wednesday. "The <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN11V0EY" target="_blank">shouting match at the UN Security Council</a> on September 25 between the US and Russian ambassadors matched the worst episodes of the Cold War, with the violent exchange leaving other diplomats aghast," Riotta continued. "So do not expect Putin to stop bombing Aleppo - civilians or rebels. He is playing a bloody chess game, and Syria is just a pawn."<h2>'No intention of pressuring Assad'</h2>Many experts doubted how effective the joint plan would be to begin with, given the hugely disparate objectives Russia and the US have for the country and the region."It is obvious by now that US-Russian cooperation over Syria is impractical because the objectives of the two sides are fundamentally divergent," Kramer, of Harvard, said. "Temporary ceasefires have proved to be mostly illusory because Russia has no intention of pressuring Assad to make concessions.""Russian officials are not going to change what they are doing simply because the United States decries it," Kramer added. "In the 1990s, the Russian government cared what Western governments thought, but that era is long over."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovRussia's President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov</div></div></div>Indeed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the language used at the UN Security Council meeting by the US "unacceptable." At the meeting itself, Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, doubled down on an oft-repeated talking point: Russian airstrikes are only targeting terrorists.Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), which was known as Jabhat al-Nusra before it formally severed ties with Al Qaeda, has a presence in the city. It was an instrumental part of the military alliance of several rebel brigades known as Jaysh al Fateh <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/syria-aleppo-opposition-groups-battle-2016-8">that helped the mainstream Free Syrian Army</a> regain control over a significant portion of Aleppo early last month.But the Russian and Syrian bombs are being dropped indiscriminately on the opposition-controlled east, where more than 250,000 civilians are currently under siege. Even if Russia decided it wanted to end the war - which is unlikely, given the leverage it offers Moscow over Washington - the consequences would be devastating at best."If Russia decided to end the conflict, it would probably do so in the way it assaulted Grozny in 1999-2000," Marc Pierini, of Carnegie Europe, wrote on Wednesday.That is, "by razing anything that still stands and by mercilessly targeting fighters, civilians, humanitarian workers, hospitals, and ambulances alike - as it does on a daily basis in Aleppo now." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/aircraft-carrier-time-lapse-supercarrier-us-navy-uss-stennis-2016-9">This incredible time-lapse shows what a day is like on an aircraft carrier</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ZhaGtqMDE6irQ-AGpWYemgdLh9mmD6SW" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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