tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90993956304890478582024-03-13T16:05:20.872-07:00ArabSagaF. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comBlogger630125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-71384448740326159732014-04-25T22:31:00.001-07:002014-04-25T22:31:55.192-07:00Life lessons from Costi Zurayk and Rafic Hariri<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglq8zsQIpkMmLpFJiMCbYwboMguG7ezrCwkSBC_Snj5ZzDHJM8mhvoLK9cCOCv6t7PXIXmEjNNIvehrmk94gf3KvS18vec1tjU8pLQwNHi943UuE5KmVoC5SH-wRBXZrdnSipuohboZaA/s1600/596.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglq8zsQIpkMmLpFJiMCbYwboMguG7ezrCwkSBC_Snj5ZzDHJM8mhvoLK9cCOCv6t7PXIXmEjNNIvehrmk94gf3KvS18vec1tjU8pLQwNHi943UuE5KmVoC5SH-wRBXZrdnSipuohboZaA/s1600/596.jpg" height="400" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Constantine "Costi" Zurayk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.559999465942383px; text-align: right;">(The following is the last of three posts Fawaz Najia had ready but did not have time to publish before he lost his battle with cancer on April 20)</i><br />
<br />
The
AUB years were the best years in my life. And I owe them to one man: <a href="http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/34-2/34-2%20Memoriam.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Constantine (“Costi”) K. Zurayk</span></a>
(1909-2000).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He
was an intellectual and moral giant whose generosity funded my undergraduate
years at the American University of Beirut.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My
first concern, after enrolling at AUB in 1954 and managing to settle my first
semester tuition, was finding a sponsor to fund the ones after. My parents couldn't possibly have managed three years of university
education for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My
big break for the second semester was winning a scholarship for needy students granted
by Zurayk. I held on to the Zurayk Endowed Scholarship for another four
semesters leading up to my graduation. The scholarship covered my tuition fees
in full -- plus a small allowance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I was
three months into my sophomore year when Zurayk became acting president of AUB
following the sudden death of President <a href="http://www.aub.edu.lb/president/Documents/biographies/Stephen%20Penrose.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Stephen B. L. Penrose</span></a> in
December 1954. He kept the position until the July 1, 1957 Commencement
ceremony. J. Paul Leonard assumed office as president of AUB and I received my
“Bachelor of Arts with Distinction” in economics on that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
degree landed me a decent job, which in turn allowed me to fund my postgraduate
studies gradually and pick up my Masters in economics in 1962. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When
I first applied for the need-based Zurayk Endowed Scholarship, I had to
complete a financial aid form showing I could not meet the cost of tuition. My
classmate George T. Yacoub, a sheer Ras Beiruti, was looking to fill a similar
form for another need-based scholarship. He suggested we turn to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mukhtar</i> (district chief) of Ras Beirut, <a href="http://staff.aub.edu.lb/~webinfo/inthnews/local%20news/aug09.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Jirji Rubeiz</span></a>. His office was at the joint
of Jeanne d’Arc and Mak’hool streets, some 200 meters from AUB’s Main Gate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">An
affable and witty man, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mukhtar</i> Rubeiz
knew the circumstances of every resident family in Ras Beirut. He quickly gave
us two signed and sealed documents on his letterhead. Each stated in his
handwriting: “I, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mukhtar</i> Jirji Rubeiz,
by this certify that (name) has no funds or property.” His crisp statement won
us the scholarships.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Zurayk
was born to a Christian Arab family in Damascus in April 1909. He received his
Bachelor of Arts from AUB in 1928, his Doctor of Laws from the University of
Chicago in 1929 and his PhD from Princeton University in 1930. In nearly 50
years at AUB, he served as Professor and Distinguished Professor of History and
Arab History, as Emeritus Professor of Arab History and Archaeology and as Vice
President and Acting President.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">His
major work was <i>Ma’na an-Nakba</i> (The Meaning of the Disaster). Published
in 1948, the book offered the first major intellectual critique of Arab society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Zurayk’s
lifelong concern was the issue of reform and how to move the Arabs from their
"backward" state into the modern world.
“Our problems in Arab society are…
problems of culture and civilization."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">His identification
of the ills of Arab society and his advocacy of education
as the best tool for reform remain enshrined in my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So
are the values of liberty, diversity independence, democracy, justice,
education, human rights and free enterprise. Zurayk and other faculty members –
chiefly <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://auden.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/auden/individual.php?pid=I7976&ged=auden-bicknell.ged"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Cecil Hourani</span></a>,</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.smi.uib.no/sa/14/14Ibish.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Yusuf
K. Ibish</span></a>,</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.aub.edu.lb/cgi-bin/asc-directory.pl?step=detail&l_code=883">J<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">ames Batal</span></a>,</span> <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=ml_s2RLWTMEC&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=economist+Yusuf+A.+Sayegh&source=bl&ots=gZQZ-7VKmc&sig=UbyYMZU-pr3oD-61LporZYa--XI&hl=en&ei=e7ENTf6bNoLyrQerxJSBDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Yusuf A. Sayegh</span></a></span> and <a href="http://www.jstor.org/pss/4323376"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Paul
J. Klat</span></a> -- instilled these in me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps
the best time I could “give back” to Zurayk was at university by:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Topping
all students in the School of Arts and Sciences in my senior year with a grade average
exceeding 90 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Serving
successively as president of the Economics Society, president of the Civic
Welfare League and editor in chief of Outlook, the student weekly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- S<span style="color: #2a2a2a;">etting new AUB weightlifting records at the 1957 Field Day (see
“Brawn and Brains” posted on ________).</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">More importantly,
he must have felt gratified when he wrote me this letter dated 13 June 1957:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Dear Mr. Najjiya,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“I am happy to inform
you that the Board of Academic Deans has approved the recommendation of the
Dean and Faculty of Arts and Sciences that you be granted the Penrose Award for
the academic year 1956-1957.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“This award is granted
to the outstanding student of each of the four Faculties of the University, on
the basis of scholarship, character, leadership and contribution to university
life.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Your name will be engraved
on the Plaque which has been donated by Mrs. Penrose in memory of the late
President, Dr. Stephen B. L. Penrose Jr.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“In communicating this
action to you, I wish to express my sincere congratulations and my best wishes
for the future. It is our firm hope that your record after you graduate will
reflect credit on yourself, your Alma Mater and your country.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Sincerely yours,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">(Signed)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“C. K. Zurayk<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Acting President”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Growth
of the financial aid program at the University over the years is remarkable. For
example, 2,765 students -- or 36% of the total enrolled in 2008-2009 – received
$11.6 million in financial aid, mostly as need-based grants. That’s an average
of $4,195 for each recipient. An extra $4 million funded graduate assistantships
and student employment. Credit goes to the generous support of AUB alumni,
former students and friends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Many
people choose other ways to “give back.” Mahmoud Z. Malhas, a dear friend and fellow
1957 graduate in economics whose scholarship benefactor was Vice President
Archie S. Crawford, “gave back” to AUB through a $600,000 gift to renovate the
Common Room. The newly named Mahmoud Malhas Common Room, which serves a multipurpose
student area in West Hall, opened in November 2008. Mahmoud had also contributed
toward rebuilding College Hall in the 1990s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My
and Mahmoud’s midfifties “rat pack” included engineering
graduate Suhail Bat’heesh, among
others. Suhail, who passed away in
March 2001, “gave back” from the grave. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his memory, his widow Etaf gave $440,000 to renovate the
West Hall Theater. The New Suhail R. Bat’heesh Auditorium launched in February 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lvZMe6_yuJc/URtO6bRkiwI/AAAAAAAAE-o/xNwuF3NGtYM/s1600/AUB-ITES.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lvZMe6_yuJc/URtO6bRkiwI/AAAAAAAAE-o/xNwuF3NGtYM/s1600/AUB-ITES.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rafic Hariri, Costi Zurak and AUBites</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
Arab world’s topmost philanthropist though remains Lebanon’s late prime minister
and AUB trustee <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafic_Hariri"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Rafic Hariri</span></a>, who was killed in
February 2005. He was a generous
benefactor to the University for many years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He provided scholarships that enabled thousands of young men
and women to study at the University. AUB President Peter Dorman says Hariri
also offered “critical and timely support to the University during the Lebanese
civil war, and funded the Hussam-Eddeen Hariri Faculty Apartments on lower
campus.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">His
son, Prime Minister and Trustee <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saad_Hariri"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Saad-Eddeen</span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Rafic Hariri</span></a>,</span> elected “to honor
the memory of his late father by naming and endowing the Rafic Hariri School of
Nursing at AUB.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His gift covered
costs to renovate and equip the new building, set up a faculty chair in nursing
and bankroll Hariri Scholarships for nursing students. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Rafic Hariri has left a legacy of philanthropy through the Hariri Foundation, which he
set up in 1979. It testifies to the importance he gave to the quality education
of future generations. So far, the Hariri Foundation has helped educate more
than 35,000 Lebanese students in the finest universities at home and abroad,
including the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Canada.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">****</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VzLHDP7-R84/U1tDTxUl56I/AAAAAAAAGfY/NLYso-tFEZ4/s1600/Hariri-Rafiq-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VzLHDP7-R84/U1tDTxUl56I/AAAAAAAAGfY/NLYso-tFEZ4/s1600/Hariri-Rafiq-.jpg" height="400" width="314" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I never
met the late Hariri one-on-one. Throughout his tenure as prime minister I lived
in London where I founded and edited <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mideast
Mirror.</i> It was an online publication offering subscribers a daily English-language digest of
political and economic news and views from across the Middle East. It was
delivered to subscribers worldwide, including foreign and other ministries,
government agencies, embassies, think tanks, research centers, lobby groups, major
media and international organizations and specialized groups in the United
States, Europe and Japan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On 16 December 1996, the “Friends of Lebanon” conference –
co-chaired by the United States and Hariri -- was held at the State Department
in Washington. Some 30 nations and eight international financial
institutions attended the conference intended to solicit pledges to finance rebuilding
Lebanon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I
thought <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mideast Mirror,</i> which went out
to subscribers in the early afternoon London time, had to cover the Washington
event in good time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The full text
of Hariri’s opening speech would be a fitting curtain raiser.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I rang seasoned
political writer Khairallah Khairallah (KK to his friends) in London. I asked
him if he had a phone number for any Hariri aide in Washington who could give
me a copy of the speech. He said he only had one for the hotel where the team
was staying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I
waited a couple of hours until it was midday in London and dialed Washington.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I heard
“Hello” at the other end of the line from the sleepy voice of the late prime
minister just waking up. I hesitated for a second before saying “Sorry Mr.
Prime Minister for waking you up.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He
said, “No problem, but who are you? What do you want?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I explained
the reason for my call.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He
said, “If I gave you the text of my speech at this hour of day, it means it
will be released before delivery.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I said,
“Sir, we shall type the text, proofread it and lay it out. But release of the
newsletter will be embargoed until your speech delivery.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He
said, “Fine. Do you know Nouhad Mashnouq (who
was his bureau chief at the time)?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes
Mr. Prime Minister, I do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Do you
have a fax machine?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes
sir, I do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Then please
ring Nouhad on this number (which he gave me), tell him you woke me up and ask
him to fax you the speech. He’ll do it right away.” And Mashnouq did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
“Friends of Lebanon” conferees pledged $1 billion in near term investments for rebuilding Lebanon
and another $2.2 billion in long-term investments. Washington’s contribution included
development aid, agricultural credits and $2.1 million in grants for AUB.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Good
men like Hariri and Zurayk never die.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-25702520255921798952014-04-24T23:57:00.000-07:002014-04-24T23:57:49.915-07:00My journalism mentors before the Internet<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTTfhkIgwFULmx8c45Zyla2XZ0IbJN_xvURqNUP910zhMNtC2-X9CiVTXOl0syzaqv26Voj8ZyPOKglBdbtMuYOJdDsRzY9sgDpxmM1eAOa03gwSRxJDYRPCYDwwDAtTiyXhqnk4suh4/s1600/AP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTTfhkIgwFULmx8c45Zyla2XZ0IbJN_xvURqNUP910zhMNtC2-X9CiVTXOl0syzaqv26Voj8ZyPOKglBdbtMuYOJdDsRzY9sgDpxmM1eAOa03gwSRxJDYRPCYDwwDAtTiyXhqnk4suh4/s1600/AP.jpg" height="400" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The letter from AP's Beirut Bureau Chief Tom Masterson</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21.559999465942383px; text-align: right;">(The following is the second of three posts Fawaz Najia had ready but did not have time to publish before he lost his battle with cancer on April 20)</i></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Arabic word for hero
is “batal.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The saga of my journalism
and publishing journey began at the American University of Beirut (AUB).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It started long before the
revolutions in communication, i.e. with no p<span style="color: #333333;">hotocomposition or
“cold” type to replace cumbersome and expensive Linotype systems, no digital
photocopying, </span>no
fax, no mobile phone, no computer, no TV news, no Internet or Google, no email,
no electronic publishing technology, no print-on-demand, no social media…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A visiting U.S. Lecturer
in Journalism whose forefathers came from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahl%C3%A9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Zahlé</span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">,</span>
Lebanon's "city of wine and poetry" sitting in the Bekaa Valley,
launched me into the profession there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He was James Batal, an Amherst
College graduate and a Neiman Fellow in Journalism from Harvard University.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I took all three elective
courses in journalism Batal was offering over two academic years. He also
served as advisor to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Outlook,</i> the
student weekly newspaper of which my classmates elected me editor-in-chief.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Batal made it compulsory
for me to go with him every week to the printing press. There, he taught me all
about the Linotype machine used in printing at the time and the art of picking
headline fonts and sizes manually.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He also explained the need
to cut stories to fit into layout spaces, the importance of correcting galley
proofs and the responsibility of giving an "OK to print."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">His focus in the classroom
was on such classics as “dog bites man versus man bites dog,” the Five Ws in
newsgathering and the difference between objective news and personal opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Editing, investigative
journalism and news and human-interest features… were at the core of another of
his courses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">His preferred description
of a news reporter: the sole watcher of a play whose task is to relay events
unfolding on stage to an audience waiting outside the theater.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A student asked Batal in
class one day, “Why do Arabs get such a bad press in the U.S.?” Chiefly because
most Arab officials are ignorant of the workings of the mass media and the role
they play in shaping public opinion, he replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For example, he said, when
an Arab delegate addresses the United Nations General Assembly, he usually
delivers an unending speech in literary Arabic. Reporters in the press gallery
are baffled by his tough talk. In contrast, an Israel diplomat’s speech is
precise, concise and in English. An aide makes a summary of his address
available to reporters in the press gallery immediately. As public opinion
shapers, the reporters and the media they represent have their jobs cut out for
them. “Arab diplomats should realize this.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Batal knew I was
struggling financially and on the lookout for a scholarship to cover the
tuition fees of my junior and senior years at university.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He not only guided me
through the search for one, but also encouraged me to apply for a part-time job
vacancy with The Associated Press (AP) that could earn me decent pocket money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I did as told and was
called in within days for an interview with AP’s Beirut Bureau Chief Tom
Masterson. A taxi fare to AP offices in <a href="http://www.placesonline.com/asia/lebanon/beirut/streets_squares_and_neighbourhoods/kantari.asp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Kantari</span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">
</span>was obviously beyond my means, so I made my way there on foot, but armed with a
reference letter from Batal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The interview with
Masterson was tough but professional. He quizzed me hard on my reliability and
willingness to work six days a week against the clock and at odd hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On the six workdays, he
explained, the job is to produce in-house by 6:30 in the morning some 80 copies
of a 12-page “AP News Bulletin.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The copies are then sent
to Beirut airport, where they are air couriered at 8:00 a.m. by Middle East
Airlines (MEA) to ARAMCO </span>(Arabian American Oil Company) headquarters in Dhahran.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My duty is to report to work
at 4:00 a.m., pick up the overnight news roll from the ticker, quickly do the
“copy tasting” and editing, and ready the news items for sequential typing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A skilled typist comes in
before 5:00 a.m. and keys in the copy on 12 consecutive stencil-typing sheets.
I proofread these then turn them over, one sheet at a time, to the office
assistant. He uses the stencil duplicator to produce 80 copies of each before
stapling, packaging and taking the lot to the airport.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Masterson explained that
Bulletin content was aimed at American executives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The audience, he said, was
the top brass of ARAMCO who had little, if any,
access to fresh home news.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So when “copy-tasting,” he
instructed me, concentrate on U.S. national news (both hard and light), Elvis
Presley, American football, basketball and baseball, the Wall Street roundup
and closing stock prices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Oh, and my job title and
salary?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Masterson said the monthly
salary for “Editor of the AP News Bulletin” is 160 Lebanese pounds, or about $80.
