Siria: deputado pede retirada de Embaixador do Brasil

Existem erros, fatuais e de opinião, no texto preparado pelo deputado (ou sua assessoria), mas a questão é real, e caberia ver, ou saber, o que vai fazer o governo brasileiro.
Minha opinião é a de que vai manter, até onde for possível, o representante oficial em Damasco.
Se as circunstâncias ditarem outra política, assim será feito, mas não para atender o deputado...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida 

Jordy pede ao governo brasileiro retirada de embaixador brasileiro da Síria

O vice-presidente da Comissão de Direitos Humanos da Câmara, deputado federal Arnaldo Jordy (PPS-PA), enviou, nesta sexta-feira (24), pedido ao Ministério das Relações Exteriores sugerindo que o governo brasileiro retire da Síria o embaixador Edgard Antonio Casciano, lotado em Damasco. A solicitação foi feita por meio de um requerimento de indicação ( leia íntegra abaixo ), que é um instrumento de que dispõe o Legislativo para sugerir a outro poder a adoção de providências.

Para o parlamentar, esta seria uma forma de mais um país da comunidade internacional pressionar e isolar o ditador sírio Bashar al-Sad , acusado de cometer graves violações aos direitos humanos em ações contra a oposição ao seu governo.

Num documento, elaborado pela ONU e sob a coordenação do brasileiro Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, o ditador seria o responsável diretamente por promover "amplas, sistemáticas e graves violações de direitos humanos, que se constituem em crimes contra a Humanidade".

A situação na Síria é gravíssima e tende a piorar. Nesse sentido, o Brasil, por ter tradição na defesa dos direitos humanos precisa empreender ações firmes no caso em questão. E uma destas medidas é chamar de volta o seu embaixador, disse o deputado brasileiro.

Países do Golfo Pérsico, os Estados Unidos, a França, a Itália, a Inglaterra e, mais recentemente, o Egito, já chamaram de volta seus embaixadores que serviam na capital síria.

O Requerimento de Indicação foi protocolado na Secretaria Geral da Mesa da Câmara dos Deputados.

Acompanhamento da situação

No ano passado, o líder do PPS, deputado Rubens Bueno (PR), em documento semelhante, pediu à diplomacia brasileira que adotasse um posicionamento firme em relação à repressão promovida por Bashar al-Sad contra a população civil da Síria.

O que buscamos sugerir por meio da indicação nada mais é que uma posição mais veemente, clara, protagonista e firme do Brasil, tanto no seu relacionamento bilateral com a Síria como nas discussões e votações na ONU, e de acordo com sua tradição diplomática, de defesa dos direitos humanos, disse Bueno à época.

REQUERIMENTO DE INDICAÇAO N.º 2607, DE 2012
(Do Sr. Arnaldo Jordy) 

Requer o envio de Indicação ao Ministro das Relações Exteriores, sugerindo a imediata retirada do embaixador do Brasil na Síria, em protesto aos sistemáticos crimes contra a humanidade cometidos pelo governo desse país. 

Senhor Presidente,

Requeiro a Vossa Excelência, com base no artigo 113, inciso I, 1º, do Regimento Interno da Câmara dos Deputados, que seja encaminhada ao Excelentíssimo Ministro das Relações Exteriores, Sr. ANTONIO DE AGUIAR PATRIOTA, Indicação sugerindo a imediata retirada do embaixador do Brasil na Síria, em protesto aos sistemáticos crimes contra a humanidade cometidos pelo governo desse país.
Sala das Sessões, em 24 de fevereiro de 2012. 
Deputado ARNALDO JORDY
PPS/PA

INDICAÇAO N.º 2607, DE 2012
(Do Sr. Arnaldo Jordy)

Indicação ao Ministro das Relações Exteriores, sugerindo a imediata retirada do embaixador do Brasil na Síria, em protesto aos sistemáticos crimes contra a humanidade cometidos pelo governo desse país. 

