Syria at Threshold of Religious War

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A report recently published by the Open Doors international Christian human rights organisation says that, at present, Syria’s one of the most dangerous countries in the world for Christians to live in. The report says that many Christians in Syria are victims of violence and that many Christian churches and monasteries in the country lie in ruins. Every year, Open Doors publishes reports about violence against Christians in various parts of the world. In last year’s report, Syria was in 36th place on the list of countries where Christians face persecution. Now, it’s in 11th place. Open Doors collected information about Christians killed, kidnapped, or brutalised in those regions of Syria under opposition control, which, in essence, means Islamist rule. The Islamist insurgents have desecrated, damaged, or totally wrecked many Christian churches and monasteries in Syria.

In an interview with VOR, Russian expert in Eastern affairs Boris Dolgov said, “The appearance of this report is very important. I hope that this document helps the world to learn more about violence against Christians in Syria and to seek measures to stop this violence”. Recently, Mr Dolgov visited Syria and met with members of several Christian communities; in particular, with Mother Agnes-Mariam de la Croix, the prioress of St Jacques Roman Catholic Monastery, saying, “I had a long talk with Mother Agnes-Mariam. She’s very concerned that the rebels are now persecuting Christians in Syria. She knows of many cases when Islamists shelled Christian monasteries, kidnapped or killed Christian priests, and expelled Christians from cities now under opposition control… for example, from Homs. She showed photographs to me that depicted the consequences of these crimes. Mother Agnes-Mariam told me that many members of the Syrian opposition belong to al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups”.

The Open Doors report noted that if radical Islamists come to power in Syria, they might start to persecute Christians only because Christians didn’t interfere in the conflict between the opposition and the government out of a preference for a peaceful solution of the matter. This may either isolate Syrian Christians domestically or force many to flee Syria. Dolgov agreed with this, saying, “If the most radical Islamist faction within the Syrian opposition came to power, this would be a tragedy, not only for Syria, but also for the entire Middle East. Most likely, they’d start killing Christians, Alawites, Kurds, and members of other religious and national minorities”.

Alawites are a Muslim sect whose beliefs on some points differ from those of the Islamists. President Bashar al-Assad and his family are Alawites, and Alawites currently dominate the Syrian government and military. As a rule, Syrian Kurds either support President Assad or take no sides in the conflict between his régime and the opposition. Recently, the MP also expressed concern about persecution of Christians in Syria. Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev, the First Hierarch of the MP, is of the opinion that ethnic and religious tensions are the main causes of the conflict in Syria. His Holiness said that the MP is ready to render humanitarian aid to Syrian Christians who’ve lost their homes or suffered in some other way from Islamist actions.

10 January 2013

Konstantin Garibov

Aleksei Lyakhov

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_10/Syria-at-threshold-of-religious-war/

Syrian Christians Afraid of Possible Islamist Rule

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Christians living in conflict-torn Syria are afraid that they’d fall victim of religious extremism if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s régime collapses and Islamists come to power. A Christian from Damascus, who identified himself as Jorge, told RIA-Novosti, “I’m afraid that we’d suffer bad times”. He believed that a full-fledged civil war would break out in Syria if Assad’s enemies and their western supporters continue efforts to topple the president, saying, “If the régime falls…, Islamists would take power. Islamists wrongly believe that we support the current régime, and for that reason, they’d complicate Christians’ life. Sunni Muslims predominate in Syria, and some think that if President Assad’s régime, which represents the interests of the Alawi minority, falls, they’d live better. However, personally, I think that they’re wrong. Syria’s a secular state and its people, including Muslims, wouldn’t like it if a new power started thrusting orthodox Islamic notions of moral behaviour on them”. In Jorge’s opinion, extremist forces rather than liberals would come to power in Syria.

Another Syrian, an engineer from Homs, said (on conditions of anonymity) that he’s sure that if Assad’s régime falls, Christians would be “expelled from the country in a single day”. At present, the situation in Homs is quite complicated; almost all of the local Christians have fled. Militants and their families have occupied their homes, and they’ve looted their shops. Refugees are temporarily living in other regions of the country. Jorge said Islamists are trying to prove that if there’s régime change, Christians wouldn’t come under attack, saying, “They do it to appease them [the Christians], to attract them, thus, loosening their support of the régime”.

