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60,000 killed in Syria—REPRISE II: The Olympic Games, and the Battle for Aleppo, Begin—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #91 (January 2, 2013)

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

Barbarism in a Leaderless World

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights now estimates there have been “59,648 individuals reported killed in Syria between 15 March 2011 and 30 November 2012.” This number may in fact be well short of the actual number as tens of thousands of people are reported to have disappeared with no word as to their fates.

See United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Data analysis suggests over 60,000 people killed in Syria conflict: Pillay,” United Nations Human Rights, January 2, 2012. See Megan Price, Jeff Klingner, and Patrick Ball, “Preliminary Statistical Analysis of Documentation of Killings in the Syrian Arab Republic,” The Benetech Human Rights Program, 2 January 2013, here.

At such a juncture it is appropriate to reprise the article whose text appears below, yet again. See also Jacques Prévert’s poem “Barabara”, in The Trenchant Observer, “REPRISE: Hommage à Homs: Jacques Prévert, “Barbara” (with English translation); Paul Verlaine, “Ariette III” —Obama’s Debacle in Syria— Update #53 (June 19)

Originally published July 28, 2012

The Opening of the XXX Olympic Games

It was a poignant moment, as world leaders gathered in London last night (July 27) for the opening of the XXX Olympic Games, with the performance of an extraordinary spectacle, in which at one point five Olympic rings appeared suspended in the heavens over the Olympic Stadium. Over a billion people were said to have watched the opening ceremonies on television.

Here, in the very heart of the democratic civilizations of Europe, the Olympic ideal shone brightly.

In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games were preceded by a “Sacred Truce” among the warring city-states, in which athletes were guaranteed safe passage to and from the games, and all fighting was to be halted for a period of one month. This period was eventually extended to allow the athletes and visitors to return home.

The games were held every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD, when they were abolished by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I. The ancient Olympic Games lasted for 1170 years. The Modern Olympic Games were initiated in 1896, and have been held every four years or more often since then except for 1916, 1940 and 1944.

–”Brief History of the Olympic Games,” NOSTOS (Hellenic Information Society, UK).

Importantly, the Olympic Games today stand as a symbol for humanity’s goal of one day achieving universal peace. The alternative, it seems, is either the goal of endless war, or the resignation that goes with the sense of helplessness we feel when we reject the goal of peace.

The Battle for Aleppo, and the Response of the World

Meanwhile, in Aleppo in Syria, a country where the international community and the Security Council have been unable to reach agreement to act effectively to halt the atrocities of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the portents of death and destruction were all too palpable yesterday and today, as the regime’s troops, tanks, artillery, helicopters and war planes began a concerted assault on the lightly armed rebels of the Syrian Liberation Army, in what a pro-Assad Damascus newspaper termed “the Mother of all Battles”.

Today, on Saturday, July 28, the battle was joined in earnest.

For news of recent developments on the ground in Syria, see

Luke Harding (in Anadan, on the Aleppo front line), “Syrian rebels near Aleppo: ‘We are besieging Assad’s army’; Regime forces have been pulverising rebel-held districts using artillery and helicopter gunships. But the rebels are upbeat,” The Guardian, July 28, 2012 (11:35 EDT).

Damien McElroy (in Aleppo), “Badly armed rebels face tanks as Syria’s mother of all battles begins,” The Telegraph, July 28, 2012 (6:57PM BST).

Álvaro de Cózar (Special Correspondent in Marea), “El Ejército sirio avanza para tomar Alepo; Las tropas de El Asad atacan con bombas y tanques los barrios en manos rebeldes; Las líneas de teléfono y el suministro de energía han sido cortados, El País, 28 Julio 2012 (23:45 CET).

Kareem Fahim and Ellen Barry, “Syrian Military Intensifies Assault on Rebels in Aleppo,” New York Times, July 28, 2012

***
Unfortunately, Americans accessing the Internet do not find it easy to gain a sense of what is actually taking place on the ground, due to “The Filter Bubble” which prevents most U.S. observers on the Internet from seeing the search results for newspapers outside of their own country (including, e.g., British and other newspapers which have correspondents on the ground in Syria). To get around The Filter Bubble, see the directions in the bottom right-hand column on the right on our Home Page, or go here.

Thus, as the world turns its attention to the joyful spectacle of athletes from countries throughout the world competing on the basis of individual merit, as humanity comes together for its quadrennial celebration of the richness and diversity of the human family, the people in Aleppo and in Syria are left to face the absolute terror and barbarism of the Bashar al-Assad regime, alone.

Russia and China, along with the Syrian regime, are clearly to blame for this state of affairs, and populations who follow international affairs throughout the world are aware of the role they have have played in thwarting effective U.N. Security Council action. Memories of how they have backed the murderous regime of al-Assad are likely to be long indeed in the Middle East, and also in the democracies of the world.

The United States and other Western countries warn of an impending massacre in Aleppo, as if anyone but they themselves could save the day.

It is a new role for Americans: Eyewitness News reporters without an inkling of any sense of moral responsibility that might lead them to act. In this role, they are following the lead of their president.

The Americans, the Europeans, top U.N. officials and others loudly deplore the lamentable state of affairs in Syria in general, and the unfolding of the “mother of all battles” in Aleppo, in particular.

Leaderless, they stand helpless and paralyzed before the terror and barbarism of al-Assad.

They provide countless declarations of moral outrage, and call for the nations of the world to increase their “pressure” on the al-Assad regime.

The “pressure” of which they speak is a “pressure” of words, of plaintive moral appeals directed to war criminals whose moral depravity is beyond dispute. Or perhaps the “pressure” may even consist of voluntary economic sanctions, imposed by different countries outside the framework of the U.N. Security Council, whose impact is uncertain and in any event will take much time.

Neither words nor economic sanctions, however, will stop al-Assad’s armies.

These leaders are at once appalled by the terror, the barbarism, the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity before their very eyes, and caught in their own moral cowardice, impotent, helpless, with verbal reproaches the only weapons they have the courage to wield. Paralyzed by their own cowardice, they will not act—not effectively, not in time to save the thousands of additional deaths that the grinding gears of war portend to claim, and of which they so earnestly warn.

Enough with Words!

These leaders can all do the world one big favor: Stop denouncing al-Assad’s atrocities, at least until they are willing to do something really effective to bring them to a halt.

With their moral energies thus freed, they can pay close attention to the facts on the ground, to what is actually happening to thousands of human beings in the maw of war, and then they can seek quiet solace in their churches, their synagogues, their mosques, and the other spiritual refuges in which they must, as individual human beings, come to terms with what they have seen, and what they have not done.

Enough with words!

Enough with the self-absolving declarations these leaders offer to the world, and to themselves, so they can sleep at night, knowing they were present at Srebrenice, present at Auschwitz, present in Rwanda, over a very long period of time, and did nothing.

President Theodore Roosevelt, Recipient of the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize, on Words and Deeds

As for President Obama, who reportedly likes to think of himself as emulating the great American presidents, the words of President Theodore Roosevelt, recipient of the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize, come to mind. Roosevelt declared:

“International Peace”
…
We must ever bear in mind that the great end in view is righteousness, justice as between man and man, nation and nation, the chance to lead our lives on a somewhat higher level, with a broader spirit of brotherly goodwill one for another. Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy. We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong. No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality.

Moreover, and above all, let us remember that words count only when they give expression to deeds, or are to be translated into them (emphasis added). The leaders of the Red Terror2 prattled of peace while they steeped their hands in the blood of the innocent; and many a tyrant has called it peace when he has scourged honest protest into silence. Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction.

[Footnote] 2. The “Terror” is a term characterizing the conduct of power in revolutionary France by the second committee of Public Safety (September, 1793-July, 1794), sometimes identified as the “Red Terror” to distinguish it from the short-lived “White Terror”, which was an effort by the Royalists in 1795 to destroy the Revolution.

–Theodore Roosevelt, 1907 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, delivered May 5, 1910.

President Obama and the other leaders of the world would do well to take these words to heart, today, and every day hereafter until they find the courage to take effective action to halt the barbarism and the terror in Syria.

