On March 11, Assad repeated
what he's said numerous times. He's "ready to support any honest effort
to solve the situation."
He told former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (Ban Ki-moon's envoy
appointed with Washington's approval) that doing so depends on accurately
assessing conditions on the ground. It also requires admitting Syria's
dealing with Western-backed insurgents.
As a result, he’s obligated to protect Syrians from heavily armed gangs.
Violence won't stop until chaos, instability, and terrorism they cause
ends.
Annan came to Syria on a mission. A reliable imperial tool, his one-way
settlement terms involved Assad accepting Western demands.
Assad said "no political dialogue or political activity can succeed
while there are armed terrorist groups operating and spreading chaos
and instability."
Annan wanted none of it. His pro-Western marching orders mandated he
follow them to the letter. Assad never had a chance for honest dialogue
and peaceful resolution. Washington won't tolerate it.
Russian-Led Five-Point Conflict Resolution Plan
Over the weekend, Russia, China, and Arab League states met in Cairo.
They agreed on a five-point plan. It includes:
"(1) First, to stop violence, wherever it comes from.
(2) Second, to create an impartial and free monitoring mechanism.
(3) Third, no external interference.
(4) Fourth, unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to all Syrians.
(5) Fifth, first support for [UN and LAS Special Envoy] Kofi Annan's
mission in order to start political dialogue between the government
and all opposition groups."
Despite agreement, post-meeting comments revealed unresolved disputes.
Saudi Arabia criticized Russian and Chinese Security Council vetoes.
Despite clear evidence, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim
Al Thani claimed:
"There are no armed gangs. The systematic killing came from the Syrian
government side for many months. After that, the people were forced
to defend themselves so the regime labeled them armed gangs."
He also called the Russian and Chinese ceasefire proposal inadequate.
In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said:
"My country has always supported people's rights and their striving
for freedom and development. This resolution has a chance to be agreed
upon, provided we are not guided by the desire to support the opposition
armed groups to win the battle in the cities."
"But if we are driven by the desire to make sure there is no fighting
in the cities and towns, then the relevant proposals are on the table,
and we have plenty of opportunities to agree on them."
Separately he said Assad's confronting armed gangs with Al Qaeda members.
They're involved in violence, killings and atrocities.
On March 12, Syria's Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud accused armed
gangs of committing an "atrocious massacre against women, children and
elderly citizens in Karm al-Zaytoun, and mutilating their bodies in
order to put pressure to elicit international stances against Syria."
He called Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other complicit states accomplices
in willful terrorism. "We've grown accustomed to the bloody escalation
of these terrorist groups in committing massacres, murdering citizens
and attacking public and private establishments which preceeds international
meetings," he said.
He called Karm al-Zaytoun's massacre one of many armed gangs committed.
A local resident this time said ordinary people were targeted, including
family members and a 75-year old man. A local woman added that insurgents
rape, kill, throw bodies in streets, then film them for Al Jazeera and
Saudi's al-Arabia TV.
Al Jazeera's War on Syria
Once a reliable news and information source, Qatar-based Al Jazeera
abandoned professionalism and integrity. Like Western media scoundrels,
it broadcasts propaganda, not truth and full disclosure.
Last April, its Beirut chief and popular host Ghassan Bin Jiddo resigned.
Others remaining at the time criticized AJ’s biased/falsified reporting,
especially on Libya, Bahrain, Syria, and elsewhere in the region.
Last September, top AJ executive Wadah Khanfar quit after eight years
heading its satellite news operation. In 2003, he became managing director,
then later made director general.
Qatar royal family member Sheikh Hamad Ben Jassem Al-Thani replaced
him. He formerly chaired its board with veto power over program content.
Now directing programming assures compromised coverage lacking credibility.
AJ's fall from grace hit bottom. Khanfar had enough and quit. He wasn't
the last to go.
On March 12, Russia Today said AJ again lost staff over biased reporting.
Beirut staff members resigned over falsified Syria reporting.
Last week, managing director Hassan Shaaban, correspondent Ali Hashem,
and a producer quit. The Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar said Hashem left
because AJ "refused to show photos he had taken of armed fighters clashing
with the Syrian army in Wadi Khaled."
Instead, he was criticized for disloyalty. Hashem was also furious over
AJ's refusal to cover regime instigated Bahraini violence. At the same
time, it falsified reports on Assad. "In Bahrain," he said, "we were
seeing pictures of a people being butchered by the 'Gulf's oppression
machine,' and for Al Jazeera, silence was the name of the game."
Beirut's producer left because AJ wouldn't cover Syria's overwhelmingly
approved constitutional reform referendum. Former AJ correspondent Afshin
Tattansi said it's now a pro-Western tool no different from BBC and
Western media. The way it covers Syria and most else is totally one-sided.
