Syria and Diplomacy 2917


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.

 

 

 


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2,917 thoughts on “Syria and Diplomacy

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  • doug scorgie

    On Question Time Tonight:

    Matthew Hancock MP
    Education: Private school then Oxford and Cambridge.
    Economic adviser to George Osborne

    “In January 2013, he was accused of dishonesty by Daybreak presenter Matt Barbet after claiming he had been excluded from a discussion about apprentices after turning up “just 30 seconds late.”

    Barbet said Hancock knew he was “much more than a minute late” and he should have arrived half an hour before to prepare for the interview.

    His opponent expressed surprise that “a minister whose Government berates ‘shirkers’ couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed to defend his own policy.”

    Tessa Jowell MP
    Education: Private school then Aberdeen and University of London.

    “Jowell was a strong supporter of the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, reportedly saying on one occasion that she would “jump under a bus” for him”

    “She was among a number of ministers accused of hypocrisy for opposing Post Office closures in their own constituencies while supporting the Government’s closure strategy at the national level.”

    George Galloway MP
    Education: State school no university

    “At a press gathering for War on Want in September 1987, when Galloway had stood down as General Secretary to the organization, a journalist asked him about his personal arrangements during the previous year’s War on Want conference on the Greek island of Mykonos.

    The new MP replied: “I travelled and spent lots of time with people in Greece, many of whom were women, some of whom were known carnally to me. I actually had sexual intercourse with some of the people in Greece.”

    The statement put Galloway on the front pages of the tabloid press and in February 1988 the Executive Committee of his Constituency Labour Party passed a vote of no confidence in him.”

    David Starkey (Historian)
    Education: Grammar school the Cambridge

    “While a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4 debate programme, The Moral Maze, his acerbic tongue earned him the sobriquet of “rudest man in Britain”.

    Professor Alison Wolf (Economist and Professor of Public Sector Management)

    No biographical details

  • Black jelly

    Its disconcerting, the gay-jew alliance that rules the roost at the Beeb keeps such matters well hidden from the public. Helen Boaden and Esther Rantzen have a lot to answer for, for under this cosy alliance the famous advisor to the israeli cabinet, Jimmy Saville got away with buggering at least 500 boys in his long career at the Beeb !!

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    Fujisan

    “Whilst not wanting to appear to be supporting Israel’s actions over Gaza this feeble propaganda really is taking the urine.

    uk pop 63,705,000

    Gaza pop 4,420,549

    Kempe….with MUCH restraint… GO AWAY….”
    __________________________

    Which of course is why Kempe gave the cancer figures PER 100.000 OF POPULATION.

    DUHHHH!

    Cf road traffic deaths figures : usually given per 100.000 (or whatever) of poopulation or 1.000.000 (or whatever) of kls driven.

    Got it?

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella!

    “However many deaths from cancer in Gaza, whether per 100,000 or otherwise, it is ALWAYS the case that there is a shortage of medical supplies and facilities.”
    _____________________

    You’re probably right, but I love the way you airily slide past and over Fujisan’s howler.

    Reminds me a little of when I had to correct someone or other (it may well have been you) regarding the figures for (non-agricultural) water use in the West Bank and Gaza. Motto : get shown up? just slide past and on! 🙂

  • Sofia Kibo Noh

    Dad. You are so embarrassing.

    All these personal attacks over “Fujisan’s howler”.

    As if that could ever justify 60 years of brutality.

    And while we are focussed on mathematical howlers, lets not forget the genius who was insisting last year that 2.5million US soldiers transiting through Shannon did not in fact constitute “millions”. Did you ever work that one out?

    By your logic it would be a good idea for the Zionists to take over the UK.

    Sorry, it seems they already have. Let’s watch the cancer figures drop.

  • doug scorgie

    Kempe
    6 Feb, 2014 – 1:19 am
    Says:

    “Whilst not wanting to appear to be supporting Israel’s actions over Gaza this feeble propaganda really is taking the urine.”

    Kempe you’re not very bright are you.

    If you read the report fully you will find that the 1000 cancers per year over the last 2 years in Gaza is an INCREASE in cancer rates.

    “Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Israeli regime’s use of internationally-banned weapons has sharply increased the number of cancer cases.”

    I will write this very slowly so you can understand.

    The 1000 cancers per year over 2 years are excess cancers (ie. Over and above “normal” cancer rates).

