DAMASCUS, Syria — Saying that “half the universe” was conspiring against his country, the Syrian foreign minister forcefully rejected a regional attempt to broker an end to the 10-month conflict here on Tuesday and suggested that there would be no end to the government’s use of force to put down the uprising.
Activists reported a sharp escalation of violence in the last two days, saying at least 17 people were killed in one neighborhood alone in troubled Homs, the city that has become a focal point for concerns about Syria’s slide into civil war.
The impasse has thwarted the council for months, and animosity was vividly on display in the chamber on Tuesday. Without naming Russia, ambassadors of the United States, Britain and France all strongly criticized it for continuing to deliver arms to the government in Damascus.
The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, accused the Western nations — also without naming them — of seeking to use antigovernment demonstrators to bring to power here a government closer to their interests.
Despite his condemnation of meddling in this country’s internal affairs, Syria on Tuesday approved a one-month extension of an Arab League monitoring mission, which has been criticized for failing to curb the violence. Echoing the frustration, six Persian Gulf countries announced that they were pulling their citizens from the observer mission, saying the killing was continuing.
Do you think the tensions between the Western nations and Russia are hindering progress?
Does the United Nations have a right to step in even though Syrian officials feel like “half the universe” was conspiring against them?
1 comments:
The Syrian foreign Miniter’s comments about feeling as if half the world is against him, are probably not that much of an exaggeration. There is no doubt that the political instability in Syria, as well as the aggressive style of retaliation the government had employed, is worrying. Tensions between the United States and Russia do exist on many foreign affairs issues, but particularly those issues which have to do with the middle east. In my opinion the Russians are playing the role of the healthy counterwieght to American views in this conflict. This is certainly one of the reasons that nothing has been done as of yet, though not the only reason. If the arab League or other Arab nations felt that strongly about what was going on in Syria, they would have done something about it already. Syria also does not have that much oil as compared to other arab nations, that is also another reason why the U.S. has been less enthusiastic about this internal conflict. I don’t believe that The U.S. or Russia though have the right to determine what happens to Syria or to the Syrian people. I am positive that developments in Syria are hihgly sensationalised by the media, though I’m also sure that many people have died. The Syrian people should decide for themselves what they want. The only entity that has the right in my opinon to make any statement is the United Nations.
Post a Comment