I accepted the job offer and the proposed starting date right away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I was ecstatic at the
prospect of serving as editor with The Associated Press for serious pocket
money while still an undergraduate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I swiftly worked out a
schedule for getting to work on time, meeting the deadline for producing the
bulletin, and then arriving at AUB before the start of my first course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our home being in Ras
el-Nabeh, I could only walk to work in Kantari. There was no tramway or <i>servees</i> (shared
taxi) at 3:00-3:30 in the morning. Making the journey by private taxi six
mornings a week was too expensive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hence my definitive
timetable:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Wake up at 3:00 a.m.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Set out on foot to Kantari
at 3:15<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Be at my desk around 3:50<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Finish the day’s job and
leave AP’s premises shortly after 6:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Walk to the bakery
opposite the AUB Main Gate to pick up a <i>mankoushe </i>(Lebanese pizza topped
with thyme, sesame and olive oil) for breakfast at 7:10<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Enter the classroom at
7:30<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I
happily kept up this schedule for 14 consecutive months, after which I resigned
carrying an admirable reference from Masterson to take up a fulltime journalistic
challenge elsewhere.</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-52527482129777774122014-04-23T23:26:00.000-07:002014-04-23T23:26:24.245-07:00Brawn or Brains?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqUW3h1wjbAJV8YRXoDnC3QWfQCiZP2nlH8Xvyvh4vrCupGPNV7Q1vX6u0e44VDAuOYbwGfkx28r2tW7NNMHNBA0M0ReyEWfKu1yAUMHZUshUhQfs4DOGsJAnoi-h4HVniSuBu3_xuJ8/s1600/Bodybuilding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqUW3h1wjbAJV8YRXoDnC3QWfQCiZP2nlH8Xvyvh4vrCupGPNV7Q1vX6u0e44VDAuOYbwGfkx28r2tW7NNMHNBA0M0ReyEWfKu1yAUMHZUshUhQfs4DOGsJAnoi-h4HVniSuBu3_xuJ8/s1600/Bodybuilding.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My bodybuilding and weightlifting career at a glance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<i>(The following is the first of three posts Fawaz Najia had ready but did not have time to publish before he lost his battle with cancer on April 20)</i></div>
<br />
Building a chiseled, steely and toned
physique and clinching the “Mr. Lebanon” title at 17 took me just under five
years of training.<br />
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All I did meanwhile was to study
at the Collège du Sacré-Coeur, train at
the Cercle de la Jeunesse Catholique, eat healthy and sleep. Weekend leisure was
rationed. It was a movie outing to Martyrs’ Square in winter or a swimming
spell in summer at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bain Militaire</i>
or the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saint Simon.</i> They were Beirut’s
answer above all others to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_Beach"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Muscle Beach</span></a> in Santa
Monica.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I embarked on my bodybuilding
journey at Elie David’s gym at the CJC at age 13. Cycling was the only
sport I engaged in earlier. In the years when my parents rented a summerhouse
from the Chidiacs in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikfaya"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Bikfaya</span></a>, I
used to cycle daily to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhour_El_Choueir"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Dhour el Shouair</span></a> either
direct or through Bhannes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">David provided me with
professional expertise, support and motivation. He customized my three weekly workout
programs to suit my age. He determined what equipment I used, how many sets I
did and the number of repetitions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He changed these as I grew up, working my way from the beginner
phase to the intermediate and the advanced. In each phase, the focus was all-inclusive
– neck, shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms, shoulders, chest, back, waist,
abdominals, quadriceps and calves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJI_RgwM2O3P0qxd4Iy7lsEmcVoBxQQ3pJ1HD9HewT_WMWz9oONS3SjUZeDie6xgTZa6i3eDAA_vyaq7h14RJhc5KIPcd2R2Y_7-6vK0L32vCPEIkc9g47nOaT7fwFjPkvs7dZriBwHE/s1600/scan0020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJI_RgwM2O3P0qxd4Iy7lsEmcVoBxQQ3pJ1HD9HewT_WMWz9oONS3SjUZeDie6xgTZa6i3eDAA_vyaq7h14RJhc5KIPcd2R2Y_7-6vK0L32vCPEIkc9g47nOaT7fwFjPkvs7dZriBwHE/s1600/scan0020.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mr. Lebanon" 1953</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">David’s coaching and recommendation
of specialized magazines on muscle building, healthy eating and dangers of
overtraining helped drastically improve my physique. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There were no steroids, vitamin
supplements or fat blasting pills to gulp and no muscle T-shirts or special
workout shorts to parade. There were no sophisticated gym and fitness equipment
to use either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Healthy eating meant full fat
milk, eggs (boiled or poached), fish, pulses and plenty of fruits and
vegetables. Personally, I had a great weakness for fresh sugarcane juice, which
was more refreshing than nutritious. Three times a week, I would cap my
workouts by walking to a juice bar opposite Roxy Cinema at the mouth of
Beirut’s commercial center. The 20-25 square meters bar offered the glass of fresh
apple, orange, strawberry, grape or sugarcane juice at a standard price of LL
0.25. The biggest piece of equipment at the counter was a sugarcane juicer
machine made in Egypt. It worked manually but broke down more often than not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Gym wear was a swim brief. You carried
it back and forth together with a shower towel. Both were rolled into a tubular
wet swimming bag. If you carried one it meant you were almost surely a gym
member. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Gym equipment was also plain: high and parallel bars, rings, a climbing rope,
training benches, dumbbells and barbells, weights and mats (chiefly for abdominals
training routines). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I secured the “Mr. Lebanon” title in my height
category at a national competition held in April 1953 at the Rivoli Cinema on
Martyrs’ Square. (Title winners in the two other categories were Malih Alewan
and Mohammed Mortada). Some months later, I joined a bodybuilding exhibition at
the Dunia cinema, also on Martyrs’ Square. There I received an honorary medal for
sports from Mrs. <span style="color: #2a2a2a;">Salma Bissar, wife of Kamel Mroue,
founder of two Beirut dailies, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al-Hayat</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Daily Star.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></i></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPs62s_q7KvLTyxNXl-JAVh-t4Hf3jq3Ok79sjAdYp0a41qxmtWAfVdPuM-KK419kczJXWlGaMOWs0WTjfExGwLMrnPB6VZ3ePFRHVDp3WOIPOIrtiuFaEgDDCd6uCEzQoh_kuhazfOxc/s1600/scan0013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPs62s_q7KvLTyxNXl-JAVh-t4Hf3jq3Ok79sjAdYp0a41qxmtWAfVdPuM-KK419kczJXWlGaMOWs0WTjfExGwLMrnPB6VZ3ePFRHVDp3WOIPOIrtiuFaEgDDCd6uCEzQoh_kuhazfOxc/s1600/scan0013.jpg" height="640" width="425" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From bodybuilding to weightlifting...</td></tr>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghg6GgYBHcDRhBTrQDGpSPCGINc59AxRTJpQy2aMcsKRYaHGXR4X2A01cYflLKO1INyOn6Q5JFczFEGiHH9geeuzezf1tFONaleU8nOOrd3tly5PjkkZUzKanQ9jvCUhyphenhyphennwwfIxVgQToU/s1600/scan0008-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghg6GgYBHcDRhBTrQDGpSPCGINc59AxRTJpQy2aMcsKRYaHGXR4X2A01cYflLKO1INyOn6Q5JFczFEGiHH9geeuzezf1tFONaleU8nOOrd3tly5PjkkZUzKanQ9jvCUhyphenhyphennwwfIxVgQToU/s1600/scan0008-1.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and breaking records</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">That’s when I
starting wondering where to go from there. Before long, I opted to transition
to a new sport, new training grounds and a new coach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The new sport was
obviously weightlifting, the closest you could get to bodybuilding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The new gym was at
the Youth Sports Club co-founded and managed by Mahmoud Kayssi. The club had been
newly relocated to near my home in Ras el-Nabeh and was renowned for churning
out topflight boxers, wrestlers and weightlifters. Among them, for instance,
were Zakariya Shehab, Khalil Taha and Mustafa Lahham. The three starred at the
1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Shehab and Taha won silver and bronze in Greco-Roman
wrestling while weightlifter Lahham ranked fifth in his lightweight category.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The new coach was
none other than Mohammed Ameen Makkouk, an extraordinary old hand at
weightlifting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Training – always
one-on-one under Makkouk -- turned out to be more stressful and challenging, at
times even frustrating. But the progress, the achievements and the public
support and acclamation that came with it were exhilarating. I was not even 19
when I won Lebanon’s 1954 weightlifting championship and set four new national
records in Press, Snatch, Clean and Jerk and Total in my weight category. Khodr
Traboulsi and Najm el-Ra’i shared the previous all-time highs between them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My new records galvanized
local sports editors. I was their new “rookie of the year.” Oddly, that was when
I started pondering my exit from competitive sports altogether. As a new
student at the American University (AUB), I felt the pressures of competition
from thereon would weigh down my studies. I told myself, “You won the topmost
titles in two sports disciplines, set national records in one and learned the
graces, skills and virtues associated with good sportsmanship. Time you concentrated
on getting a university degree then build a career and earn a living.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My decision to
bring down the curtain on weightlifting preceded or followed:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">-- Exhibitions at the
Farouk Theater (on Martyrs’ Square), in the Bekaa town of Zahle and at the Youth
Sports Club’s grounds in Ras el-Nabeh.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2a2a2a;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERcAy3W1whF9-nvD8t1Bvpi7O0aVUAH-y_fD2Nc_BLMAIbrELywcguHRU7L9jROBwxEWIFCUD1jX4__5f3Ko5kFYKqz9-wuC5bahVe8YE5En4IItKPRZXzRH13HvjC5HBktqqyNH7yPE/s1600/scan0025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjERcAy3W1whF9-nvD8t1Bvpi7O0aVUAH-y_fD2Nc_BLMAIbrELywcguHRU7L9jROBwxEWIFCUD1jX4__5f3Ko5kFYKqz9-wuC5bahVe8YE5En4IItKPRZXzRH13HvjC5HBktqqyNH7yPE/s1600/scan0025.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am center, sailing with the Lebanon delegation to Genoa in 1954</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibybrQ3uWVxL9Bd0c2ern_DA7SbTgsA_K3kri-4z8bWVWc5wOTHcW20nY24Lf08oW87sA3cxlO1kbB5YPfJY7oYgnitFo1TenNBEGnSEI-5LRUQlR9iUlyeAMMcTejb5nWSnPIDKVI0-4/s1600/scan0021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibybrQ3uWVxL9Bd0c2ern_DA7SbTgsA_K3kri-4z8bWVWc5wOTHcW20nY24Lf08oW87sA3cxlO1kbB5YPfJY7oYgnitFo1TenNBEGnSEI-5LRUQlR9iUlyeAMMcTejb5nWSnPIDKVI0-4/s1600/scan0021.jpg" height="640" width="466" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Representing Lebanon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71WcUQ4O8vSiV5K93xMrpC9WYcR7Wg7sOhk4bCdLDJh9WzlObeFgrckGEHOi1ZVfNmcIozUte8sstEDRJEarmBxFm5YHc98gwLLyAh3KgZlV2uhq-_O9_ypX-Cd0YUU4WPyrQrC9YtmA/s1600/scan0023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71WcUQ4O8vSiV5K93xMrpC9WYcR7Wg7sOhk4bCdLDJh9WzlObeFgrckGEHOi1ZVfNmcIozUte8sstEDRJEarmBxFm5YHc98gwLLyAh3KgZlV2uhq-_O9_ypX-Cd0YUU4WPyrQrC9YtmA/s1600/scan0023.jpg" height="436" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Receiving the medal and kudos from Costy Zurayk and Emile Bustani</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">-- A memorable 1954 trip
behind the Iron Curtain with Lebanon’s delegation to the 12<sup>th</sup> World
University Summer Games in Budapest. We boarded ship in Beirut, sailed to Genoa
via Port Said and Athens before traveling by train to the Hungarian capital through
Austria. The punishing journey did not impede our sharing in the games’ opening
ceremony at the 100,000-seat </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadium_Pusk%C3%A1s_Ferenc"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Népstadion</span></a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">. Setting a new AUB record during a
Field Day on campus, which earned me a celebratory medal and kudos from AUB’s Acting
President </span><a href="http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/34-2/34-2%20Memoriam.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Constantine
(“Costy”) Zurayk</span></a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> and Member of Parliament </span><a href="http://web.mit.edu/shass/temp/bustani/bustani_seminar.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Emile
Bustani</span></a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">, member of the AUB Board of Trustees and president of
the Alumni Association.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a;">-- My Lebanon captaincy
in a friendly matchup with visiting Soviet weightlifters led by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkadi_Vorobyev"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Arkady Vorobyov</span></a><span style="color: #2a2a2a;"> as they trained for the Melbourne 1956 Olympics. Henri Pharaon
later entertained both teams at his most remarkable two-story stone palace in
Beirut where he amassed art and antiquities. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was the uncontested patron of Lebanese sports with a
passion for horses who helped </span>found independent
Lebanon and designed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_flag"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Lebanese flag</span></span></a>.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-84182421162280339682014-04-22T22:58:00.002-07:002014-04-22T23:09:54.945-07:00Farewell Ma’alem, à toute...<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHBihF12qHOSNUvREnCja-2hRKJPifU0sjXdeD6z0Hi50kTqWWt0MUhOTwSm0FUlsfJY9ZBxjGW49bWYdS873j6hj3-MIdZt4DPDiG1cMlnUn649GXL3CNuxH3TFoSBFYBMuk53FRK_U/s1600/Pic+FCN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghHBihF12qHOSNUvREnCja-2hRKJPifU0sjXdeD6z0Hi50kTqWWt0MUhOTwSm0FUlsfJY9ZBxjGW49bWYdS873j6hj3-MIdZt4DPDiG1cMlnUn649GXL3CNuxH3TFoSBFYBMuk53FRK_U/s1600/Pic+FCN.jpg" height="400" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fawaz C. Najia: 1935-2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Middle East Publisher, Editor and
ArabSaga blogger Fawaz C. Najia lost his battle against cancer and passed away
peacefully in London early on Sunday morning (April 20).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As one of the greats in the Arab
English-language media, he was known to all of us who worked with him and were
close as the <i>Ma’alem</i> – the teacher, the master.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Indeed, the <i>Ma’alem</i> was an
encyclopedia in the region’s politics since the 1950s. He either participated
in or covered the Middle East, especially Palestine, through his various publications -- <i>Monday
Morning</i> weekly and <i>Ike</i> daily in Beirut, Lebanon, then <i>Mideast
Mirror</i> newsletter in London.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But he was also a <i>Ma’alem</i> in
life. Apart from journalism, in the 40 years I was with him he taught me generosity,
humility and kindness. He was an avantgardist always ahead of his
time, a feminist, an advocate for human rights and the rights of the Palestinian people and a firm supporter
and believer in the Syrian people’s current battle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Although creating a blog was on his mind for
some time, he started guest-posting on my blog Mich Café at the start of the
Arab Spring, as events began to unfold in Tunisia and then Egypt. Encouraged by the
high number of readers, and with the help of Mohammed Kharroubi who set up the
blog for him, ArabSaga was launched in January 2012. It was his way of
communicating the saga of the Arab world to an English-reading public.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The war in Syria deeply affected the <i>Ma’alem</i>.
He could not believe the silence and inaction of the international community.
