Deadline missed, US slides into government shutdown
AFP
October 1, 2013, 3:45 pm
Washington (AFP) - The United States lurched into a dreaded government shutdown Tuesday for the first time in 17 years, after Congress failed to end a bitter budget row after hours of dizzying brinkmanship.
Ten minutes before midnight, the White House budget office issued an order for many government departments to start closing down, triggering 800,000 furloughs of federal workers, and shutting tourists out of monuments like the Statue of Liberty, national parks and museums.
Prospects for a swift resolution of the mess were unclear. And economists say the struggling US economic recovery could suffer if the shutdown drags on for a matter of weeks.
Only workers deemed essential will be at their desks from Tuesday onwards, leaving government departments like the White House with skeletal staff.
Vital functions like mail delivery and air traffic control will continue as normal, however.
On a day of dysfunction and ugly rhetoric in the divided US political system, Republicans had repeatedly tied new government funding to attempts to defund, delay or dismantle President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
But each time their effort was killed by Obama's allies in the Democratic-led Senate, leaving the government in limbo when its money ran out at the end of the fiscal year at midnight Monday.
"This is an unnecessary blow to America," a somber Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor two minutes after the witching hour.
Obama, heralding the first government shutdown since 1996, told US troops in a video that they deserved better from Congress, and promised to work to get the government reopened soon.
The president's team sent out a tweet from his official account soon after the shutdown went into effect reading "they actually did it, a group of Republicans in the House just forced a government shutdown over Obamacare instead of passing a real budget."
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Obama's budget director urged Congress to swiftly pass bridge financing that would allow the government to open again.
"Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations," she said in a memo.
Obama had earlier accused Republicans of holding America to ransom with their "extreme" political demands, while his opponents struck back at his party's supposed arrogance.
House Speaker John Boehner rebuked Obama in a fiery floor speech after an unproductive call with the president.
"I didn't come here to shut down the government," Boehner said. "The American people don't want a shutdown, and neither do I."
Republicans accuse Obama of refusing to negotiate in good faith, but the White House says Obamacare is settled law and says there is no way to stop it from going into force, with a goal of providing affordable health care to all Americans.
The crisis is rooted in the long running campaign by "Tea Party" Republicans in the House to overturn or disable Obamacare -- the president's principal domestic political achievement -- key portions of which also come into force on Tuesday.
More broadly, the shutdown is the most serious crisis yet in a series of rolling ideological skirmishes between Democrat Obama and House Republicans over the size of the US government and its role in national life.
"One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to re-fight the results of an election," Obama said, referring to his own re-election.
"You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway," he said, in a stern televised statement at the White House.
With its legislative maneuvers repeatedly blocked by the Senate, the House, led by Boehner tried a new gambit, minutes before midnight.
The majority party called for a conference with the Senate, in which formal negotiators would thrash out a budget deal.
That process was already showing signs that it would take hours to coordinate, and Reid sent the Senate into recess until Tuesday morning.
"We said we'd go to conference if they wouldn't shut the government down, but they're shutting the government down," number two Senate Democrat Dick Durbin told AFP.
Conferences designed to meld dueling legislation passed by the House and the Senate can often take days or weeks to play out, so the prospects of a swift end to the shutdown seemed uncertain.
Obama warned that a government shutdown could badly damage an economy which has endured a sluggish recovery from the worst recession in decades.
"A shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away. Past shutdowns have disrupted the economy significantly," Obama said.
Consultants Macroeconomic Advisors said it would slow growth, recorded at a 2.5 percent annual pace in the second quarter.
A two-week shutdown would cut 0.3 percentage point off of gross domestic production.
It would also have a painful personal impact on workers affected -- leaving them to dip into savings or delay mortgage payments, monthly car loan bills and other spending.
Stocks on Monday retreated as traders braced for the shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 128.57 points (0.84 percent) to 15,129.67.
Markets are likely to be even more traumatized if there is no quick solution to the next fast approaching crisis.