Muslim leaders put messages on social networks saying that Christians and Muslims lived together in Syria for centuries; they also tried to distance themselves from the damage inflicted on Christian homes and churches in Homs. The engineer from Homs said that government forces could have “pushed out” Islamist militants from Homs if they’d continued shelling the city for at least three more days. “However, then, they adopted [UN and Arab League Ambassador] Kofi Annan’s plan and enforced a ceasefire. Nevertheless, this didn’t bring anything good to us. Militants continue to occupy our homes”. He said that the majority of Christians don’t consider emigration a possibility, saying, “This is our homeland. Christians lived in Syria long before the Muslims came. Why should we move away?” Christians make up about 10 percent of Syria’s 23 million people. Approximately 50 percent of Syrian Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East.

14 May 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/society/20120514/173444270.html

Editor’s Note:

The American aggression in the Middle East after the accession to power of GWB drove many Christians from their traditional homelands. Unfortunately, the Americans (both neocon Republicans and interventionist Democrats) support either the Zionists in Israel or the Islamists, along with a contradictory policy of propping up the KSA and the Gulf state kleptocracies (it’s not the first such seeming contradiction in history, is it?). Because of the ferment that arose from this American meddling, all too many Middle Eastern Christians have fled… which has led to an interesting situation in the Orthodox diaspora in the West.

The recent refugees are on a collision course with the konvertsy in the AOCANA… the latter are kneejerk radical rightwingers (reliable neocon nutters, to be sure), and the former (quite obviously) don’t care for those whose policies led to their exile. It’ll lead to an interesting situation for Philip Saliba, no? It’s a three-way Donnybrook, old-line Arab-American stalwarts, unhinged rightwing Anglo-Saxon konvertsy, and new Arab refugees. The power brokers are the Arab-Americans… quo vadis, neighbourhood Toledo (remember Klinger and his Hungarian Hot Dogs?)? Only the Good Lord knows…

BMD 

19 February 2012. The Russian “Take” on Syria

USAF RQ-4A Global Hawk high-altitude surveillance UAV… no doubt, the US is passing intel on to its Islamist allies on the ground. Don’t forget, if you support the rebels, you support the massacre of the Alawi population and the certain expulsion of the Christian population. Ask yourself, “Why do both the Neocon Republicans and Interventionist Democrats want to place an anti-Christian junta in power?” The answer’s not very reassuring, is it?

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On Sunday, NBC reported, referring to Pentagon officials, that unmanned US military and intelligence drones fly missions over Syria to monitor developments. It said, “A good number of American drones operate in Syrian skies, monitoring the Syrian military’s attacks against opposition forces and innocent civilians alike”. Pentagon officials say this surveillance isn’t a preparation for US military intervention. The Obama administration hopes to use visual evidence and intercepts of Syrian government and military communications to “make a case for a widespread international response”. NBC stated that the US government held some discussions about possible humanitarian missions in Syria but “US officials fear that those missions couldn’t be carried out without endangering those involved and would almost certainly draw the United States into a military role in Syria”.

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On Sunday, al Jazeera television reported that Syria recalled its ambassador to Egypt over Cairo’s withdrawal of its envoy in Damascus. The move came as Syria’s violent crackdown against opposition groups continued. On Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Amr Rushd said in a statement that Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr “summoned the Egyptian ambassador to Damascus … and decided that the ambassador would remain in Cairo until further notice”. Earlier, a number of Western and Arab countries also recalled their ambassadors in Syria. On Sunday, Syrian opposition activists called for a “Day of Defiance” after security forces killed at least one person at a funeral in Damascus on Saturday. The shooting came during a visit by a Chinese envoy, who called on all sides in the conflict to end the violence. Zhai Jun, China’s Vice Foreign Minister, also backed government plans for a referendum on a new constitution and subsequent elections. Meanwhile, government forces continued their bombardment of the opposition stronghold of Homs.

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On Sunday, Iranian media reported that Iranian warships docked in the Syrian port of Tartus. Al Jazeera television reported that the Mehr News Agency said the deployment caused “extreme worry for Zionist forces”. Iranian officials usually refer to Israel as the “Zionist régime”. The Iranian English-language TV outlet Press TV said that two Iranian ships arrived on 17 February at the port, which is the location of the only Russian naval base in the Mediterranean. It also cited Hossein Ebrahimi, the deputy chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament, as saying that the presence of Iranian naval forces in Syrian waters was a clear warning to the United States to refrain from military intervention in Syria. On Saturday, Admiral Habibollah Sayari, the commander of the Iranian Navy, announced that the country’s “strategic navy” passed through the Suez Canal for the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Sayari did not specify how many vessels were in the operational force. Violence in Syria has continued over the weekend.

