councilor.org
| Source | Robert Naiman |
| Date | 12/02/01/13:35 |
| It's hard to imagine what legitimate objection could be made to the
Russian demand, since 1) use of force against a UN member state unless in immediate self-defense against armed attack or with the explicit authorization of the UN Security Council is prohibited by the UN Charter and 2) it is widely claimed that Western countries have no intention of intervening militarily. If the UN Charter is real, then the Russian demand just reaffirms existing international law. If the US and its friends refuse the Russian demand, then either 1) they want to keep the option open to intervene militarily, or 2) they object "in principle" to "setting a precedent" that Western countries have to obey the UN Charter or 3) they see a Russian veto as a goal, not an outcome to be avoided. www.reuters.com Russia says will veto "unacceptable" Syria resolution By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia signaled on Wednesday it would veto a draft U.N. resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down unless it explicitly ruled out military intervention to halt the bloodshed touched off by protests against his rule. Escalating violence in Syria has killed thousands of people and activists say Assad's forces have stepped up operations this week against opposition strongholds, from the Damascus suburbs to the cities of Hama and Homs and the border provinces of Deraa and Idlib. Arab and Western states urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to act swiftly on a resolution calling for Assad to delegate powers to his deputy and defuse the 11-month-old uprising against his family's dynastic rule. But Moscow's envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said there was no chance the Western-Arab draft text could be accepted unless it precisely rejected armed intervention. The draft "is missing the most important thing: a clear clause ruling out the possibility that the resolution could be used to justify military intervention in Syrian affairs from outside. For this reason I see no chance this draft could be adopted," Chizhov said. Russia and China, both veto-wielding Security Council members, have resisted a Western push for a resolution condemning the Syrian government's crackdown on unrest. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the resolution could not be used to authorize military intervention and his French counterpart Alain Juppe said such an idea was a myth. But Chizhov's remarks suggested Moscow, a close strategic ally and important arms supplier to Syria during its 42 years in the grip of the Assad family, would not accept such assurances. Russia says the West exploited fuzzy wording in a March 2011 U.N. Security Council resolution on Libya to turn a mandate to protect civilians in the North African country's popular uprising into a push for regime change, backed by NATO air strikes, that led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Russia has also expressed concern that the draft's threat of "further measures" against Syria could lead to sanctions, which it opposes. Its diplomats also want to remove the draft's support for the Arab League's plan for Assad to cede power. "ECONOMIC PRESSURE" Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who has led the Arab League's efforts to tackle the Syrian crisis, attempted to allay Moscow and Beijing's objections, saying it was trying to avoid a Libyan-style foreign role. "We are not calling for foreign intervention," he said. "We are advocating the exertion of concrete economic pressure so that the Syrian regime might realize that it is imperative to meet the demands of its people." He told the 15-member Security Council that Syria's "killing machine is still at work." Syrian insurgents said Assad's forces extended a military sweep overnight around Damascus to counter a rebel threat that had reached the gates of the sprawling capital. A statement by a local rebel group in Damascus province said more troops and armor were moving into eastern suburbs and in the mountainous Qalamoun area north of Damascus, which Assad's forces took over this week. There were army snipers in the suburb of Misraba, which has had no electricity or water for a week. Activists reported shops closed, a lack of basic supplies and tanks in the streets. North of Damascus, armored troops controlled the town of Rankous and began extending their control into farmland surrounding it, bombarding the village of Telfita overnight, according to opposition activists. In the Wadi Barada area on the edge of the capital, four people were killed in a tank bombardment on Wednesday to flush out rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) units operating near the capital, activists said. Syria's state news agency said troops killed 11 members of an "armed terrorist group" outside the southern city of Deraa, and that government forces discovered bomb factories and field hospitals in a raid on armed cells in Irbin and Sabqa, Damascus suburbs where insurgents had appeared recently. It was not possible to verify the reports as Syria restricts access for independent media. "The Free Syrian Army has withdrawn but will be back," said Fawaz Tello, a Syrian opposition figure who left for Cairo a few days ago. "The crackdown will only swell its ranks of professional soldiers (and) conscripts." CALL FOR ACTION Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby called on the U.N. Security Council to take "rapid and decisive action" by approving the resolution. "Do not let the Syrian people down in its plight," he said. The United States strongly endorsed the appeal from the Arab League and Qatar for "rapid and decisive action," but China reiterated its reservations. "China is firmly opposed to the use of force to solve the Syrian problem and resolutely opposes pushing for forced regime change in Syria, as it violates the United Nations Charter and the basic norms guiding the practice of international relations," Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Li Baodong as telling the Security Council. Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari rejected the suggestion his government was responsible for the crisis and accused Western powers of dreaming of "the return of colonialism and hegemony" in the Middle East. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the policy of isolation and seeking regime change risked igniting a "much bigger drama" in the Middle East. "The people who are obsessed with removing regimes in the region, they should be really thinking about the broader picture. And I'm afraid that if this vigor to change regimes persists, we are going to witness a very bad situation much, much, much broader than just Syria, Libya, Egypt or any other single country." (Additional reporting Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman and Joseph Logan in Beirut; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Janet Lawrence) -- Robert Naiman www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman@justforeignpolicy.org |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho