Syria and Diplomacy 2917

 in Uncategorized by

The problem with the Geneva Communique from the first Geneva round on Syria is that the government of Syria never subscribed to it.  It was jointly chaired by the League of Arab States for Syria, whatever that may mean.  Another problem is that it is, as so many diplomatic documents are, highly ambiguous.  It plainly advocates a power sharing executive formed by some of the current government plus the opposition to oversee a transition to democracy.  But it does not state which elements of the current government, and it does not mention which elements of the opposition, nor does it make plain if President Assad himself is eligible to be part of, or to head, the power-sharing executive, and whether he is eligible to be a candidate in future democratic elections.

Doubtless the British, for example, would argue that the term transition implies that he will go.  The Russians will argue there is no such implication and the text does not exclude anybody from the process.  Doubtless also diplomats on all sides were fully aware of these differing interpretations and the ambiguity is quite deliberate to enable an agreed text. I would say that the text tends much more to the “western” side, and that this reflects the apparently weak military position of the Assad regime at that time and the then extant threat of western military intervention.  There has been a radical shift in those factors against the western side in the interim. Expect Russian interpretations now to get more hardline.

Given the extreme ambiguity of the text, Iran has, as it frequently does, shot itself in the foot diplomatically by refusing to accept the communique as the basis of talks and thus getting excluded from Geneva.  Iran should have accepted the communique, and then at Geneva issued its own interpretation of it.

But that is a minor point.  The farcical thing about the Geneva conference is that it is attempting to promote into power-sharing in Syria “opposition” members who have no democratic credentials and represent a scarcely significant portion of those actually fighting the Assad regime in Syria.  What the West are trying to achieve is what the CIA and Mossad have now achieved in Egypt; replacing the head of the Mubarak regime while keeping all its power structures in place. The West don’t really want democracy in Syria, they just want a less pro-Russian leader of the power structures.

The inability of the British left to understand the Middle East is pathetic.  I recall arguing with commenters on this blog who supported the overthrow of the elected President of Egypt Morsi on the grounds that his overthrow was supporting secularism, judicial independence (missing the entirely obvious fact the Egyptian judiciary are almost all puppets of the military) and would lead to a left wing revolutionary outcome.  Similarly the demonstrations against Erdogan in Istanbul, orchestrated by very similar pro-military forces to those now in charge in Egypt, were also hailed by commenters here.  The word “secularist” seems to obviate all sins when it comes to the Middle East.

Qatar will be present at Geneva, and Qatar has just launched a pre-emptive media offensive by launching a dossier on torture and murder of detainees by the Assad regime, which is being given first headline treatment by the BBC all morning

There would be a good dossier to be issued on torture in detention in Qatar, and the lives of slave workers there, but that is another question.

I do not doubt at all that atrocities have been committed and are being committed by the Assad regime.  It is a very unpleasant regime indeed.  The fact that atrocities are also being committed by various rebel groups does not make Syrian government atrocities any better.

But whether 11,000 people really were murdered in a single detainee camp I am unsure.  What I do know is that the BBC presentation of today’s report has been a disgrace.  The report was commissioned by the government of Qatar who commissioned Carter Ruck to do it.  Both those organisations are infamous suppressors of free speech.  What is reprehensible is that the BBC are presenting the report as though it were produced by neutral experts, whereas the opposite is the case.  It is produced not by anti torture campaigners or by human rights activists, but by lawyers who are doing it purely and simply because they are being paid to do it.

The BBC are showing enormous deference to Sir Desmond De Silva, who is introduced as a former UN war crimes prosecutor.  He is indeed that, but it is not the capacity in which he is now acting.  He is acting as a barrister in private practice.  Before he was a UN prosecutor, he was for decades a criminal defence lawyer and has defended many murderers.  He has since acted to suppress the truth being published about many celebrities, including John Terry.