19 February 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120219/171397363.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120219/171398744.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120219/171402545.html

15 February 2012. Today’s Events in Syria… from a Russian Perspective

These are poorly-trained and badly-disciplined jihadists from the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (they’re responsible for the majority of the civilian deaths in the current “troubles”)… their publicly-stated goal is to expel all Christians and murder all Alawis in Syria. If you support the so-called “Syrian National Council“, THIS is what you support. Ask yourself, “Why does the USA always support violent Islamists throughout the world?” Yes, why does it support such, I’d like to know…

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On Wednesday, the official SANA news agency reported that a decree issued by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad mandated that Syria would hold a referendum on a new constitution on 26 February. The news agency stated that the draft constitution is designed to guarantee “the dignity of Syrian citizens and secure their basic rights” and aims to “turn Syria into an exemplar in terms of public freedoms and political plurality”. Syrian state television reported that the draft constitution didn’t stipulate the holding of early presidential elections. Assad’s second term in office is due to end in 2014. Under the draft, “the current president will be able to put forward his candidacy [for the elections] again”.

Reports quoted Assad as saying that the new constitution would help Syria “achieve our aspirations in terms of developing our country and to bring in a bright future for coming generations”. On Sunday, the committee in charge of drafting the legislation submitted it to Assad, adding that they would send the document to the People’s Council of Syria before the vote. Assad set up a committee to draft a new constitution in October, some seven months into a popular uprising against his family’s 40-year authoritarian rule. Initially, the vote was to take place in March. In July, Syria passed a law allowing for a multi-party political system. The present constitution designates Assad’s Ba’ath Party as “the leading element of the state and society”.

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On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow might support a projected UN Security Council resolution stipulating the deployment of peacekeepers to Syria, but only under certain conditions. At joint a press conference with his Dutch counterpart Uriël Rosenthal, in discussing the new projected UN resolution, Lavrov said, “If the question’s about stopping the gunfire, everything’s possible”.

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On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) dismissed allegations made in the Western media that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons against protesters under the supervision of Russian specialists as “dirty lies”. A statement on the MID official website said, “Reports about the Syrian Army allegedly using neuro-paralytic agents during clashes in the city of Homs, allegedly under the supervision of specialists from Russia, has drawn Moscow’s attention. We categorically deny such allegations. They’re yet more proof of a propaganda and information war unfolding over the Syrian question, whose instigators scruple at nothing to make libellous anti-Russian statements. Somebody appears to be unable to avoid the temptation to respond with dirty lies to our principled line on the Syrian issue. Someone’s probably alarmed by Russia’s firmness, whose aim is to overcome the internal crisis in Syria within international legal norms, by using peaceful political and diplomatic means, and through an inclusive national dialogue between Syrians, excluding foreign intervention”. In its statement, the MID said that Russia’s firmly committed to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) that bans such weapons and requires their destruction.

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On Wednesday, after a meeting with his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that demands for régime change in Syria are a direct road to an increase the number of human lives lost. He said, “It’s possible to agree on anything, the most important thing is to sit down at the table for talks, which some opposition [leaders] in Syria refuse to do because they’re talked out of doing so by some external players. We need to call everyone who’s shooting right now in Syria to sit down at the table for talks”. Lavrov believed that setting preliminary conditions to talks in order to force régime change in Syria is nothing but a path to a full-blown civil war. The USA and other Western countries demand that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down and hand power over to the opposition.

 15 February 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120215/171327971.html

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120215/171330180.html

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120215/171332481.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120215/171335350.html

Editor’s Note:

It should interest one to note that both Foreign Ministers who met with the Old Master are rightwing pro-American bankster lickspittles. The Old Master gave them the back of his hand… as is right. Don’t listen to the Corporate Media propaganda. The REAL reason that the USA wants to bomb Syria is that Syria’s a socialist state, and rightwing forces in the USA want to eradicate all people-based leftist movements with violence, force, and bloodshed. We saw this in Yugoslavia and Serbia… we saw this in Afghanistan (both in the ‘80s and after 9/11)… we saw this in Iraq… we saw this in Libya… now, the banksters want to impose Western-style “financial services” thievery on Syria, too. They want to make Syria into a “new Greece”.

