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.
Mrs May’s bastards this time.
Heathrow Customs Agent Interrogates Snowden Lawyer
‘Why Have You Gone to Russia Three Times in Two Months?’
By Kevin Gosztola
February 17 2014 “Information Clearing House – “Firedoglake” – A lawyer who represents National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and has spoken on his behalf numerous times was detained while going through customs at Heathrow airport in London.
Jesselyn Radack told Firedoglake she was directed to a specific Heathrow Border Force agent. He “didn’t seem interested” in her passport. She was then subjected to “very hostile questioning.”
As Radack recalled, she was asked why she was here. “To see friends,” she answered. “Who will you be seeing?” She answered, “A group called Sam Adams Associates.”
The agent wanted to know who was in the group. “Ray McGovern, Annie Machon, Thomas Drake, Craig Murray,” she answered. She said she is part of the group as well.
“Where will you meet?” Radack answered, “At the Ecuadorian Embassy.” Then, the agent asked, “With Julian Assange?” Radack said yes.
/..
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37666.htm
Instead of man’s inhumanity to man, this time it is their inhumanity to animals.
Absolutely vile. Note military surgeons are involved. This cruel practice is being carried out in a foreign country.
Psychopathy is alive and well in the British military as the pigs are tortured, abused and harmed. How much pain do they feel? As much we would.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pigs-strung-up-shot-train-3157055
‘If you are what you seem to be, you will wish this blog to continue. Your comments are deliberately provocative and are putting this blog at risk. Please stop.’
OTOH if it isn’t what it seems to be, putting the blog at risk is precisely what it’s setting out to do….
I;m glad the Mirror has take up that case Mary. It is a worse extension of the human thirst for cruelty in the military. Pigs have no voice in parliament even though they have some lookalikes.
Stinkhorn (ithyphallus impudicus)
Impertinent impersonator, stolid stump
Standing proud and upright, nature’s trump
of mimicry: ruder than priest’s pintle.
The sheath of propagation clings
to your swollen base and sings
of uprisings to come – puzzle of a pizzle.
No limp lampooner you can keep it up for days
and nights, making man, for all his self-appraise,
all his boastful ways, something of a pillock.
Thick, uniform and regimental hard
pockmarked, tall and busby-hatted guard,
where is your conscience – you impudent prick?
Mr Scourgie
Yawn…..must I say it again?…yawwwwwwn:
“I will recognise the legitimacy of Israel if pulls back to the 1967 borders and becomes a democracy for its entire people: not a Jewish state, run by Jews for the benefit of Jews.”
__________________
In other words, you are denying the right of Israel to exist because, as you well know, the Basic Law of Israel (= its constitution, as with Germany)states that Israel is a Jewish state.
Anyway, who cares if you “recognise the legitimacy of Israel” or not – most of the world’s states do and it is that which counts. You – qua Doug Scourgoe – have no status in this matter.
John Goss
Sofia said she was to the WNW of Mary, who I presume is not based in KL (I think Troikaland means that silly acronym you use)
Anyone who knows anything about psychiatry knows that diagnoses cannot be made on the basis of public appearances – it is just a well know smear technique applied by the Daily Mail. Just because you apply it to Tories it doesn’t make it any more reputable.
“All of this begs the obvious question: how can opponents of Israel’s illegal activities and policies ever be accused of seeking to “delegitimise” the state? Surely, by any measure, Israel has delegitimised itself ever since it agreed to uphold the terms of the UN Charter; allow the right of return of Palestinian refugees; and agree on the international status of Jerusalem, all of which are requirements for its membership of the UN, and yet make every effort not only to ignore those requirements but work actively against them? Israel can’t have it all ways; if it claims legitimacy from a particular document surely it must uphold its terms and requirements.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/5571-just-where-does-israels-legitimacy-stem-from-anyway
To all Eminences
Given that some of you – Mr Goss springs to mind – have said that Guantanamo and Bagram are like the Nazi concentration camps, would any of you care to comment on the UN Commission’s just published report on conditions in North Korea?
I’m sure you’ll have heard of it and those with an interest in concentration camps and human rights may even have read parts of it.
“International companies have dropped out of the Israeli government’s tender to build private seaports in Haifa and Ashdod due to concerns over political repercussions, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday.”
“Haaretz noted that the withdrawals make evident “the deterioration of Israel’s international standing” and come at a time when “boycott pressure on Israel has grown.””
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/9826-international-firms-drop-bids-in-israel-fearing-political-repercussions
“Senior UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMGuYjt6CP8
…Given that some of you – Mr Goss springs to mind – have said that Guantanamo and Bagram are like the Nazi concentration camps, would any of you care to comment on the UN Commission’s just published report on conditions in North Korea?….
Nah. And what can anyone do about it anyway. Isn’t as if it was pretending to be sivilised, is it?
“Anyway, who cares if you “recognise the legitimacy of Israel” or not – most of the world’s states do and it is that which counts. You – qua Doug Scourgoe – have no status in this matter.”