After working on a Syria post, he was left drained. Two weeks ago, when I
visited him in hospital in London, I was often not able to understand what he
was saying. But one morning, he whispered something about Latakia. Even then,
the plight of the Syrian people was on his mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">ArabSaga kept him going during his eight-month
battle with cancer. It is only at the beginning of February, when his eyesight
let him down and he was unable to read, that he stopped writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The <i>Ma’alem</i> had three personal posts
he had not yet published – “Brawn or Brains?” “My journalism mentors before the
Internet,” and “Life lessons from Costi Zurayk and Rafic Hariri.” Whenever he
was about to post one of them, a more important current event would take
precedence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I will publish these three posts to add to the 625 he produced over two years, the majority of which
are still relevant and will most probably be well into the future. They are a
record of the events of the past two years, he Lebanon civil war and the Arab saga.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Among his most painful he wrote was the
six-part series about “The cost of gagging Beirut.” Those who were “gagged”
were personal friends he always remembered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #1f1f1f;">The</span></span>re is so much to say, but for now farewell <i>Ma’almi</i>, <span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">à</span> toute and May you now rest in peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mich</span></div>
F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-53698759383207360532014-01-30T07:40:00.001-08:002014-01-30T07:40:24.347-08:00Thousands of homes deliberately razed in Syria
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QClwLcogOPY/Uupo5APr9VI/AAAAAAAAGaE/NmYW9wIXrWY/s1600/New+Opp5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QClwLcogOPY/Uupo5APr9VI/AAAAAAAAGaE/NmYW9wIXrWY/s1600/New+Opp5.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus in July (top) and September 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mKUhqDL5Po/Uupo3ox7pdI/AAAAAAAAGZ8/IWTs4oGdMn8/s1600/Recently+Updated260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mKUhqDL5Po/Uupo3ox7pdI/AAAAAAAAGZ8/IWTs4oGdMn8/s1600/Recently+Updated260.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mazzeh area of Damascus in February (top) and July 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
Satellite imagery,
witness statements, and video and photographic evidence show that Syrian
authorities deliberately and unlawfully demolished thousands of residential
buildings in Damascus and Hama in 2012 and 2013, <a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/122732"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Human Rights Watch said</span></a> in a report
released today. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> The 38-page report<a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/122718"><span style="color: #1b007f; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">, “</span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Razed to the Ground: Syria’s Unlawful Neighborhood
Demolitions in 2012-2013</span></span><span style="color: #1b007f; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">,”</span></a> documents seven cases of large-scale
demolitions with explosives and bulldozers that violated the laws of war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The demolitions either
served no necessary military purpose and appeared to intentionally punish the
civilian population or caused disproportionate harm to civilians, Human Rights
Watch found.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> “Wiping entire
neighborhoods off the map is not a legitimate tactic of war,” said <a href="http://www.hrw.org/bios/ole-solvang"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Ole Solvang</span></span></a>, emergencies
researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These unlawful demolitions are the latest
additions to a long list of crimes committed by the Syrian government.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Syrian government,
as part of its Geneva-2 negotiations, should make a commitment to immediately
end demolitions that violate international law and to compensate and provide
alternative housing to the victims, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations
Security Council should refer the situation in <a href="http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/syria"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Syria</span></span></a> to the
International Criminal Court (ICC). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The seven cases Human
Rights Watch documented took place between July 2012 and July 2013 in the
following areas: the Masha’ al-Arb’een and Wadi al-Joz neighborhoods in Hama,
and the Qaboun, Tadamon, Barzeh, Mazzeh military airport, and Harran Al-‘Awamid
neighborhoods in and near Damascus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The total building area
demolished, based on analysis of the satellite imagery, is at least 145
hectares – an area equivalent to about 200 soccer fields. Many of the
demolished buildings were apartment blocks several stories high, some as many
as eight. Thousands of families have lost their homes as a result of these
demolitions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All of the affected
neighborhoods were widely considered by the authorities and by witnesses
interviewed by Human Rights Watch to be opposition strongholds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Government officials
and pro-government media outlets have claimed that the demolitions were part of
urban planning efforts or removal of illegally constructed buildings. However,
the demolitions were supervised by military forces and often followed fighting
in the areas between government and opposition forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As far as Human Rights
Watch has been able to determine, there have been no similar demolitions in
areas that generally support the government, although many houses in those
areas were also allegedly built without the necessary permits. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">These circumstances, as
well as witness statements and more candid statements by government officials
reported in the media, indicate that the demolitions were related to the armed
conflict and either served no necessary military purpose and appeared to
intentionally punish the civilian population, or caused disproportionate harm
to civilians in violation of the laws of war. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">One woman who lived
near Wadi al-Joz, one of the demolished neighborhoods in Hama, told Human
Rights Watch: “After the demolition in Wadi al-Joz, the army came to our
neighborhood with loudspeakers. They said that they would destroy our
neighborhood like they destroyed Wadi al-Joz and Masha’ al-Arb’een should a
single bullet be fired from here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Several owners of
houses that were demolished contended that contrary to the government’s stated
pretext for the demolitions, they had all the necessary permits and documents
for their houses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Commenting
on the demolitions in an interview with an international journalist in October
2012, the governor of the Damascus countryside, Hussein Makhlouf, also
explicitly stated that the demolitions were essential to drive out opposition
fighters. Some of the demolitions took place around government
military or strategic sites that opposition forces had attacked. While the
authorities might have been justified in taking some targeted measures to
protect these military or strategic locations, the destruction of hundreds of
residential buildings, in some cases kilometers away, appears to have been
disproportionate and to have violated international law.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Local
residents told Human Rights Watch government forces gave little or no warning
of the demolitions, making it impossible for them to remove most of their
belongings. Owners interviewed by Human Rights Watch also said they had
received no compensation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> One local restaurant owner from the
Qaboun neighborhood of Damascus told Human Rights Watch security forces arrived
one morning unannounced with bulldozers and ordered him to leave the premises:
“When I asked why, the soldier said ‘no more questions’ or else I would be
detained.” He said they denied permission to remove anything from
the restaurant and forced him to leave on foot, leaving his motorcycle behind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“As
I was walking I looked back and I saw the bulldozer demolishing my shop,” he
said. “The shop was opened by my grandfather many years ago. I personally managed
the restaurant for eight years. Before my eyes, all of my family’s hard work was
destroyed in one second.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> The
report is based on detailed analysis of 15 “very-high resolution” commercial
satellite images and interviews with 16 witnesses to the demolitions and owners
whose houses were demolished.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In
addition, Human Rights Watch reviewed media reports, government decrees, and
videos of the destruction and its aftermath posted on YouTube. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> “No
one should be fooled by the government’s claim that it is undertaking urban
planning in the middle of a bloody conflict,” Solvang said. “This was
collective punishment of communities suspected of supporting the rebellion. The
UN Security Council should, with an ICC referral, send a clear message that
cover-ups and government impunity won’t stand in the way of justice for
victims.” </span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-29704537006076656572014-01-21T03:18:00.000-08:002014-01-21T03:18:28.181-08:0055,000 digital images of 11,000 Assad torture victims<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 1.65pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.9pt;">By
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/ianblack"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Ian Black</span></a></b><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 15.9pt;">, Middle East editor</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/20/evidence-industrial-scale-killing-syria-war-crimes"><span style="color: blue;">The
Guardian, Tuesday 21 January 2014</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_yIVWuQwx8C84kWVKal0w7jJbtRvbwu9Va7lC-0AEeKPvWmfEmGfCX2Br1SY17NbyA98N1ACZAVPknzfOn8Pkwv5Ge9YAcvGMiJumbRBmkSV_HVSpHjd5FvVn54JAiFvSzcAAlIVTRo/s1600/emaciated.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_yIVWuQwx8C84kWVKal0w7jJbtRvbwu9Va7lC-0AEeKPvWmfEmGfCX2Br1SY17NbyA98N1ACZAVPknzfOn8Pkwv5Ge9YAcvGMiJumbRBmkSV_HVSpHjd5FvVn54JAiFvSzcAAlIVTRo/s1600/emaciated.png" height="221" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Report photo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Syrian
government officials could face <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/law/war-crimes" title="More from the Guardian on War crimes"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">war
crimes</span></a> charges in the light of a huge
cache of evidence smuggled out of the country showing the "systematic
killing" of about 11,000 detainees, according to three eminent
international lawyers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
three, former prosecutors at the criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia
and Sierra Leone, examined thousands of Syrian government photographs and files
recording deaths in the custody of regime security forces from March 2011 to
last August. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most
of the victims were young men and many corpses were emaciated, bloodstained and
bore signs of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/law/torture" title="More from the Guardian on Torture"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">torture</span></a>. Some had no eyes; others showed signs of strangulation or
electrocution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
UN and independent human rights groups have documented abuses by both <span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Bashar
al-Assad</span>'s government and rebels, but
experts say this evidence is more detailed and on a far larger scale than
anything else that has yet emerged from the 34-month crisis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
three lawyers interviewed the source, a military policeman who worked secretly
with a Syrian opposition group and later defected and fled the country. In
three sessions in the last 10 days they found him credible and truthful and his
account "most compelling".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">They
put all evidence under rigorous scrutiny, says<span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> their report, which has been obtained by the <i>Guardian</i>
and <i>CNN</i></span>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
authors are: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">-- Sir
Desmond de Silva QC, former chief prosecutor of the special court for Sierra
Leone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">-- Sir
Geoffrey Nice QC, the former lead prosecutor of former Yugoslavian president
Slobodan Milosevic, and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">-- Professor
David Crane, who indicted President Charles Taylor of Liberia at the Sierra
Leone court. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
defector, who for security reasons is identified only as Caesar, was a
photographer with the Syrian military police. He smuggled the images out of the
country on memory sticks to a contact in the Syrian National Movement, which is
supported by the Gulf state of Qatar. Qatar, which has financed and armed rebel
groups, has called for the overthrow of Assad and demanded his prosecution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2014/jan/20/torture-of-persons-under-current-syrian-regime-report"><span style="color: blue;">The
31-page report</span></a>, which was commissioned by a leading firm of London
solicitors acting for Qatar, is being made available to the UN, governments and
human rights groups. Its publication appears deliberately timed to coincide
with this week's UN-organized Geneva II peace conference, which is designed to
negotiate a way out of the Syrian crisis by creating a transitional government.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Caesar
told the investigators his job was "taking pictures of killed
detainees". He did not claim to have witnessed executions or torture. But
he did describe a highly bureaucratic system. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
procedure was that when detainees were killed at their places of detention
their bodies would be taken to a military hospital to which he would be sent
with a doctor and a member of the judiciary, Caesar's function being to
photograph the corpses… There could be as many as 50 bodies a day to photograph
which require 15 to 30 minutes of work per corpse," the report says. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
reason for photographing executed persons was twofold. First to permit a death
certificate to be produced without families requiring to see the body, thereby
avoiding the authorities having to give a truthful account of their deaths;
second to confirm that orders to execute individuals had been carried
out." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Families
were told that the cause of death was either a "heart attack" or
"breathing problems", it added. "The procedure for documentation
was that when a detainee was killed each body was given a reference number
which related to that branch of the security service responsible for his
detention and death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"When
the corpse was taken to the military hospital it was given a further number so
as to document, falsely, that death had occurred in the hospital. Once the
bodies were photographed, they were taken for burial in a rural area." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Three
experienced forensic science experts examined and authenticated samples of
55,000 digital images, comprising about 11,000 victims. "Overall there was
evidence that a significant number of the deceased were emaciated and a
significant minority had been bound and/or beaten with rod-like objects,"
the report says. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"In
only a minority of the cases … could a convincing injury that would
account for death be seen, but any fatal injury to the back of the body would
not be represented in the images …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
forensics team make clear that there are many ways in which an individual may
be killed with minimal or even absent external evidence of the mechanism."
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
inquiry team said it was satisfied there was "clear evidence, capable of
being believed by a tribunal of fact in a court of law, of systematic torture
and killing of detained persons by the agents of the Syrian government. It
would support findings of crimes against humanity and could also support
findings of war crimes against the current Syrian regime." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">De
Silva told the <i>Guardian</i> the evidence "documented industrial-scale
killing". He added: "This is a smoking gun of a kind we didn't have
before. It makes a very strong case indeed." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Calls
for Assad or others to face justice at the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/law/international-criminal-court" title="More from the Guardian on International criminal court"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">international criminal court</span></a> in The Hague have foundered on the problems that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/syria" title="More from the Guardian on Syria"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Syria</span></a> is not a member of the court, and that the required
referral by the UN Security Council might not be supported by the US and UK or
would be blocked by Russia, Syria's close ally. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nice
said: "It would not necessarily be possible to track back with any degree
of certainty to the head of state. Ultimately, in any war crimes trial you can
imagine a prosecutor arguing that the overall quantity of evidence meant that
the pattern of behavior would have been approved at a high level.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"But
whether you can go beyond that and say it must be head of state-approved is
rather more difficult. But 'widespread and systematic' does betoken government
control." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Crane
said: "Now we have direct evidence of what was happening to people who had
disappeared. This is the first provable, direct evidence of what has happened
to at least 11,000 human beings who have been tortured and executed and
apparently disposed of. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"This
is amazing. This is the type of evidence a prosecutor looks for and hopes for.
We have pictures, with numbers that marry up with papers with identical numbers
– official government documents. We have the person who took those pictures.
That's beyond-reasonable-doubt-type evidence." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A
US administration official told the <i>Guardian</i> on Monday: "We stand
with the rest of the world in horror at these images which have come to light.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the actions of the regime and call
on it to adhere to international obligations with respect to the treatment of
prisoners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"We
have long spoken out about mistreatment and deteriorating prison conditions in
Syria. These latest reports, and the photographs that support them, demonstrate
just how far the regime is willing to go to not only deny freedom and dignity
to the Syrian people, but to inflict significant emotional and physical pain in
the process. To be sure, these reports suggest widespread and apparently
systematic violations of international humanitarian law. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
regime has the ability to improve the atmosphere for negotiations in Geneva by
making progress in several areas. However, this latest report of horrific and
inhumane prison conditions/actions further underscores that if anything, it is
tarnishing the environment for the talks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"As
we have for over two years, and again today, we call on the Syrian government
to grant immediate and unfettered access to all their detention facilities by
international documentation bodies, including the UN Commission of Inquiry on
Syria. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"We
have long said that those responsible for atrocities in Syria must be held
accountable for their gross violations of human rights. The United States
continues to support efforts to promote accountability and transitional
justice, and we call on the international community to do the same." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">William
Hague, the UK foreign secretary, said: "This report offers further
evidence of the systematic violence and brutality being visited upon the people
of Syria by the Assad regime. We will continue to press for action on all human
rights violations in Syria, and for accountability for those who perpetrate
them." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nadim
Houry of Human Rights Watch said his organization had not had the opportunity
to authenticate the images. But he added: "We have documented repeatedly
how Syria's security services regularly torture – sometimes to death –
detainees in their custody. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.9pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"These
photos – if authentic – suggest that we may have only scratched the surface of
the horrific extent of torture in Syria's notorious dungeons. There is only one
way to get to the bottom of this and that is for the negotiating parties at
Geneva II to grant unhindered access to Syria's detention facilities to
independent monitors."</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-90039518762619869532014-01-18T10:14:00.000-08:002014-01-18T10:14:34.836-08:00UPDATE: Opposition votes to join Geneva-2
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">Syria's political opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National
Coalition (SNC), has agreed to attend next week's Geneva-2 peace talks, to be
held in the Swiss resort of Montreux.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The SNC’s 121-member
general assembly took the decision at a meeting in the Turkish city of
Istanbul.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;">The aim of
the talks is to start the process of setting up a “</span>transitional
governing body that would exercise full executive powers” to end the three-year
Syria war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;">Of the 75 delegates
who voted, 58 were in favor, 14 were against, </span>one abstained and two others did not vote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The remaining 46 members of the SNC general assembly boycotted the
session altogether.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-28541904212758362062014-01-18T03:47:00.000-08:002014-01-18T03:47:00.962-08:00Syrian opposition coalition likely to join Geneva-2
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><u>Kerry:
“We’re not going to be fooled by Assad”</u></span></i></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbw-QmQ5vdTaT2T_kRpjlh0JX0J2qCXOR2cTFWfcmvmPDzZdchRRzqdtf0qGviXRJlNP3Qc2-CHzt3Chi17xJlUH-AjOg5bQ1LMfScDKP7xl18OcKd5djV2b-BQvD2GM8ZLsSKMTAR4bc/s1600/Emblem.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbw-QmQ5vdTaT2T_kRpjlh0JX0J2qCXOR2cTFWfcmvmPDzZdchRRzqdtf0qGviXRJlNP3Qc2-CHzt3Chi17xJlUH-AjOg5bQ1LMfScDKP7xl18OcKd5djV2b-BQvD2GM8ZLsSKMTAR4bc/s1600/Emblem.png" height="320" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Syrian National Coalition's logo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Chances
are the Syrian National Coalition will decide to join the Geneva-2 peace
talks,” <a href="http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&article=758049&issueno=12835#.UtpKPBzXcl7"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">proclaims
a front-page headline</span></a> in the authoritative Saudi daily <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asharq Alawsat </i>this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Pan-Arab <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al-Hayat,</i> another Saudi-owned daily, <a href="http://alhayat.com/Details/593988"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">talks of an American-Russian understanding</span></a>
that the priority at Geneva-2 would be “to set up a
transitional governing body that would exercise full executive powers and
supervise the armed forces and security services.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/01/220006.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">hinted at this
yesterday</span></a> at his Joint Press Availability at the State Department’s Ben
Franklin Room with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Mexican Foreign
Secretary Jose Antonio Meade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>SPOKESPERSON JEN PSAKI:</b> The first
question will be from Michael Gordon of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
New York Times</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>QUESTION:</b> A question for
Secretary Kerry. Sir, after you became Secretary of State, you made the point
repeatedly that it was important to change Bashar al-Assad’s calculation in
order to achieve a political solution at Geneva II. Now almost a year later,
it’s clear that the Assad regime believes its position is stronger than ever.
In his letter to the United Nations, the Syria foreign minister, who will be
leading the delegation to Geneva-2, suggests that the purpose of going to
Geneva is to fight terrorism, not discuss a political transition. In fact, he
says some points in the invitation the Syrian Government received from the UN
are “in conflict with the legal and political position of the state of Syria.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sir, my question is: How can you
expect to make progress toward a political transition at Geneva-2 if the Assad
government does not even accept the purpose of the conference, which is what
its own letter suggests. Have you been in contact with the Syrian Government
over the past 24 hours to obtain an assurance that it accepts the purpose of
the meeting? And doesn’t the Syrian foreign minister’s letter mean that more
pressure needs to be brought to bear on the Assad government in order to make
political headway? Thank you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">SECRETARY KERRY:</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Thank you very much, Michael. Yesterday I addressed directly
the revisionism of the Syrian regime in its effort to try to divert the
purpose, which will not be successful. More than 30 nations are going to
assemble, all of whom, thus far, and if there are more, will be and must be
committed to the Geneva-1 communiqué. Now, you were with me in Paris the other
day when Foreign Minister Lavrov stood up and reiterated that the purpose of
this conference is the implementation of the Geneva-1 communiqué.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Nobody would
have believed that Assad would have given up his chemical weapons. But he did.
And the reason he did is that his patrons came to understand that he had to.
And I believe, as we begin to get to Geneva, and begin to get into this
process, that it will become clear that there is no political solution
whatsoever if Assad is not discussing a transition and if he thinks he’s going
to be part of that future. It’s not going to happen. The people who are the
opponents of this regime will never, ever stop. There will be a low-grade
insurgency at least, and worse, potentially even a civil war if it continues,
because they will not stop.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Now we also are
not out of options with respect to what we may be able to do to increase the
pressure and further change the calculation. And I think we’ve made that clear
to the Russian foreign minister and others, and nor are other players short of
an ability to be able to have an impact here.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So I think they
can bluster, they can protest, they can put out distortions. The bottom line
is: We are going to Geneva to implement Geneva-1. And if Assad doesn’t do that,
he will invite greater response in various ways from various people over a
period of time. So I’m not particularly surprised that he is trying to divert
this. He’s been doing this for months, trying to make himself the protector of
Syria against extremists, when he himself has even been funding some of those
extremists – even purposely ceding some territory to them in order to make them
more of a problem so he can make the argument that he is somehow the protector
against them. Nobody is going to be fooled. We’re not going to be fooled by
this process.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So Foreign
Minister Lavrov has stated: They are supporting the Geneva-1 communiqué and the
government has to come and negotiate around the communiqué. And since Russia is
one of the primary benefactors of the Assad regime, we believe the Russians
have a high stake in helping to make certain that Assad understands exactly what
the parameters of this negotiation are.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-75602351531078925732014-01-17T06:55:00.000-08:002014-01-17T06:55:54.366-08:00Assad tables Aleppo ceasefire and prisoner swap
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQprhXjdVctMqGKmrOI2ObsbfQresU-ZcPy2m7ab0WVx_nGDSDAeKbyuh1E2mQeYNFz2JxF7MhWOIQERMKN4YWns6S0EujY0gZaEE9JrNIPjd6_Ugree9FyMzXtn7OD3TRaExLKoZuDg8/s1600/Babo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQprhXjdVctMqGKmrOI2ObsbfQresU-ZcPy2m7ab0WVx_nGDSDAeKbyuh1E2mQeYNFz2JxF7MhWOIQERMKN4YWns6S0EujY0gZaEE9JrNIPjd6_Ugree9FyMzXtn7OD3TRaExLKoZuDg8/s1600/Babo.jpg" height="456" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moallem and Lavrov after their joint press conference in Moscow today (Reuters)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
Within 24 hours of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry slamming Syrian
government efforts to change the focus of next week’s Geneva-2 peace talks,
Damascus today handed over a plan for an Aleppo ceasefire and readied for a
possible prisoner exchange with the opposition.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">At the news conference
held after his meeting today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the
Russian Foreign Ministry's Mansion in Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
Muallem said Damascus is ready to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with
opposition forces in the flashpoint city of Aleppo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A list of rebel
prisoners has also been drawn up in preparation for a proposed exchange of
prisoners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> <i>“Taking into
account the role of the Russian Federation in halting the bloodshed in Syria
and our relationship of trust, today I have given Minister Lavrov a ceasefire
plan for the city of Aleppo,”</i> <a href="http://rt.com/news/syria-lavrov-mualem-geneva-758/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Russia Today (RT)
quoted Muallem</span></a> as saying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He asked Lavrov to
coordinate with his contacts in the Syrian opposition in order to ensure the
execution of the new plan, adding that if it is successful it could be
implemented in other areas of the war-torn country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“I really hope all
sides will keep to the terms of the agreement. If this happens, then we can
implement this plan in other cities.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Addressing the issue of
the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Muallem said the Syrian government is already
working with the UN to deliver aid to <i>“a number of regions.”</i> However,
the success of the humanitarian program depends on rebel fighters keeping to
their pledge not to open fire on humanitarian convoys, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Refuting claims the
Syrian Army is bombing its own citizens, Muallem said such allegations <i>“do
not reflect the reality of the current situation.”</i> He laid the blame at the
feet of terrorist organizations that are being supported by international
players.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“According to the
constitution, the Syrian government is obligated to protect its citizens and
public institutions in Syria. Terrorists and terror groups are responsible for
these destructive acts,”</i> said Muallem, adding: <i>“These
groups are growing in number because of outside support from known states.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Lavrov echoed this
opinion, describing as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“irresponsible”</i>
accusations that Damascus is carrying out strikes on its own citizens. <i>“In
Syria, civilians are suffering on both sides, but it is totally irresponsible
to accuse the government of purposely targeting civilians,”</i> said Lavrov. <i>“To
make such accusations, serious proof is required.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Both foreign ministers
said opposition representation is absolutely essential for the success of the
Geneva-2 talks, which are set to kick off next Monday. They believe the
conference will pave the way for the creation of a transitional government to
bring an end to the three-year conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Syrian National
Coalition – the main political opposition umbrella organization – is meeting in
Istanbul later today to decide whether it will attend the Geneva talks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">KERRY<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/01/219915.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">remarks to the
press</span></a> at the State Department’s Briefing Room yesterday, Thursday, Kerry
said in part:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I
know that many of you have been asking about some of the recent revisionism as
to why the international community will be gathering in Montreux next week, so
let me make it clear here today.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">From
the very moment that we announced the goal of holding the Geneva conference on
Syria, we all agreed that the purpose was specifically and solely to implement
the 2012 Geneva-1 communiqué. That purpose, that sole purpose, could not have
been more clear at the time this was announced and it could not be more clear
today. It has been reiterated in international statement after international statement
that the parties have signed up to, and venue after venue, in resolution after
resolution, including most recently in Paris last weekend when both the London
11 and the Russian Federation reaffirmed their commitment to that objective,
the implementation of Geneva-1.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So
for anyone seeking to rewrite this history or to muddy the waters, let me state
one more time what Geneva-2 is about: It is about establishing a process
essential to the formation of a transition government body – governing body
with full executive powers established by mutual consent. That process – it is
the only way to bring about an end to the civil war that has triggered one of
the planet’s most severe humanitarian disasters and which has created the
seeding grounds for extremism.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
Syrian people need to be able to determine the future of their country. Their
voice must be heard. And any names put forward for leadership of Syria’s
transition must, according to the terms of Geneva-1 and every one of the
reiterations of that being the heart and soul of Geneva-2, those names must be
agreed to by both the opposition and the regime. That is the very definition of
mutual consent.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This
means that any figure that is deemed unacceptable by either side, whether
President Assad or a member of the opposition, cannot be a part of the future.