The West has used the Islamists as its agents. They did so in all the cases mentioned above. ALL OF THEM. Syria is NO exception. That Indian lawyer from South Africa played her fiddle so movingly at the UN today… it was nothing but a reprise of the American lies levelled at Yugoslavia, Serbia, Iraq, the DRA, and Libya. BOO HOO! The rebels in Syria are violent jihadists bent upon the murder of their opponents. Their motto is, “Christians to Beirut and Alawites to the wall”… that is, their goal is to expel the Christian population and murder the Alawis (if not all the Shias in Syria).

Let’s not be coy. Orthodox Christians are under a moral obligation to oppose this warmongering in Syria. If the rightwing gets its way, the Christian population of Syria faces expulsion at best, rapine and mayhem most certainly, and the very real threat of death. The Alawis won’t be so “lucky”… the SNC wants to kill them, full stop. Reflect on this… the konvertsy are rightwing loons who support the American wars of hegemony throughout the world. Paffhausen and Potapov certainly do! The former speaks at their think-tanks and drools his support of the Religious Right… the latter served directly in the subversion of sovereign states through his known and attested links as an official affiliated with the Langley-connected propaganda outlet BBG (he does/did have a US Official Passport).

We can’t have this… as Lincoln put it so well, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. Truly… we need to get with the programme and support the Mother Church. That means that we have to smash the rightwing cells within us… they’re cancerous and deadly. The Mother Church stands for Social Justice, Social Democracy, and a Fair Distribution of National Wealth. The konvertsy do not. We should offer them a blunt ultimatum… “Accept the Church’s teachings on social justice… they’re what Our Lord Christ taught. His Holiness has called Free Enterprise and Neoliberal Individualism frauds. Accept this or leave. You’ll be happier, in the long term”.

I don’t think that’ll happen. Fasten your seat belts… we’re in for “interesting times”, both in politics and in the Church. God DO help us.

BMD

VVP Warns West Against “Interference” in Syria… Moscow Calls Western Surrogates “Illegitimate”… The Saga Continues

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On Wednesday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia condemns the present violence in Syria, but it’s against outside interference, saying, “We certainly condemn all violence wherever it comes from. However, you can’t act like a bull in a china shop”. According to the UN, at least 5,400 people have died in the Syrian government’s 11-month crackdown on protesters. Syrian authorities blame the violence on armed gangs affiliated with al-Qaeda, and they say that more than 2,000 soldiers and police lost their lives in the conflict. Putin said that other countries may help and advise Syria “but not interfere under any circumstances. The [Syrian] people must decide their future themselves”. “The culture of violence” that’s taken centre-stage in international affairs over the past decade concerns Russia, Putin said, saying, “We should not let anything like this happen in this country”.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the Arab world, the USA, and the EU to refrain from passing judgement on the national dialogue in Syria that Moscow had pledged to assist. Meanwhile, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Russia “must realise that betting everything on Assad is a recipe for failure… not just for Russia’s interests in Syria, but for the stability of the region and for Syria’s future”. Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria that calls on President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Thirteen of the council’s 15 members voted in favour of the resolution aimed to stop the violence in Syria. The West has tried to persuade Moscow to support a resolution effectively authorising a military operation, but Russia’s repeatedly insisted that the Western drive for a stronger crackdown on Syria is preparation for a “Libyan scenario”. Russia, one of President al-Assad’s firm supporters during the uprising, indicated earlier this week that it’d veto any draft resolution calling on Assad to step down. Moscow proposed its own draft, which the West criticised as being too soft.

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On Wednesday, the Kremlin press service said that President Dmitri Medvedev and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agreed to coordinate their efforts in search for a solution to the Syria crisis, saying, “Medvedev stressed the need to continue the search for coordinated approaches to help the Syrians solve the crisis themselves, without outside interference, with complete respect for Syria’s sovereignty”. Medvedev and Erdoğan discussed the situation in Syria in a telephone conversation initiated by the Turkish side. Medvedev also defended the Russian-Chinese veto on a UN Security Council resolution on Syria that called on President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Medvedev said, “That resolution wouldn’t have been conducive to the search for a peaceful solution to the crisis”.

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On Wednesday, the Kremlin said that President Dmitri Medvedev told French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a telephone conversation that the international community’s position on Syria should be objective and balanced. Medvedev informed Sarkozy of the meeting on Tuesday between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which stated that Moscow’s prepared to continue being a mediator in the Syrian crisis, but the bloodbath in Syria is unacceptable. The Kremlin press service said, “In the context of continuing the difficult work, including by the UN Security Council, to regulate the Syrian crisis, Medvedev called on [Russia's] partners to avoid any hasty unilateral steps”.

