As the Geneva II conference starts at Montreux, Caabu Director, Chris Doyle, has stressed in in the media how vital these peace talks are. “All those at Geneva have to put their differences aside and think solely about how to end this conflict. All the grandstanding, the blame games, the accusations will not save one Syrian, will not bring one back home and will feed one starving child.  Only then can anyone stand in front of the Syrian people and hold their head high.” Doyle pointed out that in the 18 months between the original Geneva communique of 30 June 2012 and Geneva II, the number of Syrians killed rocketed from around 15000 to 130,000.   “Nobody should wish to wait for a Geneva III.  The overwhelming majority of Syrians cannot wait for the end of this conflict. He pointed out the international community had a huge role to play, not least in putting aside their own differences: “What are the international players going to do to make Geneva II work? The United States and Russia have a very key role in this. They seem to be working closer together than before, as opposed to being on opposite sides of the conflict. But underneath that there is still this regional cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. And if the heat is not taken out of that cold war then you would expect both those major powers to continue to arm their various proxies and allies in this conflict, stoking it up for further fighting, which could last for many more years".