As most know from recent news releases of the recent massacre of people in Houla Syria. The massacre was of demonic proportions involving close range shootings of entire families with deplorable results.
Within the confines of diplomatic finger pointing as to persons responsible has lead to Pro Government gun men known as {Shabiha}. This with evidence left behind of heavy cannon shell casings with witnessed accounts of heavy tanks and associated equipment had been used.
The situation may be compared to common guilt as being the few of anti-government hiding amongst the many. In response, the many then pay for the crimes of the few.
The question at present: How to keep the lid upon the boiling pot from spilling over into a conflagration of proportions we do not wish to occur.
05/30/2012 03:13 PM
The World from Berlin
'Only Russia Can Exert Influence on Syria'
Despite the expulsion of Syrian envoys from several Western countries on Tuesday and Wednesday, a military intervention in the country remains unlikely. Both Russia and China are strictly opposed and the US is skeptical as well. German commentators explore the alternatives.
On Tuesday, the diplomatic war began in earnest. With the United Nations citing indications that many of the 108 people killed in last Friday's massacre in Houla, Syria were executed by pro-government militiamen, several Western nations expelled Syrian diplomats. In a coordinated move, the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia, Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland all told Syrian ambassadors in their countries that they would have to leave. Japan did the same on Wednesday.
There has been widespread international outrage over the bloodshed, in which dozens of children also lost their lives -- many of them, according to eyewitnesses, having been shot in the head at close range. Nevertheless, it appears unlikely that the UN will authorize a military intervention. Both China and Russia on Wednesday reiterated their opposition to such a move.
Their comments came as French President François Hollande indicated on Wednesday that he would not rule out the possibility of a military intervention in the country. "It is dependent on me and the others to convince the Russians and the Chinese" not to veto military action in the United Nations Security Council, Hollande said. "We cannot allow Syrian President Bashar Assad to continue massacring his own people." Hollande plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
It seems unlikely that he will have any luck, though. Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Wednesday that Moscow remains categorically opposed to military intervention in Syria, Russian news agency Interfax reported. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that his country "opposes military intervention and does not support forced regime change." Even the US is against taking action, with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney saying that "we do not believe that further militarization of the situation in Syria at this point is the right course of action."
'Tipping Point'
The Houla massacre is thought to be the most horrifying slaughter so far in the months-long unrest in Syria. On Tuesday, the UN said that initial investigations concluded that fewer than 20 of those killed on Friday night lost their lives in the artillery bombardment launched by pro-regime fighters. Most of the rest were killed by summary executions, with eyewitnesses reporting gunmen sweeping through Houla stabbing and shooting victims to death.
It is clear, said UN rights spokesman Rupert Colville on Tuesday, "that this was an absolutely abominable event that took place in Houla, and at least a substantial part of it were summary executions of civilians -- women and children." He added that "at this point it looks like entire families were shot in their houses." The UN Human Rights Council announced on Wednesday that it plans to hold an emergency session on Friday to address the events in Houla.
Kofi Annan, special UN envoy to Syria, travelled to Damascus on Tuesday to urge Assad to stop the killing. After the meeting, he said the country was at a "tipping point" and urged Assad's troops and pro-regime militias to exercise restraint.
German commentators take a closer look at the situation again on Wednesday.
Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"The Syrian crisis has now reached a point which allows us to see how reality and diplomacy sometimes exist in parallel worlds. Diplomacy is the horrified statements from the foreign ministries; the expulsion of envoys who, as protocol would have it, must depart their host countries within 72 hours; and the international peace broker who really doesn't have anything left to broker, but shakes hands nonetheless. Reality is the tanks, the mortar fire and the mob which murders women and children on behalf of the Syrian regime."
"These two worlds no longer have anything to do with one another. The one is governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations from April 18, 1961. The other is war. One shouldn't harbor any illusions: The tools of the one world will not be able to stop the murder in the other."
Left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung writes:
"A civil war on the model of Lebanon is beginning to take shape in Syria -- one in which everyone seems to be fighting everyone. Ethno-religious motivations are mixing with political preferences, Shiite Alawis are being played against orthodox Christians and Sunni Muslims. And then there are the al-Qaida groups, jihadists and all manner of mercenaries who are involved in this war -- and that's not counting influence from Iran and the Gulf states. The regime has intentionally stoked the conflict to present itself as a neutral guarantor of peace. In the wake of Houla, this lie has lost its last shred of credibility."