The United Nations, the United States, Russia, and all the countries attending
know what this conference is about. After all, that was the basis of the UN
invitation sent individually to each country, a restatement of the purpose of
implementing Geneva-1. And attendance by both sides and the parties can come
only with their acceptance of the goals of the conference.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We
too are deeply concerned about the rise of extremism. The world needs no
reminder that Syria has become the magnet for jihadists and extremists. It is
the strongest magnet for terror of any place today. So it defies logic to
imagine that those whose brutality created this magnet, how they could ever
lead Syria away from extremism and towards a better future is beyond any kind
of logic or common sense.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And
so on the eve of the Syrian Opposition Coalition general assembly meeting
tomorrow (today, Friday) to decide whether to participate in Geneva in the
peace conference, the United States, for these reasons, urges a positive vote.
We do so knowing that the Geneva peace conference is not the end but rather the
beginning, the launch of a process, a process that is the best opportunity for
the opposition to achieve the goals of the Syrian people and the revolution,
and a political solution to this terrible conflict that has taken many, many,
many, too many lives.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We
will continue to push in the meantime for vital access for humanitarian
assistance. I talked yesterday with Russian Federation Foreign Minister Lavrov
in an effort to push still harder for access to some areas where the regime
played games with the convoys, taking them around a circuitous route instead of
directly in the way that the opposition had arranged for and was willing to
protect them in. It is important that there be no games played with this
process.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We
will also continue to fight for ceasefires where we could achieve them, and we
will continue to fight for the exchange or release of captive journalists and
aid workers and others in order to try to improve the climate for negotiations.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Now,
obviously, none of this will be easy. Ending a war and stopping a slaughter
never is easy. We believe, though, this is the only road that can lead to the
place where the civilized world has joined together in an effort to lead the
parties to a better outcome. And to the Syrian people, let me reiterate: The
United States and the international community will continue to provide help and
support, as we did yesterday in Kuwait, where we pledged $380 million of
additional assistance in order to try to relieve the pain and suffering of the
refugees.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We
will continue to stand with the people of Syria writ large, all the people, in
an effort to provide them with the dignity and the new Syria, which they are
fighting for. Thank you.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-25145375956292848322014-01-16T05:33:00.001-08:002014-01-16T08:37:18.187-08:00“Assad will run again… America will go along”<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhCve9wTUrOHaqayH-KeoiOidDSM_fNMM9a4S6mAFGdnUjM_gQN91Z4Xv2fojiiC0Ii8bMN_1IZyIyJe-LH8LBJBmEeZqbElK45_kA08_XFVnv4C7-lxOBN5esiUEZXCulCSEHzdTXpI/s1600/putinsassad_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhCve9wTUrOHaqayH-KeoiOidDSM_fNMM9a4S6mAFGdnUjM_gQN91Z4Xv2fojiiC0Ii8bMN_1IZyIyJe-LH8LBJBmEeZqbElK45_kA08_XFVnv4C7-lxOBN5esiUEZXCulCSEHzdTXpI/s1600/putinsassad_500.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
“Assad will run again… America will go along.” That's what renowned Lebanese political analyst and journalist Sami Kleib writes
today for Beirut’s daily <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/198723"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">al-Akhbar</span></a>,</i>
which speaks for Iran, Syria and Lebanese Hezbollah.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The article penned by Kleib, who formerly worked for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aljazeera</i> but is now news director of
the pro-Iran <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Al-Mayadeen TV</i>, features
simultaneously this morning on Syria’s online daily <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=ar/Article/view/33826"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Champress</span></a></i>
as well as on the news portal of Hezbollah’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/198723"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Al-Manar TV</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Better still, Kleib is married to former <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aljazeera</i> anchorwoman Luna Shibl, who
now serves as media advisor to President Bashar al-Assad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">To
Kleib’s mind:<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It is almost inevitable that Assad will again run for
president come mid-2014. He won’t be standing down, or renewing or extending
his term. He links his candidacy to the yearning of the people. He is also
convinced renewal of his presidential mandate will happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">American circles handling Syrian affairs are
convinced Assad will run and win. It is consequently imperative to look for a
credible way out to justify any likely American u-turn in Geneva or elsewhere,
but not instantly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Americans tried long and hard to convince Russia
and Iran to press Assad to leave office at the end of his current mandate next
June. They offered keeping the régime and state institutions unchanged and
suggested replacing Assad by an Alawite figure. Moscow and Tehran would have
nothing of that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The same happened when Secretary of State John Kerry told
international troubleshooter for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in the presence of Kerry
aide Wendy Sherman, “Try pressuring the Russians and Iranians to advise Assad
against running.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Brahimi replied the first time he broached the
subject he found Assad “flexible.” The second time Assad refused to discuss the
matter saying the Syrian people decide on this. On his third visit to Damascus,
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem advised Brahimi not to raise the matter as a
precondition for the meeting. Brahimi did as told.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Americans’ problem is how to save face after
repeating for two years that Assad must step down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All the above was before the world powers reached an
agreement with Iran on her nuclear ambitions, prior to the outrage against the
Iranian embassy in Beirut and ahead of the agreement between Baghdad and
Washington to shore up Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki in his war against
Jihadists and DAESH.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Since all issues revolve around the war on terrorism,
the matter is bound to top the Geneva-2 agenda.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Provision 2 of Article 87 in the amended Syrian
constitution states: “If the term of the President of
the Republic finished and no new president was elected, the Existing President
of the Republic continues to assume his duties until the new president is
elected.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This
is to say the “Game of Nations” over Assad’s future will remain in full play
well past June 2014.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-79718572469704735162014-01-13T06:20:00.000-08:002014-01-13T06:20:33.247-08:00Kerry gets potatoes of peace to Syria talks
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><u>Aleppo ceasefire, prisoner swaps and Ghouta aid mulled</u></i></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Bxs0rUBR0I/UtPg0Zu8H1I/AAAAAAAAGYs/bwI1CXgVEFk/s1600/New+Opp4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8Bxs0rUBR0I/UtPg0Zu8H1I/AAAAAAAAGYs/bwI1CXgVEFk/s400/New+Opp4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kerry presenting Lavrov with the two Idaho potatoes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with two
potatoes from Idaho before the beginning of their talks at
the U.S. ambassador's residence in Paris.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kerry said he and
Lavrov had spoken to one another several weeks ago and planned to discuss
Syria. Then the Secretary of State produced two potatoes from a big cardboard
box and gave them to the Russian minister.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
Russian delegation responded later with an ushanka hat, an iconic relic of the
Soviet era, complete with a red star, but colored cartoonish pink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kerry and Lavrov
discussed the possibility of ceasefires in parts of Syria, Kerry said after the
talks in Paris.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Lavrov said the two also
discussed a possible willingness by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to open
aid corridors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"We talked today about the possibility of trying to encourage a
ceasefire. Maybe a localized ceasefire in Aleppo,"</i>
Kerry told the news conference after the talks with Lavrov, which were joined
by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi a little later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Lavrov said Damascus had
indicated it might provide access for humanitarian aid to besieged areas. <a href="http://rt.com/news/syria-ceasefire-prisoner-conference-519/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">According to
RT</span></a>, he specifically cited the Damascus suburb of East Ghouta, where fighting
traps 160,000 people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"We await similar steps by the opposition,"</i>
Lavrov said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The United States is
pushing for a series of confidence-building measures, including prisoner
exchanges, in the Syria war in advance of Geneva-2, a planned peace conference
in Switzerland on January 22.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Prisoner exchanges may
be a simpler goal to achieve. Armed opposition forces are preparing lists of
Syrian army soldiers and officials in their captivity, Kerry said. A similar
preparation is underway in Damascus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Achieving a total
ceasefire would probably be unrealistic under the circumstances, but both the U.S.
and Russia are suggesting a localized ceasefire such as in Aleppo, which would
serve as a test for the readiness of both sides to curb violence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Syria’s second largest
city Aleppo has been a scene of intensive fighting in the past few weeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A third important step
would be providing humanitarian access to Syrian regions most affected by the
violence, particularly the Damascus suburbs of Ghouta. Lavrov is negotiating
such a move with Damascus, Kerry said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Another important issue
discussed by the three negotiators deals with Iran’s participation in the
conference. According to Brahimi, an invitation to the Swiss town of Montreux,
where the gathering is to take place, has been sent to Tehran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Iran’s participation
or otherwise is not a matter of ideology; it is a matter of common sense,”</i>
the envoy said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Kerry said the U.S.
supports Iran’s participation in the conference, but insists that Tehran
endorses the peace roadmap agreed at the June 2012 Syria peace conference in
Geneva.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“We hope that in the
end the UN Secretary General will invite everyone, who has an impact on the
real development of the situation,”</i> Lavrov said.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-48137977463869180132014-01-12T10:44:00.000-08:002014-01-12T10:44:03.602-08:00“No peace in Syria or region with Assad in power”
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;">Paris Declaration of the Core Group</span></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZgpG3IIkX83rRC-FLiqVzs6WdvNh383bmvsjMomGXigmG_kkXRfivdi2pcSeuklzqkWTWybRX_LfN_nEDgDadLxR6uf02OGOmubZG_0yh3aeVlZEGDH5F4sIqeFRZ1yhLNWICuT-zSY/s1600/TRIO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZgpG3IIkX83rRC-FLiqVzs6WdvNh383bmvsjMomGXigmG_kkXRfivdi2pcSeuklzqkWTWybRX_LfN_nEDgDadLxR6uf02OGOmubZG_0yh3aeVlZEGDH5F4sIqeFRZ1yhLNWICuT-zSY/s1600/TRIO.jpg" height="307" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Coalition's A. Jarba and French Foreign Minister L. Fabius</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
We, the Foreign
Ministers of Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, met
today in Paris with a delegation of the Syrian National Coalition led by its
president Ahmad al-Jarba, and adopted the following Core Group declaration:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">1. We support the
rights of the Syrian people to determine its own destiny and to defend itself
against oppression. The Geneva II Conference, based on the full implementation
of the Geneva Communiqué, is aiming at allowing the Syrian people to control
its future and put an end to the current despotic regime through a genuine
political transition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">2. We condemn in the strongest
terms the atrocities committed on a daily basis by the regime against its own
people, with the support of Hezbollah and other foreign groups. We express
outrage notably at the intensive use of “barrel bombs” against the population
of the city of Aleppo, which have left over 700 dead and 3,000 injured since
December 15, and in several other locations throughout Syria. We are revolted
by the “starve or surrender” strategy used by the regime, which in particular
deprives of food and medicine more than 200,000 people in the suburbs of
Damascus and in the old city of Homs. We recall that any strategy to starve
civilians constitutes a war crime. The international community should not be
expected to tolerate the continuation of such crimes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">3. The increased
fuelling, by the regime, of the suffering of the Syrian people gravely
undermines the prospect of success of the Geneva II Conference. The regime must
fulfill its obligations set out by UN Security Council Resolutions 2042 and
2043 which it formally accepted and, in particular, must immediately put an end
to its indiscriminate attacks against civilians and release all arbitrarily
detained persons. It must allow immediate and unfettered humanitarian access to
the entirety of the Syrian territory, through cross line and cross border
operations. We urge Russia and Iran to use all their influence on the regime to
act accordingly. We deplore that the UN Security Council could not express
itself since the 2 October Presidential Statement. Considering that the situation
is still deteriorating, we call for a humanitarian resolution from the UN
Security Council.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">4. We reiterate our
conviction that the only solution to the conflict is a genuine political
transition, based on the full implementation of the Geneva Communiqué, and
preserving the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of
the Syrian State.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">5. We welcome the
invitation sent by the UN Secretary General, which convenes the parties to a
Geneva II Conference to fully implement the Geneva Communiqué, with the
priority aim of forming, by mutual consent, a transitional governing body (TGB)
with full executive powers. We recall that the invitation clearly states that
participating in the Conference will be taken as a commitment to this aim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">6. We therefore
strongly condemn the latest statements of the regime, by which it refused to
come to Geneva to establish a political transition. These statements fully
contradict the Geneva Communiqué, endorsed by the UN Security Council
Resolution 2118, to which the regime must commit. In addition, the perspective
of a presidential election organized by the regime, in which Bashar al-Assad
would run, also fully contradicts the Geneva II process and its goal of a
negotiated democratic transition. Such a parody of a ballot, aimed at
maintaining in power a man whom the UN considers committed war crimes and
crimes against humanity, would only fuel the conflict and increase the threat
of a partition of the country. If it were to happen, we would consider it
totally null and void.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">7. We reaffirm our full
commitment to the text of the Core Group Ministerial Communiqué of 22 October
2013. Negotiations to form the TGB, under the mediation of the Joint Special
Representative, must start as early as January 24 and must not be open-ended.
The Geneva II process must lead to tangible and immediate benefits to the
Syrian people. During the course of negotiations, all parties must put an end
to the use of heavy weapons and implement humanitarian pauses. As of the
establishment of the TGB, all parties must cooperate with the TGB in ensuring
the permanent cessation of violence throughout the country. Consistent with the
Geneva Communiqué, once the TGB is established, with control over all
governmental institutions, as specified in the UNSG invitation letter,
including the armed forces, security services and intelligence structures,
Assad and his close associates with blood on their hands will have no role in
Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">8. All those who
committed war crimes or crimes against humanity must be held accountable. We
reaffirm our support to international criminal justice mechanisms to achieve
reconciliation, truth and accountability for gross violations, as well as
effective remedies and reparations for victims.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">9. We urge the National
Coalition to respond positively to the invitation to set up the Syrian
opposition delegation sent by the UN Secretary General. We invite them to form,
as soon as possible, a delegation of opposition forces to participate in the
political process starting on January 22. As the legitimate representative of
the Syrian people, the National Coalition should establish a delegation
reflecting the diversity of the Syrian society and be gender balanced. We
pledge our full backing to the opposition during the Geneva II Conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">10. We strongly support
the vision envisaged by the National Covenant adopted in Cairo paving the way
for a democratic and pluralistic Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">11. We welcome the
Kuwaiti initiative to host the Second International Humanitarian Pledging
Conference for Syria on 15 January. We call on all countries to mobilize
financial resources to respond to the needs inside Syria, including in the
liberated, contested and besieged areas, and in the countries of the region
generously hosting a growing number of refugees. We recognize the enormous
social, economic and financial impact these refugees have on their societies,
and call upon the international community to assume its responsibility through
burden sharing. We also welcome the UNHCR and neighboring country meeting to be
held in Urfa – Turkey – on 17 January to highlight increasing pressure on host
governments and communities, as a result of hosting more than 2.5 million
refugees from Syria. We stress the importance of meeting the needs of the
internally displaced persons concentrated in certain areas who seek refuge and
protection. It is crucial to increase the level of humanitarian aid, especially
in the liberated, contested and besieged areas, including by supporting the
Interim Government and the Aid Coordination Unit of the National Coalition and
local solidarity networks. We express our full support for the work being
carried out by UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, UNHCR, UN
specialized agencies and all humanitarian actors to alleviate the suffering of
the Syrian people, and underline the urgent need to achieve significant
results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">12. All armed groups
must respect democratic and pluralistic values, recognize the political
authority of the National Coalition and accept the prospect of a democratic
transition negotiated in Geneva on the basis of the objectives listed above. We
urge them to facilitate humanitarian access and respect humanitarian
principles, as well as the work of humanitarian actors and journalists. We also
urge opposition armed groups aiming at a free and pluralistic Syria to unify
and ensure the security of the civilians in the areas under their control,
including against the violations committed by extremist groups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">13. We condemn the
presence of foreign fighters in Syria, both those fighting with the regime such
as Hezbollah and other Iranian backed forces, and those fighting within other
extremist groups. We demand their immediate withdrawal. It is important that
countries supporting and encouraging these groups stop doing it, and that all
groups respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. We also urge
the international community to consider political and economic steps to impel
Hezbollah military wing, a terrorist organization, and other Iranian-backed armed
groups to withdraw from Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We
fully support the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army and other
democratic opposition forces in their action against the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant (ISIL). Extremist groups play in favor of the regime, damage the
image of the democratic and legitimate Syrian opposition forces, and deprive
them of local and international sympathy and support. We urge the democratic
opposition forces to keep opposing the groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda. We
share growing concern at the spread of extremist groups, including ISIL and
Jabhat al-Nusra. The regime, contrary to what it claims, does not take any
significant measures to fight extremism. On the contrary, it is fueling this
threat by facilitating its development to exhaust the democratic opposition.
