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« SYRIA PRESS REVIEW » #55
Pentagon confirms its disengagement
Pentagon confirms its disengagement 20 February 2012
U.S. military leaders are regurgitating statements to justify their withdrawal from the Syrian crisis. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, keeps repeating to Congress and the press that, since most of the major powers are already engaged in the theater of operations, it is impossible to tell which group of rebels would benefit from U.S. assistance. Used essentially as a face-saving tactic following the double veto by Russia and China, this argument is nonetheless true.
Be that as it may, the State Department and Israeli politicians are opposed to this approach.
To counteract it, on the threshold of the "Friends of Syria" conference in Tunis, researchers at the Washington Institute (the AIPAC think tank) have drawn an analogy with the Bosnian war where the United States was eventually drawn in against its will. They support the creation of a force mandated by the United Nations, commanded by a Turkish Muslim general, and coordinated by (...)
 
NATO backs off while London and Paris still scheming 19 February 2012
Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Reuters that NATO will not intervene in Syria, even if the UN Security Council were to change its mind and give him the green light. In doing so, the Secretary General of NATO feigns to walk away from war not because of the double veto by Russia and China, but due to technical obstacles.
Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron have signed new treaties in Paris to strengthen their countries’ mutual defense. The date of the ceremony was officially chosen to commemorate the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi in Benghazi. But, in reality, it marked the fulfillment of the Lancaster House Treaty, which included a secret annex with the plan for the Benghazi uprising and regime change in Libya. Therefore, it is legitimate to ask whether the Paris summit may not also have involved the signing of a secret annex, planning for the overthrow of the Syrian regime. The final communiqué of the meeting smacks of Franco-British machinations.
The Western news agencies reported a (...)
 
 
 
 
Washington admits Bashar al-Assad's ouster not on the cards 17 February 2012
After hearing the terrifying report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN General Assembly condemned the repression in Syria by 137 votes in favor, 12 against and 17 abstentions.
After Homs and Hama, the Syrian Army has taken back Deraa. The survivors of the Wahhabi Legion have regrouped in the north. It is to soon to tell whether they will flee to Turkey or launch a final battle in Idlib.
The Director of US Intelligence, James Clapper, has attributed the attacks in Damascus and Aleppo to al-Qaeda. On his part, the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Ronald Burgess, stated that the Assad regime will not fall because it is cohesive and has regained control of the large cities it had lost, while his opposition is disunited and without a strategy.
The Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Zhai Jun, intends to continue to play a mediation role in the crisis. He traveled to Damascus to meet President al-Assad after Syrian opponents were received in (...)
 
 
 
 
« SYRIA PRESS REVIEW » #52
Syria indicted before UN General Assembly
Syria indicted before UN General Assembly 16 February 2012
The United Nations General Assembly, presided by Qatar, held a special session on the Syrian situation. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, South African lawyer Navi Pillay, presented a chilling report on the abuses attributed to the al-Assad administration, with particular emphasis on rape (when she chaired the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Ms Pillay had developed a case law equating "mass rape" to a "genocide"). She deduced that the discord at the Security Council encouraged the repression.
The Syrian government announced the holding of a referendum on the new draft constitution on 26 February. If passed, it would end the leadership of the Baath party and introduce a multiparty system. The White House described the project as "laughable."
Finally, in Cairo, the Great Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb called for strong action on the part of the Arab League, which has formalized its intention to arm the Syrian (...)
 
« SYRIA PRESS REVIEW » #51
Foreign instructors leave, Al Qaeda arrives
Foreign instructors leave, Al Qaeda arrives 15 February 2012
The new Western discourse coincides with the withdrawal of many foreign instructors, as witnessed in the field, and with the statements of Ayman al-Zawahari (the Egyptian leader of Al-Qaeda since the official demise of Osama bin Laden) announcing the arrival of his fighters. In fact, Al-Qaeda is already on the ground inside Syria, where the Libyan Abdel Hakim Belhaj (the organization’s number-two man) has been seen supervising the "Free" Syrian Army. This charade is intended to cloak NATO’s strategy switch from a low intensity war to subcontracting terrorist actions as required.
The Arab League wants a United Nations peacekeeping force in Syria, without specifying between which factions they would be mediating and on what line of demarcation. Immediately rejected by Syria since encroaching on its sovereignty, the proposal provided Westerners with the awaited opportunity of harping on the impossibility of a military solution; a discourse in total contradiction with the one they held (...)
 
 
 
 
« SYRIA PRESS REVIEW » #50
Al-Qaeda strikes in Aleppo
Al-Qaeda strikes in Aleppo 13 February 2012
In reporting the Aleppo attacks, the international press has consecrated four times less space than usual. This can be interpreted in two ways: Either the public is getting weary of the rampant Iraqization of Syria or the press is baffled by the responsibility claims. The attacks of Aleppo were in fact first claimed by a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, then condemned by another. Simultaneously, an American intelligence report attributed them to Al-Qaeda, a claim confirmed in a statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri, current leader of the organization.
Be that as it may, no media has bothered to rectify its previous articles pinning the responsibility for identical attacks in Damascus on the Al-Assad administration; certain newspapers have even picked up the accusations of the Syrian National Council which blames the Aleppo attacks on the Syrian government, without the slightest shred of (...)
 



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