"After more than 10,000 dead in the Syrian revolt, only the most pigheaded can still believe that a political solution to the crisis can be achieved with the Assad regime. As such, the mission of Kofi Annan was predestined to fail because it presupposed that the Assad clan was able to arrive at a realistic assessment of the situation. But holding on to power is the only thing that counts for him. At any price."
"Not even the West is interested in a military intervention like the one in Libya, Russia and China also realize that fact. But a long civil war like the one that appears to be taking shape would likely hurt Russian and Chinese interests in the region more than a sudden overthrow of the despotic Assad clan. It is time to rethink things in Beijing and Moscow."
Financial daily Handelsblatt writes:
"After the Houla massacre, the rifts are so deep and the anger so intense that any political efforts seem doomed to failure. Yet diplomacy nevertheless offers the only way out of the difficult situation. The UN cannot fulfil the task, at least not alone. It has neither the means nor the strength. Its half-hearted resolutions, appeals and threats have all missed their mark. As long as the UN Security Council does not speak powerfully with a single voice, Assad can continue his inhuman activities unhindered. The Europeans and Americans are too busy with themselves at the moment to even consider a dangerous military intervention."
"The only power that can exert a certain amount of influence on Damascus is Russia. In Syria, however, Russia has an ally that offers it strategically vital access to the Middle East and it cannot give that up. Which is why the Russian government continues to protect Assad, even if it has become visibly more uncomfortable for Moscow to do so. But even Moscow must slowly realize that a diplomatic solution, which Russia has insisted it wants, is no longer possible with Assad. Therefore, the only option is to force Assad to give up power. And only Moscow could do that."
Conservative daily Die Welt writes:
"Expelling an ambassador is the strongest weapon available to diplomacy. But that won't put an end to the public outrage (over the Houla massacre). The United Nations have pinpointed the pro-regime shabiha militia as being responsible for this crime against humanity. It might be that President Assad does not personally lead this group of fighters, but he is ultimately responsible when his people are murdered by marauding mercenaries. In Syria, the chain of command ends with him, the dictator. Personal weakness does not protect one from culpability."
"Nevertheless, it is right of UN special envoy Kofi Annan to cling to his peace plan. Because it is still not too late for a 'Yemeni solution,' which would involve the Assad clan stepping down in exchange for political exile. Some might find that dissatisfying because it would allow Assad to escape justice. But any other solution to the Syrian tragedy would cost a much greater price in bloodshed."
I think perhaps your reference is of Hama Massacre under Assad in 1982. That was very violent in that case once again, dealing with anti-government rebels. With this, is the term: Hama Rules
Their are two deadly sins not to commit whilst in Syria: Being, do not kill, or speak against the government. This as born out by currant events as repeated from the past.
The Arab Spring folks need not have to includant of Syria. In The Middle East, there are two very bad boys on the block, Israel and Syria.
I came to close to the Syrian reality today when I watched uncensored images of heavily wounded Syrians and people who were getting tortured on some youtube video's. I thought by myself, this is enough. This is the reality of the Middle-east, this is the reality of the Arab world (it is not only happening in Syria, it happened in Egypt, Saoudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Bahrein an other coubtries). I don't understand the reality of the Arab world, of the Sunni and Shia ( and within that the Allawite) Islamic mentality, thought and reason. It is different than our Western-European and American thinking. It is more absolutist, 250% monotheïst, tribal, clan and sect oriented, with Sheikhs and Ayatollah's as leaders. It is like the contest between Protestants and catholics during the 30 years of war (1618-1648) in Germany. Democracy and Freedom, pluriformity and freedom of speech, power to the people, equality and brotherhood, secularism and humanism, moderate religions and seperation between church and state are concepts of the West. The Middle-east, the Arab world and the Muslim world in general has to find it's own forms. Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, Bosnia, Indonesia and Malaysia can be ecamples of Muslim democracies to these troubled countries (Syria, Bahrein, Egypt, Lybia and Algeria).
