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.
Clark 13 Feb, 2014 – 1:55 pm
Thanks for that. I don’t think there is a 100% safe system!.
I just thought that link may have been of help to you ?.
Jonathan Cook again.
The Tide Turns Against Israel
Pariah Status and Isolation Lie Ahead
by Jonathan Cook / February 13th, 2014
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rarely been so politically embattled. His travails indicate the Israeli right’s inability to respond to a shifting political landscape, both in the region and globally.
The context for his troubles was his commitment in 2009, under great pressure from a newly elected US president, Barack Obama, to support the creation of a Palestinian state. It was a concession he never wanted to make and one he has regretted ever since.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has exploited that pledge by imposing the current peace talks. Now Netanyahu faces an imminent “framework agreement” that may require him to make further commitments towards an outcome he abhors.
Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, is not helping. Rather than digging in his own heels, he offers constant accommodation. Last week Abbas told the New York Times that Israel could take a leisurely five years removing its soldiers and settlers from a key piece of Palestinian territory, the Jordan Valley. The Palestinian state would remain demilitarised, while Nato troops could stay “for a long time, and wherever they want”.
/..
http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/02/the-tide-turns-against-israel/
~~~
The much vaunted visit to Israel by the President of the EU (it was reported on that European Friends of Israel site I linked to* earlier) did not turn out so well. The pro-settler party led by Naftali Bennett walked out of his speech because he raised the matter of inadequate water supplies for Palestinians.
Israeli MPs walk out of EU Parliament chief’s speech
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26159907
* http://www.efi-eu.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=374:ep-president-martin-schulz-to-receive-honorary-phd-at-hebrew-university-of-jerusalem#.UvzlsWZFD4Y
Secret NSA Satellite Facility Located at IDF Base in Occupied East Jerusalem
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2014/02/10/secret-nsa-satellite-facility-located-in-jerusalem/
Link from MJ on Squonk.tk
Beabalslub:
I note that we do see eye to eye on at least one issue (cf your post at 12h08). Should I feel pleased or worried, I wonder? 🙂
“The much vaunted visit to Israel by the President of the EU (it was reported on that European Friends of Israel site I linked to* earlier) did not turn out so well. The pro-settler party led by Naftali Bennett walked out of his speech because he raised the matter of inadequate water supplies for Palestinians.”
___________________
The walking-out tactic – not used only by Israelis, btw – is a very stupid one, but it is mere theatre. Anyway, I doubt if it worried Martin Schulz very much; not only does he bear a slight resemblance to Walther Ulbricht but he’s also a tough cookie underneath.
Clark:
“When I visit my local recycling centre, I see that it has security fences and closed-circuit “security” cameras. Security for rubbish? Hmmm. The staff are under strict instructions (“it’s more than my job’s worth”) to prevent any member of the public leaving with anything they didn’t bring themselves. Companies hold contracts to take all that stuff away, and councils are very keen to make sure that no one else gets it. I wonder where it all ends up.”
______________________
I wouldn’t read anything sinister into what you comment on, Clark, and think you have supplied the answer yourself in the sentence starting “Companies hold contracts…” (= revenues to the council to offset the cost of running the facility).
I know that the staff of such centres themselves are not allowed to take anything away for themselves. I once offered to bring a couple of Polish workers at one of those centres some books (English and Polish) and some clothes in very good condition next time I came – knowing that they don’t earn very much and thinking that if they didn’t want the things for themselves perhaps they knew someone who might – but they declined, saying that the council did not allow them to accept anything.
“The physically disabled, the unemployable, and even former prisoners should build the £42.6bn High Speed 2 railway, according to a powerful new industry lobbying group.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/let-disabled-workers-build-the-43bn-hs2-9069578.html
Israel joining the EU. I don’t think so.
I can see them, invading, dividing, dominating, destroying and laying waste all around them.
But no. They don’t seem to do joining, not even amongst themselves.
The thing to understand about Israel is that it is now little more than a mish mash of deluded rightest malcontents, who left to their own devices will themselves destroy Israel from within.
Thus, the only way of uniting the country in the meantime is against the Palestinians and other neighbours. They know they can’t be a united state, so they need to be an empire, and the extent to which they cannot be an empire will itself determine their future.
Anyway, talking about unsustainable states, here’s Dmitry Orlov on the stages of collapse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxQshxrkR9M
You can see that what Dmitry is saying has a lot in common with the ideas of Nicholas Nassim Taleb:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb
particularly in terms of how highly complex systems are themselves most susceptible to collapse.
It’s probably worth thinking about which countries are more sustainable, due to their local infrastructure, and of course, which are more vulnerable.
I mean, how would London and the South East do were the food distribution network to find itself under pressure.
Fred/Clark, Always willing to listen to sound science – until just a couple of years ago I was a committed “warmist”, but now I am not so sure. I do think we underestimate the role of the sun in regulating our climate, though. If you look back at the recorded solar cycles there does seem to be a correlation between those and hemispheric climate, as opposed to regional variations or localised weather patterns. Check out the Maunder Minimum, for starters.
The next solar minimum, in about five or six years time, will tell us a lot more.
An appeal from Medical Aid for Palestinians came in the post today with my copy of the London Review of Books.
On the front is a quote from Dov Weiglass, adviser to the Israeli PM in 2006.
‘The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger’.
At least he did not go as far as Rafael Eitan, who referred to the Palestinians as ‘drugged cockroaches in a bottle’.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/obituaries/24eitan.html?_r=0
“Syria Devastation Photos”
http://cryptome.org/2014-info/syria/syria-devastation.htm
“Syria Devastation Photos 2”
http://cryptome.org/2014-info/syria2/syria-devastation-2.htm
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Thanks a node, that tickled me pink.