Republicans are also demanding Obama make concessions in the health care law to secure a lifting of the current $16.7 trillion debt ceiling, without which the United States would begin to default on its debts for the first time in history by the middle of October.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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___________
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Monday, September 30, 2013
WORLD_ The moment the US government shutdown began
The moment the US government shutdown began
BBC
1 hour ago
The US government has begun a partial shutdown after the Republican-led House of Representatives refused to approve a budget for next year.
After the midnight deadline passed without agreement, Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern addressed the House saying the shutdown was "cynical and disgraceful".
Read more US begins government shutdown as budget deadline passes
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24343748
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ Obama: US budget shutdown is 'entirely avoidable'
1 October 2013 Last updated at 01:41 GMT
Obama: US budget shutdown is 'entirely avoidable'
President Obama: "Time is running out"
President Barack Obama has said a potential US government shutdown is "entirely avoidable" as only a few hours remain to avert it.
Mr Obama criticised Republicans for trying to refight the last election as they seek to link the budget to delaying his health care law.
If no agreement is reached by midnight (04:00 GMT), the government will close all non-essential federal services.
The shutdown would be the first in the US in 17 years.
More than 700,000 federal government workers could be sent home on unpaid leave, with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.
One of the key points of contention in the political stalemate has been President Barack Obama's healthcare law, popularly known as Obamacare.
Republicans in the House of Representatives - and their allies in the Senate - have demanded the law be repealed or stripped of funding as a condition for continuing to fund the government.
The US shutdown explained in 60 seconds
Major portions of the law, which passed in 2010 and has been validated by the US Supreme Court, are due to take effect on Tuesday regardless of whether there is a shutdown.
No 'furloughed' bills
A shutdown would have "a very real economic impact on real people, right away," Mr Obama said on Monday afternoon, as just under seven hours remained until the deadline, adding it would "throw a wrench" into the US recovery.
"The idea of putting the American people's hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility, and it doesn't have to happen."
While more than 700,000 federal employees are expected to be sent home on unpaid leave or furloughs; "what will not be furloughed is the bills that they have to pay," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama and his fellow Democrats in the US Senate have vowed to reject any House bill that touches the health care law.
"Does anybody truly believe that we won't have this fight again in a couple more months?" Mr Obama said, explaining why he and his congressional allies would not negotiate the law.
Earlier, the Democratic-led Senate voted 54-46 against a bill from the Republican-led House of Representatives to fund the government only if President Obama's healthcare law was delayed a year.
'Bullies'
After the Senate vote on Monday afternoon, the chamber's Democratic majority leader blamed Republicans for the imminent halt to all non-essential government operations.
"It will be a Republican government shutdown, pure and simple," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, referring to the Republicans as "bullies".
Following Mr Reid's pledge, the House passed another bill to fund the government on Monday evening - but with a one-year delay to one of the law's primary elements not due to begin on 1 October, the individual mandate.
"The American people don't want a shutdown and neither do I," House Speaker John Boehner said, but added the healthcare law was "having a devastating impact... Something has to be done".
The Senate again rejected the Obamacare provisions with less than three hours before the deadline.
* State department will be able to operate for limited time
* Department of defence would continue military operations
* Department of education would still distribute $22bn (£13.6bn) to public schools, but staffing would be severely hit
* Department of energy - 12,700 staff would be sent home, 1,113 remain to oversee nuclear arsenal
* Department of health and human services to send home more than half of staff
* The Federal Reserve, dept of homeland security, and justice dept would see little or no disruption
* US Postal Services would continue as normal
* Smithsonian institutions, museums, zoos and many national parks would be closed
Source: Washington Post
Some Democrats, including Mr Reid and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called on Mr Boehner to put the Senate bill up for a vote in the House.
They say a budget bill unencumbered with a delay of the health law could pass the House with Democrats joining a small number of Republicans.
If the government does shut down on 1 October, national parks and Washington's Smithsonian museums would close, pension and veterans' benefit cheques would be delayed, and visa and passport applications would go unprocessed.