If the Assad regime and not the government of Qatar had instructed him and paid him, he would now be on our screens arguing the opposite case to that he is putting.  That is his job.  He probably regards that as not reprehensible.  What is reprehensible is that the BBC do not make it plain, but introduce him as a UN war crimes prosecutor as though he were acting in that capacity or out of concern for human rights.  I can find no evidence of his having an especial love for human rights in the abstract, when he is not being paid for it.  He produced an official UK government report into the murder of Pat Finucane, a murder organised by British authorities, which Pat Finucane’s widow described as a “sham”.  He was also put in charge of quietly sweeping the Israeli murders on the Gaza flotilla under the carpet at the UN.

The question any decent journalist should be asking him is “Sir Desmond De Silva, how much did the government of Qatar pay you for your part in preparing this report?  How much did it pay the other experts?  Does your fee from the Government of Qatar include this TV interview, or are you charging separately for your time in giving this interview?  In short how much are you being paid to say this?”

That is what any decent journalist would ask.  Which is why you will never hear those questions on the BBC.

 

 

 

Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

2,917 thoughts on “Syria and Diplomacy”

1 … 27 28 29 30 31 … 98
  • Daniel Rich

    @ BrianFujisan

    HRW: Current executive Director: Kenneth Roth. Founding Chair Emeritus: Robert L. Bernstein.

    The George Soros Open Society Foundation is the primary donor of the Human Rights Watch, contributing $100 million of $128 million of contributions and grants received by the HRW in the 2011 financial year.[3] The $100 million contribution from the Open Society Foundation will be paid out over ten years in $10 million annual installments.[4]

    @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch

  • Mary

    1 February 2014, 22:31

    CIA front exposed by UK Ambassador, interview with Craig Murray

    http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_02_01/CIA-front-exposed-by-UK-Ambassador-interview-with-Craig-Murray-0990/

    Download audio file

    At the beginning of the US war on terror, and even to this day, the US literally kidnapped “suspects” and took them to countries where the could torture and even kill suspects. This practice of kidnapping and usually flying suspects around the world and then torturing or killing them in countries with poor human rights records or brutal regimes happened so much that the practice soon became known to all and the name for it “extraordinary rendition” became a household word.

    The Voice of Russia’s John Robles spoke to Craig Murray the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan and he stated that during his time as ambassador over 126 people were renditioned to Uzbekistan and never heard from again. He personally learned the name of the airline the CIA was using from CIA pilots. That airline was called Premier Executives.

    AMB Craig Murray

  • Mary

    I hold no candle for Morgan, BLiar’s right hand, but Poison Gove’s politicisation of this job is a move too far down the road of creeping fascism.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/lib-dem-fury-at-tory-plan-to-politicise-classrooms-9101708.html

    This is the preferred replacement apparently.

    Rumours were sweeping Whitehall last night that Theodore Agnew, chairman of the education department’s Academies Board and a Tory donor, is being lined up to replace Lady Morgan. Mr Agnew donated £134,000 to the Tories between 2007 and 2009. In 2010, he was appointed a non-executive director at the DfE. He is a trustee of Policy Exchange and was involved in the setting up of the New Schools Network, the body which has pioneered free schools.

    The DfE failed to respond to our request last night for a comment on whether Mr Agnew would succeed Lady Morgan.

    No irony. What a nest.

    Policy Exchange was set up in 2002 by a group including Nicholas Boles (director), Michael Gove (chairman) and Francis Maude. Maude went on to become Minister for the Cabinet Office, and names being one of the co-founders as his proudest political achievement. Gove went on to become Secretary of State for Education.

    Gove was succeeded as chairman by Charles Moore, former editor of the Spectator and the Daily Telegraph. In June 2011, Moore stepped down to focus on his newspaper columns and his biography of Margaret Thatcher, and was succeeded by Daniel Finkelstein, associate editor of The Times.