The Trenchant Observer

observer@trenchantobserver.com
www.twitter.com/trenchantobserv

For links to other articles by The Trenchant Observer, click on the title at the top of this page to go to the home page, and then use the “Search” Box or consult the information in the bottom right hand corner of the home page. The Articles on Syria page can also be found here. The Articles on Targeted Killings page can also be found here.

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Morsi’s Coup d’Etat and Rushed Draft Constiution for Egypt (with latest English translation)

Saturday, December 1st, 2012

What is President Obama doing regarding Egypt that might help avoid a second Islamic dictatorship like the one in Tehran?

Background articles by the Trenchant Observer:

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Coup d’Etat in Egypt; William Butler Yeats and “The Second Coming”
November 28, 2012

“L’État, c’est moi”—Mohamed Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood launch coup d’état in Egypt
November 27, 2012

English text of Egypt’s new draft constitution

For the most complete English translation of the first 199 articles of the draft constitution Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has submitted to a referendum to be held on December 15, see

Egypt’s draft constitution (English translation by Nariman Youssef), Egypt Independent, December 1, 2012. Additional articles are being translated and will be added throughout the day.

For analysis of some of the key provisions of the draft constitution and how they differ from the 1971 constitution, see:
Gregg Carlstrom, “Controversial clauses in Egypt’s constitution; Many aspects of draft constitution passed by constituent assembly are unpopular with citizens and global rights groups,” Al Jazeera, November 30, 2012 (20:23 h).

BBC News, “Comparison of Egypt’s suspended and draft constitutions, BBC, November 30, 2012.

Analysis and Commentary

Democracy is not simply a piece of paper called a constitution. As the experience of many countries demonstrates, including the Weimar Republic and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, would-be dictators and tyrants can subvert democracy through the relentless leveling of independent institutions and political groups which oppose them, as they pursue a strategy of obtaining effective control or acquiescence of all of the institutions of the state. Both the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran offer further chilling examples of how such dictatorships can be established, with a little time.

It is thus not the piece of paper which Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood now seek to shove down the throats of all institutions, parties, political groups and individuals who strive to achieve a pluralistic government based on and subject to the rule of law, including international human rights treaties to which it is a party and the international human rights obligations contained in customary international law, but the realities of power and how it is exercised that will dtermine if Egypt is to have a democratic future. To have such a future, political power needs to be exercised democratically and in accordance with the rule of law, not through dictatorial means.

To Morsi’s appeal, “Trust me,” a great number of people in and outside of Egypt will ask, “What have you done to prove that you are trustworthy?”

Morsi has replaced the editors of leading state-owned newspapers. Morsi has replaced leadership of the military, and now counts on their support by promising them the retention of their economic and other privileges. But these promises too can be revised. Morsi has conducted a coup d’etat abrogating the rule of law, stripping the Constitutional Court and the judiciary of its role of judicial review and placing his decrees beyond their reach. Egypt has a well-developed legal system. Yet at the precise moment of the birth of a new constitution, instead of strengthening the independence of the judiciary and the guarantees for the separation of powers, Morsi has acted to weaken them and ensure they will be subservient to his and the Brotherhood’s will.

Can democracy be established through the consolidation of all power within the hands of a president and his single ruling party, which has a strong ideology, strictly enforced, that is in many respects fundamentally anti-democratic in nature?

This is the question facing Egypt and the drama the country is living, today.

Consider but one article of the draft constitution: There is freedom of religion for Muslims, Christians and Jews, the people of “the book”, in accordance with 14 centuries of Islamic law or sharia. And according to the text of the draft constitution, this freedom of religion exists only for them.

Following World War II, the Western democracies had ample experience watching the fledgling democracies of Eastern Europe subverted and taken over by “the salami technique” employed by communist parties controlled by Moscow and backed by Soviet armed forces. One by one, they fell.

Democracy is a state of national consciousness as well as a country with a piece of paper called a constitution. The Soviet constitution of 1936 was a beautiful piece of paper, in many respects, but it did not stop Stalin’s purges, or his other crimes under a totalitarian system.

Further Commentary and Analysis of the Broader Context for Morsi’s Actions

Tomas Avanasius writes from Cairo the following:

[The following text can be translated into English with Google Translator.]

Religiöse Minderheiten und Frauen behandelt die neue ägyptische Verfassung als Menschen mit eingeschränkten Grundrechten. Die Vielfalt islamischer und ägyptischer Kultur fällt dem Tunnelblick religiöser Eiferer zum Opfer. All das interessiert die Muslimbrüder nicht – sie sind Wegbereiter einer Glaubens- und Gesinnungsdiktatur in Ägypten.
…
Muslimbrüder und Salafisten schaffen eineinhalb Jahre nach Beginn der Revolte in Ägypten Fakten: Die neue Verfassung ist der erste, der entscheidende Schritt hin zum islamischen Staat. Eine politisch pervertierte Religion und Moral mit Anspruch auf Allgemeingültigkeit soll den Alltag bestimmen – in Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur, bei der Bildung, in der Ehe, im Privatleben. Das ist totalitär. Christen, gemäßigte Muslime, Säkulare und Freigeister werden zu Menschen zweiter Klasse gestempelt, Frauen auch. Kunst und Kultur werden an Richtlinien gemessen, die nicht ästhetischer, sondern theologischer Natur sind. Die Vielfalt der islamischen und der ägyptischen Kultur fällt dem Tunnelblick religiöser Eiferer zum Opfer. Dass die bärtigen “Verfassungsväter” ernsthaft diskutiert haben, ob neunjährige Mädchen schon verheiratet werden können oder doch erst die Pubertät erreicht haben sollten, sagt alles über diese Rechtsexperten.

Im Grunde sind die viele Muslimbrüder eine religiöse Variante von Lenins Kommunisten – frömmelnde Bolschewiken, die sich als geheimniskrämerische Avantgarde der Muslime sehen. In Wahrheit jedoch sind sie die Wegbereiter einer Glaubens- und Gesinnungsdiktatur in Ägypten.

***

The last paragraph of Avanasius’ article opinion states, in English, the following:

Basically the many Muslim Brothers are a religious version of Lenin’s Communists – sanctimonious Bolsheviks, who see themselves as the secretive vanguard of the Muslims. In fact, they are the pioneers of a belief and conviction dictatorship in Egypt.

–Tomas Avanasius (Meinung/opinion), “Neue Verfassung für Ägypten: Freifahrtsschein ins Paradies für Islamisten,” Die Südeutsche Zeitung, 1 Dezember 2012.

Con Coughlin, the Defense Editor of The Telegraph, writes:

It is not only the anti-government protesters in Egypt’s Tahrir Square who should be concerned about President Mohammed Morsi’s audacious power grab. Mr Morsi’s claim at the weekend that “God’s will and elections made me the captain of this ship” has echoes of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s claim during the 1979 Iranian revolution that his mission to overthrow the Shah enjoyed divine guidance.

Since his announcement that he was granting himself sweeping new powers, Mr Morsi has been trying to reassure sceptical Egyptian voters that he has no ambition to become Egypt’s new Pharaoh. But you only have to look at the violent scenes that have once again erupted in Tahrir Square to see that the majority of Egyptians remain unconvinced.
…

Similar sentiments were expressed by Iranian demonstrators during the build-up to the Shah’s overthrow in February 1979 as they sought to remove a similarly corrupt regime.

But as we now know to our cost, the worthy aspirations of the Iranian masses were hijacked by Khomeini’s hardline Islamist agenda, and within months of the Shah’s overthrow Iran had been transformed into an Islamic republic.

I am sure I am not the only one wondering whether Mr Morsi is about to become the new Ayatollah Khomeini.

–Con Coughlin (Defense Editor), “Is Egypt about to become the new Iran?” The Telegraph, November 28, 2012.

What is President Obama doing regarding Egypt that might help avoid a second Islamic dictatorship like the one in Tehran?