The determination of Bashar al-Assad to cling to power and the regime’s
brutality are the roots of extremism in Syria. As long as Bashar al-Assad
remains in power, there is no prospect of peace and stability in Syria and the
region. Only when the Syrian people control its future will there be a prospect
of peace and stability in Syria.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-62822717694954807482014-01-12T05:13:00.000-08:002014-01-12T05:13:23.016-08:00Iran training and paying Iraqis to fight for Assad
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IyHDoENI2kk/UtKS0tAK7bI/AAAAAAAAGYM/nLveZCUYnkk/s1600/Desktop6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IyHDoENI2kk/UtKS0tAK7bI/AAAAAAAAGYM/nLveZCUYnkk/s1600/Desktop6.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Logos of six Iraqi Shiite militias fighting for Assad</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
The government of Iraq’s beleaguered Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki is paying each Iraqi recruit $500 a month to receive free
military training in Iran before being deployed in Syria to fight for President
Bashar al-Assad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Beirut correspondent <a href="http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2014/1/866489.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Viviane Aqiqi reports
the news exclusively</span></a> today for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.elaph.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Elaph</span></a>,</i> the first independent online Arab
daily launched in London in 2001.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ms Aqiqi suggests the Quds Force unit, which is
under the command of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and is responsible for the “extraterritorial operations”
of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, has so far recruited and trained in Iran and
Iraq some 5,000 Iraqi Shiite militiamen to fight for Assad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">She specifically names nine Iraqi militia
organizations feeding recruits to Assad via Soleimani.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa'ib_Ahl_al-Haq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">As’ib Ahl al-Haq</span></a></b>, which has 500 Shiite fighters in Syria, led by Kays
al-Khazali.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata'ib_Hezbollah"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq</span></a></b>, which has 600 men fighting for Assad under the
command of Haj Hashem al-Hamadani.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://jihadology.net/2013/06/03/hizballah-cavalcade-kataib-sayyid-al-shuhada-another-supplier-of-iraqi-shia-fighters-in-syria/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Kata’ib
Sayyid al-Shuhada</span></a></b>, which has 400
men fighting for Assad under the command of Haj Abu-Mustafa al-Sheibani.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://jihadology.net/category/harakat-hizballah-al-nujaba/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Harakat
al-Nujaba</span>’</a></b> led by <span style="color: #333333;">Sheikh
Akram al-Kaabi.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_Day_Brigades"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">The Promised Day
Brigades</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">, </span></b><span style="color: #333333;">the biggest Iraqi Shiite organization with nearly
2,000 men fighting for Assad.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://jihadology.net/category/sariyya-al-talia-al-khurasani/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Saraya
Tala’i al-Khurasani</span></a></b><span style="color: #333333;">, whose leader Ali al-Yasiri has 200 men under his command.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Baqir_al-Sadr"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Martyr Mohammad Baqir
al-Sadr Forces</span></a></b><span style="color: #333333;"> comprise 300 militiamen led by Mohammad Jaafar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://jihadology.net/2013/05/15/hizballah-cavalcade-what-is-the-liwaa-abu-fadl-al-abbas-lafa-assessing-syrias-shia-international-brigade-through-their-social-media-presence/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Liwa
Abul-Fadl al-Abbas</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">, </span></b><span style="color: #333333;">the most renowned of the Iraqi Shiite militias with
500 men fighting for Assad<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.start.umd.edu/start/data_collections/tops/terrorist_organization_profile.asp?id=4625"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Imam
Hussein Brigades</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;">, </span></b><span style="color: #333333;">a brigade of 150 fighters headed by Abu-Shahd
al-Jabbouri. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On 5 November 2008,
the day following the U.S. presidential elections, <i>Elaph</i> reached an
all-time record high of 18 million hits. As a result of its popularity and
international readership, Elaph.com became one of the leading news portals in
the Arab world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
website was officially audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). Its
traffic was certified in May 2010, producing ABC’s certificate of 1,179,801
users and 8,565,601 page impressions. Also based on August 2010 data, the
website had 1.3 million global users per month.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-1008180264208719392014-01-10T05:23:00.000-08:002014-01-10T05:36:18.190-08:00Purported attempt to push back Geneva-2<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZC-U8s-uXzfYDtQvAJFWwYDzr2nYseNyn-5Ed9T4w4zbpgh4k5mRNGRShSN54WtvpjwAM1Q7CZBilMKmVM6vmeef4K_g5Wa_nOHAtcVTpxaPptCRB-OkOuOSXVFHXjbq18rhEp8JM8I/s1600/politico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZC-U8s-uXzfYDtQvAJFWwYDzr2nYseNyn-5Ed9T4w4zbpgh4k5mRNGRShSN54WtvpjwAM1Q7CZBilMKmVM6vmeef4K_g5Wa_nOHAtcVTpxaPptCRB-OkOuOSXVFHXjbq18rhEp8JM8I/s1600/politico.jpg" height="456" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From www. politico.com</td></tr>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The authoritative Saudi
daily <i>Asharq Alawsat says</i> today the
Syrian opposition umbrella organization, known as the Syrian National Coalition,
is seeking to push back the Geneva-2 peace conference for Syria slated to be
held in the Swiss resort of Montreux on January 22.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The paper quotes an SNC
source as saying the alliance will be telling its Sunday meeting with the core
group of the Friends of Syria – better known as the London 11 – it can only
attend the Geneva-2 parley if the conditions set in the Geneva communiqué of
June 2012 are met. Chiefly among them is the provision stating: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In all circumstances, the Government must allow immediate and
full humanitarian access to humanitarian organizations to all areas
affected by the fighting. The Government and all parties must enable the
evacuation of the wounded, and all civilians who wish to leave to do so.”</i>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">French Foreign Minister
Laurent Fabius, who accompanied President Francois Hollande on his second state
visit to Saudi Arabia a fortnight ago, declared yesterday: “The opposition is
right to demand that in parallel to Geneva-2, humanitarian corridors be
established and the bombing cease.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking at a joint
press briefing in Paris with his visiting Japanese counterpart, Fabius gave this
insight into Geneva-2, translated by <a href="http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/syria-295/events-5888/article/syria-joint-press-briefing-given"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">France
Diplomatie</span></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Q.: Mr. Fabius, in three days’
time you will host an important meeting on Syria. You said just now that you
have discussed this matter with your guests. At a time when the Syrian
opposition is tearing itself apart -- they haven’t yet managed to accept or
turn down the invitation to attend the Geneva-2 conference -- what can we
expect from a conference in which the opposition may not participate?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Regarding Syria, the day before yesterday,
I received the invitation from Mr. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, to the
Geneva conference on January 22 which should take place as follows: On the
first day, a meeting will take place in Montreux where we will set out our
positions. Then on January 24, there will be a meeting between the Syrian
delegations, in the presence of Mr. Brahimi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Obviously, we
support the holding of the Geneva-2 meeting, to the extent that we have always
maintained from the outset that the solution be a political one.
I would also like to say that if people had listened to France more carefully
from the outset, then we probably wouldn’t be in the absolutely tragic
situation that we’re in now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I remember very clearly – it was one of
the first times that I received many of my foreign colleagues, just after we
took office – the major conference known as the Friends of Syria conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">At the time we said that Mr. Bashar
al-Assad, who UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as having committed
“crimes against humanity,” could not have a role in the future of Syria’s
people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The vision of
the future should be built around the moderate opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">At the time, in July 2012, there was no
Iranian or Hezbollah presence, and there were no terrorist movements. A
specific action would have been enough to ensure that developments proceeded as
desired but we weren’t heeded. The U.S. elections took place, there was dissent
between different groups, and now we find ourselves with an absolutely tragic
situation. Thousands of people die every month; there are appalling atrocities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The number of deaths has now exceeded
130,000. There are millions of displaced persons, with tragic consequences, not
just for Syria, a tormented country, but also for Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and
Iraq.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We need a
political solution to address this. In order to find this political solution,
we have to engage in discussions – hence Geneva.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The letter that Mr. Ban Ki-moon sent us,
which is very well written, states that the goal of the Geneva meeting is to
create a transitional government with full executive powers, through
discussions between the parties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The goal of Geneva-2 is to meet, even if
it’s not easy, in order to try and build a transitional government with full
executive powers, not with Bashar al-Assad but with some elements of the regime
and with the moderate opposition. It’s critical because if it doesn’t happen,
Bashar al-Assad will say, “If you don’t want the terrorists, support me,” and
the terrorists will say, “if you don’t want Bashar al-Assad, support the
terrorists.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We don’t support Mr. Bashar al-Assad, who
is guilty of crimes against humanity, or the terrorists. We have to find a
solution through dialogue. It’s true that the situation of our moderate
opposition coalition friends isn’t easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They have to fight on two fronts: on the
one hand, there’s Mr. Bashar al-Assad, supported by the Iranians and the
Russians; and on the other hand, the terrorist movements. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That’s why we’re going to have a meeting on
Sunday involving the 11 countries that make up the so-called “Core Group” in
the presence of Mr. Ahmad al-Jarba who has just been re-elected as president of
the moderate opposition and we will discuss the situation. The moderate
opposition will meet again on January 17, following our meeting in Paris.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This
is where we are. We believe Geneva-2 -- provided its mandate is fulfilled -- is
necessary. We call on all parties to make an effort to participate in the
conference, but in accordance with the mandate. If Geneva-2 takes
place – as we hope it will – there will be a second difficulty, namely the need
to achieve concrete results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If we want a political
solution, we have to talk to each other. At the same time – and this is a request
that I reiterate to the international community – we must put an end to the
atrocities, to the terrible bombing that’s taking place and address the humanitarian
needs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The opposition is right to
demand that, in parallel to Geneva-2, humanitarian corridors be established and
the bombing cease.</span><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-17605087632550687142014-01-09T05:45:00.001-08:002014-01-09T06:29:27.118-08:00Can 'friends' keep Syrian National Coalition whole?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Df6v1siBiPUuh4GlNDN-Vc9lya369ySegG5XR10nATZDNLlq-1Xwztblmi508sMxpWF-6BJSqGW89Lh5_MjXUwhBYVTI67YQ-I9p8T3oTPXujasTk4fmkeQoQTbad0D8apXXMP6YUCY/s1600/syria-cartoon-geneva-2-skeleton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Df6v1siBiPUuh4GlNDN-Vc9lya369ySegG5XR10nATZDNLlq-1Xwztblmi508sMxpWF-6BJSqGW89Lh5_MjXUwhBYVTI67YQ-I9p8T3oTPXujasTk4fmkeQoQTbad0D8apXXMP6YUCY/s1600/syria-cartoon-geneva-2-skeleton.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Core Group of the Friends of Syria -- better
known as the “London 11” -- will devote their Sunday, January 12, meeting in
Paris to sweet-talk Syria’s opposition umbrella organization into attending the
Geneva-2 conference.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.aawsat.com//details.asp?section=4&article=756895&issueno=12826#.Us6V8RzyB-w"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Reporting
today</span></a> from the French capital for the Saudi newspaper of records <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asharq Alawsat</i>, Michel Abu Najm quotes
official French sources as saying they are “aware of the threats facing the
Syrian National Coalition’s future and are familiar with its sensitive position
and the difficulty of choosing between participating or boycotting the Geneva-2
conference.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Abu Najm also quotes opposition sources as confirming
the National Council risks splintering into factions after more than half its
121 members served notice this week they would walk away if the Council opted to
sit at the Syria peace table in the Swiss resort of Montreux on January 22 (see
my previous post, “<a href="http://arabsaga.blogspot.ae/2014/01/the-syrian-national-coalition-is-on-its.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">The
Syrian National Coalition is on its last leg</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">”).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
The different factions
in the National Coalition were unable to reach an agreement on participation at
two days of talks in Istanbul this week and postponed a decision on the issue
until January 17.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Syrian National
Council, the main 28-member group in the National Coalition, is threatening to
boycott the peace talks unless it has assurances that President Bashar al-Assad
will be forced to give up power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
Syrian government has said it will attend the talks but that Assad's departure
is not up for negotiation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
11-nation core group of the “Friends of Syria” consists of Britain, Egypt,
France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab
Emirates and the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A statement by the Quai d’Orsay says Sunday’s
meeting of the London 11 in Paris “will be chaired by Laurent Fabius, Minister
of Foreign Affairs, and will take place in the presence of a Syrian National
Coalition delegation led by its recently re-elected president, Ahmad al-Jarba.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“This meeting will allow us to reaffirm our
full support for the Syrian National Coalition and, in the run-up to the Geneva
II conference, to reiterate our shared vision of a political transition
addressing the Syrian people’s legitimate aspirations. The creation of a
transitional government body with full executive powers is the central
objective of the Geneva II conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“At a time when the
regime’s headlong pursuit of repression against the people continues to
aggravate the humanitarian situation, this ministerial meeting will signal our
desire to provide increased help to the Syrian National Coalition and the
Syrian people, particularly in the liberated areas.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In context, UN Secretary-General <a href="http://un-report.blogspot.ae/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Ban Ki-moon wrote in part</span></a> in his
January 6 invitation letter to participants in the Geneva-2 conference: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">…I
am now convening the Geneva Conference on Syria, and am pleased to invite you
to attend the high-level international meeting that will launch the Conference.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Conference aims to assist the Syrian parties in ending the violence and
achieving a comprehensive agreement for a political settlement, implementing
fully the Geneva Communiqué, while preserving the sovereignty, independence,
unity and territorial integrity of Syria. The Communiqué contains Principles
and Guidelines for a Syrian-led transition. These set out a number of key
steps, beginning with agreement on a transitional governing body with full
executive powers, formed by mutual consent. As the Geneva Communiqué says, the
public services must be preserved or restored. This includes the military forces
and security and intelligence services. All governmental institutions and state
offices must perform according to professional and human rights standards,
operating under a top leadership that inspires public confidence, under the
control of the transitional governing body.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Geneva Conference on Syria will convene under my chairmanship, first in an
international high-level format over one day at Montreux, Switzerland, on 22
January 2014, beginning at 9 a.m. Negotiations between the two Syrian parties,
facilitated by the Joint Special Representative for Syria, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi,
will follow immediately in Geneva on 24 January 2014. Adjournments and
subsequent meetings may take place in accordance with a work plan to be agreed.