I came to close to the Syrian reality today when I watched uncensored images of heavily wounded Syrians and people who were getting tortured on some youtube video's. I thought by myself, this is enough. This is the reality of the Middle-east, this is the reality of the Arab world (it is not only happening in Syria, it happened in Egypt, Saoudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Bahrein an other coubtries). I don't understand the reality of the Arab world, of the Sunni and Shia ( and within that the Allawite) Islamic mentality, thought and reason. It is different than our Western-European and American thinking. It is more absolutist, 2050% monotheïst, tribal, clan and sect oriented, with Sheikhs and Ayatollah's as leaders. It is like the contest between Protestants and catholics during the 30 years of war (1618-1648) in Germany. Democracy and Freedom, pluriformity and freedom of speech, power to the people, equality and brotherhood, secularism and humanism, moderate religions and seperation between church and state are concepts of the West. The Middle-east, the Arab world and the Muslim world in general has to find it's own forms. Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, Bosnia, Indonesia and Malaysia can be ecamples of Muslim democracies to these troubled countries (Syria, Bahrein, Egypt, Lybia and Algeria).
Cheers, Pieter
Pieter
Thank you for your reply upon this rather deplorable subject. I think perhaps some incidents along this path was to trigger your intrinsic responses. It is good you are very level minded with excellent manners of correctly consolidating input of information in a realistic manner.
Yes, I do agree with you with the innately progressive manner of cruelty that is exacted upon people in the Arab states.
It is very important to always keep personal feelings aside and enforce within ones self, the all important rule: Never interfere in the political affairs of any country whilst one is a visitor.
I think perhaps, the question that will provide most all answers that one must understand: What is an Arab?
For of the above, will reveal in self, an entire host of answers that will commensurately create new questions. It is the learning process we learnt whilst in the University. They teach us what we need to know, and with this, they teach us how to learn as a continuing process.
I do have some material that is rather long, but very well written in this regard as to the Arab mind.
At least 86 people, including many women and children, have been killed by Syrian pro-government forces in Hama province, opposition activists say.
More than 20 children and 20 women were reportedly among those who died in the villages of Qubair and Maarzaf, in what the activists called a "massacre".
Syrian State TV said troops found some bodies after attacking "terrorists".
Neither account could be confirmed, but it comes less than two weeks after 108 people were killed in Houla.
Witnesses blamed pro-government militiamen, while the government of President Bashar al-Assad accused "armed groups" seeking to trigger foreign military intervention. 'Heinous crime'
On Wednesday evening, activist groups reported that Qubair and Maarzaf, about 20km (12 miles) north-west of the city of Hama, had come under heavy bombardment from security forces backed by tanks.
But they said much of the killing in Qubair was done by accompanying groups of pro-government militiamen known as "shabiha", who had come from nearby pro-government villages.
The activists said they shot at close range and stabbed many people, including women and children under the age of two, and that some of the bodies were later burnt in houses which were set on fire. Others were taken away by the shabiha, they added.
"They executed [nearly] every person in the village. Very few numbers could flee. They majority were slaughtered with knives and in a horrible and ugly way," one activist in Hama told the BBC's World Tonight.
"[They] are failing to save the lives of the wounded because they are very poor people - usually they are Bedouin who... have no kind of healthcare," he added.
"The small number of villagers who fled were the only people remaining who could tell the world about this horrible massacre."
The Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist network, said 78 people had died in Qubair, including 35 members of one family.
Musab al-Hammadi, another activist in Hama, told the BBC that "the regime is playing its last card" by attacking the villages.
Later on Wednesday, Syrian state TV quoted an official source as saying that security forces, responding to appeals from citizens, had launched an attack on an "armed terrorist stronghold" in Qubair.
The security forces came across the bodies of two women and a number of children, bound hand and foot, in the village, who the coroner said had been killed at 10:00, when the "armed terrorist groups" were still in the village, the official added.
In a statement on state TV quoted by AFP news agency, the government said that "a terrorist group has committed a heinous crime".
"The reports by the media are contributing to spilling the blood of Syrians," the statement added.