    In May 2007, Boles was succeeded as director by Anthony Browne, a journalist and political correspondent for The Times. In September 2008, Browne stepped down to work for Boris Johnson, and was succeeded by Neil O’Brien, formerly director of Open Europe. In November 2012, O’Brien was appointed as a special adviser to George Osborne, and in 2013 he was succeeded by Dean Godson, formerly head of Policy Exchange’s security unit.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy_Exchange

    PS Boles is currently a Planning Minister and is jackbooting over the destruction of the Green Belt to the advantage of the housing developers. Wait for Cameron’s housing bubble to burst if and when interest rates rise.

  • Mary

    From your beck of the woods Nevermind.

    Theodore Agnew DL is a Norfolk businessman and philanthropist. After working in Australia, he founded Town & Country Assistance in 1989 and grew the business to annual gross revenues of £40 million pa. Selling it to Warburg Pincus in 2002, he became co-founder of WNS Global Services. He is currently a non-executive director of Jubilee Managing Agency Ltd, a Lloyd’s insurance business managing £130 million of premiums. He is a Trustee of Policy Exchange,[2] a Westminster-based think tank, and Chairman of the Norfolk Community Foundation.[3] Agnew is the Non-Executive Director of the Department for Education and Chairman of the Academies Board [4] responsible for oversight of the Academies programme in England and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk in 2013.

    Notes
    2.George, Martin (9 August 2013). “Theodore Agnew from 11 plus misery and brothel cleaning to business success and a top job at the department for education”. http://www.edp24.org.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
    3. Emanuel, Sam (25 May 2010). “Norfolk Foundation hands out one million pounds”. http://www.edp24.org.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
    4. “Academies Board”. Department for Education. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013.

  • Mary

    Sorry to go on but I keep finding more of the stench.

    Michael Gove appoints management consultant to oversee education cuts
    Leaked documents reveal Bain & Company partner given post on DfE’s progress committee alongside Tory party donors
    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/feb/14/michael-gove-us-consultancy-education-cuts

    How about the line in bold!!?

    ‘Leaked documents show Paul Rogers, a managing partner at US firm Bain & Company, has a place on the DfE’s progress and challenge committee, whose members will quiz senior civil servants on their progress in creating a leaner department. Rogers is working pro bono but Bain will be allowed to apply for future contracts within the department, a spokesman said.

    Rogers will join John Nash, the venture capitalist recently given a peerage and appointed education minister, and Theodore Agnew, an insurance tycoon, on the committee. It is believed to be the first time a senior representative from a management consultancy firm has been invited to sit on a committee overseeing cuts in Whitehall.’

  • Arbed

    Cross-posting significant update.

    US Attorney-General Eric Holder is visiting Sweden on 4 February, Prof. Ferrada de Noli reports.

    Amidst discussion in Sweden on dropping the case VS. Assange, arrives US Justice Minister Eric Holder. Meeting Swedish counterpart & lectures in Parliament
    http://professorsblogg.com/2014/02/02/holder2visitswe/

    This is in the context of a week of high-profile media “debate” about the case in Sweden leading up to this. There will be a full Agenda programme broadcast tonight on SvD, Sweden’s state-run broadcaster. It will pit Thomas Olsson (one of Assange’s lawyers) against Claes Borgstrom (lawyer to one of the women and somewhat disgraced in Sweden nowadays, due to his role in the Quick scandal).

    Here’s the Swedish announcement of it. Only announced on 31 January. He’s doing an invite-only speech in Swedish parliament:

    http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/usas-justitieminister-till-sverige_8948998.svd

    And, verrrry weirdly, here’s the US State Department press department fielding questions – also on 31 January – about how State co-ordinates with the US Justice Department Office of International Affairs about extradition, and saying that they cannot comment on individual extraditions:

    http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/01/221128.htm

    Meanwhile, the Justice Department OIA’s weekly press release of officials’ schedules for this coming week is not up yet. Here’s the page to keep an eye on, for anyone here who’s interested in this development. If Holder’s 4 February visit is not included in the weekly schedule tomorrow (Monday) then they are definitely trying to keep this visit quiet.

    http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/calendar/week-2014-01-26.html