Excelentíssimo Senhor Ministro das Relações Exteriores,

Há onze meses, o governo sírio de Bashar al-Assad é alvo de manifestações a favor da implantação de um regime democrático no país. Os resultados da dura repressão estatal contra os protestantes apontam, até o momento, para um número alarmante de cerca de 7,5 mil mortos. Além desses, 70 mil sírios foram obrigados a deixarem suas casas e 20 mil tornaram-se refugiados com destino a outros países.

Em recente investigação empreendida por uma comissão das Nações Unidas, chefiada pelo diplomata brasileiro Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, confirmou-se, mais uma vez, que os crimes contra a humanidade cometidos desde março do ano passado foram ordenados pela cúpula do regime ditatorial de Bashar al-Assad. É verdade que, ao mesmo tempo, alguns membros dos grupos protestantes também violaram os direitos humanos, ainda que em escala menor. A violência, de ambos os lados, deve ser repelida com a veemência necessária que a crise humanitária na Síria exige.

De acordo com o relatório da ONU, a repressão faz parte de uma política de Estado, sendo as ordens dadas a partir das instâncias mais altas das Forças Armadas sírias, atingindo indiscriminadamente crianças, mulheres e idosos. Esses são, sem embargo, atos de atrocidade e covardia e que exigem um posicionamento enérgico por parte do Brasil, no sentido de contribuir para uma solução pacífica e urgente da crise.

Concordamos com as discussões trazidas no âmbito mais geral por nossa diplomacia a respeito do conceito responsabilidade ao proteger, ao lado da ideia hoje já consagrada de responsabilidade de proteger. De fato, o uso da força para a proteção de civis implica o risco de causar um número maior de vítimas e de disseminar violência e instabilidade. É por isso que prevenção é a melhor política. E, da mesma forma, o governo brasileiro deve adotar o caminho da utilização de todos os meios diplomáticos disponíveis para chegarmos a uma solução pacífica e imediata da crise humanitária instalada na Síria. A população síria não pode mais esperar!

Por esse motivo, sugerimos a imediata retirada do embaixador do Brasil em Damasco, Sr. Edgard Antônio Casciano, em protesto aos sistemáticos crimes contra a humanidade cometidos pelo governo de Bashar al-Assad. Essa seria uma forma de mais um país da comunidade internacional pressionar e isolar politicamente o governo ditatorial sírio, fundamentada também no nascente conceito de responsabilidade ao proteger. Como visto, a situação na Síria é gravíssima e tende a piorar, e as poucas medidas adotadas até agora não surtiram o efeito esperado de conter a violência na Síria. Países do Golfo Pérsico, os Estados Unidos, a França, a Itália, a Inglaterra e, mais recentemente, o Egito, já retiraram seus embaixadores que serviam em território sírio. Essa seria uma importante medida, somada às ações tomadas nas demais instâncias internacionais, a fim de impelir as autoridades sírias a finalmente respeitarem os direitos humanos em seu território.

É como encaminhamos a presente Indicação.

Sala das Sessões, em 24 de fevereiro de 2012. 
Deputado ARNALDO JORDY
PPS/PA

Extraído de: PPS  - 24 de Fevereiro de 2012

Autobiografia (ainda nao terminada) de Bachar Al-Assad - Tahar Ben Jelloun

Bachar Al-Assad, intime

 | 18.02.12 | 14h41   •  Mis à jour le 18.02.12 | 16h21

Le président syrien Bachar Al-Assad, en mars 2009.REUTERS/KHALED AL-HARIRI

C'est par effraction que je suis entré dans la tête du président syrien. C'est une forteresse inaccessible. Avant d'arriver à s'en approcher, il faut passer pas moins de sept barrages. Haute sécurité. Peur et méfiance. Comme son père, Hafez, il se tient à distance. On raconte qu'un jour Hafez Al-Assad a fait fusiller les sept soldats qui devaient filtrer le passage des personnes qui avaient rendez-vous avec lui. Hafez aimait jouer aux échecs avec un ami d'enfance. Chaque après-midi, l'ami se présentait et se faisait fouiller sept fois avant d'arriver à la salle de jeu. Un jour, à force de le voir, les soldats le laissèrent passer sans faire leur travail.