The LCC said the Qubair killings had brought the total number of people killed nationwide by security forces on Wednesday to 140. Annan appeal
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says there has been no independent confirmation of these latest reports and no video has surfaced on the internet to back them up.
But the news of the Houla massacre emerged in a similar way and the details given by activists were later confirmed by UN ceasefire observers on the ground, our correspondent adds.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called on monitors to go immediately.
"They should not wait to tomorrow to investigate this new massacre," it said in a statement. "They should not give the excuse that their mission is only to observe the ceasefire, because many massacres have been committed during their presence in Syria."
The 297 unarmed military observers are in Syria to verify the implementation of the peace plan negotiated by the UN and Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan, including a ceasefire that supposedly came into force in mid-April.
On Thursday, Mr Annan will urge the UN Security Council to create a new contact group to help end the violence, diplomats say. It will include permanent members of the council, and key regional powers.
The BBC's Nada Tawfik at UN headquarters in New York says Mr Annan hopes involving countries like Iran and Turkey will speed up efforts to start a political transition in Syria that have stalled under his plan.
But the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has already said it is unthinkable to involve in the process a country like Iran, which - she said - was state managing the Syrian government's assault on its own people.
And speaking at a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" countries in Istanbul on Wednesday, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague Iran's involvement would make any contact group "unworkable".
There is so much anger over there, to many dead, to many wounded, to many mutilated corpses and people in prison. Both sides will continue to arm themselves and Syria and Lebanon will desintegrate. The borders between Lebanon and Syria will be thin and the religious sects and ethnic groups will unite over the border. Like in Tripoli in Northern Lebanon. I wonder which side the armed christian militia of Lebanon will choose? The Maronite fractions; the Lebanese forces.
The sectarian violence may spread to Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Turkey and other countries. A Shia-Allawite-Christian-Druze front on one side and a Sunni-Christian front on the other side. The christians are segregated in Pro-Assad and anti-Assad groups.
Syria is stil a militairy power with the active support of Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah party and militia. Next to that it has the active support of Russia, China and North-Korea. The Allawites based regime form a minority, but they have the active support of Sunni, Shia, Christian and Druze loyalists, Baath party members of other ethnic and religious groups wo cooperated with the regime for decades. There is proof that part of the opression against the Sunni opposition was commited by Sunni officers and soldiers with Baath party (regime) connections. The conflict is not as black and white as many Western media portray it. But the truth is that the majority of the opposition is Sunni based, and that the Sunni opposition gets support from the Sunni Muslim countries; Saoudi Arabia, Qatar and Sunni Muslims from Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and probably Palestine too. The Sunni Muslim Hamas officially broke all ties with Damascus. I don't know about the Fatah PLO regime in the West-Bank. The Western powers (except Israel) tent to support the Syrian Sunni opposition. Nobody knows what the CIA, MI5, the Bundesnachrichtendienst and the Mossad is doing behind the curtains. These secret services have Arab personel and might be infilitrated in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and the Turkey border region with Syria. And next to them the powerful Russian FSB, the Chinese (MSS: The Ministry of State Security), the Iranian MISIRI, and the Saoudi Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah (the General Intelligence Presidency or GIP). One of the core values and principles of the Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah is the full obligation of the Islamic Sharia (Islamic Law). Saoudi Arabia influences Sunni Muslim communities all over the Globe. From Europe to Northern-America and from Africa to Asia. The influence of Saoudi Arabia in Syria and Lebanon is as worrysome as the infuence of Hezbollah and the Syrian Baath regime in the Levant. It is worrysome, because Saoudi Arabia spreads the radical, puritinical, fundamentalist and (thus) Islamist version of the Sunni Islam, Wahhabism and Salafism through the world.
The question is what kind of Islamism is worse the Shia, Iranian, inspired Ayatollah branch which is active in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, or the Sunni brand of Islamism present in Saoudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Algeria (GIA/FIS/Al Qaida of the Maghreb), Chechenia and with it's terror cells in Europe (Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany - the Hamburg Al Qiada cell who cooperated in 911 -). Everything is interlinked nowadays. The Syrian regime was considered by many people as a secular regime which protected minorities like Christians, Druze, Allawites (the base of the regime) and probably even the Kurds. But in the same time the Assad regime supported Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the West-Bank.