  • Arbed

    Probably a better link for checking whether the US Justice Dept formally announces tomorrow Eric Holder’s cosy chat to the Swedish parliament on 4 February, and what they have to say about it:

    http://www.justice.gov/opa/calendar/

    Here’s Swedish radio’s announcement of tonight’s Agenda debate on whether Sweden should dismiss the investigation against Assange (Google translate required):

    https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2108&artikel=5772882

    Here’s Johan Pehrson, Swedish Liberal Party spokesman, saying that it should:

    http://instagram.com/p/jyjM2FSwIc/#

    Sounds like Holder’s visit might be a case of attempted damage-limitation (with a touch strong-arming bully tactics thrown in too)

  • Sofia Kibo Noh

    Thanks for the link Mary.

    And thanks to Roger Waters for putting it so well.

    “Scarlett, you are undeniably cute, but if you think Soda Stream is building bridges towards peace you are also undeniably not paying attention.”

    (Capcha has an odd idea of what you add to 7 to get 13)

  • Mary

    Good links to Gove’s hypocrisy. One trough for the 1% and just one other for all of the rest of us 99% to share*.

    Gove was on Marr displaying his characteristic glibness and chutzpah.

    Gove: Morgan axed to refresh Ofsted
    Education Secretary Michael Gove says the removal of the head of Ofsted was in line with the government beliefs that roles need “from time to time” to be refreshed.
    Ofsted row deepens as Laws ‘furious’
    No 10 rejects appointments claim
    No 10 ‘ousting non-Tories from jobs’
    Baroness Morgan on Ofsted term ending Listen

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26005917

    If only we could ‘refresh’ the crowd who took power.

    *
    ‘Poll tax mark II’ pushes Britain’s poorest into debt
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/poll-tax-mark-ii-pushes-britains-poorest-into-debt-9101703.html

    The country’s poorest people, who qualify for means-tested council tax benefit, have seen their annual bills rise after the Government imposed a 10 per cent reduction in funding for the handout last April.

    New figures revealed by Freedom of Information requests show that 400,000 people have had liability orders imposed by the courts, while 70,000 of these have had letters from bailiffs. In Conservative-controlled Basildon council alone, 123 disabled people have received bailiff notices, some complaining of threatening letters that warn that firms will seize goods if they fail to pay. As a result, local disability groups report that those affected are handing televisions and jewellery to pawnbrokers, to pay bills.

    It was already known that 2.3 million people have received higher bills, with 600,000 of those in arrears. Some 500,000 have been issued with court summons for non-payment of council tax.’

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    re Sally Morgan and OFSTED

    I don’t recall Sally Morgan having been referred to on this blog in the past (correction welcomed) but had she been it would undoubtedly have been in a negative manner (probable reason : one of BLoar’s NuLabour cronies and a leading Blairite).

    However, now that she’s leaving (or has been leavered-out), people seem relatively well-disposed towards her (probable reason : she might be replaced by somepne who is apparently a Tory donor).

    This kind of approach rings a familiar bell as regards posts on this blog and can be summarised on the following way : my enemy becomes my friend as soon as he has become the enemy of my enemy. It is, for example, the approach underlying comments about the BBC – the BBC is a nest of iniquity, in the pocket of state power – but it is approvingly linked to whenever it produces a piece critical of the govt.

    Personally, I don’t find anything strange in the govt wishing to have people in charge of OFSTED who share its current philosphy and ambitions in respect of the British educational system. Why should it leave in place people who might be tempted to sabotage those present ambitions?

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    ““At Least Five Homeless People Froze To Death Last Week””
    ____________________

    Not good, of course.

    But to be considered as against :

    1/. “X” people executed in China last week”

    2/. “Y” people died in automobile accidents in the USA last week”

    3/. “Z” poeple died of heroine overdoses in the UK last week”.

    Etc.

    What is the point of such posts?

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    @ Mr Scourgie

    I know they usually drive you to post, so please accept my apologies for the typos in my two posts above. I am not drunk and I hope you are as sober as I am.

  • Mary

    Really excellent news for the poor people wading around in the Somerset floods.