The Trenchant Observer

Tags: 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Al Jazeera, Barack Obama, BBC Egypt draft constitution, BBC News, Con Coughlin, coup d'etat, Egypt, Egypt Independent, English text of Egyptian draft constitution, errin cuningham, globalpost, Gregg Carlsrom, Iran, Mohamed Morsi, Muslinm Brotherhood, Nariman Youssef, Obama, second Islamic dictatorship, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Tehran, the salami technique, tHE tELEGRAPH, Tomas Avanasius
Posted in Africa, Barack Obama, Deutschland, Dictatorship, Egypt, elections, Germany, History, human rights, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, State Department, State Department Human Rights Country Reports, State Department Legal Adviser, U.S. Congress, U.S. news coverage, United States | 1 Comment »

On eve of testimony to Congress on Benghazi, CIA Director David Petraeus forced out over an affair

Friday, November 9th, 2012

Updated November 10, 2012

David Petraeus, the nation’s most-celebrated military commander, has been forced to resign, ostensibly over an affair which came to light in an FBI investigation of unauthorized access to his computers and personal e-mail. Petraeus had been scheduled to testify in Congress next week on the attack on the Benghazi consulate and CIA “annex”, and the U.S. response.

According to the New York Times account, Petraeus was encouraged by others to resign.

Senior members of Congress were alerted to Mr. Petraeus’s impending resignation by intelligence officials about six hours before the C.I.A. announced it. One Congressional official who was briefed on the matter said that Mr. Petraeus had been encouraged “to get out in front of the issue” and resign, and that he agreed.

–Michael D. Shear, “Petraeus Quits; Evidence of Affair Was Found by F.B.I.,” New York Times, November 9, 2012.

Whether there is anything more to the coincidence of timing than meets the eye remains to be seen.

With the CIA and the Obama administration, however, it is always prudent to look beyond what meets the eye.

Robert Baer, a celebrated former CIA agent, stated the following in an interview with Piers Morgan on CNN on Friday:

CNN contributor and former CIA operative Robert Baer spoke to Piers Morgan Friday and gave his perspective on the resignation of General David Petraeus. The now former CIA director resigned from his post earlier Friday citing an extramarital affair.

“The idea that the FBI is investigating the CIA director for a marital, extramarital affair is just extraordinary,” said Baer in response to the news that the FBI was investigating the general and the alleged individual involved with the affair, Petraeus’ biographer Paula Broadwell.

“There are 4 or 5 CIA directors that I know who were carrying on extramarital affairs while they were director. The FBI was never brought in,” said Baer. “So this is absolutely extraordinary. I’m telling you there’s more to do than with sex. There’s something going on here which I can’t explain and I think we’re going to find out very soon.”

–Piers Morgan Tonight, November 9, 2012 (with video clip)

REPRISE: The Olympic Games, and the Battle for Aleppo, Begin—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #88 (October 11)

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

Originally published July 28, 2012

The Opening of the XXX Olympic Games

Here, in the very heart of the democratic civilizations of Europe, the Olympic ideal shone brightly.

In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games were preceded by a “Sacred Truce” among the warring city-states, in which athletes were guaranteed safe passage to and from the games, and all fighting was to be halted for a period of one month. This period was eventually extended to allow the athletes and visitors to return home.

The games were held every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD, when they were abolished by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I. The ancient Olympic Games lasted for 1170 years. The Modern Olympic Games were initiated in 1896, and have been held every four years or more often since then except for 1916, 1940 and 1944.

–”Brief History of the Olympic Games,” NOSTOS (Hellenic Information Society, UK).

The Battle for Aleppo, and the Response of the World

Today, on Saturday, July 28, the battle was joined in earnest.

For news of recent developments on the ground in Syria, see

Luke Harding (in Anadan, on the Aleppo front line), “Syrian rebels near Aleppo: ‘We are besieging Assad’s army’; Regime forces have been pulverising rebel-held districts using artillery and helicopter gunships. But the rebels are upbeat,” The Guardian, July 28, 2012 (11:35 EDT).

Damien McElroy (in Aleppo), “Badly armed rebels face tanks as Syria’s mother of all battles begins,” The Telegraph, July 28, 2012 (6:57PM BST).

Álvaro de Cózar (Special Correspondent in Marea), “El Ejército sirio avanza para tomar Alepo; Las tropas de El Asad atacan con bombas y tanques los barrios en manos rebeldes; Las líneas de teléfono y el suministro de energía han sido cortados, El País, 28 Julio 2012 (23:45 CET).

Kareem Fahim and Ellen Barry, “Syrian Military Intensifies Assault on Rebels in Aleppo,” New York Times, July 28, 2012

***
Unfortunately, Americans accessing the Internet do not find it easy to gain a sense of what is actually taking place on the ground, due to “The Filter Bubble” which prevents most U.S. observers on the Internet from seeing the search results for newspapers outside of their own country (including, e.g., British and other newspapers which have correspondents on the ground in Syria). To get around The Filter Bubble, see the directions in the bottom right-hand column on the right on our Home Page, or go here.

The United States and other Western countries warn of an impending massacre in Aleppo, as if anyone but they themselves could save the day.

Leaderless, they stand helpless and paralyzed before the terror and barbarism of al-Assad.

They provide countless declarations of moral outrage, and call for the nations of the world to increase their “pressure” on the al-Assad regime.

Neither words nor economic sanctions, however, will stop al-Assad’s armies.

Enough with Words!

These leaders can all do the world one big favor: Stop denouncing al-Assad’s atrocities, at least until they are willing to do something really effective to bring them to a halt.

Enough with words!

President Theodore Roosevelt, Recipient of the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize, on Words and Deeds

“International Peace”
…
We must ever bear in mind that the great end in view is righteousness, justice as between man and man, nation and nation, the chance to lead our lives on a somewhat higher level, with a broader spirit of brotherly goodwill one for another. Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy. We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong. No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality.

Moreover, and above all, let us remember that words count only when they give expression to deeds, or are to be translated into them (emphasis added). The leaders of the Red Terror2 prattled of peace while they steeped their hands in the blood of the innocent; and many a tyrant has called it peace when he has scourged honest protest into silence. Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction.

[Footnote] 2. The “Terror” is a term characterizing the conduct of power in revolutionary France by the second committee of Public Safety (September, 1793-July, 1794), sometimes identified as the “Red Terror” to distinguish it from the short-lived “White Terror”, which was an effort by the Royalists in 1795 to destroy the Revolution.

–Theodore Roosevelt, 1907 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, delivered May 5, 1910.

The Trenchant Observer

observer@trenchantobserver.com
www.twitter.com/trenchantobserv

For links to other articles by The Trenchant Observer, click on the title at the top of this page to go to the home page, and then use the “Search” Box or consult the information in the bottom right hand corner of the home page. The Articles on Syria page can also be found here. The Articles on Targeted Killings page can also be found here.

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The Olympic Games, and the Battle for Aleppo, Begin—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #70 (July 28)

Saturday, July 28th, 2012

The Opening of the XXX Olympic Games

Here, in the very heart of the democratic civilizations of Europe, the Olympic ideal shone brightly.

In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games were preceded by a “Sacred Truce” among the warring city-states, in which athletes were guaranteed safe passage to and from the games, and all fighting was to be halted for a period of one month. This period was eventually extended to allow the athletes and visitors to return home.

The games were held every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD, when they were abolished by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I. The ancient Olympic Games lasted for 1170 years. The Modern Olympic Games were initiated in 1896, and have been held every four years or more often since then except for 1916, 1940 and 1944.

–”Brief History of the Olympic Games,” NOSTOS (Hellenic Information Society, UK).

The Battle for Aleppo, and the Response of the World

Today, on Saturday, July 28, the battle was joined in earnest.

For news of recent developments on the ground in Syria, see

Luke Harding (in Anadan, on the Aleppo front line), “Syrian rebels near Aleppo: ‘We are besieging Assad’s army’; Regime forces have been pulverising rebel-held districts using artillery and helicopter gunships. But the rebels are upbeat,” The Guardian, July 28, 2012 (11:35 EDT).

Damien McElroy (in Aleppo), “Badly armed rebels face tanks as Syria’s mother of all battles begins,” The Telegraph, July 28, 2012 (6:57PM BST).

Álvaro de Cózar (Special Correspondent in Marea), “El Ejército sirio avanza para tomar Alepo; Las tropas de El Asad atacan con bombas y tanques los barrios en manos rebeldes; Las líneas de teléfono y el suministro de energía han sido cortados, El País, 28 Julio 2012 (23:45 CET).