ESLO, 13 Feb, 2014 – 3:30 pm
Not ducking your question. I just don’t know. Do you? I’m more interested in people who are illegally imprisoned, tortured and abused. Two good sites are those of the charity Reprieve.
http://www.reprieve.org/
That’s where I got information that Shaker Aamer was not allowed to receive a gift of a Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago”. There is also the site:
http://cageuk.org/
Moazzam Begg is the director of this site, and it gives details of individuals incarcerated.
But to be honest I don’t want to go searching for those imprisoned who might be guilty of a terrorist crime when there are so many innocents in Guantanamo and Bagram.
Hope this doesn’t ‘flame’ anyone here if I say very good A Node.
Haven’t heard that expression for ages Nevermind. It was a family saying.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/tickled-pink.html
“PS – you still haven’t answered my question, namely : do you, Fred, think that Israel has the right to exist? Come on, you like to present yourself as a ballsy sort of guy so don’t be coy!”
I was hoping if you took notice you’d realise what a stupid question that is.
Let me put it this way. Do you believe a bunch of foreign refugees have more right to a land than the people who’s forefathers have farmed that land for generations. Do you believe the Muslim population of Birmingham have the right to declare the Midlands an independent Muslim state?
Rights can’t just apply to one, they have to be universal. If you claim Israel has a right to exist then you claim an Arab state dividing the rest of Britain into two parts has a right to exist.
“Last one from me on this, lif’s too short to spend too much time discussing with a denier.”
Then just fuck off shit for brained moron.
” Fateh is the more corrupt but at least it has stopped giving its formal support to terrorists.”
Is that the terrorists that bombed the King David Hotel you are referring to?
Fred
I’ll take your answer to be “no” – although why you take two paras to say it escapes me.
Anyway, thanks, I’ll add you to the select group of Israel-deniers identified so far.
“” Fateh is the more corrupt but at least it has stopped giving its formal support to terrorists.”
Is that the terrorists that bombed the King David Hotel you are referring to?”
___________________________
No.
I’m surprised you haven’t dragged Samson and his terrorist act against the Temple into it yet. Or how about a bit about the crucifixion?
Imbecile!
One more Palestinian is killed today and another is wounded.
Israeli fire kills Palestinian in Gaza: hospital
GAZA Thu Feb 13, 2014 12:07pm EST
Palestinian relatives of Ibrahim Mansour, 26, who was killed by Israeli soldiers, react outside a hospital morgue in Gaza City February 13, 2014.
(Reuters) – Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian and wounded another on Thursday in the Gaza Strip, local hospital officials said.
Relatives who rushed to a Gaza City hospital said Ibrahim Mansour, 26, was collecting gravel to sell from his donkey cart when he was shot dead. The Israeli military said soldiers fired at Palestinians tampering with Israel’s border security fence.
“The soldiers took action in order to distance the Palestinians from the fence. They called on them to stop and fired in the air. When that did not help, they fired at the main instigator,” an Israeli military spokesman said.
He said that since the beginning of the year, three explosive devices were detonated against Israeli forces patrolling the fence.
The Islamist Hamas group, which runs the Gaza Strip, and other Palestinian factions have voiced commitment to a ceasefire reached with Israel in 2012, but have cautioned that Israeli “violations” could cause the truce to collapse.
Israel’s army said on Twitter that 28 rockets were fired from Gaza in January alone. Israel has mounted air strikes against militants it holds responsible for such attacks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/13/us-palestinians-israel-violence-idUSBREA1C19F20140213
A very partial report followed by three very unpleasant comments. So much hate.
@Mike
I took a look.
Here are global temperatures since 1975 along with the amount of atmospheric CO2:
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/pictures/2013/8/28/1377701081220/Global-temperature-rise-001.jpg
Here are the solar cycle variations since 1975:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solar-cycle-data.png
“Imbecile!”
Pathetic little shit.
Fred, Yes Israel was born on stolen land, but that’s the fact on the ground we have to deal with. Israel exists. It may be governed by psychopathic racists, but it ain’t going away.
Mr H ! Using biblical myth to counter a recent historical fact??
Tsk tsk. Very sloppy.
Seumas Milne hits the bulls eye again today. No wonder the Freedland-ites want rid of him.
“Anyway, thanks, I’ll add you to the select group of Israel-deniers identified so far.”
You can put me on any list you like dick head.
What sort of a prick would claim rights for Jews in Palestine that Palestinians are denied?
“Sinister Events In Ireland”
http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2014/02/12/sinister-events-in-ireland/
Indeed Fred ! The third cycle you showed is the weakest. Does it coincide with the “pause”? This cycle is even weaker. Also, you have to go further back to get a bigger data set. Check out all 24 recorded cycles. Plus, the strongest solar maximums since the Middle Ages all happened in the 20th century, the so called Grand Maximum. See below.
http://lasp.colorado.edu/lisird/tsi/historical_tsi.html
Dunno much about these guys. I’m open to a devastating critique.
More on banker deaths!
http://www.silverdoctors.com/banker-source-on-latest-jpm-death-crane-worked-closely-with-jpm-london-banker-pair-had-uncovered-something/
Sinister event within J P Morgan. One of the three recent deaths of J P Morgan employees took place in Canary Wharf.
JPMorgan global program trading exec, dead at 37
Held flawless trading record
February 12, 2014
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/28944-jpmorgan-global-program-trading-exec-dead-at-37
Another report.
http://wallstreetonparade.com/2014/02/suspicious-death-of-jpmorgan-vice-president-gabriel-magee-under-investigation-in-london/