dagblog - Comments for "Deal reached on Syria UN resolution "

Security Council to Syria

artappraiser — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 01:53:38 +0000

In reply to Deal reached on Syria UN resolution

Security Council to Syria combatants: Let in humanitarian aid, fast
The UN Security Council on Wednesday moved to formally urge all sides in Syria's civil war to let humanitarian aid flow freely into the country. International relief for Syria has been sparse, and Western nations say the Assad regime has deliberately blocked it.

By Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor, October 2, 2013

After nearly three years of stalemate, the United Nations Security Council has acted on Syria for the second time in just a few days – a move that suggests the road to international action on the deadly civil war there may be opening up.The council on Wednesday voted unanimously to urge all combatants to allow humanitarian aid to flow freely into the country, and it asked the government of Bashar al-Assad specifically to “lift bureaucratic impediments and other obstacles” to international relief aid and workers.

Wednesday’s approval of a council “presidential statement” follows adoption Friday night of a Security Council resolution on implementation of an ambitious international plan under which Syria is to give up all of its chemical weapons [....]

Conflict in Syria ?a war on

artappraiser — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:05:16 +0000

In reply to Deal reached on Syria UN resolution

Conflict in Syria ‘a war on terror,’ Deputy Prime Minister tells UN General Assembly

United Nations News Centre, Sept. 30, 2013

The conflict ravaging Syria is not a civil war but a war on terror, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister said today in his turn at the rostrum at the high-level debate that opens the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

China seems very happy with

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 17:07:55 +0000

In reply to I can't feel that good about

China seems very happy with it, and they are traditionally a really tough customer on that front (i.e., any time U.S. pressure is involved):

http://news.yahoo.com/china-welcomes-un-syria-chemical-arms-resolution-1...

Also, don't forget that the resolution is specifically about chemical weapons. If it were about a more nebulous right-to-protect issue, they might have a different reaction. Or even if it were about another kind of WMD....

I can't feel that good about

Aaron Carine — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 13:53:08 +0000

In reply to Syria resolution just passed

I can't feel that good about the resolution. It seems to me that the Security Council is caving to American threats of violence. I would have liked to have seen a resolution opposing military intervention in Syria.

It's OK to admit that you

Peter — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 13:37:40 +0000

In reply to Makes me start to think that

It's OK to admit that you don't have an answer to a question, you don't need to use a question to cover up your inability or refusal to respond. This Anarchist believes that stopping the arms flow to all sides in Syria is the best way to end the violence but the Liberal elite seem to believe that continued violence furthers their agenda.

Syria resolution just passed

artappraiser — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 02:35:13 +0000

In reply to Deal reached on Syria UN resolution

Syria resolution just passed unanimously:

Security Council OKs Syria resolution, warns of consequences
From Nick Paton Walsh and Elise Labott, CNN
updated 9:47 PM EDT, September 27, 2013

Makes me start to think that

artappraiser — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:14:27 +0000

In reply to Interesting developments Art,

Makes me start to think that countries that have civil wars with only two sides are actually lucky. And I also wonder what solutions some of the more popular anarchist theorists have to offer for Syria.

Interesting developments Art,

Peter — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 13:27:13 +0000

In reply to Deal reached on Syria UN resolution

Interesting developments Art, the first is a positive step but the second is probably much more important and reveals what we are truly dealing with in Syria. How do the Liberal Hawks spin this development to justify continued arming of the rebels now?

Key Syrian Rebel Groups

artappraiser — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 00:58:39 +0000

In reply to Deal reached on Syria UN resolution

Key Syrian Rebel Groups Abandon Exile Leaders (to go with Al Qaeda affiliate & an "Islamic frame")
By Ben Hubbard & Michael L. Gordon, New York Times, Sept. 25/26, 2013

BEIRUT, Lebanon — As diplomats at the United Nations push for a peace conference to end Syria’s civil war, a collection of some of the country’s most powerful rebel groups have publicly abandoned the opposition’s political leaders, casting their lot with an affiliate of Al Qaeda.

As support for the Western-backed leadership has dwindled, a second, more extreme Al Qaeda group has carved out footholds across parts of Syria, frequently clashing with mainline rebels who accuse it of making the establishment of an Islamic state a priority over the fight to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The fractured nature of the opposition, the rising radical Islamist character of some rebel fighters, and the increasing complexity of Syria’s battle lines have left the exile leadership with diminished clout inside the country and have raised the question of whether it could hold up its end of any agreement reached to end the war.

The deep differences between many of those fighting in Syria and the political leaders who have represented the opposition abroad spilled into the open late Tuesday, when 11 rebel groups issued a statement declaring that the opposition could be represented only by people who have “lived their troubles and shared in what they have sacrificed.”

Distancing themselves from the exile opposition’s call for a democratic, civil government to replace Mr. Assad, they called on all military and civilian groups in Syria to “unify in a clear Islamic frame.” Those that signed the statement included three groups aligned with the Western-backed opposition’s Supreme Military Council [....]

West Says U.N. Nears Syria

artappraiser — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 20:29:13 +0000

In reply to Deal reached on Syria UN resolution

West Says U.N. Nears Syria Resolution
By Somini Sengupta, New York Times, September 25/26, 2013

UNITED NATIONS — After months of crippling deadlock, members of the United Nations Security Council have inched closer to the details of a binding resolution on Syria, Western diplomats said Wednesday, though Russia, one of Syria’s strongest allies, denied that a consensus had been reached.

Representatives of the permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — met for lunch on Wednesday with Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general, to discuss the crisis in Syria. Two diplomats said they had reached a consensus on the broad elements, including “a reference” to sanctions should Syria fail to comply with its obligations. They said the resolution would also include language to hold accountable the perpetrators of a chemical attack in August, though it was not likely to include language compelling a referral to the International Criminal Court.

“We’re close, we’re quite close,” one of the diplomats said. “It will be very clear what Syria needs to do.”

Russia and the United States have clashed over whether the resolution would fall under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which would authorize the Security Council to enforce it with sanctions or even military force. This week, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov.

The language on the table now, the diplomats said, proposes to include a “reference” to Chapter VII if Syria does not comply. But to impose sanctions or authorize military intervention would require yet another Security Council resolution.

“It’s close to an agreed text,” said a second diplomat. “There’s still some details to be worked out.” [.....[