Kareem Fahim and Ellen Barry, “Syrian Military Intensifies Assault on Rebels in Aleppo,” New York Times, July 28, 2012

***
Unfortunately, Americans accessing the Internet do not find it easy to gain a sense of what is actually taking place on the ground, due to “The Filter Bubble” which prevents most U.S. observers on the Internet from seeing the search results for newspapers outside of their own country (including, e.g., British and other newspapers which have correspondents on the ground in Syria). To get around The Filter Bubble, see the directions in the bottom right-hand column on the right on our Home Page, or go here.

The United States and other Western countries warn of an impending massacre in Aleppo, as if anyone but they themselves could save the day.

Leaderless, they stand helpless and paralyzed before the terror and barbarism of al-Assad.

They provide countless declarations of moral outrage, and call for the nations of the world to increase their “pressure” on the al-Assad regime.

Neither words nor economic sanctions, however, will stop al-Assad’s armies.

Enough with Words!

These leaders can all do the world one big favor: Stop denouncing al-Assad’s atrocities, at least until they are willing to do something really effective to bring them to a halt.

Enough with words!

President Theodore Roosevelt, Recipient of the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize, on Words and Deeds

“International Peace”
…
We must ever bear in mind that the great end in view is righteousness, justice as between man and man, nation and nation, the chance to lead our lives on a somewhat higher level, with a broader spirit of brotherly goodwill one for another. Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy. We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong. No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues; and this without regard to whether the loss is due to the growth of a heartless and all-absorbing commercialism, to prolonged indulgence in luxury and soft, effortless ease, or to the deification of a warped and twisted sentimentality.

Moreover, and above all, let us remember that words count only when they give expression to deeds, or are to be translated into them (emphasis added). The leaders of the Red Terror2 prattled of peace while they steeped their hands in the blood of the innocent; and many a tyrant has called it peace when he has scourged honest protest into silence. Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction.

[Footnote] 2. The “Terror” is a term characterizing the conduct of power in revolutionary France by the second committee of Public Safety (September, 1793-July, 1794), sometimes identified as the “Red Terror” to distinguish it from the short-lived “White Terror”, which was an effort by the Royalists in 1795 to destroy the Revolution.

–Theodore Roosevelt, 1907 Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, delivered May 5, 1910.

The Trenchant Observer

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General Mood of UNSMIS briefs Security Council—Obama’s Debacle in Syria— Update #54 (June 19) (with video links)

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Reflections on Gen. Mood’s decision to stand down UNSMIS observers in Syria

On May 15, we wrote:

What will it take for the international community to recognize that by sending more monitors to Syria, it is adding to Bashar al-Assad’s panoply of human shields? Those shields protect him from military action to force him to halt the killing. They also short-circuit the thinking processes of the leaders of all countries who still–at this late date–support the Security Council’s 6-point peace plan.

It is time to dismantle the Kofi Annan 6-point peace plan. UNSMIS should be put into lockdown until al-Assad complies with the conditions in the peace plan, and withdrawn if he doesn’t.

How can this be achieved?

USMIS can be stopped the same way the Arab peace monitor mission was stopped–by countries withdrawing their members, and refusing to send any additional members to the delegation. When the UNSMIS mission comes up for an extension at the end of 90 days, it should be blocked by a majority of the Security Council.

–Stop the UN farce!—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #37 (May 15), May 15, 2012.

On May 22, we wrote:

(T)he UNSMIS mandate should not be extended past its present 90-day term. The observers currently in Syria should immediately be ordered to stand down, before they or their leaders or a significant number of them are killed by IEDs, RPGs, or other instruments of war. They are at great risk, as the recent attacks on them have demonstrated.

We should bear in mind the tragic fate of Sérgio Vieira de Mello (a potential future Secretary General) and some 20 other members of the U.N. Mission in Bagdad who were killed by bombs on August 19, 2003. The Mission was not adequately protected. The bombing not only had tragic consequences, but also led to a precipitate withdrawal of the United Nations from Iraq.

–U.S. Covert Action in Syria?—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #40 (May 22), May 22, 2012.

General Robert Mood should be applauded for taking the clear-headed decision to stand down the UNSMIS observers in Syria, before any of them were killed by bullets or bombs.

Sérgio Vieira de Mello’s security contractors told him he needed to move his office to another building, located further back from the street, due to the risk of a car-bomb explosion. Vieira de Mello was ending his tour and scheduled to leave Bagdad within a week or two. In the circumstances, he decided to leave the move to the next guy.

There was no next guy. Vieira de Mello, a very strong internal candidate to beome the next Secretary General of the United Nations, was killed, along with 20 other U.N. personnel, as a result of the bomb attack on U.N. headquarters in Bagdad on August 19, 2003.

General Mood’s decision comes none too soon. Given the fact that the unarmed observers had become targets of gunfire attacks and hostile mobs, the decision to stand down was the only reasonable decision under the circumstances.

If the Syrian government does not comply immediately with the cease-fire provisions of the Security Council’s 6-point plan, the UNSMIS observers should be withdrawn from the country as soon as possible.

The unarmed observers, and General Mood, have performed their duties with great valor, and should now be protected and withdrawn until such time as the factual predicates of their mission are fulfilled.

Briefing by General Robert Mood to closed meeting of Security Council, June 19, 2012.

On June 19, the head of UNSMIS, General Robert Mood, briefed the members of the Security Council at a closed meeting of consultations. Following the meeting, he, the Unter-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, and the President of the Security Council delivered informal remarks at a press stake-out outside the Council’s chambers. Links to the video and audio of their remarks are listed below.

(1) General Robert Mood and Hervé Ladsous, informal comments following closed Security Council meeting on June 19, 2012.

19 Jun 2012 – Informal comments to the media by Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and Major General Robert Mood, Head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) Informal Remarks following closed session of Security Council on June 19, 2012.

(2) SC President, Li Baodong (China), informal comments following closed Security Council meeting on June 19, 2012.

SC President, Li Baodong (China) on Syria (19 June, 2012) – Security Council Media Stakeout
19 Jun 2012 – Informal comments to the media by H.E. Mr. Li Baodong, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the month of June 2012 on the situation in Syria.

(3) Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari (Syria), informal comments following closed Security Council meeting on

Bashar Ja’afari (Syria) on Syria (19 June, 2012) – Security Council Media Stakeout
19 Jun 2012 - Informal comments to the media by H.E. Mr. Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations on the situation in Syria.

Latest News Reports and Opinion

The New York Times reports,

…General Mood and his superior, Hervé Ladsous, the under secretary general for peacekeeping operations, who also appeared before the Council, indicated in their comments to reporters that the monitoring operation could not resume unless President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and his armed opponents honored the terms of the peace plan that first placed the monitors in Syria two months ago.
…
General Mood announced Saturday that he had suspended the patrols of his monitors because it was too dangerous amid the escalating violence, which Mr. Ladsous characterized last week as a civil war. The monitors have been continually threatened by gunfire and explosions, and were physically blocked on at least two occasions from promptly investigating evidence of civilian massacres that antigovernment activists said had been committed by Mr. Assad’s soldiers and loyalist militias. The Syrian government has denied any complicity in the killings.

By some estimates more than 3,000 Syrians have died since mid-April when the Annan plan was put in place in an attempt to end the conflict, which began in March 2011 as a peaceful antigovernment protest. Activist groups monitoring the violence in Syria reported that at least 30 people died Tuesday in hot spots around the country, including at least 10 in Homs and nine in the Damascus suburbs.
…
Earlier Tuesday, a Russian cargo ship carrying refurbished Russian-made attack helicopters to Mr. Assad’s military reversed course and headed back home after its insurance coverage was revoked by a leading British maritime insurer, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, told Parliament in London.

The ship, the 400-foot MV Alaed, owned by the Russian shipping company Femco, was tracked about 100 miles northwest of the Scottish coast early Tuesday, according to the Web site MarineTraffic.com. The state-owned Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported that it was carrying “a cargo of Mil Mi-25 attack helicopters” and “coastal-based antiship missiles” to Syria.
\–Rick Gladstone and Ravi Somaiya, “Doubt Is Cast on Mission by Monitors Inside Syria, New York Times, June 19, 2012.