Russia and China Oppose Foreign Intervention
Both countries strongly oppose replicating Libya's model in Syria. Their
vetos and resolute stand so far prevented Washington's interventionist
scheme succeeding, but for how long. Regime change by any means is planned,
including war.
Ominous signs suggest it. Paris-based Syrian National Council (SNC)
head Burhan Ghalioun calls no solution possible without military intervention.
Washington, Britain, France, Israel, and rogue Arab states want it.
For months, they've recruited, funded, armed and trained rogue killer
gangs. They've destabilized Syria to facilitate Western intervention.
Annan's mission was more theater than honest conflict resolution diplomacy.
Like Ban-Ki-moon, his entire UN Secretary-General tenure reflected betrayal
and failure. An imperial tool, he never achieved peace or worked for
it.
He didn't condemn or act against Washington's devastating Iraqi economic
sanctions. They killed 1.5 million or more defenseless men, women and
children. Silence betrayed his complicity.
He showed it later in Washington's 2003 war, its 2001 Afghan one, and
Israel's Palestinian occupation and crimes against humanity.
For a decade (January 1996 through December 2006) go-along position
supported imperial Washington. His Syria mission mandated reinventing
his earlier role. Instead of seeking peaceful resolution, he subverted
it. As a result, he came, dialogued, and left with no deal because what
he offered no responsible leader would accept.
His one-way terms demanded Assad "stop the killing and the misery and
the abuse that is going on today and then give time for a political
settlement." He ended talks telling Assad the ball's in his court. He
also said he'll try to unite opposition against him. Some diplomat.
On Sunday, he flew to Qatar to meet its pro-Western rogue emir (Sheikh
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani), another leader complicit in Western war
crimes. He actively supported NATO's Libya killing machine. He's now
involved in stoking Syrian violence and instability. It involves targeted
assassinations, killing civilians, and wrongly blaming Assad.
He, Russia, China, and others want peaceful conflict resolution. Washington
plans military intervention. On March 10, Washington Post writer Karen
DeYoung headlined, "Talk of military aid rises as hopes fade for peaceful
Syria resolution," saying:
Washington and key allies began discussing "potential military involvement
in Syria....Possibilities include directly arming opposition forces
(of course, ongoing for many months), sending troops to guard a humanitarian
corridor or 'safe zone' for the rebels (effectively a ground-based no-fly
zone assuring war), or an air assault on Syrian air defenses, according
to (US) officials and other" anti-Assad nations.
In other words, after failing to get Security Council approval, circumventing
it's now planned to accomplish the same thing belligerently.
DeYoung said governments involved in discussions "remain deeply divided
over the scope of any intervention, how, when it would happen, and who
would participate."
Many question its legitimacy. Of course, it has none, nor did NATO's
Libya intervention. So what hope has Syria to prevent Washington's regime
change plans by any means, and perhaps intent to go it alone if willing
allies aren't found or enough of them.
On March 8, Turkey's President Abdullah Gul expressed concern about
intervention "from outside the region," but remains firmly allied with
Western regime change plans.
Syria's state media SANA said the nation's Italy-based expat community
firmly rejects foreign intervention. It supports Assad's reform process.
"Under the motto - No to Foreign Interference, No to War and Yes to
Peace....No to Armed Gangs....No to Fabricated Media and No to Economic
Siege on the Syrian People - the Syrian and Arab communities in Italy
staged a huge mass rally in the center of the Italian capital, Rome,
on Sunday."
Participants called for denouncing anti-Assad goals through killings,
terror tactics, and efforts to destabilize and destroy Syria.
On March 8, huge pro-Assad crowds massed in Damascus' Bahart Square.
Participants rejected all forms of foreign interference. So do nonviolent
anti-Assad protesters.
Damascus participants chanted national songs, held Syrian flags and
banners, and opposed all schemes undermining Syria's stability, independence
and dignity.
International law prohibits interfering in other countries' internal
affairs. Among others, the 1933 Montevideo Convention of Rights and
Duties is very explicit.
Article 8 says "No state has the right to intervene in the internal
or external affairs of another."
Under Article 10, differences between states "should be settled by recognized
pacific methods."
Article 11 calls sovereign state territory "inviolable...."
The UN Charter also mandates state sovereignty, equality among all nations,
non-interference in their domestic affairs, self-determination, non-interference
in other states' internal affairs, settling disputes peacefully, and
avoiding threats or force.
Washington spurns international and US law. As a result, independent
states like Syria are vulnerable. Months of externally-generated violence
continues.
Replacing its independent regime with a pro-Western one is planned.
If current methods fail, expect war. It's America's last resort and
sometimes its preferred one.
Humanity wonders who's next and whether rogue US policies may engulf
the world in flames and destroy it. Maybe it's the only way Washington's
killing machine can be stopped. Nothing else so far worked.
Given America run by warmongering zealots spurning peace, be scared.
Be very scared.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
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