What is clearly evident, is that the world is now descending into a new kind of 21st century BARBARISM that threatens to dwarf anything seen in the previous century. More importantly, this Apocalypse is being televised LIVE and in REAL TIME.
As a person, I do understand your self as a decent person of high morals and the belief as of my self, of God to guide us by.
What we have at present, is not of the belief of God or the Koran, but a play for power. At present, the supreme power is The Syrian government as presented by Assad. It is not by the Shabinha, for these people are plying the winds against the currant of reality. They will lose in the end, but only after a very bitter fight.
For as above, is nothing less then the after math of the so called: Arab Spring. Every thing must have a name, and it is much kind to say Arab Spring then to say: Revolution. Which in meaning, is to gain power by default by means of organzed destruction with use of violence.
It is not the people, it is a very well organized operation to over throw the standing goverents within the area of the Middle East. With exception of the Arab states and Kuwait families. For these people have the means to fund what ever it takes for protection. What this in essence is meaning: To finance the hire out of hit people for what ever the cost, to track down and kill in what ever means to each and every one person that would orchestra such means to over throw the each and every throne of each Arab family. Or, buy out the opposition. It matters naught of the means, what matters is the result.
The above is very well known, but to be discussed. For as fore mentioned of experience whilst working the office in Syria. There are two situations to avoid: One is over throw or even hint, of the government. Two, never commit murder...
For of the above, it is to the hall of Justice with one way in alive, the other out, dead.
As a person, I do understand your self as a decent person of high morals and the belief as of my self, of God to guide us by.
What we have at present, is not of the belief of God or the Koran, but a play for power. At present, the supreme power is The Syrian government as presented by Assad. It is not by the Shabinha, for these people are plying the winds against the currant of reality. They will lose in the end, but only after a very bitter fight.
For as above, is nothing less then the after math of the so called: Arab Spring. Every thing must have a name, and it is much kind to say Arab Spring then to say: Revolution. Which in meaning, is to gain power by default by means of organzed destruction with use of violence.
It is not the people, it is a very well organized operation to over throw the standing goverents within the area of the Middle East. With exception of the Arab states and Kuwait families. For these people have the means to fund what ever it takes for protection. What this in essence is meaning: To finance the hire out of hit people for what ever the cost, to track down and kill in what ever means to each and every one person that would orchestra such means to over throw the each and every throne of each Arab family. Or, buy out the opposition. It matters naught of the means, what matters is the result.
The above is very well known, but to be discussed. For as fore mentioned of experience whilst working the office in Syria. There are two situations to avoid: One is over throw or even hint, of the government. Two, never commit murder...
For of the above, it is to the hall of Justice with one way in alive, the other out, dead.
Karl
Karl,
You as an experianced public official in the service of the German government or German institution have more experiance with Syria than I have. I only read for years news reports, encyclopedia, Foreign Affairs and etc. I have no facts on the ground from Syria, except the news I get from anti-government and pro-government sources.
What I want to say is. Every human life counts, and I reget the suffering of any mother, father and child. Whether they are Sunni, Allawite, Shia, Christian, Druze or Kurd. I hope that with any means, diplomatic, economical, politicial and militairy the international community will take action to end this crisis. The United Nations must take a firmer standpoint and the West must increase it's pressure on both sides to respect the cease fire. The Dead must be buried respectfully, the wounded must be taken care of, the people in prison must be released and a large multi-national force of American, British, French, German, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch and maybe even Arab troops of the Arab Leage countries should maintain peace in the country. Both the Syrian Baath regime and the Free Syrian Army and other opposition forces will not stop attacking eachother. What is going on in Syria right now is a civil war in several parts in the country and a crack down of opposition demonstrations by the Syrian secret police, militia's, police and army. It will get bloodier en bloodier, unles the Arab Leage, the UN and the Western powers take action. The problem is that the West isn't ready to go into this wasps nest (Hotbed).
What is clearly evident, is that the world is now descending into a new kind of 21st century BARBARISM that threatens to dwarf anything seen in the previous century. More importantly, this Apocalypse is being televised LIVE and in REAL TIME.