Lorsque Hafez le sut, ordre fut donné d'exécuter les malheureux gardes qui avaient manqué à leur devoir. Le petit Bachar connaît cet épisode, un parmi tant d'autres, aussi sanglants les uns que les autres. Lui aussi est injoignable. Il y a de quoi. Quand on tue, on risque d'être tué. Alors on prend les précautions nécessaires et même plus.

Sa tête n'est pas très grande. Elle est occupée par du foin, des épingles et des lames de rasoir. Je ne sais pas pourquoi. Son cerveau est calme. Pas de stress, pas de nervosité. Je ne sais pas d'où il tient cette tranquillité. Question d'hérédité, ou bien a-t-il suivi des cours du soir pour apprendre à tuer sans que cela le dérange, sans qu'il soit le moins du monde inquiété par le malheur qu'il sème. Je me suis fait tout petit et j'ai tendu l'oreille. Car le petit pense et n'hésite pas à avoirdes idées audacieuses :

J'ai tout appris de feu mon père, un grand homme d'Etat, un homme sensible, cultivé et grand stratège. Je me souviens qu'Henry Kissinger l'appréciait beaucoup. Il m'avait dit que lui aussi aimait bien le secrétaire d'Etat américain dont il admirait l'intelligence et le réalisme politique. Ils s'entendaient bien tous les deux. Mon père me rappelait comment cet homme a fait éliminer physiquement Salvador Allende et l'a remplacé par Pinochet.

Ces derniers temps, j'entre en communication avec mon père. Il est génial. C'est lui qui me dicte ce que je dois faire. Il m'encourage et m'indique des pistes à suivre. Il m'a dit dernièrement, au cas où les choses viendraient à empirer, de retourner au Liban, car ni lui ni moi n'avions admis la manière dont notre armée a été expulsée de ce pays en 2005. Même la mort d'Hariri et de quelques autres ingrats n'a pueffacer la honte que ces Libanais nous ont infligée.

Pour le moment, ça va. Je tiens. Pas de panique. D'abord, je ne suis ni Saddam ni Kadhafi. Vous ne me verrez pas ridiculisé par des agents américains en train dechercher des poux dans ma tête ou bien égorgé par des fanatiques. Ces deux-là se sont fait avoir parce que leur niveau d'intelligence n'était pas des meilleurs. Je suis de la famille Al-Assad, une famille et un clan unis et solidaires. Une grande famille, forte et puissante, qui a des traditions. Je ne fais pas n'importe quoi. Je résiste contre un complot international. J'ai des preuves. Aucune envie de voir mon pays devenir une république islamique dirigée par des analphabètes ou bien un bastion de cette gauche stupide juste bonne à parader dans les salons européens.

Mon père m'a appris que, en politique, il faut avoir un coeur de bronze. Le mien, je l'ai habitué à ce qu'il ne se brise jamais. Pas de sentiments, pas de faiblesse. Car je joue ma tête et la vie de toute ma famille. Les voyous qui mettent la Syrie à feu et à sang n'ont que ce qu'ils méritent. On parle de "printemps arabe" ! C'est quoi cette histoire ? Où voit-on un printemps ? Ce n'est pas parce que des agitateurs inconscients occupent des places publiques que les saisons ont changé de rythme et de sens. Chez moi, ce qu'ils appellent "le printemps" ne passera pas.