The high-level international meeting may resume its deliberations as required.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I
am confident the international participants who gather in Montreux will offer
meaningful support for constructive negotiations between the Syrian parties in
Geneva. I am sure that all present will do their utmost to encourage the Syrian
parties to reach a comprehensive settlement, fully implementing the Geneva
Communiqué, within an accelerated time frame. In addition to participation in
the high-level meeting, it may be necessary to call upon you to assist further
as the negotiations between the Syrian parties progress.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
inviting the Syrian parties, I have reminded them that the Security Council has
called on them to engage seriously and constructively at the Conference, and
underscored that they should be broadly representative and committed to the
implementation of the Geneva Communiqué and to the achievement of stability and
reconciliation. I have also reminded the Syrian parties that, consistent with
the Geneva Communiqué as well as Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and
other relevant resolutions (Annex II), full and effective participation of
women is essential.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I
look forward to confirmation of attendance of your delegation, and the list of
delegates and advisers, at your earliest convenience.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Confirmation
of attendance will be taken as commitment to the aims of the Conference stated
above, in accordance with the Geneva Communiqué, in particular the Principles
and Guidelines for a Syrian-led Transition contained in it.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Office of the Joint Special Representative will provide a technical information
note in due course.</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .4in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
conflict in Syria has raged for too long, and has imposed too many sacrifices
on the people of Syria. The Government and all parties must allow immediate and
full humanitarian access to all conflict-affected areas. The violence must be
ended expeditiously. All attacks against civilians should cease. All parties
must work to put an end to all terrorist acts. The Geneva Conference offers a
unique avenue towards these ends. I am deeply grateful for your cooperation in
this venture, to help ensure that peace can be restored and the transition
foreseen in the Geneva Communiqué can be implemented in a way that fully meets
the aspirations of the Syrian people…</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-59483539032572881732014-01-08T04:58:00.000-08:002014-01-08T04:58:51.836-08:00The Syrian National Coalition is on its last leg
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gslzAFqKjNc/Usv5PQCCLPI/AAAAAAAAGXc/Pu8w8nAN-Zo/s1600/INCOMING.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gslzAFqKjNc/Usv5PQCCLPI/AAAAAAAAGXc/Pu8w8nAN-Zo/s1600/INCOMING.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clockwise from top left: Beshar, Tayfur, Mrs. al-Ameer and Jarba</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vr6SYyGWreY/Usv5M-sebvI/AAAAAAAAGXU/yBCQVB0ND0I/s1600/OUTGOING.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vr6SYyGWreY/Usv5M-sebvI/AAAAAAAAGXU/yBCQVB0ND0I/s1600/OUTGOING.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clockwise from top left: Dr. Labwani, Mekdad, Hijab and Sabbagh</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Syria’s opposition umbrella known as the Syrian
National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is on its last leg.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It is being dragged kicking and screaming to the
Geneva-2 peace conference slated for January 22 by its newly reelected leader <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23229258"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Ahmad Jarba</span></a>,
its chief Arab benefactor Saudi Arabia, and its so-called Western “friends.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Saudi Arabia’s Foreign
Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal demanded Tuesday that the National Coalition be
the only legitimate umbrella of the Syrian opposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He said the planned
Geneva-2 peace talks should lead to the formation of a national government with
large powers and rejected any role for President Bashar al-Assad and his inner
circle in any future government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://arabsaga.blogspot.ae/2012/06/syria-action-group-leaves-open-assad.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">The
Geneva-1 communiqué</span></a> of June 2012 said,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The transitional governing body would
exercise full executive powers. It could include members of the present
government and the opposition and other groups and shall be formed on the basis
of mutual consent.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“There are some parties
who issue statements undermining efforts to make Geneva-2 succeed in resolving
the Syria crisis,” al-Faisal told reporters during a visit to Pakistan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“I fear the aim of these
statements is to derail the conference from its goal to implement the Geneva-1
recommendations,” he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">During its 121-member
general assembly meeting in Istanbul on Sunday, the Coalition reelected Jarba
as its leader for another six-month term by a 65-52 vote against Syria’s former
Prime Minister <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riyad_Farid_Hijab"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Riyad
Hijab</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It also elected Jarba’s
three vice-presidents, namely:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.etilaf.org/en/coalition-components/general-body/political-committee/vice-presidents/mohamad-farouq-tayfour.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Faruq
Tayfur</span></a></li>
<li>Mrs. Noora al-Ameer, a
media figure from Homs, and</li>
<li>Abdul Hakim Beshar, head
of the Kurdish Syrian National Council (KNC), an umbrella group of 15 of the 17
total Kurdish parties in Syria.</li>
</ol>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Overnight, the Coalition deferred
until January 17 its final decision on joining or boycotting the Geneva-2 talks,
according to <a href="http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/ffcbe7d3-57d0-4862-a740-ca02a22446e8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Aljazeera
TV channel’s news portal</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The reason is: “Disputes
among Coalition members.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Aljazeera’s correspondent
in Istanbul Wassima bin Saleh says the postponement follows threats by 68 of
the Coalition’s 121 members to resign from the umbrella organization if it
decided to sit at the Geneva-2 table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Twenty-eight of the 68
dissidents belong to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_National_Council"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Syrian National Council
(SNC)</span></a> chaired by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sabra"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">George
Sabra</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The 40 other members
planning to break away from the Coalition include former Premier Riyad Hijab, Free
Syrian Army spokesman Louay Mekdad, the Coalition’s former secretary-general Mustafa
al-Sabbagh and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamal_al-Labwani"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Dr. Kamal
al-Labwani</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.mushakis.net/archives/11168"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Mushakis.net</span></a>, Syria’s
satirical online daily, suggests today that a “ghost figure” representing the
Coalition has already delivered the political alliance’s “unconditional approval”
to attend Geneva-2.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Saudi Arabia’s <i>Asharq Alawsat</i> said earlier the hush-hush
missive to the United Nations carried Jarba’s own signature and was handed over
to UN headquarters in New York by Najib al-Ghadban, the Coalition’s representative
to Washington.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-2903565279058990762014-01-05T04:54:00.001-08:002014-01-05T04:54:52.016-08:00Syrian National Council shoots down Geneva-2
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLMGReBmW-E/UskhWrVkAvI/AAAAAAAAGW0/z6787JxjHjk/s1600/GENEVE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLMGReBmW-E/UskhWrVkAvI/AAAAAAAAGW0/z6787JxjHjk/s640/GENEVE.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top: "Solution in The Hague, not Geneva." Above: Russia, U.S., Iran and Syrian regime rule the roost in Geneva</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
The Syrian National
Council (SNC), the main component of Syria’s opposition umbrella organization
known as the Syrian National Coalition, reaffirmed yesterday it will not attend
the planned Geneva-2 peace conference.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The statement
reiterates an earlier announcement by SNC president George Sabra in October
that the group had taken a “firm decision” not to attend the talks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sabra had also said the
SNC would withdraw from the National Coalition if it decided to attend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
group has long insisted it refuses to negotiate until President Bashar
Al-Assad’s regime exits power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sabra’s
SNC said in a statement <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheSyrianNationalCouncil"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">posted in Arabic on
its Facebook page</span></a>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
SNC’s General Secretariat met in the city of Istanbul throughout January 3 and
4, 2014, to discuss issues of concern to the Syrian Revolution as well as the
Syria situation in general.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On
its agenda was a set of important matters awaiting fitting decisions. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
General Secretariat heard reports about the internal situation on the ground
and its evolution in light of the surrounding circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
international and regional situation and its fallouts on the Revolution’s
course were appraised as well.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In
addition, the General Secretariat took stock of the report by the SNC’s
Executive Office on its international activities and contacts during the
previous phase and the ensuing assessments of the contacts.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In
light of the said givens, and regarding attendance of the Geneva-2 conference,
the General Secretariat discussed the matter from all angles.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And
after weighing up the political, military and humanitarian relief situation and
hearing special and detailed reports about the regional and international political
visits and gatherings, it emerged that all the efforts exerted by the
Opposition (i.e. both the Syrian National Council and the Syrian National
Coalition) to overcome the hurdles blocking convocation of the conference
failed to yield positive results because the regime and its allies did not
fully commit to the <a href="http://arabsaga.blogspot.ae/2012/06/syria-action-group-leaves-open-assad.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">spirit
and provisions of Geneva-1</span></a> and the regime failed to implement any of them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On
the contrary, they added a new task to Geneva-2, which they dubbed “Fighting Terrorism”
-- with the regime persisting in its use of such war tactics as partial sieges,
starvation, random killings by barrel-bomb attacks and the occupation of Syrian
lands by sectarian militias summoned by the regime from beyond the border
without a reaction from Arab or international societies. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In
the end, the SNC’s General Secretariat did not find any realistic development
or clear and specific agenda ensuring the conference’s success in achieving the
Syrian Revolution’s objectives, which would have it revise its earlier decision.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hence,
it decided to reiterate and reaffirm its previous decision to stay away from
the Geneva-2 conference under the present conditions…</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-58152332003239110712013-12-29T03:42:00.000-08:002013-12-29T03:42:07.456-08:00Hollande, Abdullah set to meet in Rawdat Khoraym
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_wbdHD2M2Es/UsAHCINgYjI/AAAAAAAAGWU/O8tviXMvbh4/s1600/Rawdat+Khoraym.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_wbdHD2M2Es/UsAHCINgYjI/AAAAAAAAGWU/O8tviXMvbh4/s640/Rawdat+Khoraym.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rawdat Khoraym, a wild life park and oasis 100 kms northeast of Riyadh</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1f1f1f;">French President Francois Hollande flies into Riyadh this
afternoon on his second official visit to Saudi Arabia before flying by
helicopter to Rawdat Khoraym for talks with King Abdullah.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Rawdat
Khoraym, or Khoraym Gardens, is a wild life park and oasis that blooms in the
middle of the desert, chiefly in springtime.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Situated some 100 kilometers northeast of Riyadh, Rawdat Khoraym
is the King’s favorite retreat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1f1f1f;">Hollande told Lebanese journalist Ms Randa Takieddine </span><a href="http://alhayat.com/Details/587045"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">in an exclusive interview</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1f1f1f;"> for the
pan-Arab daily </span><i style="color: #1f1f1f;">al-Hayat</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1f1f1f;"> he will focus
in his talks with the monarch on the Iran file and the political solution in
Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Bilateral cooperation between our two countries is
consolidating in all fields. France and the Kingdom are partners in working for
peace, security and stability in the Middle East.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IY6OvpU2sB1JgkJ9Ermy1o-rkWQCD87-2qKRiuV02tbwkBaobWMiijC_MAYkK_RbdlGH74thozM19mZODVDtENGAVuZXiAoc07xSOLSh-KeyhOBEQkJn9RMYHOpDQRJ1WRUAkREcGlc/s1600/Hollande-en-Arabie-Saoudite-roi-Abdallah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9IY6OvpU2sB1JgkJ9Ermy1o-rkWQCD87-2qKRiuV02tbwkBaobWMiijC_MAYkK_RbdlGH74thozM19mZODVDtENGAVuZXiAoc07xSOLSh-KeyhOBEQkJn9RMYHOpDQRJ1WRUAkREcGlc/s320/Hollande-en-Arabie-Saoudite-roi-Abdallah.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hollande and Abdullah in Riyadh last Novemeber</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The French president said he would take up with King Abdullah
the world powers’ talks with Iran on its nuclear ambitions and ways of reaching
a political solution to the Syria crisis, the need to uphold Lebanon’s
stability as well as France’s partnership with the Kingdom in the defense
domain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He reiterated there could be no political solution to the Syria
crisis with Bashar al-Assad remaining in power, saying: “Assad is not fighting Muslim
extremists. He simply uses them to put pressure on the moderate opposition.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">France, Hollande stressed, continues to coordinate steps with
moderate Syrian opposition forces to find a political outcome in Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He hoped the international community would come together at the
Geneva-2 Syria peace conference to kickoff a process for a genuine transfer of
power in Syria that would preclude the escalation of violence there and in the
region.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The French leader strongly condemned Saturday’s car-bomb
assassination in Beirut of Lebanon’s former finance minister Mohamad Chatah, an
economist who held a senior position at the IMF. Chatah “was a man of dialogue
and peace,” he said<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #1f1f1f;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hollande called for the cessation of violence that is
threatening Lebanon, saying: “It is vital to respect the country’s
constitutional deadlines, particularly the date set for presidential elections”
in May.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">President Michel Sleiman's mandate runs out on May 25 and there
are fears a successor will be hard to find because of huge disagreements
between Lebanon's pro- and anti-Syria blocs.</span></span><span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-53806469904642575592013-12-26T07:03:00.000-08:002013-12-26T07:32:15.422-08:00Turning Geneva-2 into the tomb of Geneva-1 <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghDI0BW0-x41Me7Glmbt2RvgU7iXVvWp9rzAntLujpPrePLZKweROiWGvVWENbUpHUgnFzSYtEjxJ29uS9oXfCG6qXuNdC1cT9kKH3JlG8sJ7TBZTu_ttwx5VBuntrmw1o0Iq_RqbW7SM/s1600/lavr-1.si.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghDI0BW0-x41Me7Glmbt2RvgU7iXVvWp9rzAntLujpPrePLZKweROiWGvVWENbUpHUgnFzSYtEjxJ29uS9oXfCG6qXuNdC1cT9kKH3JlG8sJ7TBZTu_ttwx5VBuntrmw1o0Iq_RqbW7SM/s640/lavr-1.si.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RT photo of Lavrov meeting RT journalists at an RT studio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://alhayat.com/OpinionsDetails/585913"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Writing
today</span></a> for pan-Arab daily <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al-Hayat</i>,
political analyst <a href="http://www.arabmediaforum.ae/en/speakers/2012/speaker/abdul-wahab-badrakhan.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Abdelwahhab
Badrakhan</span></a> says, “The United Nations might for the first time be banking on
two chemical scientists to manage the planned Geneva conference on Syria
instead of relying on experts in politics and diplomacy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Because the aim, according to leaks and to
information being circulated, is to concoct a composite of magical, miraculous
and unknown ingredients allowing each of the sides concerned to claim the
composite help realize its objectives: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“One, Bashar
al-Assad and his regime remain in office with the consent of the opposition and
the international community in order to fight the terrorists whose existence he
predicted before they emerged in Syrian opposition ranks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Two, the
opposition would receive a form of words reducing Assad’s prerogatives in
preparation for his exit and changing the regime’s character, making it more
representative of society’s sectarian components.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“The chief chemical scientists are Sergei Lavrov and
John Kerry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“The former, Lavrov, is more outspoken. His laboratory
does not cease blending acids with toxins, facts with assumptions and
aspirations in order to come up with prescriptions that are insoluble: The
priority is to fight terror and to unify the regime and opposition in the war
against it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“The other, Kerry, uses his ambassador, Robert Ford, to
deliver consecutive electrical shocks to tame the opposition’s demands. The
opposition does not only have to live with the idea of Assad staying put, but
with the army and security services remaining under Alawite command, in to
prevent the army disintegrating and to protect the sect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Fair enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“But where is Geneva-1 from all this? And how is
Geneva-2 convened on its basis or the basis of the invite to it to be made by
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in late December?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">LAVROV<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In the buildup for Christmas Day, Lavrov gave <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">RT (Russia Today)</span></a>, a
global news channel broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios to over 100
countries around the globe, his appraisal of “the arrangements on Syria and
Iran” and “the prospects for the Geneva-2 talks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">In his words</span>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
agreements to destroy the S</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">yrian chemical arsenal and to convene the Geneva-2
conference, as well as the first stage agreement on further steps to resolve
the Iran nuclear issue, are the fruit of years-long efforts. At least when it
comes to Syria, we're talking about three years of Russia's consistent efforts
of defending international law. The same applies to the progress on Iran. For
over three years we'd been seeking two things: first, to get all the parties to
the talks to agree that eventually Iran should have a recognized right to
develop its peaceful nuclear program and enrich uranium to make fuel for
nuclear power plants, while making sure that this program has no military
dimension and that it is subject to total control of the IAEA, and providing
security to all the countries in the region, including Israel.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The decisions regarding
Syria and Iran are far from being fully implemented. As for destroying Syria’s
chemical stockpiles, everything is going according to plan, with minor
deviations concerning the timeframe of the interim stages, though the reasons
for that are objective rather than subjective. I am sure the deadline for the
complete destruction of Syria’s chemical arsenal, June 30, will be met.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As
for Geneva-2, we still have a long way to go. We don’t know for sure that this conference
will be successful. And as regards the Iranian nuclear program, we’ve only
reached an agreement concerning the first phase.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">[Forced
“democratization” results in instability]. This happened when Americans invaded
Iraq; this happened recently, when NATO blatantly overstepped the UN Security
Council mandate and bombed Libya; and this kind of external intervention is
also happening in a number of other countries in the region. The Syrian
conflict is another example of a situation where you have terrorists from all
over the world, including Europe, U.S. and Russia, fight there to turn Syria, and
in fact this whole region, into a caliphate. So, forced democratization by
outside forces undermines stability and produces new threats. Greater
stability, on the other hand, provides the best environment for democratic
reforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So, when the
conference on Syria opens (and I really hope that the conference will go ahead
as planned on January 22; I hope the opposition does not come up with some
unacceptable conditions contrary to the Russian-American initiative), I
strongly believe this conference should focus on fighting terrorism as this is
the main threat to Syria and other countries in the region today. Certainly,
there will be other issues on the agenda, including pressing humanitarian
issues, discussions on the political process, organizing the elections, provisional
institutions for the transitional period, but all this should be based on a
common understanding between the government and the opposition, just the way it
was captured in the Geneva communiqué produced at the first Geneva conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So, I really hope that
our Western partners and our partners in the region, which have more influence
on the opposition than anybody else, will make sure, firstly, that the
opposition is properly represented at this conference and, secondly, that the
opposition attends the conference without any preconditions. The very point of
the Russian-American initiative is that the people of Syria should agree on how
to implement the principles captured in the <a href="http://arabsaga.blogspot.ae/search?q=Syria+action+group+leaves+open">Geneva communiqué of June 30, 2013</a>,
without any external intervention or any preconditions. But so far,
unfortunately, we don’t know what the regime's opponents, who have recently
formed the National Coalition, will do. We are alarmed by the fact that the
National Coalition does not seem to have complete unity. We are also alarmed by
the fact that the National Coalition keeps saying that this conference must
result in a regime change, or even that a regime change is a prerequisite for
having the conference. This is something we have never agreed to. We are also
alarmed by the fact that the National Coalition does not seem to have complete
control over all the groups fighting the regime on the ground. Another concern
is that we see among the rebels an increasing number of jihadists who pursue
extremist objectives. They want to set up a caliphate and impose sharia laws,
and basically they are already terrorizing minorities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They have formed what
they call an Islamic Front, and some of our partners in the West are even
flirting with it – even though we know from our confidential contacts with them
that they know pretty well that the organizations which formed the Islamic
Front are not much different from Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant. This alarms us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The opposition says
they will only take part in the conference if their various demands are met.