Ofcourse I agree with you Nicetoe to a certain degree. I sometimes wish or pray for the world to go towards a more positive direction. But sometimes I even think: "Will I experiance armed conflict or war in Europe druing my life". You had a First World War, a Second World War, why should a Third World War wouldn't be possible?
I hope not, but a Third World War is possible and it will be a totally differant war than the previous ones. Maybe even more Global, because Europe, Russia, the USA/Canada, China, the Middle-East and Africa might be involved. A new global war will be more complicated, because it will be faught on many more fronts and it will be less conventional than the first two world wars, which were wars between states. A Third World War will be a war which contains, terrorism, local and regional conflicts (guerilla warfare, city wars and war in difficult territories with complicated alliances, partnerships and rivalries), civil wars, wars between large geopolitical powers and etc. In a new world war the whole worl will be involved.
I read a very interesting article of a Dutch journalist in Damascus who spoke with various Syrians from different backgrounds. Sunni, Allawite and Shia, opposition and pro-government people. What was amazing of the article was the fact that it mentioned that families and circles of friends in Syria sometimes are split between Pro- and Anti-Assad people. Some Pro-government people refuse to betray anti-government activists when they are their friends, family or sometimes colleages. In other cases families brake up, friendships are broken and etc.
So the situation is more complicated, delicate, pluriform and multi-layered than the Western press, government press and pro-regime foreign press (Lebanese, Russian and etc.) sometimes shows you. In the article also the casualties from the Pro-Assad side were mentioned. Like Allawites that were killed in Anti-government strongholds in Sunni dominate neighbourhoods in Damascus. I heared the story of an Allawite whom christian friend was murdered by opposition forces.
A Shia man from the Shabiha, sectarian civilian militia, told about the fact that he is sent from Damascus to Homs, Hama and Dara and that he is payed per action. It is not described what he excactly does there. But he said I will not snitch my opposition friends (demonstration people) to the government, but I will kill any friend of the opposition if he is part of the armed opposition. When the journalist asked him: " you are Shia, but most Shabiha people are Allawites", the man said; "That doesn't matter, both Allawites and Shia are followers of Ali, we are brothers." Both the opposition and pro-government people who were interviewed in the article said that before the conflict, being an Allawite or Sunni was never an issue. Now it seems that it is made and issue by internal forces and external forces (Iran -which supports the Assad regime-, Saoudi Arabia -which supports the Syrian opposition-, and the Syrian Baath regime itself and etc.)
I read a very interesting article of a Dutch journalist in Damascus who spoke with various Syrians from different backgrounds. Sunni, Allawite and Shia, opposition and pro-government people. What was amazing of the article was the fact that it mentioned that families and circles of friends in Syria sometimes are split between Pro- and Anti-Assad people. Some Pro-government people refuse to betray anti-government activists when they are their friends, family or sometimes colleages. In other cases families brake up, friendships are broken and etc.
So the situation is more complicated, delicate, pluriform and multi-layered than the Western press, government press and pro-regime foreign press (Lebanese, Russian and etc.) sometimes shows you. In the article also the casualties from the Pro-Assad side were mentioned. Like Allawites that were killed in Anti-government strongholds in Sunni dominate neighbourhoods in Damascus. I heared the story of an Allawite whom christian friend was murdered by opposition forces.
A Shia man from the Shabiha, sectarian civilian militia, told about the fact that he is sent from Damascus to Homs, Hama and Dara and that he is payed per action. It is not described what he excactly does there. But he said I will not snitch my opposition friends (demonstration people) to the government, but I will kill any friend of the opposition if he is part of the armed opposition. When the journalist asked him: " you are Shia, but most Shabiha people are Allawites", the man said; "That doesn't matter, both Allawites and Shia are followers of Ali, we are brothers." Both the opposition and pro-government people who were interviewed in the article said that before the conflict, being an Allawite or Sunni was never an issue. Now it seems that it is made and issue by internal forces and external forces (Iran -which supports the Assad regime-, Saoudi Arabia -which supports the Syrian opposition-, and the Syrian Baath regime itself and etc.)
Cheers,Pieter
Pieter
You are most correct in your assessment of the complications that are in the mix. Nothing is as it appears.