J'ai donné l'ordre de suspendre cette saison jusqu'à la victoire. Pourquoi le printemps serait synonyme de ma disparition ? Non seulement je ne vais pasmourir, mais je tuerai tout le monde avant. Il est dit dans l'islam que s'il faut sacrifierles deux tiers d'un peuple pour n'en garder qu'un tiers bon, il ne faut pas hésiter. J'applique cette loi vieille comme les Arabes. Je rappelle que la Syrie est un pays laïque, comme la France qui, tout à coup me trahit et me fait la morale. Et le pauvre Obama qui me condamne et parle d'atrocités ! De quoi se mêle-t-il ? Il n'a pas vu ce que son armée a fait en Irak et en Afghanistan ?

Que me reproche-t-on ? De donner l'ordre à l'armée de tirer sur les manifestants ? Si je ne fais pas ça, je perds ma place, je ne me ferai plus respecter. Regardez comment mon ami Moubarak s'est retrouvé du jour au lendemain éjecté de son palais. Il a manqué de détermination et de volonté. L'armée l'a trahi. Le pauvre, quelle déchéance, malade, déprimé, on le traîne sur une civière pour être jugé ! Les peuples sont ingrats. Ils oublient vite ce que les présidents font pour eux. Mon armée est composée en majorité d'hommes fidèles. Ceux qui ont déserté l'ont payé très cher. Je n'ai pas d'états d'âme. Je me défends, je dirai même, c'est de la légitime défense.

J'ai pris la précaution de mettre à l'abri Asma, ma femme, et mes trois enfants, Hafez, Zeyn et Karim. C'est normal, je réagis en bon mari et en bon père de famille. Je vois comment des pères irresponsables poussent leurs enfants à manifestertout en sachant pertinemment qu'ils peuvent tomber sous des balles perdues. On m'a dit que des enfants sont morts. Je n'arrive pas à le croire, et je rends leurs parents responsables de ce malheur, car il n'y a pas pire malheur que de perdre un de ses enfants ; je me souviens de la douleur de mon père le jour où mon frère aîné, Bassel, est mort dans un accident de voiture. Il a pleuré. Oui, j'ai vu mon pèrepleurer face à l'injustice du destin qui lui a ravi son fils bien-aimé.

Mon père, cet homme exceptionnel qui a fait de la Syrie un grand pays et qui a rendu la vie dure au voisin israélien, ce président a pleuré parce qu'il ne pouvait même pas se venger. Bassel mort, tué par la route. Il n'allait tout de même pasbombarder la route qui fut fatale au fils qu'il préparait pour lui succéder. Il n'a pas supporté d'être contrarié. Moi non plus. Je ne supporterai jamais d'être critiqué ou combattu.

Les Nations unies ont essayé de me salir et me demandent de me retirer. C'est de l'ingérence dans les affaires strictement internes de la Syrie. Que cette assemblée de fantoches me laisse en paix. Partir ? Pour aller où ? Elles me prennent pour unBen Ali ? Je ne vais tout de même pas monter dans un avion et mendier l'asile politique dans le monde !

Heureusement que la Russie de mon ami Poutine et la Chine ont opposé leur veto. Mon ami Ahmadinejad aussi est avec moi ; il m'appelle souvent et me dit de ne pascéder. Il y a quand même une justice. Les insurgés sont des terroristes, des agents payés par l'Europe et même par certains pays arabes qui ont des comptes à régleravec moi. Vous n'avez qu'à suivre les émissions d'Al-Jazira pour comprendre que le complot existe.

On me parle de tortures ! C'est tout à fait normal de torturer pour éviter des massacres, pour que des innocents ne tombent pas sous les balles des mauvais Syriens.

Je tiens le pays ; je tiens tête à ceux qui veulent instaurer un autre régime ; on devrait me remercier et m'aider à protéger la Syrie du danger islamiste. Je sais ce que les islamistes feront avec ma tribu des alaouites ainsi qu'avec les minorités chrétienne et arménienne. Le Vatican devrait venir à mon secours au lieu de mecondamner. Heureusement ce ne sont que des mots. Autre chose que ce que font actuellement les Européens en gelant mes avoirs chez eux et en essayant d'asphyxier le peuple en empêchant les échanges commerciaux. C'est mesquin et malhonnête. On m'en veut parce que la Syrie a toujours tenu tête à l'ennemi sioniste. Elle ne s'est jamais courbée face à Israël.

