U.S.-led West undermines peace plan: supports terror, despots; sows chaos, conflict
Editing, ending comment
By Carolyn Bennett
By Carolyn Bennett
Prominent Iranian political analyst Mohyeddin Sajedi recounted to Press TV that former UN Secretary-general “Kofi Annan’s plan for resolving the Syrian crisis started on April 10 and a ceasefire was enforced two days later”; and while Russia and Iran spoke out for the plan, Western forces and coerced allies lined up against it, all the while claiming they were for peace.
The plan’s failure, Sajedi said, “would mean civil war in
Syria for which [U.S.-allies] Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are already
prepared. Ankara provides political and field support for the opposition while
Riyadh and Doha provide them with financial support and arms; [and Jordan teeters] under pressure to become a way for financial aid and weapons to reach the
Syrian opposition.”
In his criticism of countries feigning support then
obstructing Annan’s peace plan, the Speaker of the Iranian Shura Council, Ali
Larijani, said “countries which gathered and presented Annan’s plan are now
talking about its failure despite the fact that Annan has not yet fully begun
the mission.” Larijani called “for giving the UN Special Envoy the space to
accomplish his mission.” He warned “countries which have not experienced any
war not to wage a war in Syria because … they will play with ‘gunpowder.’”
Peace plan support in Syrian Diaspora
Reported in the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), there are members
of the Syrian community in Russia celebrating Syria’s 66th anniversary of
Independence and stressing “solidarity with their homeland in the face of
hostile conspiracies.” Alexander Biryukov, representative of the Peoples’
Friendship University of Russia, said Western Countries and the U.S. in
particular are trying “to interfere in Syria’s internal affairs in the name of
democracy and protection of human rights” but the Russian people and the Syrian
people “support the plan of the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, and hope
that the Syrian people will come out of the crisis under the leadership of
President Bashar al-Assad.” Mustafa
al-Turk spoke for the Syrian community in Russia, stressing “the need for unity
to defend the homeland and confront the campaign launched against Syria.” The head
of the International Relations Department at the Russian Writers Union reportedly
said he hoped “the international monitors will not be similar to those who
called themselves ‘friends of Syria’ but rather they should represent all spectrums
of international public opinion to be able to contribute in stabilizing the
situation in Syria.”  |
| Consequences of U.S. war on terror: TERROR |
“Dirty tricks” charged against the West
Western diplomats including Britain’s UN Ambassador Mark
Lyall Grant have launched a “dirty trick” to influence the world’s public
opinion as far as the Syrian conflict is concerned. Reported in British media, “Sheila
Lyall Grant, wife of Britain’s UN Ambassador and Huberta von Voss-Wittig, wife
of Germany’s UN Ambassador Peter Wittig have created (or commissioned) a video
clip posted on the YouTube that “[targets] Syria’s first lady with the online
appeal to ‘stop your husband’ in what they called the ‘yearlong bid to quash a
popular uprising that has left thousands dead.’”
 |
| U.S. CIA drone |
Though the video’s creators might have “wanted to psychologically
influence the Syrian first lady and her relatives, they and their backers
failed to refer to armed terror gangs that have killed or injured thousands of
Syrian armed forces and hundreds of civilians in the more than one-year-old crisis in which the same western countries have helped to inflict damages on the
Arab country…
“Analysts believe western diplomats have resorted
to this dirty trick game out of despair after they failed to defeat Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.”
On Sunday, UN Envoy Kofi Annan said, according to press
reports, the UN Security Council Resolution on deploying 300 observers to monitor
the ceasefire in Syria is “‘a pivotal moment in the stabilization of the
country.’”
Syria in brief
Bounded on the north by Turkey, the east and southeast by
Iraq, the south by Jordan, the southwest by Lebanon and Israel, situated on the east
coast of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Asia is Syria. Its independence gained
in 1946, its capital Damascus situated on the Barada River in an oasis at the
foot of Mount Qasiyun. The area of Syria includes territory in the Golan Heights, which has been since 1967 occupied by Israel.
Its people
The majority of Syrians are Muslim. Sunni Muslims account for
about three-fourths of the Muslim population (in the majority everywhere in the
country except in the southern Al-Suwaydāʾ muḥāfaẓah, governorate, and the
Latakia governorate in the north). The
next largest are Alawites (a Shiite subsect), living mostly in the Latakia
governorate or in the governorates of Ḥimṣ and Ḥamah. Most of the country’s
Druze population lives in Al-Suwayda governorate and the rest in Damascus. The
Syrian people evolve from Greek and Roman ethnic influence and Semitic peoples
of Arabia and Mesopotamia—Aramaeans, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Canaanites; later
Turks as Greeks and Romans before them influenced political and economic
structures.
Its governance
 |
| Flag of Syria |
In 1970 Syria came under the authoritarian rule of President
Ḥafiz al-Assad, whose foremost goals included achieving national security and
domestic stability and recovering the Syrian territory lost to Israel in 1967.
Assad committed his country to an enormous arms buildup, which put severe
strains on the national budget, leaving little for development. After Assad’s death
in 2000, his son, Bashar al-Assad, became president.