  • John Goss

    Mary 6 Feb, 2014 – 4:17 am

    What are you doing up at that time Mary? Yes, spot on regarding Sochi winter olympics. My first thought too was the toothpaste spoof story. I think even the BBC announcers and script-writers were a bit embarrassed by this nonsense. They even used a phrase like “some kind of intelligence” but those who have seen this time and time again, Thatcher with the 1980 Olympics, Blair with the security threat on the eve of the biggest protest this country has seen . . . The US is trying to scupper the games out of selfishness for not hosting this event. What twats! And they expect us to believe.

  • Mary

    More pathetic by the hour. Take no notice Brian.

    Put these in your pipe and smoke them Troll.

    Core Issues of the Palestinian-Israeli
    Water Dispute
    http://www.nad-plo.org/userfiles/file/Reports/core.pdf

    Undated but you can bet the situation is worse now with the extra settlement construction.

    A Comparative Study of Water Data Across Israel, West Bank, and Jordan
    Water Resources Action Project (WRAP)
    December 2013
    http://www.wrapdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/WRAP-Rainfall-Trends-Study-FINAL.pdf

    The economic costs of the Israeli occupation for the occupied Palestinian territory
    http://www.un.org/depts/dpa/qpal/docs/2012Cairo/p2%20jad%20isaac%20e.pdf

    There are many more if you google – comparative figures for water use Israel Palestine,

    Sofia I thought that the Zionists had taken over the UK when considering the make up of parliament, the BBC and other media, print and broadcast, boards of banks and companies. Even some NGOs.

  • Mary

    Posted by the Medialens editors. Who the hell is Andy McSmith? We know that Lebedev harbours the BLiar acolyte Rentoul but there must be a nest of BLiar lovers at the Independent.

    Posted by The Editors on February 6, 2014, 9:49 am

    Utterly revolting from senior reporter Andy McSmith at the Independent:

    ‘Wendi Deng would not be the first woman to go weak at the knees on catching sight of Tony Blair. Nor even the second, for we can assume that Cherie Booth was equally smitten when she and Tony were pupil barristers together in the 1970s.

    ‘Whether anyone else has gone so far as to write down his finest attributes, as Ms Deng allegedly did in her imperfect English, according to a story in the new edition of Vanity Fair � “good body, really good legs, butt, slim tall and good skin, pierce blue eyes�.” � history has not yet recorded, but there are other women who have sized him up and liked what they saw.

    ‘Your average anti-Blairite may find that hard to comprehend. In fiction and in satire, Blair was portrayed as a shallow, ridiculous man, barely able to distinguish truth from lies, and under the thumb of his spin doctors.’

    The conclusion:

    ‘A multi-millionaire in good physical shape, who likes the company of women, who jets around the world advising heads of state on how to run their governments, with tales to tell of his own 10 years in Downing Street � it is not so mysterious that the wife of an octogenarian might find his company pleasantly distracting.’

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pulling-power-wendi-deng-reportedly-wrote-a-letter-praising-tony-blairs-body–but-shed-hardly-be-the-first-to-go-weak-at-the-knees-9110322.html

    I feel sick.

  • John Goss

    One day Mary there will be philosophers running economies who make statements like:

    “War is when a government tells you who the enemy is. Revolution is when you work it out for yourself.”

  • Sofia Kibo Noh

    Mary.

    “I feel sick.”

    Has anyone ever tried wiring people up and measuring their physiological and neurological responses to pictures of Bliar, Thatchler and the rest?

    I reckon “weak at the knees” would be one of the less frequent reactions, save for Dad and his chums.

    More good news here from JFJFP.

    “Israel has no answer to non-violent action”

    http://jfjfp.com/?p=55653

  • Brendan

    Came to here to comment on the DM Bliar stuff.

    Question. Did anyone else think they’d photoshopped Bliar? I too felt slightly ill at having to look at that pic. But there is not way – no way at all – that Bliar looks like that IRL. I peeked between my fingers – that’s isn’t the physique of someone who merely works out and plays tennis (as many pols do), it’s an athletic figure, and it belongs to someone much younger.

    It’s one of these vaguely pathetic pieces of pictorial\editorial\writing dishonesty that the DM does routinely. I’d ask why, but really, why bother asking? The DM exists as a pillar of misinformation. They lie, all the time, for reasons of their own. Their motive isn’t interesting, really. I personally suspect their is a strategy behind this relentless dishonesty. And the strategy is all about destroying the left, in the minds of their public. But, really, who cares? If a newspapers prints lies all the time, fuck them, they aren’t really worth my attention, they are a comic. And the public? I guess we’ve all got to educate ourselves, over time.