Sometimes they insist on a regime change; sometimes they say they need
guarantees that there will be a regime change immediately after the conference;
sometimes they say they will only take part in the Geneva conference after the
humanitarian crisis is taken care of. But in reality the humanitarian crisis
gets worse mostly because of the militants, because of the groups that many
countries have officially recognized as extremist and terrorist. So, we do need
to address humanitarian issues, but instead of fighting symptoms we should
fight the root cause of the crisis. And the root cause of the crisis is that
the terrorist threat is extremely serious in Syria today, and the government
and the opposition should come to an agreement on the key parameters regarding
the future of their country, like I said earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">By
the way, I should also mention that at the G8 summit in Lough Erne in June, all
the leaders of the G8 countries urged both the Syrian government and the
opposition in their communiqué to join their forces in fighting terrorists in
order to defeat those terrorists and drive them out of Syria. This, I believe,
is our top priority today. Once the situation stabilizes, once the rights of
all minorities are secured, once the multi-ethnic and multi-faith nature of the
Syrian state is secured, democratic institutions will follow. Stability is the
number one priority today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">KHOURY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://newspaper.annahar.com/article/94044-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B2%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9%85">In
his column</a> for the independent Lebanese daily <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">an-Nahar</i>, political analyst Rajeh el-Khoury says if reports are
true the Syrian National Coalition is divided on attending Geneva-2, it means
some in the opposition are Lavrov apologists. They have no misgivings about ignoring
Francois Hollande’s warning against the conference endorsing “a handover of power from
Assad to Assad.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Having gagged the Americans, the Russians eliminated
the Syrian people and their dead from the political and moral equation and
started to speak of Geneva-2 as a forum aimed solely at fighting terror.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In the Russians’ view, the terrorists are the Syrian
civilians being decimated by Assad’s barrel bombs, Scud missiles and chemical
weapons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Geneva-2, in its Russian format, won’t thrash out a
Syria solution. It is evident from his words, Lavrov wants Geneva-2 to be an
international occasion to reproduce Assad as president of a country he had
already turned into a graveyard for its inhabitants with Russian help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Russians’ brutality and the meanness of the Americans
are such that they both are mum on Assad’s use of barrel bombs to turn Aleppo
neighborhoods into burial grounds for Syrian children and civilians. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Those who turned a blind eye to the use of chemicals
in the two Ghoutas before applauding Assad for handing over his chemicals
arsenal have no qualms about turning Geneva-2 into the grave of Geneva-1. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-65071578619472191172013-12-18T00:20:00.000-08:002013-12-18T22:20:48.012-08:00Who killed the “Arab Spring”?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz9hFbdwm1Sc04GOzhYeJA8jhuXqBaXioV3AhGsvpcd6Bvh-Ln-AibcHrPjfMzozHcZSQC4VEYljXimfqGbVIwLxrycZzo-mGfExtuJYNi3rkqrK7Me1x2MSyl1QVEMCVSaURB22IFTE/s1600/Arab+Spring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz9hFbdwm1Sc04GOzhYeJA8jhuXqBaXioV3AhGsvpcd6Bvh-Ln-AibcHrPjfMzozHcZSQC4VEYljXimfqGbVIwLxrycZzo-mGfExtuJYNi3rkqrK7Me1x2MSyl1QVEMCVSaURB22IFTE/s640/Arab+Spring.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: right;">
<span class="apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Ghassan Charbel, editor-in-chief of pan-Arab
al-Hayat, penned this think piece</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #666666; font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://alhayat.com/OpinionsDetails/582564"><span style="color: blue;">in Arabic</span></a></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Where are the young men and women
who nearly three years ago crammed the plazas and public squares calling for
the downfall of who they called the tyrant or the dictator or the despot?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Do they remember the victory
signs they raised when they heard news of his escape or his standing down or
his killing?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Do they recall the dreams they
dared reflect upon in those days and their talk of democracy, state
institutions, transparency, the transfer of power and the respect of human
rights?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Was their behavior actually
motivated by their fervor, their innocence or their naïveté?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Were they alien to their
communities and ignorant of the degree of injustice permeating their depths and
the wells of hatred waiting for an opportunity to explode?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Did it escape them that the problem
is basically cultural rather than political and that it is not enough to open
the ballot boxes to turn over the page of the past?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Did it escape them as well that centuries
of darkness contributed to the incarceration of the Arab intellect and its disablement,
rendering the Arab individual incapable of handling the keys to the future?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have been obsessed for weeks by
an irritating question: “Who killed the ‘Arab Spring’?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That’s why I seize the
opportunity of coming across anyone of the major players in the said “Spring”
to ask for his assessment – especially now that some of the said ‘Spring’s’
theaters shut out the advocates of democracy and of modern state-building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I will not name my respondents
because our discussions were not to be published.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The man played an important role
in his country’s “Arab Spring” when he dealt a painful blow to the despot under
whose portrait he served for several years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I asked him the question, “Who
killed the ‘Arab Spring’?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“I don’t know,” he replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“What you call the ‘Spring’ may
have come early, before our societies became ready to embrace a transformation
of this magnitude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“It turned out we still live in
the depths of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“With the tyrants’ fall, our
societies began spewing all the blood, pus, hatreds, coercions and reprisals
that accumulated in their guts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“I think the transitional phase
will be daunting and extended. In any case the French Revolution took eight
decades before settling down.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He added: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“We are in a terrible state of
underdevelopment. Watch the screens. A university professor talks as if he has
yet to enter the era of reading and writing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Look at nation-states, like for
example Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Bahrain that are now paying the price of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Siffin"><span style="color: blue;">what took place between Ali and Muawiyah</span></a><span id="goog_311390365"></span><span id="goog_311390373"></span><span id="goog_311390374"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“We discuss globalization and
technology and then go to sleep in the caves of history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Our capitals are closer to abattoirs
overflowing with suicide bombers and assassins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Our countries fail to provide
regular power supplies to their citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Our societies participated in
killing the ‘Arab Spring’ by letting the prisoners of history take the lead.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Another player put forward a
different reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He said the most prominent
killers of the “Arab Spring” are those who rushed to mold it, casting an image
of their own interests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He said the West acted as a
crook, especially Obama’s America. Washington wanted the phenomenon to serve
the policy she adopted years earlier – in essence the policy of promoting to
power what she calls moderate Islam, thinking that the latter could contain
terror.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He added: The Muslim Brothers,
who were the better organized and widespread movement in the community, took
this as an historic opportunity to devour it all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He also said Turkey played a role
in killing the “Arab Spring” when she considered a “Brotherhood Spring” victory
gives her a trump card in her strategic wrestling with Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He said Qatar used her financial
might and international relations to prop up the “Brotherhood Spring” alongside
Turkey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Russia, he remarked was focusing
on stifling the “Muslim Spring” lest it turned into a card in the hands of the
West or spread to her vicinity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He said Russia found in Syria’s
events a chance to kill the “Arab Spring.” Iran was of the same opinion but for
different purposes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The two men’s words helped me
understand what is now going on in more than one Arab country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got convinced the “Arab Spring”
killers were more than one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most probably a stormy season is
just about to kick off – a long and painful transition season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first condition for moving
into the future is to exit the caves of history and bury the illusions of
ready-made solutions.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-38669792537559503822013-12-16T03:42:00.000-08:002013-12-16T03:42:22.679-08:00Fatwa from Qom endorses fighting alongside Assad<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U7nOT6ZzESA/Uq7RUm6KFgI/AAAAAAAAGVk/jgkS_kceuP4/s1600/Desktop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U7nOT6ZzESA/Uq7RUm6KFgI/AAAAAAAAGVk/jgkS_kceuP4/s640/Desktop.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand Ayatollah Kazim al-Haeri (above) and Saudi Prince Turki al Faisal (top)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.6pt;">“</span><a href="http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=1&issueno=12802&article=753956#.Uq7Vm9IW0ng" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.6pt;"><span style="color: blue;">First ever fatwa from Qom endorses fighting alongside
Assad</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.6pt;">,” Saudi Arabia’s newspaper of records, </span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.6pt;">Asharq Alawsat,</i><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.6pt;"> banners
on its front page today.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The paper was referring to the first public
religious edict issued by a leading Shiite Muslim cleric widely followed by
Iraqi militants permitting Shiites to fight in Syria’s war alongside President
Bashar Assad’s forces.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
fatwa by Iran-based <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazem_al-Haeri"><span style="color: blue;">Grand Ayatollah Kazim al-Haeri</span></a>, one of the
mentors of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, comes as thousands of Shiite
fighters mostly from Iraq and Lebanon play a major role in the battles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
call likely will increase the sectarian tones of the war, which pits overwhelmingly
Sunni Muslim rebels against members of Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of
Shiite Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Al-Haeri
is based in the holy city of Qom, Iran’s religious capital. Among his followers,
according to The Associated Press, are many fighters with the feared Shiite
militia, Asa’eb Ahl al-Haq, or Band of the Righteous, an Iranian-backed group
that repeatedly attacked U.S. forces in Iraq and says it is sending fighters to
Syria. That militia is headed by white-turbaned Shiite cleric Qais al-Khazali,
who spent years in U.S. detention but was released after he was handed over to
the Iraqi government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many
Shiite gunmen already fight around the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyidah_Zaynab_Mosque"><span style="color: blue;">holy shrine of Sayyidah Zaynab</span></a> just south
of Damascus. The shrine is named after the Prophet Muhammad’s granddaughter and
is popular with Iranian worshippers and tourists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Asharq
Alawsat</i> says the fatwa sanctions the participation of
Iraqi fighters in the protection of Sayyidah Zaynab shrine as well as in the
defense of Assad’s regime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Asked
by a follower whether it is legitimate to travel to Syria to fight, al-Haeri
replied: “The battle in Syria is not for the defense of the shrine of Sayyidah
Zaynab but it is a battle of infidels against Islam and Islam should be
defended.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Fighting
in Syria is legitimate and those who die are martyrs,” al-Haeri said in
comments posted on his official website. An official at his office confirmed
that the comments are authentic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Asa’eb
Ahl al-Haq currently has about 1,000 fighters in Syria and many others were
volunteering to go join the war, said Ashtar al-Kaabi, an Asa’eb Ahl al-Haq
member who organizes sending Shiite fighters from Iraq to Syria. Asked whether
the increase is related to al-Haeri’s fatwa, al-Kaabi said: “Yes. This fatwa
has had wide effect.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
rebels are mainly backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Sunni powerhouses in the
Middle East.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
main Western-backed Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition,
claimed recently that Shiite fighters from 14 different factions are fighting
alongside Assad forces in Syria. The coalition said those fighters are brought
to Syria with the help of Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, another
Iranian pawn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 16.8pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lebanon’s
Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah also openly joined Assad’s forces in May after
hiding its participation for months. Since then, the group has helped Assad forces
recapture a string of towns and villages from rebels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Separately,
an influential Saudi Arabian prince said on Saturday Assad’s opponents have
been at an impossible disadvantage since the start of the Syrian conflict
because the United States and Britain refused to help them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
United States and Britain suspended non-lethal aid to northern Syria last
Thursday after reports that Islamic Front -- a union of six major rebel groups --
had taken buildings belonging to the Free Syrian Army's (FSA) Syrian Military
Council on the border with Turkey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Former
Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal criticized the decision, saying
the two countries had left the moderate FSA to fend for itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"What's
more damaging is that since the beginning of this conflict, since the FSA arose
as a response to Assad's impunity, Britain and the U.S. did not come forward
and provide the necessary aid to allow it to defend itself and the Syrian
people from Assad's killing machine," <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/14/uk-syria-crisis-saudi-idUKBRE9BD0FK20131214"><span style="color: blue;">Prince Turki told Reuters</span></a> on the sidelines
of the World Policy Conference in Monaco.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"You
have a situation where one side is lopsided with weapons like the Assad regime
is, with tanks and missiles -- you name it, he is getting it -- and the other
side is screaming out to get defensive weapons against these lethal weapons
that Assad has," Turki said. "Why should he stop the killing?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"That
to me is why the FSA is in not as prominent position as it should be today,
because of the lack of international support for it. The fighting is going to
continue and the killing is going to continue."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The U.S. gave us the impression that they were going to do
things in Syria that they finally didn't," Prince Turki said outside the
World Policy Conference in Monaco. "The aid they're giving to the Free
Syrian Army is irrelevant. Now they say they're going to stop the aid: OK, stop
it. It's not doing anything anyway."</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Saudi
Arabia and Qatar are the main backers of the main opposition Syrian National
Coalition and the FSA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Assad
is backed by Iran, which struck a preliminary deal on with world powers in
November to limit sanctions relief for more international oversight of its
nuclear program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Western
countries have held back from giving heavy weapons such as anti-tank and
missile launchers for fear they could fall into the wrong hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"For
me ... (to bring a) successful end to this conflict would be to bring an end to
the Assad regime. It is because of the Assad regime that everything is
happening," Prince Turki said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Commanders
from the Islamic Front are due to hold talks with U.S. officials in Turkey in
coming days, rebel and opposition sources said on Saturday, reflecting the
extent to which the Islamic Front alliance has eclipsed the FSA brigades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A rebel
fighter with the Islamic Front said he expected the talks to discuss whether
the United States would help arm the front and assign to it responsibility for
maintaining order in the rebel-held areas of northern Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Prince
Turki told <i>Reuters </i>while he hoped Iran was serious with regard its
interim nuclear deal, it needed to provide some confidence-building measures
with its Gulf Arab neighbors, beginning in Syria.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Iran
is coming at us with a broad smile. Let's hope they are serious about that. We
would like to see Iran first of all get out of Syria," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 13.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Reporting
in context for <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/world/middleeast/saudi-prince-accuses-obama-of-indecision-on-middle-east.html?_r=0#h[TpsJaA,3]"><span style="color: blue;">yesterday’s New York Times</span></a>, Steven Erlanger
wrote in part:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .6in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">…The Saudis have been particularly
shaken by Mr. Obama’s refusal to intervene forcefully in the Syrian civil war,
especially his recent decision not to punish President Bashar al-Assad of Syria
with military strikes even after evidence emerged that Mr. Assad’s government
used chemical weapons on its own citizens.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .6in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Instead, Mr. Obama chose to
seek congressional authorization for a strike, and when that proved difficult
to obtain, he cooperated with Russia to get Syria to agree to give up its
chemical weapons. Prince Turki and Israeli officials have argued that the
agreement merely legitimized Mr. Assad, and on Sunday, the prince called the
world’s failure to stop the conflict in Syria “almost a criminal negligence.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .6in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Syria, Iran, nuclear issues
and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were the main focus for Prince Turki, who
spoke at the World Policy Conference, a gathering of officials and
intellectuals largely drawn from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .6in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Saudi unhappiness with
Iran’s growing power in the region is no secret, and the Saudis, who themselves
engage with Iran, have no problem with the United States trying to do the same,
the prince said. But he complained that bilateral talks between Iranian and
American officials had been kept secret from American allies, sowing further
mistrust.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .6in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The prince said Iran must
give up its ambitions for a nuclear weapons program — Iran says its nuclear
program is only for civilian purposes — and stop using its own troops and those
of Shiite allies like the Lebanese organization Hezbollah to fight in
neighboring countries, like Syria and Iraq. “The game of hegemony toward
the Arab countries is not acceptable,” the prince said. Just as Arabs will
not dress as Westerners do, he said, “we won’t accept to wear Iranian clothes,
either.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 17.6pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .6in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A prevalent theme at the
conference was the waning of American influence in the Middle East. Laurent
Fabius, the French foreign minister, said: “Today we live in a zero-polar, or
a-polar, world. No one power or group of powers can solve all the problems.”</span></span></i><i style="line-height: 17.6pt;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The United States, Mr.
Fabius said, was often criticized for being “overpresent, but now it is being
criticized for not being present enough.” While “it is perfectly
understandable” that Mr. Obama would refrain from new military engagements in
the Middle East, he said, “it creates a certain vacuum” that has allowed Russia
“to make a comeback on the world scene” and has encouraged France to intervene
in the Central African Republic, Libya and Mali…</span></span></i></div>
F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-70619607079653874162013-12-13T08:54:00.000-08:002013-12-13T09:04:47.063-08:00Syrian refugees shame European leaders<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HteoIf2CqX4L-VfB7n96ZTih4I9sjSyU4T4st15F1AJMcikkAeiyGAcrxWm4lO9y8Vu8vMNbcdOo9SJxlpAYcn8p8ctDdELKMevtx_zKD9CYskSvNTeKFOPJpkrZiN45mdbX4Eh_IN0/s1600/Baby.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HteoIf2CqX4L-VfB7n96ZTih4I9sjSyU4T4st15F1AJMcikkAeiyGAcrxWm4lO9y8Vu8vMNbcdOo9SJxlpAYcn8p8ctDdELKMevtx_zKD9CYskSvNTeKFOPJpkrZiN45mdbX4Eh_IN0/s640/Baby.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://t.co/jo4ihuR442"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">This Syrian baby froze to death during the wintry storm "Alexa" chilling the Middle East</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
European leaders should
hang their heads in shame over the pitifully low numbers of refugees from Syria
they are prepared to resettle, said Amnesty International.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> In a briefing
published today, <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ACT34/001/2013/en/8a376b76-d031-48a6-9588-ed9aee651d52/act340012013en.pdf"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">An international
failure: The Syrian refugee crisis</span></span></i></a>, the organization details
how European Union (EU) member states have only offered to open their doors to
around 12,000 of the most vulnerable refugees from Syria: just 0.5 per cent of
the 2.3 million people who have fled the country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> “The EU has miserably
failed to play its part in providing a safe haven to the refugees who have lost
all but their lives. The number of those it’s prepared to resettle is truly
pitiful. Across the board European leaders should hang their heads in shame,”
said Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> The closest European
capital, Nicosia, lies a mere 200 miles from Damascus. Yet collectively, EU
member states have pledged to resettle just a very small proportion of Syria’s
most vulnerable refugees. Amnesty International’s briefing breaks down the
figures: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
</div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Only
10 EU member states</b> offered resettlement or
humanitarian admission places to refugees from Syria.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Germany</b>
is by far the most generous – pledging to take 10,000 refugees or 80 per cent
of total EU pledges.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Excluding
Germany, the <b>remaining 27 EU member states</b> have offered to take a mere
2,340 refugees from Syria.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>France</b>
offered just 500 places or 0.02 per cent of the total number of people who have
fled Syria.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Spain</b>
agreed to take just 30 or 0.001 per cent of refugees from Syria.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><b>Eighteen
EU member states</b> – including the UK and Italy – <b>offered
no places at all</b>.</li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> As winter approaches,
conditions for the 2.2 million people who have fled Syria to neighboring countries
are deteriorating rapidly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> With only 12,000
places offered by EU member states for resettlement or humanitarian admission,
others attempt the journey under their own steam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Tens of thousands have
reached Europe trying to claim asylum having risked life and limb in arduous
journeys, on boats or across land. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Amnesty International’s
research reveals that first they have to break through the barricades of
Fortress Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Many are faced with
violent push backs by police and coastguards, or detained for weeks in
deplorable conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The journey to Italy by
sea:</b> Hundreds of people die attempting to cross the
Mediterranean every year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In October it is estimated
that as many as 650 refugees and migrants died when three boats sank attempting
to reach Europe from North Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">More than 10,000
refugees from Syria are reported to have arrived along Italy’s coast in the first
10 months of this year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Amnesty International’s
briefing gives first-hand accounts of those who have attempted to reach Europe
by sea. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Awad, a 17-year-old boy
from Damascus, described how he managed to escape through a window of a sinking
boat and swim to the surface. There were reportedly 400 people on board. He saw
people clinging to dead bodies and boat wreckage to stay afloat, while others
fought over life jackets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Awad lost his mother as
well as other family members. <i>“I have no idea where my family are…
I used to have ambition but now I have lost my mother, I don't want anything, I
just want stability, everything else is second to that.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Another boy from Syria
lost both his father and nine-year-old brother in the accident. <i>“My
experience didn’t just destroy my dreams; it destroyed my family’s dreams. I am
destroyed completely.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Fortress Europe:</b>
In two of the main gateways to the EU, Bulgaria and Greece, refugees from
Syria are met with deplorable treatment, including life threatening push-back
operations along the Greek coast, and detention for weeks in poor conditions in
Bulgaria. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Greece’s pushback into
the sea:</b> Refugees have told Amnesty International how
Greek police or coastguards, wielding guns and wearing full face hoods,
ill-treat them, strip them of their belongings and eventually push them back to
Turkey. A 32-year-old man from Syria described how the Greek coastguard near
the island of Samos confronted him and his mother in October.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They were part of a
group of 35 people including women and young children pushed back to Turkey. <i>“They
put all the men lying on the boat; they stepped on us and hit us with their
weapons for three hours. Then at around 10 in the morning, after removing the
motor, they put us back to our plastic boat and drove us back to the Turkish
waters and left us in the middle of the sea.’’</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> The number of
unlawful pushback operations from Greece is not known; however, Amnesty
International believes hundreds have been affected. In the last two years the
European Commission has provided €228 million to bolster border controls. In
comparison, for the same time period, just €12 million was allocated to Greece
under the European Refugee Fund, which supports efforts in receiving refugees.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Bulgaria -- detained
and contained:</b> In Bulgaria, an estimated 5,000 refugees
from Syria arrived between January and November 2013. The majority is housed in
emergency centers, the largest of which is in the town of Harmanli. It is
effectively a closed detention centre. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Amnesty International
found refugees living in squalid conditions in containers, a dilapidated
building and in tents. There was a lack of adequate sanitary facilities with
limited access to food, bedding or medicine. A large number of people was in
need of medical care, including some injured in conflict, individuals suffering
chronic diseases and those with mental health problems. Some of the refugees
in Harmanli told Amnesty International they had been detained for over a month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> “Tens of thousands
are risking perilous journeys by boat or land to try and reach Europe. We have
seen hundreds lose their lives in the Mediterranean. It is deplorable that many
of those that who have risked life and limb to get here, are either forced back
or detained in truly squalid conditions with insufficient food, water or medical
care,” said Salil Shetty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Europe must act</b>
“The platitudes of Europe’s leaders ring hollow in the face of the evidence,”
said Salil Shetty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“The EU must open its
borders, provide safe passage, and halt these deplorable human rights
violations.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Just 55,000 Syrian
refugees (2.4 per cent of the total number of people who have fled Syria) have
managed to get through and claim asylum in the EU. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">For those who manage to
break through the barricades of Fortress Europe, many head for Sweden or
Germany, which have offered the most help to asylum seekers. In the two years
to the end of October 2013, Sweden has received 20,490 new Syrian asylum
applications and Germany received 16,100 such applications.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Less than 1,000 people
have claimed asylum in each of Greece, Italy and Cyprus. Amnesty
International is calling on European member states to: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Significantly
increase the number of resettlement and humanitarian admission places for
refugees from Syria;</li>
<li>Strengthen
search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean to identify boats in distress
and assist those on board;</li>
<li>Ensure
that those rescued are treated with dignity and have access to asylum
procedures;</li>
<li>Ensure
that unlawful pushback operations are ended;</li>
<li>Provide
legal safe passage for Syrian asylum seekers wishing to travel to European member
states.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
EU, its member states, and the international community should continue to
provide support to countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees,
particularly Jordan and Lebanon.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--></div>
F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-25174194631366129522013-12-09T05:26:00.000-08:002013-12-09T05:26:22.869-08:00Oman as Iran’s Trojan Horse in the GCC
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6SfkaaYYYzKFrRBgrDuDCkghV9bQd2i0opqbYItRjZmat08F5MXIc63h_iJMf12uIy5VOiezyMH7Sbn_AMGEynIJg4nMnCG2qLCWV-cK6_KvPuOsUUxpsYtOu6W-1SWoPRzD3GGwvpo/s1600/7c3e89ae5fe611e3b01f12266a69463e_8-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH6SfkaaYYYzKFrRBgrDuDCkghV9bQd2i0opqbYItRjZmat08F5MXIc63h_iJMf12uIy5VOiezyMH7Sbn_AMGEynIJg4nMnCG2qLCWV-cK6_KvPuOsUUxpsYtOu6W-1SWoPRzD3GGwvpo/s640/7c3e89ae5fe611e3b01f12266a69463e_8-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prince Turki al-Faisal addressing the Manama Dialogue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
Oman is emerging as Iran’s Trojan Horse trying to
destroy the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from within.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sultan Qaboos bin Said,
the monarch of Oman since 1970, reportedly played a key role in facilitating
the secret U.S.-Iran talks leading up to the November 24 “historic” nuclear
deal, according to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Associated Press</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Oman is isolated from
much of the rest of the Arabian Peninsula by a formidable mountain range,
while Iran is just across the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway
for global oil shipments that has at times raised tensions between the U.S. and
Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As early as 2009,
according to Wikileaks, the sultanate offered to arrange talks between the U.S.