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the UN and the Arab League are considering sending a joint observer mission to Syria in a renewed effort to stop the violence caused by a political crisis there. On Wednesday, Ban told reporters, after a closed-door UN Security Council session, that Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby of the Arab League intended to send an observer mission back to Syria and asked for UN help, saying, “He further suggested that we consider a joint observer mission in Syria, including a joint special envoy. We stand ready to assist in any way that will contribute towards improvement on the ground and to the overall situation”. In January, the Arab League announced the suspension of its observer mission, which has been in Syria since late December 2011, over what it described as a serious worsening of the security situation in Syria.

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On Thursday, citing the Syrian opposition, Al Arabiya TV reported that an artillery bombardment on Wednesday (that began on 4 February) killed at least 117 people in the Syrian city of Homs. The opposition told Al Arabiya that at least 40 armoured vehicles and 50 infantry fighting vehicles accompanied by 1,000 troops deployed in Homs from positions near the Lebanese border. Witnesses said that they could hear blasts in Homs almost every minute. Observers also spotted government armoured vehicles on the outskirts of the city. Earlier reports said that over 200 people had died in clashes in Homs on Saturday. The government forces used tanks, artillery, and mortars.

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On Thursday, the newspaper Asharq Alawsat reported, citing the deputy head of the Arab League, Ahmad Bin Helli, that the Arab League, Russia, and China would jointly coordinate efforts to end the violence in Syria. Bin Helli told the paper that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met in Damascus with President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, was also in a close contact with the Arab League’s head, Nabil al-Araby, saying, “I’ve also received a letter from the Chinese ambassador that expressed Beijing’s position on a settlement for the Syrian crisis settlement”, adding that China is pushing for cooperation with Arab countries.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said that a delegation from the Syrian opposition was on a four-day visit to Beijing, its first visit to China since Russia and China vetoed the UN resolution on Syria. The Syrian opposition leaders met with the Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister, Zhai Jun, and other top diplomats. China neither supports nor opposes any of the sides in Syria, Liu Weimin said, adding that Beijing seeks a peaceful solution of the Syrian conflict. The Chinese position resonates with Moscow’s plan aimed at keeping Assad in power despite its utter rejection by the opposition.

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On Thursday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said that Moscow considers the US-backed Friends of Syria Group illegitimate. On Sunday, the day after Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution on Syria pushing for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposed setting up a group that would “work with the friends of a democratic Syria around the world to support the opposition’s peaceful, political plans for change”. Lukashevich said Moscow sharply opposed any move aimed at boosting external interference in the country’s domestic affairs, saying, “We’re very cautious about various proposals, which we don’t consider legitimate in terms of international legal norms”. Lukashevich also expressed Russian concern about recent reports in the Israeli media that British and Qatari troops had gone to Syria to fight Assad’s government forces.

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On Thursday, a Defence Ministry spokesman reiterated the position stated earlier by the MID that Russia would do its best to prevent military intervention in Syria. Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov told Vesti 24 TV news, “As for Syria, we see that harsh discussions are going on in New York, and we’re giving backup to our colleagues from the MID who’re tackling these problems. Of course, we think it’s necessary to prevent any military intervention in Syria”.

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Syrian state TV reported that pro-government troops chased “armed terrorist groups” in the western Syrian city of al-Qusayr on the border with Lebanon. On Thursday, two soldiers died in an operation against militants “planting mines in houses and streets, attacking civilian residents and police”. According to a Syria TV broadcast, life “is gradually returning to normal” in Homs, another city in the same province, and a hotspot of the present uprising against the régime of President Bashar al-Assad. Footage from the city shows streets full of people and open shops. However, smoke still blankets some parts of the city, with occasional shots heard. Reports vary about the number of casualties from the five-day “antiterrorist operation” by Syrian troops in Homs. CNN said a total of 105 people died in the shelling of Homs, while Agence France-Presse said, citing the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), that 57 people died in Homs and four more died near another Syrian city, al-Rastan. SOHR put the overall civilian death toll of the “antiterrorist operation” at 400 people. Syrian authorities maintain that militants are trying to “provoke a foreign military intervention” by firing mortar rounds at residential areas of Homs and “making fake videos to show that government forces attack residential districts”.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the lower house of parliament, the RF Gosduma, will discuss a draft statement to express serious concern about the violence in Syria and heated international debates on the issue. The document calls on the UN and the Security Council to abstain from supporting one side or the other in the conflict and criticised the approach of certain Western and Arab states, who wish to “predict the results of the political process in Syria, make ultimatums to one of the sides, and portray régime change as a vital precondition for solving the Syrian problem”.