    I would like to see Murdoch destory Bliar though. That would be amusing stuff to witness. And, if the internet is to believed, Blair has rather interesting skeltons in his life ….

  • Sofia Kibo Noh

    From http://jfjfp.com/?p=55653

    Avraham Burg, Haaretz
    February 03, 2014

    “Few notice the wonderful paradox whereby official Israel, together with mobilized world Jewry, fights the scourge of sanctions by whining and screaming anti-Semitism, Holocaust and Jew-hatred in chorus. Yet in the very same breath these exact same people utilize any possible tool to advance and intensify the sanctions against Iran, as they did against Hamas until recently. And with useful diplomatic hypocrisy they make every effort not to hurt Syria’s Bashar Assad too much, or Egypt, or another few corrupt targets of Israel’s foreign policy.”

  • Sofia Kibo Noh

    Brendan. 11:07 am

    “Did anyone else think they’d photoshopped Bliar?

    Photoshoped? Whatever makes you think that?

    Is this the DM photo?

  • Beelzebub (La Vita è Finita)

    ‘Dad. You are so embarrassing.’ (Sofia)

    It is the function of the severely intellectually challenged to be embarrassing. But he has to do something to divert the flow of commentary demonstrating (with references) that Israel engages in criminal activities. Otherwise he would be unable to give you any pocket money, lol.

  • Mary

    Is this a first?

    BBC finally admits bias over pro-Israel commentator
    Submitted by Hilary Aked on Wed, 02/05/2014 – 14:27

    The BBC has finally admitted that it breached its own impartiality guidelines when it presented a pro-Israel commentator as if he was neutral.

    The finding published yesterday by the BBC Trust, the highest level of complaints adjudication at the broadcaster, relates to appearances made by a commentator called Jonathan Sacerdoti during Israel’s “Operation Pillar of Cloud” bombing of Gaza in November 2012.

    Sacerdoti was described simply as “director of the Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy,” but has a long and ongoing history of pro-Israel campaigning, including a stint as director of public affairs for the Zionist Federation – a fact which was not made clear to viewers.

    /..
    http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/hilary-aked/bbc-finally-admits-bias-over-pro-israel-commentator

  • Mary

    Gaza (Humanitarian Situation): This 90 minute debate in Westminster Hall can be read in its entirety here:
    http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140205/halltext/140205h0001.htm#14020575000002

    continued here http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140205/halltext/140205h0002.htm

    The Hansard video is here: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=14727

    Unfortunately, the recording begins at 3.39 pm, although the debate actually started at 2.30 pm. The Recording Unit writes: Due to a technical failure the first part of the Westminster Hall sitting from yesterday afternoon is not currently showing on the website. We hope to have the full version available in the archive later today.

  • Beelzebub (La Vita è Finita)

    Blair wears a Rolex Submariner. Whoever owns ‘his’ left arm, doesn’t. Also, his head’s too small. Photoshop.

  • Brendan

    @Sofia
    “Photoshoped? Whatever makes you think that?”

    Ha Ha. Yes, I know, clearly I’ve been on the droogs.

    It’s weird though, the terrible pettiness of our media overlords. It’s an aspergers level attention to detail. It’s almost a filmic quality the DM has – because films are shot-by-shot fiction, of course, with a fabulous veneer of realism.

    But this is a good thing, the DM tells us.

    Also, sigh@ the trolls. It’s fucking boring, isn’t it? The every day background noise of trollism. Sometimes I think the left should just advocatate that everyone kills their internet connection. I suppose it trollery is inevitable, and stems from securitat\psychopath fear of dissent. But it got old very quickly.

    And, they are still defending Thatcher’s proven lies over the miners’ strike. I believe they still tell us that LHO killed Kennedy. And I’ve heard some argue that the WMD are in Mosques – but it’s too politically sensitive to tell us.

    The neolibs are the real conspiracy theorists.

  • Black jelly

    Is there a “sumner redstone” at the Beeb? The Nick Robinsons may be easily sussed by their tell-tale Wolf Blitzerish singsong plea to us goyim, a genuine Sumner Redstone in the mould of Agent Cameron you would be hard pressed to find. Or is it Chris Patten and none of us have been able to see through him?

  • Mary

    Mr Fox has not given up.
    http://rayfox.info/

    The house was sold in Feb 2006 for £205k and then in Dec 2006 for £350k ???

    337 Wokingham Road, Reading, RG6 7EB
    Key data Mouseprice.com

    £394,700 current value
    Freehold Detached Year Built 1931

    £349,950 21 Dec 06

    £205,000 07 Feb 06

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