Laaska News Oct. 5,2011
Garibov Konstantin
Vitaly Churkin. Photo: RIA Novosti
Russia and China have vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against Syria. The three other member states of the BRICS group – Brazil, India and South Africa – abstained and so did Lebanon. The draft was
proposed by France, Germany Britain and Portugal and backed by Bosnia & Herzegovina, Gabon, Nigeria and Columbia.
Russia vetoed the philosophy of confrontation – that’s how Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin motivated Moscow’s position:
“We cannot accept a unilateral accusatory emphasis towards Damascus. We consider unacceptable an ultimatum-like threat to apply sanctions toward the Syrian authorities. This approach contradicts the principle of the peaceful resolution of the crisis on the basis of a nationwide Syrian dialogue. Our proposals for wording the inadmissibility of military intervention have not been taken into account. Given the all too known events in North Africa, this cannot but arouse concern.”
As the Security Council was preparing to vote, Western nations announced that Bashar Assad’s rule was no longer legitimate and called on the Syrian opposition to reject dialogue with Damascus. In this situation, the adoption of a resolution that unilaterally condemns Damascus for violence would be a signal to the opposition that it can count on strong outside support. This is fraught with more confrontation and possibly a civil war, political analyst Vladimir Sotnikov has told the Voice of Russia:
“Russia’s and China’s veto was predictable. Moscow’s position – to promote a peaceful settlement between the Syrian president and opposition forces without outside interference – remains unchanged, especially given Bashar Assad’s recent statement that the opposition is being spurred on by Islamists and foreign mercenaries.”
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said there was evidence of arms deliveries to the Syrian opposition. He refuted accusations by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice that Moscow’s veto has to do with Russian weapon contracts with Syria. Commenting on Ambassador Rice’s statement at a follow-up press conference, Mr. Churkin said that hearing such words from a country that had been pumping hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons and hardware into the Middle East was utterly dismaying.
Syrian representative to the UN Bashar Al-Jaafari reminded the Security Council that the United States had vetoed as many as 50 draft resolutions condemning Israel’s policy. When he accused Washington of aiding “the Israeli genocide”, Susan Rice left the council’s assembly hall.
Earlier, Bashar Assad warned that Syria would retaliate for any NATO air strike against it by firing hundreds of missiles at Israel. The Iranian Fars news agency says that President Assad issued the warning during his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Damascus also threatened to call on the Hezbollah movement on Lebanon to deliver strikes on Israel, while Iran said that it would attack U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. According to the agency, these statements were released on August 9 but they made top news headlines just hours before Tuesday’s vote.
Russia has again made clear that it is not an advocate of the Bashar Assad regime. It condemns the violent breakup of opposition protests and will build up pressure on the Syrian government to speed up democratic reforms and to release jailed protesters who did not commit any crimes. Simultaneously, Moscow will continue to work with the patriotic-minded Syrian opposition that opposes foreign interference in its country’s internal affairs.
VOR.
.
Laaska News.
www.laaska.wordpress.com
LAASKA NEWS AND ANALYSIS 
Russia, China veto sanctions against Syria
Laaska News Oct. 5,2011
Garibov Konstantin
Vitaly Churkin. Photo: RIA Novosti
Russia and China have vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against Syria. The three other member states of the BRICS group – Brazil, India and South Africa – abstained and so did Lebanon. The draft was
proposed by France, Germany Britain and Portugal and backed by Bosnia & Herzegovina, Gabon, Nigeria and Columbia.
Russia vetoed the philosophy of confrontation – that’s how Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin motivated Moscow’s position:
“We cannot accept a unilateral accusatory emphasis towards Damascus. We consider unacceptable an ultimatum-like threat to apply sanctions toward the Syrian authorities. This approach contradicts the principle of the peaceful resolution of the crisis on the basis of a nationwide Syrian dialogue. Our proposals for wording the inadmissibility of military intervention have not been taken into account. Given the all too known events in North Africa, this cannot but arouse concern.”
As the Security Council was preparing to vote, Western nations announced that Bashar Assad’s rule was no longer legitimate and called on the Syrian opposition to reject dialogue with Damascus. In this situation, the adoption of a resolution that unilaterally condemns Damascus for violence would be a signal to the opposition that it can count on strong outside support. This is fraught with more confrontation and possibly a civil war, political analyst Vladimir Sotnikov has told the Voice of Russia:
“Russia’s and China’s veto was predictable. Moscow’s position – to promote a peaceful settlement between the Syrian president and opposition forces without outside interference – remains unchanged, especially given Bashar Assad’s recent statement that the opposition is being spurred on by Islamists and foreign mercenaries.”
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said there was evidence of arms deliveries to the Syrian opposition. He refuted accusations by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice that Moscow’s veto has to do with Russian weapon contracts with Syria. Commenting on Ambassador Rice’s statement at a follow-up press conference, Mr. Churkin said that hearing such words from a country that had been pumping hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons and hardware into the Middle East was utterly dismaying.
Syrian representative to the UN Bashar Al-Jaafari reminded the Security Council that the United States had vetoed as many as 50 draft resolutions condemning Israel’s policy. When he accused Washington of aiding “the Israeli genocide”, Susan Rice left the council’s assembly hall.
Earlier, Bashar Assad warned that Syria would retaliate for any NATO air strike against it by firing hundreds of missiles at Israel. The Iranian Fars news agency says that President Assad issued the warning during his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. Damascus also threatened to call on the Hezbollah movement on Lebanon to deliver strikes on Israel, while Iran said that it would attack U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. According to the agency, these statements were released on August 9 but they made top news headlines just hours before Tuesday’s vote.
Russia has again made clear that it is not an advocate of the Bashar Assad regime. It condemns the violent breakup of opposition protests and will build up pressure on the Syrian government to speed up democratic reforms and to release jailed protesters who did not commit any crimes. Simultaneously, Moscow will continue to work with the patriotic-minded Syrian opposition that opposes foreign interference in its country’s internal affairs.
VOR.
.
Laaska News.
www.laaska.wordpress.com
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