Richard Spencer, “Telegraph view: West takes a step closer to Syria intervention; The halting of a ship carrying Russian helicopters bound for Syria seriously undermines Moscow’s anti-interventionist stance and brings the possibility of direct Western involvement in the crisis a step closer, according to the Telegraph’s Middle East Correspondent Richard Spencer,” The Telegraph, June 19, 2012 (with video).

The Trenchant Observer

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At least 70 killed nationwide; massacre of 50 in Houla; U.N. International Commission on Syria Update—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update # 43 (May 25)

Friday, May 25th, 2012

Periodic Update Report by Independent Commission of Inquiry

The U.N. appointed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria published a Periodic Update report on May 24, adding to its previous findings. The report is found here.

For a U.N. news article on the report, see

UN News Centre, “UN human rights probe panel reports continuing ‘gross’ violations in Syria,” May 24, 2012.

Excerpts from the Periodic Update report:

2. The Commission remains extremely concerned about the human rights situation in the country where gross violations continue unabated in an increasingly militarized context, despite the parties to the conflict having reached agreement on the Joint Special Envoy’s “six-point plan”. Most of the serious human rights violations documented by the Commission in this Update were committed by the Syrian army and security services as part of military or search operations conducted in locations known for hosting defectors and/or armed persons, or perceived as supportive of anti-government armed groups. The army employed the wide range of military means, including heavy shelling of civilian areas. The Commission received several accounts that anti-government armed groups are also committing human rights abuses.
…
11. Accounts indicated that the security forces used precise shelling to target small opposition strongholds as well as indiscriminate shelling – dropping shells among residential areas and in neighborhoods suspected of harboring opposition fighters or supporters. After the shelling, security forces would enter the area, position snipers on rooftops, often on school buildings, and conduct house-to-house searches. Repeated accounts of extra-judicial killings in this context were also received. Fighters in anti-government armed groups were killed after being captured or wounded. In some particularly grave instances, entire families were executed in their homes – usually the family members of those opposing the government such as the family members of Colonel Raid Al Asaad.
…
14. Children continue to suffer in the context of the on-going events in the Syrian Arab Republic. They are frequently among those killed and injured during attacks on protests and the bombardment of towns and villages by state forces. The Commission recorded an incident where several people were allegedly executed in Taftanaz in April 2012, when that village was raided by Government forces. There were five people under 18 among the deceased. Additionally, specific reports of children being killed by snipers arose in two separate villages in Idlib (January and March 2012). In areas where anti-government armed groups hold sway, boys older than 14 years are reportedly targeted as members of such groups. Children, including boys as young as 10 years of age, detained by State forces, repeatedly indicate that they are tortured to admit that older male members of their family are “Free Syrian Army” soldiers or supporters.
…
18. The Commission has received multiple reports of the extra-judicial executions of members of the army and security forces, suspected informers and/or collaborators captured by anti-government armed groups. Two such incidents occurred in Homs in April 2012. In corroborated statements taken from anti-government fighters, the Commission recorded instances where members of Government forces perceived to have committed crimes – for example, by participating in the shelling of civilian areas –were executed or captured. A defector who fought in the ranks of Al Farouk Brigade “FSA”) in Homs city stated that members of the government forces, including what he claimed were three Iranian snipers, were summarily executed after they apparently confessed. One anti-government armed group fighter also admitted that he and his associates had killed Government soldiers when the captives refused to join them.
…

50 Civilians Killed in Massacre at Houla (Homs Province)

See

“13 children die in renewed fighting in Syria; More than 70 people, including 13 children, were reportedly killed in a day of intensified fighting across Syria on Friday,” The Telegraph, May 25, 2012 (10:28 BST).

Conal Urquhart, “Syrian troops ‘kill 50′ near Homs; Ban Ki-moon says some progress has been made, but overall situation remains very serious in further day of bloodshed,” The Guardian, May 25, 2012 (1826 EDT).

Urquhart describes the level and intensity of violence on Friday:

At least 50 people, including 13 children, were killed when Syrian forces attacked the town of Houla in Homs province on Friday according to Syrian anti-government activists.

In other areas of Syria, activists said that a further 33 people were killed. The Syrian government news agency said that 17 people had been killed by anti-government gunmen. None of the figures could be independently verified.

The surge in violence came as Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general told the UN security council there had been some progress in reducing violence, but the overall situation remained very serious.
…
Reports from activists and the government suggest that violence took places in dozens of areas involving helicopter gunships, tanks, artillery, roadside bombs and small arms.

The most intense violence appeared to take place in Houla, a group of four villages near Homs where Syrian security forces opened fire on an anti-government protest. Anti-government forces retaliated and the army began shelling the area, killing an estimated 50 people, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the local co-ordination committees.

Activist Ahmad Kassem told Reuters: “The soldiers are shelling Houla right now, the casualties are huge.”

The largest demonstrations since the unrest began in March 2011 were reported in Aleppo, where the government introduced tanks for the first time.

Analysis

Still, the international community remains paralyzed in the face of barbarism in Syria.

Kofi Annan continues to carry water for the Russians, dragging out his abortive intervention with plans for yet another trip to Damascus. To what end?

We already know all that we need to know, to wit:

1. The Syrian government is committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in crushing the opposition.

2. President Obama, fearful that Syria might affect his reelection prospects, went so far as to say at Camp David that the Group of Eight were in agreement on Syria. If so, that is only because the U.S. and NATO have caved into accepting the Russian position of supporting the Kofi Annan peace plan and observer mission–in the face of al-Assad’s total non-compliance with its provisions. This amounts to supporting al-Assad while he continues to commit atrocities.

3. There are news reports that the U.S. is covertly coordinating the provision of arms to the armed opposition in Syria, while it states publicly that it supports the Security Council 6-point peace plan, which includes “no foreign intervention” as one of its key points.

4. No one remembers what is actually in the Kofi Annan plan, such as guaranteeing foreign journalists free access to Syria, guaranteeing the right of citizens to demonstrate, or providing the names and whereabouts of those who have been detained, and processing their release. If they remembered, they might at least demand compliance.

5. Nothing is going to change, absent some dramatic intervention by some leader of some country. Resolution 2043 which established the 300-member UNSMIS observer team was adopted on April 21, and will remain in effect until its expiration on July 21, 2012 (90 days after its adoption).

6. Everyone seems happy to watch the war crimes and crimes against humanity continue at least until then. They wring their hands and cry out in helpless wonder, but no one is willing to do anything about it.

7. There are no leaders from the great democracies of the West, or from NATO, or from the Arab League countries, who have the courage to challenge President Obama’s passivity and craven surrender to Russia’s cynical policy objectives in Syria–desite the enormous suffering and loss of life that has occurred to date, and which continues.

8. This is surely one of the darkest pages in the history of the United Nations.

9. It is surely one of the darkest pages in the history of the Western democracies since the end of World War II, and the Nuremberg Trials.

10. For all apparent purposes, the Nuemberg Principles now seem to be forgotten, almost as if they were dead.

11. The Responsibility to Protect, which achieved growing support after 2005, and was particularly relevant in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and in Libya in 2011, now appears to be but a distant dream.

12. As we try to deal with the situation in Syria, it seems as if we have moved backwards to the situation which existed before World War II.

What will it take for some leader, in some democratic country, or some country in transition, to do something to abort the Kofi Annan mission, the UNSMIS observer misssion which can observe but not protect, and the increasing militarization of the civil war in Syria–and to do so in the full light of day?

The worst-case scenario seems to be the one we are now following, with

1. some limited but ineffective covert action coordinated by the United States;

2. a totally failed and ill-conceived “mediation” effort by the Security Council blocking any constructive thought or action in public;

3. accelerating movement toward reigniting the civil war in Lebanon;

4. growing danger that the civil war in Syria will degenerate into ethnic conflict similar to that which took place in the Balkans and in Iraq; and

5. strong prospects that the long, drawn-out covert war Obama may be carefully planning, with his fine intellectual distinctions (such as coordinating the provision of arms, as if that weren’t providing arms–the kind of legal analysis you might get from a lawyer who has never practiced law), will have highly dangerous and unpredictable impacts and outcomes.