Mon père m'a dit au lendemain du massacre d'Hama, j'avais 17 ans : tu vois, mon fils, si je n'avais pas réagi avec cette fermeté, ce soir, nous ne serions plus là. Il a eu raison. Moi aussi, si je ne bombarde pas Homs, je sais où je dormirai ce soir : à la morgue ! Alors, il faut arrêter de dire n'importe quoi. 20 000 morts à Hama (à l'époque, personne n'avait réagi) ; à peine 8 000 entre Draa, Homs, Damas et Hama. Et tout ce tintamarre !

Vous savez pourquoi Asma, ma chère femme, m'a épousé ? Pour les valeurs que j'incarne. Elle l'a déclaré dans Paris Match du 10 décembre 2010. Ces valeurs se lisent sur mon visage. J'en suis fier.

Vous savez pourquoi j'ai fait ophtalmologie ? Parce que je suis allergique à la vue du sang.

En quittant cette tête, je me suis pris les pieds dans des fils électriques. Bachar est branché sur la centrale de la torture. C'est lui qui, pour passer le temps, appuie sur la pédale qui envoie des décharges dans les parties génitales des suppliciés. Il paraît que ça l'amuse et renforce sa détermination à débarrasser la Syrie des deux tiers jugés mauvais.

Ecrivain et poète francophone né à Fès (Maroc) en 1944, a enseigné la philosophie et étudié la psychiatrie sociale avant de devenir romancier. Il est membre de l'académie Goncourt depuis 2008. Il a reçu le prix Goncourt pour "La Nuit sacrée" (Points Seuil, 1987). Auteur de nombreux ouvrages, ses derniers livres parus sont : "L'Etincelle : révoltes dans les pays arabes", "Par le feu", "Que la blessure se ferme" (Gallimard)

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Brasil quer mediadores internacionais ativos no caso da Siria...

Mediators like Russia for instance?

---------------------

Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Brazil calls for proactive international mediation effort in Middle East

Text of report by Brazilian news agency Agencia Brasil website, 30/01/2012 

Report by Renata Giraldi: "Brazilian Government Observes Conflicts in Muslim Countries and Supports Mediators"

Brasilia - Amid the crisis in the Muslim world that has stretched for over a year, Brazil remains as a constant observer of the movements in the region without departing from direct conversations with stakeholders of the process, even in countries where tension is greater - Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain. Brazil supports the mediators in the region - the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council - in an attempt to end the conflicts in the region.

The order from the Brazilian authorities is to continue the dialogue and the economic and trade negotiations, while keeping under surveillance, nonetheless, Brazil's position on the protection of human rights and respect for democratic principles.

The guidance was sent by President Dilma Rousseff and Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota to Brazil's envoy to the Middle East, Turkey and Iran, Ambassador Cesario Melantonio Neto. About four weeks in office and with a long experience on the subject, the ambassador told Agencia Brasil that Brazil will insist on the pursuit of peace through dialogue and peaceful negotiations.

"We will insist [in the quest for peace] with support for the actions of the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council until the last moment. If there are withdrawals [or other difficulties], it will be the case of taking the matter to the UN [United Nations]," said the ambassador. "In the Middle East, everything must be watched closely and carefully, because every day new situations arise."

Melantonio Neto added that it is impossible to analyze the crisis in the Muslim world without observing the other players in the international arena - the European Union and the United States. The ambassador recalled that the United States and France, for example, have presidential elections this year and that Iran will hold parliamentary elections. "That interferes because some of the current stakeholders in the process might change," he said.