Programmes deemed essential, such as air traffic control and food inspections, would continue.
The defence department has advised employees that uniformed members of the military will continue on normal duty, but that large numbers of civilian workers will be told to stay home.
The US government has not undergone a shutdown since 1995-96, when services were suspended for a record 21 days.
Republicans demanded then-President Bill Clinton agree to their version of a balanced budget.
After weeks of negotiation, they reached a compromise similar to what they discussed prior to the shutdown.
Borrowing crisis
As lawmakers grapple with the impending shutdown, the 17 October deadline for extending the government's borrowing limit looms even larger.
On that date, the US government will reach the limit at which it can borrow money to pay its bills, the so-called debt ceiling.
House Republicans have also demanded a series of policy concessions - including on the president's health law and on financial and environmental regulations - in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that unless the US was allowed to extend its borrowing limit, the country would be left with about $30bn (£18.5bn) to meet its commitments, which on certain days can be as high as $60bn.
A failure to raise the limit could also result in the US government defaulting on its debt payments.
Washington faced a similar impasse over its debt ceiling in 2011. Republicans and the Democrats only reached a compromise on the day the government's ability to borrow money was due to run out. T
hat fight was resolved just hours before the country could have defaulted on its debt, but nevertheless it led to ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the US for the first time ever.
The 2011 compromise included a series of automatic budget cuts known as the "sequester", which came into effect earlier this year.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24341801
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Obama: US budget shutdown is 'entirely avoidable'
President Obama: "Time is running out"
President Barack Obama has said a potential US government shutdown is "entirely avoidable" as only a few hours remain to avert it.
Mr Obama criticised Republicans for trying to refight the last election as they seek to link the budget to delaying his health care law.
If no agreement is reached by midnight (04:00 GMT), the government will close all non-essential federal services.
The shutdown would be the first in the US in 17 years.
More than 700,000 federal government workers could be sent home on unpaid leave, with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.
One of the key points of contention in the political stalemate has been President Barack Obama's healthcare law, popularly known as Obamacare.
Republicans in the House of Representatives - and their allies in the Senate - have demanded the law be repealed or stripped of funding as a condition for continuing to fund the government.
The US shutdown explained in 60 seconds
Major portions of the law, which passed in 2010 and has been validated by the US Supreme Court, are due to take effect on Tuesday regardless of whether there is a shutdown.
No 'furloughed' bills
A shutdown would have "a very real economic impact on real people, right away," Mr Obama said on Monday afternoon, as just under seven hours remained until the deadline, adding it would "throw a wrench" into the US recovery.
"The idea of putting the American people's hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility, and it doesn't have to happen."
This is an important moment and, if no-one blinks before midnight, the days ahead will test the mettle of politicians on both sides”
Mark Mardell North America editor
Read more from Mark
While more than 700,000 federal employees are expected to be sent home on unpaid leave or furloughs; "what will not be furloughed is the bills that they have to pay," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama and his fellow Democrats in the US Senate have vowed to reject any House bill that touches the health care law.
"Does anybody truly believe that we won't have this fight again in a couple more months?" Mr Obama said, explaining why he and his congressional allies would not negotiate the law.
Earlier, the Democratic-led Senate voted 54-46 against a bill from the Republican-led House of Representatives to fund the government only if President Obama's healthcare law was delayed a year.
'Bullies'
After the Senate vote on Monday afternoon, the chamber's Democratic majority leader blamed Republicans for the imminent halt to all non-essential government operations.
"It will be a Republican government shutdown, pure and simple," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, referring to the Republicans as "bullies".
Following Mr Reid's pledge, the House passed another bill to fund the government on Monday evening - but with a one-year delay to one of the law's primary elements not due to begin on 1 October, the individual mandate.
"The American people don't want a shutdown and neither do I," House Speaker John Boehner said, but added the healthcare law was "having a devastating impact... Something has to be done".
The Senate again rejected the Obamacare provisions with less than three hours before the deadline.