Is it not time to act, and to act forcefully to halt the killings and other abuses of fundamental human rights?

If not now, when?

Covert war in Syria. Is that the best we can do?

The Trenchant Observer

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Into the Abyss: Washington’s Fecklessness, Syria’s Fate—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #20 (March 30)

Friday, March 30th, 2012

Latest News Reports and Opinion

Reuters reports from Beirut,

(Reuters) – Syrian artillery hit parts of Homs city and at least 37 people were killed in clashes around Syria on Friday, opposition activists said, as peace envoy Kofi Annan told President Bashar al-Assad his forces must be first to cease fire and withdraw.
–Erika Solomon and Douglas Hamilton (Beirut), “Syrian army must pull back first under Annan plan, Reuters, March 30, 2012 (2:15pm EDT).

The Syria conflict and the United States’ failure to develop and execute an effective policy to deal with the atrocities in Syria is likely to spill over into international efforts to halt the development of a nuclear weapons capability in Iran, as suggested by Turkish Prime Minister’s reported statements to Khamanei in Tehran.

See Elad Benari. “Khamenei: Syria’s Anti-Israel, So We’ll Defend It; Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tells Turkish PM Erdogan: Iran will defend the Syrian regime due to its anti-Israeli stance, Arutz Sheva (7), March 30, 2012 (www.israelinationalnews.com).

The Telegraph provides an overview of the situation at the end of the day in London:

Ruth Sherlock (Beirut), “Syria activists lose hope that they will unseat Bashar al-Assad; Syrian activists were losing hope of unseating President Bashar al-Assad from power as regime troops continued to attack dwindling rebel strongholds, ignoring international demands for a ceasefire,” The Telegraph, March 30, 2012 (7:39PM BST).

Der Spiegel, which has consistently provided up-to-date and comprehensive reporting on events on the ground in Syria, describes the impact of “Annan’s deadly peace plan” including its fatal flaws and its effects on the ground:

See Ulrike Putz (Beirut), “Annans tödlicher Friedensplan; Syriens Rebellen toben, Experten sind entsetzt: Der Uno-Friedensplan von Kofi Annan bringt dem Assad-Regime vor allem jede Menge Zeit, um im Land weiter zu morden und zu foltern. Am Ende könnte der Diktator sogar im Amt bleiben – die Opposition will das mit Gewalt verhindern, ” 30 März 2012.

Regarding Obama’s posture toward Russia as revealed in Seoul, see Charles Krauthammer, “The ‘flexibility’ doctrine,” The Washington Post, March 29, 2012. Krauthammer quotes the audio picked up at the open microphone incident, as follows:

“On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it’s important for him [Vladimir Putin] to give me space. . . . This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.”
— Barack Obama to Dmitry Medvedev, open mike, March 26

Analysis

What can be added to what has been written before? See the Articles on Syria page.

Obama is determined not to get involved in Syria in an election year, “regardless of the consequences”.

He is not moved, not moved to action, by seeing thousands of Syrians killed by al-Assad’s forces, with dozens and sometimes hundreds of new victims added to the list each day.

He supported the Kofi Annan plan, which in effect prevented potential pressures on the ground against al-Assad, while providing a smokescreen behind which the United States could hide its feckless failure to act to halt the killing. Worse than that, the Annan plan thwarted the efforts of others–Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, in particular–from providing arms to Syrian citizens with which they could defend themselves against the onslaught of a modern army and state security apparatus, and from establishing a safety zone inside Syria to which they could retreat to escape the killing.

The response of the U.S. and others to events in Syria is worse than Srebrenice, because the events have unfolded in slow motion and the United States has had plenty of time to think, to react, and to act to stop the killing.

Now the world can draw its own conclusions about the current leadership of the United States, which as we have pointed out has a foreign policy without a moral core.

The saddest thing is that we can now also draw our conclusions about Barack Obama, and the kind of foreign policy “leader” he really is.

He has bungled our exit from Iraq, and further embroiled us in a hopeless war to uphold a corrupt dictator and political elite in Afghanistan, a narco-state.

He has also thrown international law to the wind as he pursues the defense of the United States by enhancing and using the capabilities of drones and special operations forces to simply kill our perceived enemies, throughout many countries in the world.

In doing so, with no vision of peace and no credibility in appealing for the support of the populations of allied countries to undertake joint endeavors based on shared moral values and principles, including those embodied in international law, he has given the world a prospect of endless war–without the moderating force of law.

He is who he is.

And we are who we are. In the United States, we have a vote in the upcoming presidential elections. For some of us, who find the domestic programs of the Democrats far more sensible than those put forward by Republican candidates in the presidential primaries, and who are gravely concerned about the future composition of the Supreme Court, the presidential elections in November, 2012 are shaping up to present a wrenching choice.

In the meantime, we–and the Syrians demonstrating and fighting for a democratic government which guarantees the protection of their fundamental human rights–must look elsewhere for leadership to halt the commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other grave violations of human rights in Syria.

The Trenchant Observer

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“The emperor has no clothes”: Foreign policy without a moral core—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #19 (March 29)

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Latest News and Opinion on Syria

Dominic Evans (Beirut), “Assad says foreign aid to rebels must stop under peace plan,” Reuters, March 29, 2012 (8:54 pm BST).

Adrian Blomfeld, “Syria: Bashar al-Assad raises questions over commitment to peace deal; President Bashar al-Assad has raised questions over his commitment to a UN-backed initiative he agreed to just days ago by demanding that Syria’s rebels disarm before a peace deal can be reached, The Telegraph, March 29, 2012 (8:01 pm BST).

Der Spiegel reports that 29 people were killed on Thursday, mostly in Homs, Idlib and in the suburbs of Damaskus.

–Christoph Sydow, “Assad ignoriert Annans Friedensplan; Mit sechs Punkten zum Frieden: Uno und Arabische Liga setzen auf Kofi Annans Lösungsplan, der den Machtkampf in Syrien befrieden soll. Doch das Regime in Damaskus setzt bislang keine der Forderungen um. Assad spielt auf Zeit – und hofft weiter auf die fehlende Entschlossenheit des Westens,” Der Spiegel, den 31. März 2012. This article also contains a summary of the six-point U.N. peace plan of Kofi Annan, in German.

Tony Badran, “Passivity and incoherence on Syria,” NOW Lebanon (blog), March 29, 2012.

Tony Badran, “US tells Turkey to back off Syria,” NOW Lebanon (blog), March 22, 2012.

Opinion: Marc Ginsberg

Marc Ginsberg, former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco has condemned recent U.S. policy on Syria, highlighting similarities with the Clinton White House’s handling of atrocities in the Balkans up until the massacre of 7,000 men and boys at Srebrenice in July, 1995.

Flash forward 17 years later, and in this second year of Syria’s so-called Arab Spring bloodbath it’s déjà vu all over again at 1600 Penn. While Syria is not Srebrenica, there are eerie similarities in how this Obama team is hopelessly caught up in a Bosnian-style policy vacuum circa 1995, characterized by an excessively domineering election campaign apparatus that inexorably trumps national security considerations. That is a dangerous recipe when coupled with the absence of any long-term strategy in Syria.

Why is the White House on such a slippery slope that it claims it is determined to avoid?

Tracing the policy of the White House over the last year, Ginsburg notes that Obama and his team reacted to Syrian atrocities like “kryptonite”, stressed unsubstantiated fears about what would come after Assad as a reason for inaction, and coupled repeated calls for Assad to go with a failure to impose consequences on al-Assad. Consistently, the White House political operation’s desire to keep Syria out of the election trumped national security considerations.

Shockingly, Ginsberg relates how the U.S. enlisted Turkish support for certain options, and then cut the ground out from under the Turks by telling them that Obama “preferred going through the Russians” to secure peace by supporting the U.N. peace initiative led by Kofi Annan.