Since early February, a number of countries recalled their embassies from Syria, including Spain, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the USA, and Germany. On Tuesday, six Gulf states, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates recalled their ambassadors and ordered Syrian diplomats to leave their countries. On Thursday, the Libyan Interior Ministry followed suit, ordering Syrian diplomats to leave the country in 72 hours.

 8-10 February 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120208/171218812.html

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120208/171220493.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120208/171221559.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120209/171224331.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120209/171227776.html

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120209/171232225.html

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120209/171233786.html

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120209/171236087.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120210/171240364.html

Lavrov Confabs in Damascus… Assad Promises Referendum… USA Wants to Send “Humanitarian” Aid… The Syrian Pot Boils On

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During talks in Damascus on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he had to do what it takes to ensure peace in the country, saying, “It’s in our interests that the Arab peoples live in peace and harmony”. Lavrov’s visit came three days after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning the violent crackdown in Syria. He arrived along with Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov. Lavrov didn’t reveal the purpose of his mission, telling a news conference in Moscow on Monday it’d be “unveiled only to the addressee”. Ahead of the visit, he said the UN Security Council was too “hasty” in bringing the resolution to a vote and described Western condemnation of Moscow’s veto as “hysterical”. Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the Russian and Chinese vetoes as a “fiasco” and said that his country was preparing a new initiative. He told a meeting of his ruling AK Party in Ankara, “We’ll start a new initiative with those countries that stand by the Syrian people, not the régime”.

The talks between Assad and Lavrov took place as Syrian authorities continued to bombard the city of Homs, a centre of resistance to his régime. The Syrian government denied targeting civilians and say security forces killed “dozens of terrorists” in Homs on Monday. Homs has been under attack from government forces for weeks; reports indicate that about Syrian forces killed one hundred people on Monday alone. Human rights groups say more than 7,000 people have died since the beginning of the uprising in March last year. The government said that around 2,000 members of its security forces died in the unrest. On Tuesday, EU foreign policy and security chief Catherine Ashton said that EU foreign ministers would meet in two weeks to discuss ways to stop the violence in Syria. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the violence in Syria was “totally unacceptable before humanity”. On Monday, the US State Department said that it shut its embassy in Damascus. Russia’s one of Syria’s main arms suppliers. In December, Russia signed a 550 million USD (16.4 billion Roubles. 414 million Euros. 346 million UK Pounds) contract to sell Syria 36 Yak-130 combat-capable trainer jets, and a Russian-owned ship reportedly carrying munitions docked at a Syrian port last month.

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On Tuesday, following talks in Damascus, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would declare a date in the near future for a referendum on a new constitution for his country, saying, “President Assad said that, in the next few days, he’ll meet with a commission that prepared a new projected constitution. This work is complete now; a time will be announced for a referendum on this document, which is so important to Syria”. Lavrov went on to say that al-Assad’s ready for dialogue with all political forces in the country, and ready to make talks happen, adding, “It’s clear that efforts to stop use of force must coincide with a declaration of dialogue between all political forces. Today, we’ve received confirmation of the Syrian President’s readiness to work toward this goal”.

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On Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed his readiness to send an official government delegation to Moscow to hold talks with the Syrian opposition. Also on Tuesday, Lavrov held talks with Assad in Damascus to seek resolution of the Syrian crisis. After the talks, Lavrov said that al-Assad would declare a date for a referendum on a new constitution for his country in the near future. Lavrov’s visit, together with Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov, came three days after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, backed by the Arab League and Western nations, to prevent a repetition of “the Libyan scenario”. Russia’s one of the staunchest supporters of the al-Assad régime during the current uprising.