For on top of the hodgepodge of complications of internal family ties between factions of opposition, is the situation that should not be, but is,,and that is the international group pressure against the currant Syrian Government.
One being the Foreign Embassy in Damascus. Especially the American. For The mission of the Foreign Service Officer, {Short Description}:
The Mission of a diplomat of a sending country is to promote peace, support prosperity, and protect citizens of the sending country whilst advancing the interest of the sending country abroad.
But of course in reality: The office in the course of duties, is gathering information of many sorts in the field of: Economics/political situations that may involve the sending country/assimilation and projection of both currant and future aspects of information that has been brought to the attention of the officers of responsibility.
If all out side influences were deleted in this currant situation of internal unrest, would be of a great assistance to both the common good of Syria and to the standing government. But to reality of events.
Of the following, I wish not to toss hot rocks upon the American fore head, but reality is what it is. In this manner there is a front organization that is American backed, as being: The Friends of Syria in reality, is the backing of anti-government forces for the reason to over throw the standing government of Syria, financed by the Americans through surrogates.
Rather it succeeds in purpose, or as the lighted fuse to engulf the region in a conflagration that once is begun, will by situation of dry grass, will flare into a full blown regional civil war.
Against this, is the hopes of the surrounding Arab states. For as these are non-democratic, but family owned, would preclude their protection against a hostile take over.
The following url is not nice, but, places things into prospective.
When subject name: Arab League,,means League of Arab States. Syria, a former member, was expelled in year 2011. Which would mean,,to be with out a vote. For each member, in realation to an issue of sum of member states, each has only one vote.
The primary concern of above withen the confines of the currant and present situaton is this: Where will the common good find the petrol for his auto? And most important, what cost is transportation to be non- affordable?
For some journalists, Syria has been one of the least hospitable countries in the Middle East, a place where reporters — if they can get in — are routinely harassed and threatened as they try to uncover the repression that has propped up the Assad government for decades.
For other journalists, Syria has until recently been a country led by the cultivated, English-speaking President Bashar al-Assad who, along with his beautiful British-born wife, Asma, was helping usher in a new era of openness and prosperity.
That second impression is no accident. With the help of high-priced public relations advisers who had worked in the Clinton, Bush and Thatcher administrations, the president and his family have sought over the past five years to portray themselves in the Western media as accessible, progressive and even glamorous.
Magazines and online outlets have published complimentary features about the family, often focusing on fashion and celebrity. In March 2011, just as Mr. Assad and his security forces initiated a brutal crackdown on political opponents that has led to the death of an estimated 10,000 Syrians, Vogue magazine ran a flattering profile of the first lady, describing her as walking “a determined swath cut through space with a flash of red soles,” a reference to her Christian Louboutin heels.
Fawning treatment of world leaders — particularly attractive Western-educated ones — is nothing new. But the Assads have been especially determined to burnish their image, and hired experts to do so. The family paid the Washington public relations firm Brown Lloyd James $5,000 a month to act as a liaison between Vogue and the first lady, according to the firm.
This web of politics and public relations ensnared Barbara Walters recently. After she conducted an aggressive interview with Mr. Assad on ABC News in December, she offered to provide recommendations for Sheherazad Jaafari, the president’s press aide and the daughter of the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, who was applying for a job at CNN and admission to Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Ms. Walters issued a statement on Tuesday expressing regret for her actions, which she called “a conflict.”
Ms. Jaafari, 22, who has been accepted by Columbia, had worked as an intern at Brown Lloyd James. Last year, she expressed her feelings about the Assad family in an e-mail to Mike Holtzman, a partner at the firm who, according to his online profile, advised the Clinton administration on trade issues and worked in the State Department during the Bush administration.
“I have always told you — this man is loved by his people,” Ms. Jaafari wrote in the e-mail, which was obtained by the British newspaper The Guardian. Mr. Holtzman replied: “I’m proud of you. Wish I were there to help.” Mr. Holtzman did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
The Assads were in many ways ripe for celebrity treatment by the news media. The president, who was trained as an ophthalmologist, received part of his education in Britain, where he met his wife, a Briton of Syrian descent who grew up in London and worked as an investment banker in New York.
Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who once worked for a charity sponsored by Mrs. Assad, summed up the appeal the Assads had for some news outlets: “He speaks English, and his wife is hot.”