Most of the world’s states recognise Palestine as a state. In fact more people in the world live in a country which recognises Palestine than one which doesn’t.
Yet Israel clams they alone have the right to deny Palestine statehood. They will even use their power of veto to prevent it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8780859/Barack-Obama-tells-Mahmoud-Abbas-US-will-veto-Palestinian-statehood-bid.html
Mr Scourgie
“I don’t need to scroll back Habbabkuk because it’s not true.”
__________________
Scroll back to Beaballsup’s post then, and get clued up.
Have you scrolled back yet to find all those questions of mine to which an answer from you is still outstanding?
Finally, don’t forget this one, from ESLO
“And what exactly is your position on the Hamas Charter?”
Wakey wakey!!
BootboiOi
“…Given that some of you – Mr Goss springs to mind – have said that Guantanamo and Bagram are like the Nazi concentration camps, would any of you care to comment on the UN Commission’s just published report on conditions in North Korea?….
Nah. And what can anyone do about it anyway. Isn’t as if it was pretending to be sivilised, is it?”
_____________
Thank you for getting the ball rolling, BootboiOi.
Anyone else?
Fred
““Anyway, who cares if you “recognise the legitimacy of Israel” or not – most of the world’s states do and it is that which counts. You – qua Doug Scourgoe – have no status in this matter.”
Most of the world’s states recognise Palestine as a state. In fact more people in the world live in a country which recognises Palestine than one which doesn’t.”
______________________
Thank you for replying on Mr Scourgie’s behalf. Or perhaps you are Mr Scourgie (lots of sock-poppeting going on here)…?
Re what you say about Palestine : well, I’m happy to hear that that solves the problem as far as you’re concerned. Just as a matter of interest, in which town are their embassies?
Racism and Concentration camps in Israel
“Solicited, then rejected by The New York Times
Blumenthal explained how The New York Times commissioned the 11-minute video, but after the paper’s editors saw it, refused to publish it”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAU_e0819KQ
“Equally, 86 percent of Israelis who voted for the right-wing Shas party and 66 percent of Likud voters agree with the statements of far-right Israeli politician Miri Regev that African immigrants, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, are a “cancer” in the Israeli body politic.”
http://www.thenation.com/blog/177697/racism-israel
“Thank you for replying on Mr Scourgie’s behalf. Or perhaps you are Mr Scourgie (lots of sock-poppeting going on here)…?”
Only among the dishonest unscrupulous posters who don’t have a valid argument.
“Just as a matter of interest, in which town are their embassies?”
Govts which recognise Palestine have missions in Ramallah, Jerusalem and Cairo and of course Palestine has its own reciprocal missions to those countries.
But Israel. Fast becoming a failed state. That’s what happens to territories run by terrorists and gangsters who shun the civilised path.
It very much looks like that US intransigence and failure to engage with more than one high ranking delegation to Washington, re: NSA spying, will now backfire as Germany reacts and plans to spy on its allies, as well as assign them the same status as Russia, China, and North Korea held, in consequence to the NSA and GCHQ failure to discuss their spying.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/germany-considers-counterespionage-measures-against-united-states-a-953985.html
Thanks for your beautifull pap/estry, Brian, what a visual. Shall be coming up to Lochgoilhead this year visiting relatives, that’s only an hour from yours and I’m planning to see whther you have aged at all….;)
European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine Newsletter – January 2014
Headlines
Stop Prawer Plan: Call to action on November 30th
Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international law, its violations and implications for EU policy
29 January 2014 Report analysis the obligations Israel has under international law as the occupying power of Palestine, its grave, systematic and persisting violations of these obligations and the implications this has for the EU’s future policy.
Read more
Firms active in the settlements are facilitating abuses of human rights – UN report
24 January 2014 The UN report is the result of a mission investigating Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Information gathered by the mission shows that private firms have enabled, facilitated and profited, directly and indirectly, from the construction and growth of the settlements. It identified a number of business activities that raise particular concerns about abuses of human rights.
G4S contracts in Israeli occupied territories face major investigation
7 January 2014 G4S, the security company which has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past two years, is facing an investigation by international authorities into its alleged activities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) UK staff have indicated that it will be investigating the company’s work supplying Israeli security services.
UN year of solidarity with the Palestinian people begins with boycott success.
21 January 2014 In November of last year, the UN General Assembly designated 2014 as the UN International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Just three weeks into 2014, the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement has again shown that it represents an increasingly effective form of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.
EU subsidies for drone terror – take action to end EU support for Israel’s arms companies
13 January 2014 War on Want published a report “Killer Drones” that exposes UK and EU complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.
Israeli arms companies benefit enormously from European Union public funds.The EU’s Framework Research Programme is the biggest single research and development budget in the world. The FP7 programme (2007-2013) has a budget of €51 billion; the upcoming programme, Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), will have between €70 and €80 billion, with €2 billion earmarked for security research.