[A related item by Renata Giralda in Agencia Brasil on 30 January entitled "Brazil plays an important role in the Arab world, says professor," reports the following: Brasilia - Over one year ago several protests erupted in the Muslim world, establishing a crisis in the region that began in Tunisia and later spread to other regions. Experts say that the conflicts are now concentrated in Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain. In this scenario, Brazil has come to occupy an important role, mainly because of the continued trade with those countries.

According to Professor Murilo Sebe Bon Meihy, from the Department of History at the Catholic University (PUC) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's relationship with Muslim countries grows every decade and makes the Brazilian government's role crucial. "Brazil has been building a relationship that has yielded many fruits since the military governments and especially after the 1980s," he told Agencia Brasil.

Meihy highlighted the fact that Brazil is one of the observers of the Arab League (comprised of 22 nations) and that it does not belong to the so-called Arab world. "This is an indication of Brazil's relevance to countries of the region," he added. "Brazil establishes these alliances very well in the region from the moment it respects the peculiarities and also manages tensions."

According to the teacher and Brazil's envoy to the Middle East plus Turkey and Iran, Ambassador Cesario Melantonio Neto, the five countries that should be observed more closely by the international community are Syria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain. Next are the details of the situation in each country.

In Syria, for the past ten months, the government of President Bashar al-Assad has been the target of widespread protests. Assad has been in power for 11 years. He took over the government after the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, who was elected president for five consecutive terms. He is accused of actions of disrespect for democracy and human rights violations. The United Nations estimates that about 5,000 people died in the country as a result of the clashes.

Libya, after experiencing the longest dictatorship in the world with President Muammar Al- Qadhafi, who was 41 years in office, is led by the National Transitional Council (CNT). The leaders of the body are accused of maintaining the same political, economic, and social structure as Qadhafi's - who died in October 2011. The climate is of constant tension in the country.

In Egypt, after the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who spent almost three decades in power, a new political phase came about after 18 days of intense protests. A military junta ruled the region and there were parliamentary elections, ensuring the majority for Muslim parties. On the streets, demonstrators hold protests, deman ding the transfer of the military power to civilians, and demand that  presidential elections be held by July of this year.

In Yemen, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in power for over three decades and resists leaving office. After suffering an attack and having part of his body burned, Saleh promised to begin a period of democratic transition. But for now, it is still just a promise. He took over after a military coup with a presidential term of seven years, but in every election Saleh has been re-elected.

Bahrain has been under tension for 11 months due to clashes between protesters - Shiites and Sunnis - and government security agents. Military of Saudi Arabia and the UAE were called to try to maintain order in the country, but they were rejected. Under the leadership of the Shiite majority (about 70% of the population) who wants social and political reform, protesters complain about the monarchy of Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, which represents the power of the Sunnis (the other 30%).

Source: Agencia Brasil website, Brasilia, in Portuguese 30 Jan 12

Cul-de-sac russo na Siria (favor nao confundir com outra coisa...)

Cul-de-sac, que os anglossaxões empregam a partir do original francês, se refere ao tradicional impasse.
Não confundir com o contrário, que é muito feio.
Em todo caso, agora, com o apoio russo, é que Assad está mesmo condenado a ser extirpado do poder, antes que os russos aprendam a dizer saperlipopete...
By the way, excelente análise esta do meu amigo Jeff Laurenti, um americano progressista, mas realista (se isso é possível).
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

02/06/2012

After the Veto, What Next on Syria?

by Jeffrey Laurenti

The failed vote in the U.N. Security Council Saturday on a resolution committing the United Nations to the Arab League’s Syria transition plan opens the door to an international free-for-all in which Syrian factions enlist foreign patrons, Russia mortgages itself to a terminally ill regime, and Iran has an opening to forge closer ties with Russia and China. 

Worst of all, the delicate mosaic that is Syria threatens to shatter altogether, as Iraq did after the American invasion.

