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February 5th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
In an attempt to save face, Moscow said it would send a high-powered
delegation to Damascus on Tuesday, led by the foreign minister, Sergei
Lavrov, and the foreign intelligence chief, Mikhail Fradkov, to ask Mr Assad
to institute “much-needed democratic reforms”.
However, Mr Hague said the Arab League should now try to pursue their own
peace plan – which calls for Mr Assad to step aisde – without UN permission.
“They should pursue their plan, they should intensify their own pressure on
the Assad regime to stop the killing and allow a peaceful political
transition,” he said.
As another 40 people were killed in Syria yesterday, Mrs Clinton said the US
would also work to increase the diplomatic pressure on the Syrian regime and
to “convince those people around President Assad that he must go”. “We will
work to seek regional and national sanctions against Syria and strengthen
the ones we have,” she added.
Following the failure of the UN resolution, the onus is now on the Arab League
to find a new way forward when it meets in Cairo next weekend. High on the
list will be the renewal of a sanctions package put on hold after Syria
agreed to let in Arab League observers at the end of December.
Nabil al-Araby, the League’s secretary-general, said it would continue to try
and build support for its proposals for Mr Assad to cede powers to a deputy,
form a unity government with the opposition and hold elections within six
months.
All other 13 permanent and current members of the security council, including
South Africa and India which had earlier expressed strong reservations, had
voted in favour.
Russian intransigence over the UN resolution infuriated British officials, who
had attempted to alleviate Moscow’s concern that a resolution calling for
regime change in Damascus would lead to international intervention.
There were also rows about Moscow’s attempts to equate the violence of Mr
Assad’s response to protests against his rule with the violence of the
opposition, to ensure that the resolution “did not take sides”.
However, the final straw came when Moscow suddenly demanded the withdrawal of
a phrase calling on Mr Assad to withdraw his tanks and artillery from the
streets – to which he had in fact agreed as far back as November under the
first Arab League peace plan. In the light of the Syrian bombardment of the
city of Homs on Friday night and early morning, this was enough to persuade
the West that the Russians were not serious in their pursuit of a compromise.
The resolution was then pushed to a vote, to force both Russia and China to
reveal their hands.
Among the angry reactions was a statement from the biggest opposition group,
the Syrian National Council. “The SNC holds both governments accountable for
the escalation of killings and genocide, and considers this irresponsible
step a licence for the Syrian regime to kill without being held
accountable,” it said.
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said she was “disgusted”. “Any
further bloodshed that flows will be on their hands,” she added, in
unusually strong diplomatic language.
Turkey, once a Assad regime friend, accused Russia and China of being
motivated by strategic concerns rather than the facts on the ground.
“Unfortunately, yesterday in the UN, the Cold War logic continues,” Ahmet
Davutoglu, the foreign minister said. “Russia and China did not vote based
on the existing realities but more a reflexive attitude against the West.”
Russia is a long-time ally of the Assad regime, a major arms provider and has
use in return of the Mediterranean port of Tartus. In the continuing battle
by Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, to hold on to “Great Power”
status, loss of the Syrian regime would be felt as a humiliation.
China is also keen not to see a regional strategic shift brought about by
“pro-democracy” activism.
In Syria, battles continued to rage yesterday. The Syrian army bombarded
another rebellious suburb of Homs, Baba Amr, Mohammed Saleh, an activist
based nearby said. Activists said at least 40 people died across the
country, four of them children and more than half of them soldiers.
Mr Saleh said there were many Syrians like him who had hoped that peaceful
protest would be enough to bring gradual change in Syria.
He said he opposed international intervention, which opposition groups outside
the country increasingly demand, but that there no longer seemed room for a
middle ground.
The worst fear of Syria’s neighbours is that the conflict will spiral out of
control, take on an increasingly sectarian hue as the country’s Sunni
majority seek revenge on the minority Alawite community to which the Assads
belong, and spill into Lebanon, Iraq and beyond.
“The Syrian regime has arrested the moderate people,” Mr Saleh told The Daily
Telegraph. “The ones who are left are militants who will wreak havoc.”
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