Israeli business leaders warn that Israel is facing possible international boycott
6 January 2014 A group of 100 business leaders have warned the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu that Israel might be subjected to an international boycott, because “the world is running out of patience and the threat of sanctions is rising.”
http://www.eccpalestine.org/
“Govts which recognise Palestine have missions in Ramallah, Jerusalem and Cairo and of course Palestine has its own reciprocal missions to those countries.”
_________________
This is getting interesting. Can anyone tell me
1/. how many govts do actually recognise Palestine (the original poster was a bit vague, he just said that more govts recognise Palestine than don’t)
2/. how many of them have missions in Ramallah and Jerusalem?
Thanks.
Fred
I of course don’t mind if Mr Scourgie outsources some or even all of his answers to other Eminences, but I’m sure you’d agree that he would be well-advised to choose – how can I say this kindly? – better-informed and more articulate spokesmen. Winning every argument is beginning to bore me.
ESLO, I did not apply the label sociopath just to Tories. One of the worst examples is Tony Blair. Nobody in his cabinet was allowed an opinion. They just had to listen to what Clare Short called his “diktats”. And that is what I meant by us not having a democracy, just elected dictators. They should be our servants, not the other way round. We do not elect them to take us into war. They should put important decisions to the public. The public voted on the Iraq war. Blair did what that other sociopath, who Mary informs exploded frogs as a child, wanted. He was promised what he got and the temptation was too much for him to listen to public opinion. So when USatan whispers in your ear “all this can I give you” if you’re Blair, or Cameron, you jump at the opportunity. The trouble is there’s nothing left in USatan’s cupboard, except war, famine and pestilence. Don’t you think they might not have been quite so uncaring if they had received love and comfort as children?
24 hours to 8am
15 February 2014
1 attack – 22 raids including home invasions – 25 injured – economic sabotage – 7 taken prisoner – 15 detained – 105 restrictions of movement
4 children among the wounded and hospitalised in Israeli Army attack on Jabalya
Israeli Army uses explosives to break into a home in Hebron
Occupation settlers assault and pursue Jenin residents
3 minors wounded by Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets
Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in 6 towns and villages
16 February 2014
3 attacks – 11 raids including home invasions – 2 beaten – 5 injured – 4 acts of agricultural/economic sabotage – 7 taken prisoner – 12 detained – 109 restrictions of movement
Israeli Navy twice opens fire on Palestinian fishing boats off Beit Lahiya
Israeli tanks shell East Gaza farmland
Bethlehem: Israeli troops beat up and hospitalise Palestinian man
Bethlehem: Israeli soldiers terrorise 14-year-old boy
Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in 4 towns and villages
17 February 2014
1 attack – 29 raids including home invasions – 4 acts of agricultural/economic sabotage – 13 taken prisoner – 9 detained – 106 restrictions of movement
Israeli forces open fire on al-Qarara farmland
Raid: Israeli troops destroy tent dwellings and livestock shelters
Israeli troops raid al-Issawiya village and abduct 4 minors aged 14 to 17
Settler militants, supported by Israeli troops, prevent local people from farming their land
Israeli troops storm UNWRA school in Hebron
Checkpoint troops abduct 15-year-old boy
Night home invasion: Israeli troops vandalise contents of Palestinian home
Night peace disruption and/or home invasions in refugee camp and 14 towns and villages
Full details of these recurring daily atrocities on http://www.sapienspromise.org/
“1/. how many govts do actually recognise Palestine (the original poster was a bit vague, he just said that more govts recognise Palestine than don’t)”
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2012/ga11317.doc.htm
Ba’al Zevul (La Vita è Finita) 18 Feb, 2014 – 3:12 pm
blockquote”‘If you are what you seem to be, you will wish this blog to continue. Your comments are deliberately provocative and are putting this blog at risk. Please stop.’
OTOH if it isn’t what it seems to be, putting the blog at risk is precisely what it’s setting out to do….”
Precisely, Ba’al Zevul, which is why I’ve asked the question and why I’m very interested to hear the response.
Habby
The info is out there should you trouble yourself to look.
What is it that you’re disputing, and indeed what argument is it you yourself want to put forward.
Are you arguing that no one recognises Palestine, or that few do, or what is it?
Thanks for the ABC Australia film about the Occupation link Mary – I have sent the link to Whitehouse.gov via their organisation form addressed from ‘Children of Iraq Association’ – from past experience it will reach a ‘Whitehouse advisory’ board’ before it goes down a black hole.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments
@Herbie
He already declared victory which means he already knows he lost.
“Israel’s “colonization” of Palestine had left many Jews “questioning their unconditional support for Israel.” Then this: “It may be time for Judaism and Zionism to go their separate ways.””
London Rabbi, Dr. David Goldberg
“Brownfield then quoted the answer to that question given by Paul Krugman, the Princeton economist and New York Times columnist. “The truth is that like many liberal American Jews – and most American Jews are still liberal – I basically avoid thinking about where Israel is going.” Krugman’s explanation of why was “the high price for speaking out” which is “to bring yourself under intense attack from organized groups that try to make any criticism of Israel’s policies tantamount to anti-Semitism.””
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37678.htm