Spooked by Qaddafi’s ghost, the Russians made clear last week that they would oppose any U.N. endorsement of regime change, whether explicit or implied. Western and Arab willingness to remove the specifics of the Arab League plan—in particular the call to ease Syrian president Bashar al-Assad out of power—won over four other council members that had been skeptical of the initial draft. 

But even as India, South Africa, Pakistan, and Azerbaijan swung over to support the modified resolution, Russia and China dug in. They would happily support Arab League mediation between the Syrian government and opposition groups—but not the Arab League transition plan itself.

We shall see soon enough whether the Western states were wise in refusing to dilute the resolution’s promise of full support for the Arab League transition plan. Without U.N. rules of the road to contain the conflict, there will be multiplying pressures from many quarters to intervene, underscored by the swift suggestion from Connecticut’s irrepressibly interventionist senator, Joseph Lieberman, for the United States start funneling arms to the Syrian resistance.   

Certainly the Russians have now put themselves in a cul-de-sac. They can't expect to come out of this with Assad still on top, and they've burned their last footbridge to the anti-Assad forces to serve as a potential mediator. Whether Syria is consumed in long-term civil strife as debilitating as Iraq’s, or the Baathist government collapses under foreign economic pressure and internal violence, Russia risks losing its entire forty-year investment in the Assad family’s rule.

Russian policymakers got so hung up on re-fighting what they not unreasonably saw as the West’s hijacking of the Libya air-protection resolution for "regime change" that they seem not to have thought through the chess moves on Syria that would follow a Security Council deadlock. Even a resolution that went somewhat farther than they would have liked—perhaps “welcoming” the Arab League plan without necessarily “fully supporting” it—could at least have ensured the conflict’s management would be tethered to the U.N. table, where they have a guaranteed place. 

They seem not to have noticed that, far from having been gunning to bring down the Assad government from the start of Syria’s crisis, Western countries initially looked to Bashar al-Assad to act on his supposed reform inclinations to open up Syria’s suffocating system. They only soured on him when he resorted to lethal repression instead—something for which Moscow and Beijing seem to have rather more tolerance.

It's not clear what Paris and Washington think the coming chess moves will be, either. By insisting on "full support" for the Arab League transition project despite the Russians' proclaimed red lines, they now have no U.N.-led process at all. Far from boxing Iran out, we may find they have opened the door to Sino-Russian backing for more robust Iranian efforts to prop up the Baathist government in Damascus.

In contrast to the Russians and Chinese, the Damascus government has spurned the Arab League’s mediation, declaring last week that the league is no longer has any credibility on the situation. Its press organs insist that the continuing crackdown against “terrorism” is essential for Assad’s dead-end package of political reforms to proceed. Having failed to agree with their council partners on a formula to give a U.N. imprimatur to Arab League mediation, the Russians and Chinese now have to provide hospice care for the sclerotic Baath regime on their own.

Perhaps, as even Senator Lieberman seemed to suggest, there is still an opening for Russia and China—and perhaps, for that matter, other members of the Security Council—to re-think how to proceed together. Syria’s victimized population has the most immediate stake in coordinated international pressures to press the embittered sides into a political process not manipulated by either—but the international community has a deep stake in avoiding a free-for-all.

Posted by Jeffrey Laurenti on February 6, 2012 in Current Affairs - International Affairs | Permalink | Email this post

Siria-Russia-China united: o que faria o Brasil, se estivesse no CSNU?