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US State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said that the USA fears that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s national reconciliation initiatives would go nowhere. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with Syrian President al-Assad in Damascus to seek resolution of the Syrian crisis. After the talks, Lavrov said that al-Assad would declare a date for a referendum on a new constitution for his country in the near future. US State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said, “The international community, as a whole, would be pretty sceptical if, instead of focusing on ending the violence, what we seem to have is a re-upping of this same offer that Assad has been making for months and months and months. Frankly, how that gets us to the kind of peaceful national dialogue about a democratic future for Syria that we all want to see isn’t very clear”. Nuland refused to comment on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s recent visit to Syria, saying, “The Secretary and the Department will obviously reserve judgement until the Secretary has a chance to consult with Foreign Minister Lavrov after he gets back to Moscow”.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Russia “must realise that betting everything on Assad’s a recipe for failure… not just for Russia’s interests in Syria, but for the stability of the region and for Syria’s future”. He added that the United States considered sending “humanitarian aid” to Syrians. Carney said, “We’re exploring the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians and we’re working with our partners, again, to ratchet up the pressure, ratchet up the isolation on Assad and his regime”. Asked if the US could start arming the opposition, Carney replied, “We’re not considering that step right now”. The statement comes hours after US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said that the USA should “start considering all options, including arming the opposition”.

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On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the Arab world, the USA, and the EU to refrain from passing judgement on the national dialogue in Syria before it has even begun. Earlier, a US State Department spokesman said that the USA fears that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s national reconciliation initiatives would go nowhere. At a press conference, Lavrov said, “Attempts to predict the outcome of the national dialogue… generally speaking, that’s not the world community’s business. The Arab world, USA, and the EU should foster negotiations between all forces in Syria”. Lavrov, who held talks with al-Assad on Tuesday, confirmed that the Syrian Vice President has the authority to hold talks with all opposition groups and to organise an all-inclusive national dialogue. Lavrov also said the decision by several western countries to withdraw their ambassadors from Syria didn’t help to create conditions for a dialogue. He condemned the Arab League’s decision to suspend the operations of its peace mission in Syria, pointing up that the Arab League “contributed to stabilisation” in the conflict-torn country, saying, “The presence of foreign monitors always plays a restrictive role. It’s incomprehensible why some Persian Gulf countries pulled out their members of the mission, and why the mission’s operations were halted just when its report was to be heard in the UN Security Council”. Lavrov reiterated that Russia would do its best to assist the dialogue in Syria.

On Wednesday, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero accused al-Assad of already breaking the promises he made to Lavrov during the talks in Damascus, saying, “As we expected, the statements Bashar al-Assad made during the Russian Foreign Minister’s visit didn’t put end to the bloody repression. We received information that three families were killed overnight in their homes in Homs by regime supporters”.

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Russia used satellite imagery to help the Syrian government fight the growing insurgency in the country, the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported. On Wednesday, the London-based newspaper said that Russian officials provided President Bashar al-Assad with satellite imagery showing the location of the bases and main forces of the Free Syrian Army, the most prominent militant rebel group. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov travelled to Damascus for talks with al-Assad. The newspaper asserted that Mikhail Fradkov, the head of the SVR, who accompanied Lavrov to Damascus, allegedly handed over the imagery to Syrian government forces. Asharq Al-Awsat cited unidentified sources in al-Assad’s government, but also said that its information “wasn’t fully confirmed”. As of Wednesday afternoon, neither the MID nor the SVR had any comments on the story. The Free Syrian Army is the main organised force combating al-Assad’s government in the bloody uprising in Syria, which has claimed at least 5,000 lives since March 2011. Allegedly, the group is comprised primarily of army deserters; reports say that it has up to 20,000 fighters.

Russia’s the main international backer of al-Assad’s régime, having blocked two resolutions targeting it in the UN Security Council, and it’s a major arms supplier to it. In addition, Russian warships called at the Syrian port of Tartus in January. In recent weeks, President al-Assad’s forces stepped up their assaults on insurgents. Media reports indicate that they used artillery to bombard the city of Homs, a hotbed of protests; Syrian opposition activists said the shelling killed several hundred people. The pro-government Syrian SANA news agency blamed the clashes on attacks by unspecified terrorist groups. Yevgeni Satanovsky, the head of the Middle East Institute think-tank, said over the telephone, “Assad’s following a classic anti-insurgency tactic, trying to rout rebels from the cities into the countryside, where a full-scale assault can be launched using heavy weaponry. This tactic worked for the Algerian government, which defeated its own insurgency during a civil war in 1991-2002”.

