Engaging with Assad a ‘lesser evil’ — Spain

Spain’s foreign minister pleads Wednesday in favor of engaging with Syrian leader Bashar Assad to deal with the terror threat in Europe, just days after deadly attacks in Paris.

“The lesser evil is to come to an agreement with Bashar Assad to begin a ceasefire allowing aid to reach the displaced… kickstart a political transition and above all attack our common enemy — Daesh (Islamic State group),” Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo tells TVE television.

“We have to replace the ‘Bashar yes or Bashar no’ discourse by one of peace or war. If you want peace, you are going to have get along with Assad at least on a temporary basis.”

“(Former US president Franklin D) Roosevelt was forced to come to an agreement with Stalin to finish with the Nazis, as it was a lesser evil at the time,” he says.

— AFP