Sorte do Itamaraty que o Brasil não mais está no Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas, pois os companheiros no poder, soberanistas à outrance, poderiam se vincular aos argumentos da Rússia de que qualquer tentativa de regime change é indesejável, inconveniente, impossível, mesmo à custa do massacre de manifestantes civis, e isto por quase um ano inteiro, e à base de bombardeios de tanques e artilharia, além de snipers do governo, para justamente matar, indiscriminadamente, quaisquer civis que se aventurem pelas ruas, que não seja em favor do governo.
No Brasil, não só os companheiros aliados do partido Bath -- que concluiu um gentil acordo de "cooperação" com o PT -- mas também mercenários da imprensa, gente paga para defender todas as causas indefensáveis (a dos cubanos, a dos sírios, a dos norte-coreanos, como o "Correio do Brasil", por exemplo, um jornal a soldo, ou Carta Maior, um site mentiroso como poucos), mas gente graúda, também, companheiros bem situados nas correias e engrenagens de transmissão do poder, provavelmente fariam com que um voto brasileiro fosse em favor da tal de "responsabilidade ao proteger", um eufemismo para deixar de proteger populações civis, perfeitamente massacráveis pelos poderes aliados dos companheiros. Assim é, se lhes parece...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Russia, China veto U.N. resolution on Syria

Jason DeCrow/AP - Portuguese representative Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, left, and South African representative Baso Sangqu, right, glance at Russian representative Vitaly Churkin, center, as they vote in support of a draft resolution backing an Arab League call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.

By Colum Lynch and Alice Fordham

The Washington Post, February 4, 2012

UNITED NATIONS — Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. resolution condemningSyria’s violent repression of anti-government demonstrators, effectively quashing efforts to isolate President Bashar al-Assad’s government as it intensifies a nearly year-long crackdown.

The veto dealt a blow to attempts by the United States and its European partners to rally behind an Arab League plan that would require Assad to yield power and make way for a democratically elected unity government. The vote followed weeks of negotiations in which diplomats had significantly watered down the resolution in a bid to win broad support.

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 Protesters opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad face violent responses from security forces.

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Amateur video streamed live on Wednesday showed a burned out tank and destroyed armored personnel carrier on the streets of Rastan in Homs. A group of men, some of them brandishing their guns, stood on the destroyed personnel carrier. (Feb. 1)

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“The United States is disgusted” by the Russian and Chinese vetoes, Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said after the vote. “A couple of members of this council remain steadfast in their willingness to sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant.”

Russia’s U.N. envoy, Vitaly I. Churkin, countered that the United States and its partners had undermined the prospects for a deal, saying they had promoted a strategy aimed at “regime change” by backing the opposition’s pursuit of power and fueling “armed methods of struggle.”

The rift left the diplomatic process in disarray, with Arab League delegates vowing to press ahead with their plan for a political transition in Syria, while Russia announced that officials would travel Tuesday to Damascus, where they will meet with Assad and try to push a competing plan to bring the Syrian government and the opposition together for direct talks.

But some Syria experts were worried that it was already too late for diplomatic solutions. “Things are slipping out of control on the ground so much that I’m not sure that [the resolution] could have stopped the killing,” said Andrew Tabler, a Middle East expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The U.N. deadlock came a day after Syrian authorities moved to crush resistance in the town of Homs, killing scores of civilians on the 30th anniversary of the massacre in Hama. Estimates of those killed late Friday varied widely, but the assault seemed to be the strongest attempt yet by the government to put down the protests. Although casualties have been heavy for months, Syrian forces have largely abstained from the use of heavier weaponry. Activists now worry that the attack heralds a new and more aggressive strategy on the part of Assad’s government.

On Saturday, crowds gathered in Homs for the first funerals of the dead, with tens of thousands shown in video footage massing around coffins and shrouds decked with flowers. An opposition spokesman said that after the funerals, people were waiting eagerly to hear the results of the U.N. vote.

“We were hoping they would change their opinion,” said the spokesman, who uses the nom de guerre Abu Rami. “Unfortunately they used their veto. The people here are not so much disappointed. We will rely on Allah, the holy God, and after Allah, we will rely on the Free Syrian Army.”

The 13 to 2 Security Council vote capped weeks of tumultuous negotiations that pitted the United States, the European Union and the Arab League against Russia, Syria’s most powerful remaining protector in the 15-member council.