and Iran – which hadn’t had diplomatic relations for 30 years – on condition
that they were kept quiet. But it was reportedly the hostage crisis of three
American “hikers” that brought him into a mediating role between the two sides
and helped win the release of the three Americans, who were arrested and
accused of spying while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">With that success in
his pocket, Sultan Qaboos offered to facilitate a U.S.-Iran rapprochement, the
AP reports. In March, U.S. and Iranian officials met in Oman, Secretary of
State John Kerry followed up in May, and the talks took on a momentum of their
own after Hassan Rouhani replaced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran’s June elections.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Sultan
Qaboos wasn’t in front of the cameras in Geneva, but <a href="http://alhayat.com/Details/580200"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">a news report in the Saudi daily </span><i style="color: blue;">al-Hayat</i></a> this morning speaks of
“fears within the GCC of Iranian-Omani efforts to break up” the six-member club
grouping Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and
Oman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Oman
and Saudi Arabia bickered publicly over the GCC’s future last week at the three-day
<a href="http://www.iiss.org/en/events/manama%20dialogue/archive/manama-dialogue-2013-4e92"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Manama
Dialogue</span></a> in Bahrain, a forum on Middle East security.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A much-anticipated Gulf
union is inevitable and will happen because people in the region are keen on
it, Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former Intelligence Chief who also
served as ambassador in both the United States and United Kingdom, told the
conference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He was commenting on
remarks made Saturday by Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the Omani foreign
minister, who said his country rejected the Gulf union and would pull out of
the club if the union were approved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Everyone has the right
to express their opinions,” Prince Turki retorted. “However, this will not
prevent the union from happening. Oman can join it then or later, or not at all,”
he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On the nuclear talks in
Geneva last month between the 5+1 world powers and Iran, Prince Turki said they
lacked a “very important factor” – namely, the participation of Iran’s Gulf
neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“I don’t know the
reasons for that… because eventually we are the ones that will be affected by
anything -- a military event or a nuclear leak or any earthquake that may hit
the [nuclear] sites in Iran,” he remarked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“No doubt we are now
facing a big smile from the Iranian leadership in the way they are dealing with
the Gulf.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Prince Turki added:
“Iran must take concrete measures before we can judge whether it is going
forward with a smile, or simply showing its teeth.”</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Prince Turki said
television and radio stations in Iran are targeting the Gulf Arabs with
inflammatory broadcasts tackling “sensitive issues in our Arab world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Addressing Iran, he
said: “Why don’t you close them down and show us your good intentions? Show us
you are serious about this real, wide smile you are showing us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
six GCC partners hold their annual year-end summit in Kuwait, tomorrow, Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ghassan
Charbel, editor-in-chief of al-Hayat, has <a href="http://alhayat.com/Details/580200"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">this word today to tell</span></a> tomorrow’s
summiteers:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
region is unlike the one that existed three years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Governments
are confused. Armies are anxious. Borders are violated or about to be… <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Iraq’s
disintegration is an undeniable fact. The dismemberment of Yemen is flagrant.
What looked like a Syrian intifada turned out to be a sectarian war feeding tension
into the neighbors’ arteries.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Lebanon’s
institutions are in a coma and its doors are open to refugees and fire. Libya,
which spent four decades under one leader, today terrorizes its people,
neighbors and the world. From Yemen to Tunisia, al-Qaeda and its ilk are omnipresent…<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Today’s
world is much more dangerous than the world that witnessed the birth of the GCC
in 1981.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Bar
Israel, four key regional states will play a dominant role in this difficult
phase depending on their respective internal stability, resources and
alliances. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They
are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and Turkey.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">GCC
leaders who meet in Kuwait tomorrow are aware of the magnitude of the threats
to stability and roles. They know the importance of adapting to change.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Oman’s
attitude clearly unveiled that the Gulf union’s journey won’t be trouble-free.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But
sensitivities should not forestall attempts to reconcile views of the various
GCC member states on how to handle this phase of containing risks and assigning
roles. </span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-74015529210080606982013-12-07T04:59:00.000-08:002013-12-07T04:59:10.501-08:00Enter Saudi-Iranian “Track II diplomacy”
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVG37VwtoGIlVAom_jtRw0FxO3nukpYnFN5PPBy4voQO-GI0c1o1PRysIDSg1Zr5OgAI6SbM8ctoaoufH7DVEfzFdhiHFuSMwGZ2o5GnaKziGKzwefu3ZU5XpDcJuUKq_iMB2SeuDo1Yo/s1600/middle_east2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVG37VwtoGIlVAom_jtRw0FxO3nukpYnFN5PPBy4voQO-GI0c1o1PRysIDSg1Zr5OgAI6SbM8ctoaoufH7DVEfzFdhiHFuSMwGZ2o5GnaKziGKzwefu3ZU5XpDcJuUKq_iMB2SeuDo1Yo/s640/middle_east2.gif" width="594" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: right;">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">This is my paraphrasing of the weekly </span><a href="http://alhayat.com/OpinionsDetails/579415"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">think piece penned in Arabic</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">
by Saudi mass media celebrity Jamal Khashoggi for al-Hayat newspaper</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Conflict resolution” specialists note that
forthright negotiations between two adversaries often fail when held in the
public eye.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is because of pressure official negotiators come
under from their political mentors, as well as from their core supporters who
monitor the talks and want to know their secrets from journalists present at or
around the negotiations venue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Whether the journalists’ leaks prove wrong or
word-perfect, their effect is often negative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">An issue that was already settled suddenly gets
complicated and another that was not on the agenda crops up from nowhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Lying in wait are two oppositions trying to raise the
stakes and embarrass the two sides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The “conflict resolution” specialists thus spread and
defined the concept of “Track II diplomacy” aimed at fixing a conflict
situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Track II diplomacy” would kickoff by arranging for
secret talks at a countryside resort or a remote state, initially involving
secondary academics and activists.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Some of the latter don’t realize their country’s
leadership is aware of the negotiations. They believe they are engaged in
scientific research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Once “Track II diplomacy” makes progress and paves
the way for blueprints of an acceptable understanding on which an agreement
could be based, the level of participants is raised and the parties start
serious negotiations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">They begin exchanging documents setting out the rules
of negotiation and the mandatory nature of bilateral agreements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is what happened between the Palestinians and
Israelis in the early 1990s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">While the late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haidar_Abdel-Shafi"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Haidar Abdel-Shafi</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanan_Ashrawi"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Hanan Ashrawi</span></a> (do you
recall those names?) and other members of the Palestinian national movement
were engaging the Israelis in tough negotiations at the Madrid conference of
1991, “Track II diplomacy” was underway in a distant corner of northern Europe
– namely, in the Norwegian capital Oslo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The breakthrough came in Oslo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_I_Accord"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Oslo Accord</span></a> governs the
lives of Gazans and West Bankers today, whether for better or worse depending
on one’s political outlook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I liked this idea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I thus decided to volunteer and initiate a “Track II initiative”
between my native country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic
Republic of Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">My decision came after the so-called “Saudi-Iranian
impasse” came to light and raised the prospects of problems in the region, the
likely escalation on the ground in Syria and elsewhere and the exchange of
bombing and counter-bombing charges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This transpired after the November 24 agreement
between the 5+1 world powers and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program and the
looming honeymoon in bilateral relations between Iran and the U.S. without a
similar breakthrough on the horizon between Riyadh and Tehran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">That’s why I seized the opportunity of my
participation in three research workshops over the last three weeks, which took
me to Washington, the English countryside and Vienna to test “Track II
diplomacy” with Iranian researchers I met there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Indeed, I came across three of them: a
Washington-based researcher, and two others based in Tehran – the first is a
consultant to one of the ministries and the other is a political science professor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Before any of the readers gets excited and describes
what took place as official and serious, let me reiterate that it was neither.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Discussions took place on the sidelines of the conference
during intermissions or over dinners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">None of us took down notes, but everyone welcomed the
idea of “Track II diplomacy” between Saudi Arabia and Iran.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is not astounding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Throughout his recent Gulf tour, Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif did not cease calling for a get together that
would promote cooperation, devotion and brotherhood with the kingdom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But Mr. Zarif reminds me of what I told the Iranian
political professor in Vienna: “You want to eat the lamb and at the same time
leave it whole to graze hillsides and slopes. You want good relations with the
kingdom without pulling out of Syria, for example, or ending your intervention
elsewhere in the region.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">At the beginning of our “Track II diplomacy,” the
Iranians resorted to cliché expressions such as, “What is Syrian democracy to
you? You’re not a democratic state.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I think my answer was convincing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I said, “Yes, this is true. But we did not call for
or trigger the Syrian revolution. The Syrian people are calling for regime
change. We either accept their call as bona fide or let them slay you and the
Syrian regime’s people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Even if we let down the Syrian people, they won’t
acquiesce and they would keep up their uprising. The longer their struggle goes
on, the deeper your involvement in it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">One of my interlocutors retorted saying not all
people are against Bashar al-Assad and elections are the only way forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We ended our discussion by agreeing that
Saudi-Iranian cooperation at Geneva-2 was imperative. I kept insisting that
talk of cooperation or elections at Geneva-2 or elsewhere is haywire so long as
a lone Syrian soldier continues to fire at his own people with Iranian help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In another round of “Track II diplomacy” with the
Iranian ministry’s consultant, I enumerated the instances of Iranian meddling
in the region before asking him bluntly: “Have you a similar list of complaints
against Saudi interventions in Iran?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">His answer: “I am not familiar with such security
issues… The kingdom did not truly accept the Islamic Republic, choosing to
deceive it instead. The kingdom warmly welcomed any aggression against the
Islamic Republic by Israel or the United States.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I denied this, basing myself on several bilateral
agreements signed by the two neighbors -- some of them are of a security nature
-- and on the exchange of formal visits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I also pointed out that kingdom has invariably
opposed military action against Iran and undertaken not to join any of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We continued our discourse over dinner, when we
shared a meal of “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Schnitzel">Wiener
Schnitzel</a>” with mashed potatoes on the side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our rapprochement was self-evident. We both stopped resorting
to controversial slogans used in televised debates only. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We agreed peace would be mutually beneficial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">He told me Iran was groaning under the weight of
sanctions and wants to channel its economic resources to economic development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The political science professor said a third of
Iran’s youths are unemployed and Tehran intended to curtail its foreign interventions
in the next decade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Why should it wait a decade,” I said in reply. “That
will prove costly to her and to us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“Better you get to know Iran from the inside,” he
retorted. “It hasn’t got one lone force only. You’ve got to talk to everyone
there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It was an encouraging first foray by the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran into “Track II diplomacy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But the exercise requires patience. It also calls for
awareness that it will be a very long journey the two neighbors embarked on
over 3,000 years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Why not resume it – even without letup in our bilateral
confrontation?</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9099395630489047858.post-754405843112139212013-12-06T03:51:00.000-08:002013-12-06T03:51:52.360-08:0012 nuns for 1,000 Syrian women prisoners?
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qM2WEtA0Uto/UqGEorE9hsI/AAAAAAAAGUg/HDO_V0BgRRw/s1600/Sayyaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qM2WEtA0Uto/UqGEorE9hsI/AAAAAAAAGUg/HDO_V0BgRRw/s640/Sayyaf.jpg" width="436" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mother Pelegia Sayyaf</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Syrian opposition forces are offering to swap some 12
Orthodox nuns they are holding in the Qalamoun Mountains range for 1,000 women
prisoners detained by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">News of the proposed exchange makes <a href="http://www.aawsat.com//details.asp?section=1&issueno=12792&article=752787#.UqGGmRzyDqI"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">today’s
front-page lead</span></a> of the respectable Saudi daily <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asharq Alawsat.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The paper’s <a href="http://www.aawsat.com//details.asp?section=4&article=752879&issueno=12792#.UqGIJhzyDqI"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">correspondent
in Antakya quotes</span></a> an “Ahrar al-Qalamoun Brigade” spokesperson as saying the
nuns abducted earlier this month from the predominantly Christian village of
Maaloula “are now in a safe place. They won’t be released before a number of
conditions are met – chiefly, the release of 1,000 Syrian women prisoners
languishing in Syrian regime lockups.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">An Ahrar al-Qalamoun Brigade spokesperson, AKA
Muhammad Abul-Feda, tells <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asharq Alawsat</i>,
“Our demands were relayed to the Syrian regime via the Vatican following a
satphone call by Mother Pelegia Sayyaf to Rome.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Mother Pelegia Sayyaf is the abbess of <a href="http://www.antiochian.org/life_of_thekla"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">St. Thekla</span></a> (<span style="color: #333333;">a disciple of St. Paul who faced a heroic and miraculous
martyrdom)</span> in Maaloula (<span style="color: #333333;">which means “entrance” in Aramaic)</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Some
of Maaloula’s residents still speak a version of Aramaic, a biblical language
spoken by Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Abul-Feda
tells <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asharq Alawsat</i> the rebel
demands were jointly set by Ahrar
al-Qalamoun Brigade and Jabhat al-Nusra, adding:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">“The Vatican had asked my brigade to move the sisters
to a Christian family’s home in the nearby town of Yabroud. The request was
turned down pending approval of our terms that have been passed on to the
regime.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Abul-Feda said the nuns are now in a safe hideaway and
protected jointly by Ahrar al-Qalamoun Brigade and Jabhat al-Nusra.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Saudi daily quotes other unnamed sources as
saying Jabhat al-Nusra also wants the regime to lift its blockade on food and
other supplies in Ghouta near Damascus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Mohammed el-Zahouri, a Syrian journalist embedded
with opposition forces in Maaloula, says he saw the nuns and their valet,
Elias, “but their number is not 12 as the Vatican is claiming.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Zahouri tells <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Asharq
Alawsat,</i> “The Syrian regime is trying to kill the nuns and blame the armed
opposition for their killing. A few days ago, they escaped certain death when
their St. Thekla convent in Maaloula was hit by a government ground missile and
a round of mortar shells.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But he is adamant the nuns “are now out of Maaloula
and out of Yabroud as well.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Separately,
opposition activists again accused Assad forces of using poison gas in Syria’s
civil war yesterday, and said victims had been discovered with swollen limbs
and foaming at the mouth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The
activists told <i>Reuters</i> two shells
loaded with gas hit a rebel-held area in the town of Nabak on a major highway
in the Qalamoun region. They reported seven casualties.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->F. Najiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00238025700383912412noreply@blogger.com