    Prince Charles to visit flooded Somerset Levels

    February 01, 2014

    The Prince of Wales is to visit Somerset to meet victims of the floods that have left parts of the county swamped by water for weeks.

    The trip is a long-standing engagement originally planned for Charles to learn how residents and businesses coped with flooding in 2012.

    But it will now also focus on him seeing for himself the latest problems communities are facing following the recent bad weather.

    The Prince will chat to residents in the flood-hit community of Muchelney on Tuesday and travel to meet a nearby farming family at their home.

    http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Prince-Charles-visit-flooded-Somerset-Levels/story-20541921-detail/story.html

    ~~

    That should help them greatly. Meanwhile the daughter in law, grandson and her family have pushed off to Mustique. Lovely weather there at the moment but unsettled.
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-takes-son-prince-3100199

    http://www.worldweatheronline.com/v2/weather.aspx?q=MQS

  • Mary

    I believe the Superbowl takes place tonight with a lot of hype about the cold weather. No doubt there will be a barrage of Sodastream advertising with Ms Johansson’s simpering smiles.

    US Prepared For First Cold-Weather Super Bowl
    The two best teams in the NFL go head-to-head tonight in the first open-air Super Bowl in a cold weather state.
    http://news.sky.com/story/1205029/us-prepared-for-first-cold-weather-super-bowl

    Pathetic stuff.

    Meanwhile, 7,000 miles away…….

    F**K Your SuperBowls While Afghani Kids Freeze and Starve to Death
    Nuremberg Justice Coming

    by Jay Janson / February 1st, 2014

    Pathetic heartbreaking photos of tiny Afghani children in rags freezing without enough food to survive, every winter of US occupation. Sports distracted Americans pay no mind, as they didn’t to photos of dead Korean babies or Vietnamese napalmed children running naked down burning village streets, or piles of Iraqi dead — children’s cadavers without heads arms.

    Ignorant criminal patriotism is displayed at these sporting events.

    Over the last thirteen years, the New York Times, though supporting the US occupation of Afghanistan, has headlined, nearly every year, usually with pathetic heartbreaking photos of tiny children in rags freezing without enough food to survive, reporting that hundreds have been dying every winter.1 Every year, other publications report that children have been freezing and starving to death in the camps just outside Kabul, ever since the American invasion and overthrow of the Afghan government by US Army and Air Force in 2001.2

    Inside Kabul, and elsewhere, American and allied troops from forty nations of majority Caucasian populations have lived well fed in comfortable quarters. Within occupied Kabul there are the extremely opulent homes of the officials and friends of the corrupt government that includes infamous drug lords3 who are protected by these well fed foreign armed forces.

    /..
    http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/02/fk-your-superbowls-while-afghani-kids-freeze-and-starve-to-death/

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    The Resident Denigrator snipes :

    “Prince Charles to visit flooded Somerset Levels…
    That should help them greatly.”

    ______________________

    What’s the problem with that visit? No doubt you would pan him for aloofness if he didn’t…

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Meanwhile the daughter in law, grandson and her family have pushed off to Mustique. Lovely weather there at the moment but unsettled.”

    _______________

    Do you feel they should have accompanied Prince Charles, and, had they done so, can you assure us that you would have reacted differently than you appear to have done to Prince Charles’ visit?

    Silly woman!

  • mark golding

    ‘What is the point of such posts?’ A very clear exposure of a detached wandering wavelength, exclusive in breaking an empathy binding the strings of existance.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    Ukrainian dissident found badly beaten; still in hospital.

    Condemnation of the Ukrainian régime and its lovely police, anyone?

    I’m holding my breath!

    PS – oh yes, I’ve just realised – they must be self-inflicted wounds!

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    “What is the point of such posts?’ A very clear exposure of a detached wandering wavelength, exclusive in breaking an empathy binding the strings of existance (sic)
    __________________

    May I remind you that while the occasional foreign word is allowed, this is an English language blog? Ta!

1 … 27 28 29 30 31 … 98

Comments are closed.