The campaign to make the ruling family the face of a more Westernized and open Syria began in 2006, when Mrs. Assad approached the public relations firm Bell Pottinger in London.
Tim Bell, a co-founder of the firm and a former media adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said Mrs. Assad contacted the firm after several first ladies, including Laura Bush, began to hold annual meetings and conferences.
“She wanted to be a part of that club,” he said in a phone interview.
Bell Pottinger did not set up interviews for Mrs. Assad directly, but advised her on how to set up a communications office in Damascus to help shape her image.
A few years later, positive articles began to appear. Paris Match called Mrs. Assad an “element of light in a country full of shadow zones” and the “eastern Diana.” French Elle counted her among the best-dressed women in world politics, and in 2009, The Huffington Post published an article and fashion slide show titled “Asma al-Assad: Syria’s First Lady and All-Natural Beauty.”
“She responded beautifully, because she speaks well and is beautiful,” said the Italian writer Gaia Servadio, who worked for Mrs. Assad in Damascus. She added that Mrs. Assad hoped the coverage would deflect some of the negative attention her country had received.
None of the articles about Mrs. Assad struck a nerve quite like the 3,200-word March 2011 profile in Vogue titled “A Rose in the Desert.” In it, the writer, Joan Juliet Buck, called Mrs. Assad “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies.”
In a phone interview, Ms. Buck said that shortly after the profile was published, she began “steadily speaking out against the Assad regime,” including in an interview with Piers Morgan on CNN and elsewhere. In April, on National Public Radio, Ms. Buck said she regretted the headline that Vogue put on the article. But she said Mrs. Assad was “extremely thin and very well-dressed, and therefore qualified to be in Vogue.”
This spring, the magazine removed the article from its Web site. On Sunday, Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, issued a statement about the article saying, in part: “Like many at that time, we were hopeful that the Assad regime would be open to a more progressive society. Subsequent to our interview, as the terrible events of the past year and a half unfolded in Syria, it became clear that its priorities and values were completely at odds with those of Vogue. The escalating atrocities in Syria are unconscionable and we deplore the actions of the Assad regime in the strongest possible terms.”
Even among the world’s most repressive governments, Syria stands out in its treatment of journalists. The only way for many reporters to cover news emerging from the bloody crackdown on dissidents is to sneak into the country — often putting their lives at risk.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 13 reporters have been killed in Syria since November, including Marie Colvin, a veteran war correspondent from Long Island. (Anthony Shadid of The New York Times died of an asthma attack during a clandestine reporting trip to Syria.) Syrian officials have denied targeting journalists, but state media outlets have said that foreign reporters killed in Syria “must be spies or have links to terrorist organizations.”
Ms. Walters, who has a lifetime of experience chasing and winning interviews with world leaders, said she spent six years establishing a relationship with the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, including once dining at his home.
The connection eventually paid off. “Assad decided he would do an interview; according to the ambassador, he had requests from all over the world,” Ms. Walters said in a telephone interview last week. “And he chose to do it with me, based on the recommendation of the ambassador, and also because I had been to Syria twice before and knew something of its background and history.”
Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said this kind of interview is highly sought after. “In a strange way, political leaders, presidents and prime ministers who are highly repressive and restrictive are good ‘gets’ for these types of interviews, precisely because there’s no fair media coverage in their countries,” he said.
Ms. Walters’ interview, broadcast in December, made worldwide news, with Mr. Assad issuing claims that he was not responsible for the Syrian military and that people were not being killed by his government.
Ms. Walters said, “I went to Syria and conducted what was a very tough and strong interview that President Assad did not like.”
But her offer of help to the ambassador’s daughter has cast a shadow on that interview. Two people close to Ms. Walters said she had reacted to a plea from Ms. Jaafari for help because Ms. Jaafari was being removed from her position as a media adviser to the Syrian president.
Mr. Tabler said that he didn’t “find it surprising what Walters did for her.” The issue, he said, was the timing.
“At that point, how many had been killed — 7,000?” he said. “This is an attractive young woman, and she speaks English. Maybe you help her with an introduction. To get beyond that is a little difficult to swallow.”