(A)s more reports of atrocities trickled out of Syria last summer, the U.S. began subcontracting U.S. policy to Turkey in the expectation that greater coordination with Ankara would create more multilateral support against the regime. At the time, this made eminent sense. Ankara, faced with a growing humanitarian refugee crisis on its Syrian border, and furious with its failed investment in the Assad regime, picked up the mantle. There were bilateral talks of buffer zones and humanitarian corridors and, perhaps non-lethal support to the nascent Free Syrian Army.

But as my able colleague Tony Badran reported in his blog in www.nowlebanon.com (confirming what I picked up during my recent visit to Turkey a few days ago), Secretary Clinton caught her Turkish counterpart off guard during their meeting in Washington last month. Clinton reportedly told Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that the Obama Administration “preferred going through the Russians” in an attempt to achieve a political solution being shopped by the UN/Arab League’s Special Syrian Envoy Kofi Annan.

By unexpectedly dismissing Turkish/Arab League plans to create a buffer zone/or humanitarian corridor as well as organizing and providing non-lethal support to the Free Syrian Army, everything that Turkey thought was on the table with Washington appeared to fall off of it. It seemed to matter to no one in the White House that it had just pushed our Turkish colleagues over the cliff after we had jumped on their bandwagon.
…

(I)f the U.S. refuses to accede to new ideas from its “Syrian Friends” then, to coin its own phrase with respect to Assad, “it should get out of the way.”

–Amb. Marc Ginsberg, “Syria Is Obama’s Srebrenica,” Huffington Post (The Blog), March 28, 2012 .

Tony Badran’s March 22 article, listed above and cited by Ginsberg, provides further details on the change in U.S. position on Syria with regard to options under consideration by Turkey and the Gulf countries. Badran also explains Obama’s aversion to getting invoved, as follows:

The Obama administration’s reasoning is simple. It calculates, rather correctly, that such regional efforts will likely end up drawing the US in down the road, one way or another. President Obama wishes to nip in the bud any possibility of this happening in an election year. And so, such regional moves were opposed in order for the president not to be forced to take action he’s adamantly intent on avoiding, regardless of the consequences.

As a result, the administration has found itself in the surreal position of siding closer with Assad’s Russian ally and at cross-purposes with its own regional allies – and, most significantly, in contradiction with its own stated policy of regime change in Syria.
–Tony Badran, “US tells Turkey to back off Syria,” NOW Lebanon, March 22, 2012.

So, Obama seems to have pulled the rug out from under our allies, and decided to pursue peace in Syria instead by working with the Russians and supporting Kofi Annan’s ill-starred six-point peace program.

A Foreign Policy without a Moral Core

Obama’s actions toward Turkey and the Gulf countries in relation to Syria suggest that there is no moral core at the heart of Obama’s foreign policy.

It should also be noted that a close if unofficial advisor to Hillary Clinton–her husband, Bill Clinton–was himself the author of the U.S. policy that led to Srebrenice.

On Syria, the pattern of U.S. actions toward Iran in 2009, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya has been repeated. Absent Security Council authorization, Obama has been unwilling to act or to lead. Obama avoids confrontation like the plague.

Events drive policy, not the reverse.

The Obama administration has shown no moral outrage at Russia’s and China’s support of al-Assad and their working to provide him with more time to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Syrian population to solidify his hold on power. Rather, it’s business as ususal.

With Russia actively supporting al-Assad through the provision of weapons, amunition and training by Russian advisors on the ground in Syria, President Obama had the callous temerity to sit down with Russian President Medvedev at the Seoul nuclear conference last week, in a most cordial manner, and to beseech him to understand that he, Obama, would be able to be more flexible on nuclear arms control negotiations after the November elections.

What was most revealing about the “open microphone” episode in Seoul was that Obama was pleading with the Russians to be understanding and to give him some space on the arms control issue. In short, he was proceeding from a psychological position of weakness, when he should have been insisting publicly that Russia stop its morally indefensible support of al-Assad’s commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.

Obama seems to be laboring under the illusion that his “reset” of relations with Russia, particularly thorugh his personal relationship with Mededev, has been successful when, quite obviously, the contrary has been the case.

These developments can be understood only by recognizing that Obama when dealing with foreign policy issues thinks primarily in terms of electoral politics and his re-election in November. He delegates foreign policy to others. In fact, he appears much more animated and engaged emotionally on domestic issues. This is consistent with his lack of international interests prior to entering the White House.

For whatever reasons, in the foreign policy area there appear to be no moral values for which he will fight.

When you step back from the daily news and take a broad look at what Obama has done by supporting Kofi Annan’s U.N. peace initiative, and “preferring going through the Russians”, you can see the utter cynicism and lack of morality of the administration’s policy and actions.

What Obama has done, in a word, is to sell the Syrian opposition down the river. He has abandoned them. The highly probable result of pursuing the Annan plan is that great delay will follow before the fighting stops, if it does, and then probably only after thousands of additional lives have been lost.

The U.N. plan is nothing more than a shameless facade behind which the United States can try to hide, while it obstructs those who would otherwise act to halt the commission of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria.

The logical outcome of the U.N. plan is that al-Assad will remain in power, with all the instruments of state terror at his command, to be used if and when and to the extent needed to maintain himself in power. Keeping him in power will ensure the Russians the continued operation of their naval base at Tartus, their listening post for the Middle East, and their arms contracts and other business relationships with the al-Assad regime.

One is reminded of the children’s story by Hans Christian Andersen entitled, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. See the translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Keiserens nye Klæder” by Jean Hersholt.

The Emperor in this case is President Barack Obama. The Emperor has no clothes.

Obama’s foreign policy has no moral core.

The Trenchant Observer

observer@trenchantobserver.com
www.twitter.com/trenchantobserv

For links to other articles by The Trenchant Observer on this topic, and others, click on the title at the top of this page to go to the home page, and then consult the information in the bottom right hand corner of the home page.

Tags: 6-Punkte Friedensinitiative, adrian blomfeld, Ahmet Davutoğlu, al-Assad, Ambassador, ambassador to morocco, arab spring, avoids confrontation like the plague, Bill Clinbton, bill clinton, bosnia-style policy vacuum, chances for re-election, China, Christoph Sydow, circa 1995, close if unofficial advisor, Crimes Against Humanity, der spiegel, dimitri medvedev, electoral politics, events drive policy, foreign policy, hans christian andersen, Hillary Clinton, Hu Jintao, husband, kofi annan, Kofi Annan's Friedensinitiative, kryptonite, marc ginsberg, medvedev, no moral core, nowlebanon.com, nuclear conference, obama's foreign policy has no moral core, re-election in 2012, reset, Russia, Secretary of State, seoul, Srebreice, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, the emperor has no clothes, the emperor's new clothes, tHE tELEGRAPH, Tony Badran, Turkey, Turkish Foreign Minister, U.S. relations with Russia, un peace plan, war crimes
Posted in Barack Obama, China, Crimes Against Humanity, elections, History, human rights, International Law, Lebanon, Russia, State Department, State Department Legal Adviser, syria, targeted assassinations, Torture, Turkey, U.N. Charter, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, United States, use of force, war crimes | 2 Comments »

Diplomats founder: Military action, not “mediation”, required to halt crimes against humanity—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #1 (February 29, revised March 1)

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Revised March 1, 2012

For earlier articles on Syria by The Trenchant Observer, see the Articles on Syria page.

Syrian tank firing in Homs

“So, is the world helpless? Must we simply stand by and watch the slaughter, and accept a future world where we are comfortable with the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, because we don’t have the will and the courage to use military force to stop it?”

Mediation with war criminals during ongoing commission of war crimes?

Francisco Goya, Saturn devouring his son

Look carefully at Goya’s painting of Saturn devouring his son. Feel the horror. That is the horror that exists today in Syria.

The Future for Opponents of the Al-Assad Regime

Human Rights Council Receives Special Commission Report; Adopts Resolution on Escalating Grave Human Rights Violations and Deteriorating Humanitarian Situation in Syria (March 1, 2012)

The commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other grave violations of fundamental human rights continues in Homs and other cities and towns in Syria. See

Report of the Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria, February 22, 2012.

–Alan Cowell and Steven Lee Myers, “U.N. Panel Accuses Syrian Government of Crimes Against Humanity,” New York Times, February 23, 2012.