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Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and SVR Director Mikhail Fradkov visited Damascus yesterday to help stabilise the situation in Syria through democratic reforms. Thousands welcomed them, waving Syrian and Russian flags, applauding, and chanting, “Thank you, Russia!” Tuesday’s visit by high-ranking Russian officials indicated that Moscow, which voted against the UN Security Council resolution on Syria, is trying to find a political solution. Lavrov said Russia asked the Security Council not to vote on its Syria resolution until they talked with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but that the pro-resolution countries refused to wait. They proceeded to vote on a document with no consideration for Russia’s request, possibly hoping to use Russia as a scapegoat if the situation worsens.

Armed with a letter from President Medvedev, Lavrov and Fradkov met with al-Assad. The meeting lasted approximately three hours. According to ITAR-TASS, Lavrov said, “Every leader in every country should understand their responsibility. You understand yours. It’s in our interests that the Arab peoples live in peace and harmony”. Bashar al-Assad replied, “Russia’s stance was crucial in saving my homeland. Russia and Syria are old friends, but Syria never wanted to be a burden to its friends. Syria wants to be a friend in need”. After the talks, Lavrov said that President al-Assad is committed to stopping the violence by all sides and that “the visit to Damascus was timely and useful”. President al-Assad accepted Russia’s proposal to increase the number of Arab League observers. Lavrov said the Syrian president planed to announce a referendum on a new constitution soon.

Experts don’t think the parties discussed the resignation of al-Assad, especially since it’d likely intensify the chaos. Yevgeni Satanovsky, president of the Middle East Institute, said, “Assad’s overthrow would only bring Islamist radicals to power, split the country, and lead to a massacre of Shias and Christians”. According to the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, Lavrov and Fradkov may have discussed “methods for resisting any possible actions of the West and its Arab allies against Syria”. China supported Russia’s effort at a political solution. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said China could also send a delegation to Syria to discuss a political settlement. Georgi Mirsky, a senior researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), said, “Moscow’s supported by Iran, which is also facing international isolation, and possibly by Shia-led Iraq. Other countries will try to blame Russia if developments in Syria become touchy, whilst Moscow refuses to concede to the West”.

Meanwhile, Britain and France recalled their ambassadors for consultation. The USA closed its embassy in Damascus, allegedly due to deteriorating security, but many observers see this as the end of a long relationship. Over the past year, Washington’s view of al-Assad has changed from a pro-democracy leader to a ruthless dictator. Barack Obama said that they “continue to see unacceptable levels of violence” in Syria and that al-Assad should “step aside”.

7/8 February 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120207/171192015.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120207/171198205.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120207/171202926.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120208/171205380.html

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120208/171213195.html

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120208/171217615.html

http://en.rian.ru/papers/20120208/171214579.html

Editor’s Note:

Let’s keep this short. In US parlance, “humanitarian intervention” means bombs, invasion, and the massacre of the local Christian population (and the divvying up of the local resources by Western multinationals). We’ve seen that in the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq. Now, the USA wishes to extend the benefits of its Laissez-faire Neoliberal paradise to Syria… and to turn the country over to radical Islamists, as the USA did in the countries mentioned. Russia and China are standing against it. Don’t forget… one of the two major causes of the present economic meltdown was the hellishly-expensive wars and “interventions” waged by the USA in foreign parts coupled with tax slashes for the One Percenters and their affluent effluent lackeys (the other was the scrapping of virtually all New Deal-era business and securities regulation, allowing greedy corporate vultures to run amuck).

Note well that Senator McCain (and his foreign policy guru Randall Schneuermann) effusively supported Saakashvili when the Georgians launched a sneak Grad bombardment of Tskhinvali. Civilian deaths and suffering don’t matter to these soulless bastards as long as Western vulture capitalists get the opportunity to pick clean the resources of a given state or region. Both the Neocon Republicans and Interventionist Democrats applaud anything done by the McMansion dwellers. Note well how they lied in support of the Georgian aggressors in ’08… no doubt, they’re lying again.

A Note to Orthodox people in the diapora:

Yes, the usual culprits are up to their noses in this. You KNOW who they are… they make a pretentious noise in the District, don’t they? Send them NO money. A certain someone in Takoma Park (and his clueless NW DC puppet) will understand THAT, I guarantee it (they’re an Orthodox analogue of I M Weasel and I R Baboon). Don’t forget… Fathausen went to Georgia. I wonder who paid for it, and why? After all, the OCA has no real interest or jurisdiction in the Caucasus, does it, now? However, there ARE people over in Northern Virginia QUITE interested in that part of the world…

BMD