Its resources
Petroleum became Syria’s leading natural resource and chief
export after 1974; production peaked in the mid-1990s before beginning a steady
decline. Natural gas was discovered at the field of Jbessa in 1940 and since
that time natural gas production in Syria has expanded to form an important
energy export. Some of the country’s oil-fired power stations have
been converted to run on natural gas, freeing more Syrian petroleum for export.
[William L. Ochsenwald: Professor of History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, Blacksburg; David Dean Commins; Professor of History,
Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Syria (2011) Encyclopedia Britannica]
West’s
Far more than their share for far too long evidence
Celebrations of the British queen’s Diamond Jubilee began on
February 6, 2012, and will rise to a feverishly lavish peak in June. The United
Kingdom’s longest-living monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is celebrating the 60th of
this reign (1952- ) — almost as long as Syria’s independence..
 |
| Britain’s monarch |
As the British people continue struggling (as do many
countries of the British Commonwealth) with great financial problems (Britain’s unemployment
rate hit a 17-year high of 8.4 percent), the monarch continues to spend
lavishly at the people’s expense. The 60th anniversary celebrations include a
seven-mile flotilla of 1,000 boats along the Thames. [“UK queen’s Diamond
Jubilee underway,” February 5, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/225109.html]
People, large numbers of them, majorities of people in the
world suffer greatly when a few people take more — far more — than their share. And “charity,” the handout mission of those who feel themselves “superior,” does
not and will never rectify this depraved, manufactured state of disparity. Only
common sense and conscience and collective action will change this congenitally
flawed ethos.
More Sources and notes
“West conspiring to cause Annan plan to fail in Syria,” April
13, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/236024.htmlquent contributor to Press
TV.
Mohyeddin Sajedi
A prominent Iranian political analyst, Mohyeddin Sajedi
writes extensively on Middle East issues and serves as Middle East expert at
the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran. A former director of Islamic
Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) branches in Beirut and Damascus, Sajedi is
a frequent contributor to Press TV.
“Annan: Observer Mission Work Should Help Create Conditions
to Launching Much-needed Political Process in Syria,” April 23, 2012,
http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2012/04/23/414222.htm
“Larijani: Countries Seeking to Stoke Crisis in Syria Will
Be Engulfed by Its Fire,” April 22, 2012,
http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2012/04/22/414161.htm
“Syrian Community in Russia Stress Solidarity with Homeland,”
April 22, 2012, http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2012/04/22/414205.htm
“West adopts dirty trick to defeat Syria,” April 18, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/236926.html
“322 People from Hama and Its Countryside Involved in Recent
Events Turn Themselves In,”
April 22, 2012, http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2012/04/22/414296.htm
HAMA, (SANA) – 322 citizens from Hama, and its countryside,
who were involved in recent events and didn’t shed any blood on Sunday turned
themselves in and surrendered their weapons to the authorities. The authorities
released these citizens to resume their normal lives after they pledged not to
repeat their offenses, bringing the total number of people who turned
themselves in recently to 773, with 248 turning themselves in on Friday in
Hama. [ H. Sabbagh]
SANA
Established in 1965 and linked to the Ministry of
Information headquartered in Damascus, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) is
the national official news agency in Syria. “The Agency provides full coverage
of local, Arab and international events based on balanced, objective approach” http://www.sana.sy/eng/article/27.htm
MONARCHIES, despotic allies
Monarchy: undivided rule or absolute sovereignty by a single
person; a government having a hereditary chief of state with life tenure and
powers varying from nominal to absolute
Currently, according to Wikipedia, “44 sovereign nations in
the world have monarchs acting as heads of state, 16 of which are Commonwealth
realms that recognize Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. All European
monarchies are constitutional — with the exception of the Vatican City; but
sovereigns in the smaller states exercise greater political influence than in
the larger.
“The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia and
Morocco ‘reign but do not rule’ although there is considerable variation in the
amount of authority they wield.
“Although they reign under constitutions, the monarchs of
Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Swaziland appear to continue to exercise
more political influence than any other single source of authority in their
nations, either by constitutional mandate or by tradition.”
Britannica notes, “By the early 21st century, examples of
traditional monarchies were largely limited to the Arab world. These included
the six oil-rich states, located along the Persian Gulf—Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman—as well as Jordan and
Morocco.”
One despot (monarch) to another
“The UK Queen has invited one of the world’s most tyrannical
rulers, the King of Bahrain, to her Diamond Jubilee banquet despite widespread
criticism of his repressive regime,” Press TV reported in early April.
“The Bahraini regime is accused of using brutal force and
torture to crush the protests in that country, which saw more than 50 civilians
killed and thousands arrested. Bahrain royal family has direct control of the
police, army and security services.
It is believed the elderly King of Saudi Arabia, King
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, declined the invitation but is sending the crown prince
in his place. The Saudi Arabian royal family has also been criticized for
human-rights abuses, as has another invitee, the King of Swaziland, Mswati III,
Africa’s last absolute monarchy.” [“UK Queen invites Bahraini king to Jubilee
banquet,” April 8, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/235154.html]
Images
Down with the crown:
http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/03/20/nasrallah-praises-protesters-in-me-except-syria-iran/
http://asiansecurityblog.wordpress.com/category/international-relations-theory/
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/entertainment/09-Mar-2012/queen-elizabeth-kicks-off-diamond-jubilee-tour
http://www.bu.edu/globalbeat/index041805.html
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