Three hours of emergency talks behind closed doors came to an end for the Arab League today, with the alliance issuing a warning to Syria to enact a “ceasefire” in its attacks on protesters within 15-days.
The statement, however, made no mention of the possibility of suspending Syria, which was seen as a major topic of the discussion for the meeting. The league will also attempt to coordinate talks between Bashar Assad and the opposition.
The ultimatum makes little sense without the possibility of suspending Syria’s membership, and the statement seems to be a reflection of a growing split on how the league should deal with pro-democracy revolutions.
Suspension would’ve required a two-thirds majority among the bloc’s 21 other members, but a bloc of countries including neighboring Lebanon and Yemen, which is attempting its own bloody crackdown on dissent, were able to fend off the move. Saudi Arabia reportedly also attempted to convince the league to recognize the Syrian National Council (SNC), an opposition bloc based in Turkey.
The Arab League did not suspend Syria. The horror of it. Where is the democracy in all of this? Not in Jordan. Not in Saudi Arabia. Not in Bahrain. Not in Kuwait. Not in Qatar. Not in Yemen. Not in Oman. Not in Morocco. Tunisia–well maybe, who knows, it will take years. Egypt–you got to be joking.
The West’s war on Syria is escalating. Our “friends and allies” are doing all they can. Europe slaps more restrictions on a country that is in revolt because of bad economic conditions. US and France interfere in domestic politics by inciting rebels. Our stellar list of Arab friends caved in–if we draw attention to Syria then we can be ignored by the “democracy loving” West.
Please! Decades of animosity between the Syria and the US plays a major role in the eight month old rebellion. Giving every claim world wide attention, the US/EU et al broadcast claims like Hezbollah soldiers shooting protestors, or the lesbian protestor, or the torture and beheading of the teenager, etc.
America’s goal is to destroy a regime that would not “play ball” with us. Finding super villains to justify are empire of military bases embracing the world is hard work. With Iran being elevated to the rank of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union into ONE, our grand strategy was to deprive Tehran of its ally Damascus. When Assad wouldn’t give up his position without concrete results–return of all of the Golan Heights, economic benefits, etc., we turned to our reliable policy of regime change.
We don’t care two cents about democracy in the Middle East. We want to control the world’s oil supplies. We want to justify our military expenditures. The 30% of Syrians who violently oppose Bashar are convenient puppets in our much larger game.
They keep trying to relive Operation Ajax over and over again…
Decisions of the Arab League have to be unanimous. To get suspended Iraq would have had to vote for it's own suspension or not turn up due to war. The headline is bit inflamatory to say the least.