For the full text of the 72-page report, see “Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/19/69 (22 February 2012).

Human Rights Council in Geneva

March 1, 2012 Human Rights Council Resolution

Beginning February 28, the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva debated a new resolution (A/HRC/19/L.1/Rev.1) on the the escalating grave human rights situation and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria. See

Statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay at The Urgent Debate on the Human Rights and Humanitarian Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic at the Human Rights Council 19th Session, February 28, 2012.

Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Council adopts resolution on escalating grave human rights violations and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria,” March 1, 2012.

The text of Resolution A/HRC/19/L.1/Rev.1 is found here.

The Resolution was approved on March 1 by a vote of 37 in favor, 3 against, with three abstentions. The vote tally or breakdown was as follows:

In Favor

Austria
Bangladesh
Belgium
Benin
Botswana
Cameroon
Chile
Congo
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Djibouti
Guatemala
Hungary
Indonesia
Italy
Jordan
Kuwait
Libya
Malaysia
Maldives
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Nigeria
Norway
Peru
Poland
Qatar
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Spain
Switzerland
Thailand
United States of America
Uruguay

Against

China
Cuba
Russian Federation

Abstentions

Ecuador
India
Philippines

Not voting, with explanation (absent from room)

Burkino Faso – would have voted in favor
Kyrgyzstan – would have voted in favor
Angola – would have abstained

Not Voting, without explanation

Uganda

The actual vote tally sheet is found here.

Obama: “We can’t stand on the sidelines” [but let me think it over while I have a latté]

Obama has reportedly vetoed a plan to take military action to set up a secure zone within Syria by the use of air power. See “Obama rules out military intervention in Syria, weighs humanitarian corridors,” DEBKAfile, February 29, 2012.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton muses aloud, on camera, that if we call Al-Assad a war criminal, it may make it harder to get him to resign. Well, he is a war criminal, and is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity as we speak. The Nuremberg Charter was not about convenience. The dilemma is real. But that is no reason to hide in an Orwellian world in which the Secretary of State and the President are afraid to describe a horrific reality with real words.

See Richard Spencer, Syria: “Bashar al-Assad could be regarded as a war criminal, says Hillary Clinton; The Syrian president Bashar al-Assad could be regarded as a war criminal, Hillary Clinton suggested as the United Nations said 100 people were dying in his country every day,” The Telegraph, February 28, 2012.

How Many Will Die Before the International Community Stops Al-Assad–With Force if Required?

Meanwhile, United Nations Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, Lynn Pascoe, told the Security Council on Tuesday, February 28, that the U.N. now estimates that 7,500 civilians have died in Syria, up from 4,500 estimated in December.

The Urgency Is to Act Now, Today

Kofi Annan has been given a mandate to “mediate” with Al-Assad and others, and has demanded that his mediation process be the sole mediation process to resolve the dispute. This is a major mistake by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Annan’s mission should be limited to a week, in the initial phase. Other mediation efforts should continue.

Annan is no Richard Holbrooke with the full military might of the United States standing behind him, which enabled Holbrooke to broker a peace in Dayton with Milosovic in 1995, after three years of devastating war in the former Yugoslovia. Then, as now in Syria, the international community didn’t want to get involved militarily.

There is absolutely no reason to expect that Annan will succeed where the Arab League and the major Western and Arab powers failed. This is Al-Assad’s game, which he played masterfully with the Arab League sanctions, which were postponed as a result of his acceptance of their November peace plan and the Arab League observer mission, gaining months of time, for months of repression. He never complied with the peace plan’s terms, and in retrospect appears never to have intended to.

He wants more time, more time to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity to eliminate his opponents in Homs, and everywhere else. He will always play for more time. The question is, “When will the international community, led by the U.S. or France, tell him that his time is up?”

He should not be given more time. He should be stopped, by force if necessary. In the next few days.

Obama must face the harsh realities in Syria. This is not a “kumbaya” moment in history. The Russians are willing to play for time so Al-Assad can finish killing off the opposition. They are providing munitions including weapons and ammunition, and probably intelligence, money and other support to assist him.

Obama must understand that the hour is now late. In the end, no U.N. resolution will, in and of itself, stop Al-Assad from slaughtering his opponents. At this point, only a resolution authorizing military action–and the ensuing military action–could do this. But such a resolution is not going to be approved by the Security Council any time soon.

So, is the world helpless? Must we simply stand by and watch the slaughter, and accept a future world where we are comfortable with the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, because we don’t have the will and the courage to use military force to stop it?

The civilized world has stopped crimes against humanity before, without Security Council authorization, in Kosovo and Serbia. It is now time to act, militarily, to stop Al-Assad. There is no imaginable scenario whereby he can remain in power with a license to hunt down and execute his opponents, without other outside powers being drawn into an ever-widening civil war and regional conflict.

Iran is watching. This conflict is in important respects a conflict also with Iran. Obama has spoken of having all the options on the table with Iran if they don’t agree to stop the development of a nuclear weapons capability or nuclear weapons. He will have no credibility with Iran, and no credibility that he will in fact stop an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, if he does not show some decisiveness now. Netanyahu is coming to Washington next week, in all likelihood in an effort to get a green light to launch such an attack. Things are not going to get any easier for Obama as time goes by.

Obama is known for his words, and the fact that they are frequently not backed up by actions. In fact, in foreign policy, he is seen by many as lacking leadership skills and “resolve”.

Netanyahu defied him early on with respect to settlements, and Obama backed down. Obama gave the Russians their greatest objective in arms control talks, by withdrawing plans to base defensive missiles in Poland and Czechoslovakia–and got nothing in return. He didn’t even tell the Poles and the Czechs in advance. He did nothing to support the Green Revolution in Iran in 2009, which subsequently was crushed–like the Syrian opposition will be crushed if there is no outside help. The Iranians are advising Al-Assad. He stood on the sidelines in Egypt when the Arab Spring arrived, and even cut back on support of civil society programs through foreign assistance in the years leading up to those events. He was opposed to getting involved in Libya for a long, long time, and only got involved when pushed to do so by the French and the Bristish. He oversaw the disastrous failure of American diplomacy in failing to negotiate a status of forces agreement with Iraq, leading to the precipitous withdrawal of the U.S. in a manner that puts the entire Iraqi enterprise in doubt. His policies in Afghanistan have manifestly failed. Above all, he lacks any strategic vision. He doesn’t see a connection between halting Al-Assad’s butchery in Syria and halting Iran’s drive to obtain nuclear weapons. Outsiders have serious doubts he can stand up to Netanyahu and prevent an Israeli attack on Iran. The list could go on.

Nonetheless, despite these weaknesses and shortcomings, he must act now to lead the civilized world in halting the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria. He needs to put military action on the table as an option, and immediately take overt steps to put that option in place so that it can be executed on short notice.

That could help diplomacy produce the desired concrete results–an immediate cessation of hostilities–an immediate halt to the firing of tanks, anti-aircraft weapons, and artillery against civilian neighborhoods, and an immediate halt to the ground sweeps of opponents that are taken out and shot.

It goes without saying that attacks on medical personnel and facilities, which constitute war crimes, must immediately halt.

Humanitarian assistance must be allowed, but it will have no durable meaning if Al-Assad’s onslaught against his own civilian population is not stopped now.

The Trenchant Observer

observer@trenchantobserver.com
twitter.com/trenchantobserv

–For earlier articles by The Trenchant Observer, see the Articles on Syria page.
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Posted in Barack Obama, Dictatorship, extrajudicial execution, France, Germany, human rights, human rights reports, Intelligence, internal supporters of human rights, International Law, Iran, Israel, kosovo, Russia, Serbia, State Department, syria, targeted assassinations, targeted killings, Torture, U.N. Charter, U.N. Security Council, U.S. Intervention, U.S. Military, United States, use of force | No Comments »

The Trenchant Observer

Posts Tagged ‘tHE tELEGRAPH’

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“The emperor has no clothes”: Foreign policy without a moral core—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #19 (March 29)

Diplomats founder: Military action, not “mediation”, required to halt crimes against humanity—Obama’s Debacle in Syria — Update #1 (February 29, revised March 1)

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