* State department will be able to operate for limited time
* Department of defence would continue military operations
* Department of education would still distribute $22bn (£13.6bn) to public schools, but staffing would be severely hit
* Department of energy - 12,700 staff would be sent home, 1,113 remain to oversee nuclear arsenal
* Department of health and human services to send home more than half of staff
* The Federal Reserve, dept of homeland security, and justice dept would see little or no disruption
* US Postal Services would continue as normal
* Smithsonian institutions, museums, zoos and many national parks would be closed
Source: Washington Post
Some Democrats, including Mr Reid and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called on Mr Boehner to put the Senate bill up for a vote in the House.
They say a budget bill unencumbered with a delay of the health law could pass the House with Democrats joining a small number of Republicans.
If the government does shut down on 1 October, national parks and Washington's Smithsonian museums would close, pension and veterans' benefit cheques would be delayed, and visa and passport applications would go unprocessed.
Programmes deemed essential, such as air traffic control and food inspections, would continue.
The defence department has advised employees that uniformed members of the military will continue on normal duty, but that large numbers of civilian workers will be told to stay home.
The US government has not undergone a shutdown since 1995-96, when services were suspended for a record 21 days.
Republicans demanded then-President Bill Clinton agree to their version of a balanced budget.
After weeks of negotiation, they reached a compromise similar to what they discussed prior to the shutdown.
Borrowing crisis
As lawmakers grapple with the impending shutdown, the 17 October deadline for extending the government's borrowing limit looms even larger.
On that date, the US government will reach the limit at which it can borrow money to pay its bills, the so-called debt ceiling.
House Republicans have also demanded a series of policy concessions - including on the president's health law and on financial and environmental regulations - in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that unless the US was allowed to extend its borrowing limit, the country would be left with about $30bn (£18.5bn) to meet its commitments, which on certain days can be as high as $60bn.
A failure to raise the limit could also result in the US government defaulting on its debt payments.
Washington faced a similar impasse over its debt ceiling in 2011. Republicans and the Democrats only reached a compromise on the day the government's ability to borrow money was due to run out. T
hat fight was resolved just hours before the country could have defaulted on its debt, but nevertheless it led to ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgrading the US for the first time ever.
The 2011 compromise included a series of automatic budget cuts known as the "sequester", which came into effect earlier this year.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24341801
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ SYRIA_ French police probing Bashar al-Assad uncle's wealth
French police probing Bashar al-Assad uncle's wealth
Paris prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into the assets in France of Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the Syrian president Bashar, amid accusations he illegally bought properties worth tens of millions of pounds.
By Henry Samuel, in Paris
6:09PM BST 30 Sep 2013
The probe follows a criminal complaint filed earlier this month by anti-corruption groups Sherpa and Transparency International alleging the 66-year-old had illicitly acquired "extraordinary wealth" in France.
Rifaat al-Assad owns a string of properties elsewhere in Paris and France, as well as other cities abroad, including a £10million Georgian mansion in Mayfair, London.
The Syrian former vice president, once head of the feared Defense Companies paramilitary unit, has lived in exile in Europe since he unsuccessfully tried to seize power from his brother, Hafez, in 1983.
Hafez was the father of current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is fighting in a civil conflict that has left more than 110,000 dead since it began in March 2011.
Rifaat al-Assad is reviled by many in his homeland for leading a February 1982 military assault on Hama to suppress an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, allegedly leaving between 10,000 and 25,000 people dead.
Related Articles
_ The 11-year-old face of Syria's collateral damage - 30 Sep 2013
_ Syria: Ban Ki-moon holds first meeting with opposition - 29 Sep 2013
_ UN Security Council adopts Syria resolution - 28 Sep 2013
_ Syria: UN investigating chemical attacks 'that happened after August - 21' 27 Sep 2013
The bloody attack, in which entire districts were said to be razed to the ground, earned him the nickname of “the Butcher of Hama”.
The criminal complaint accuses Mr al-Assad of acquiring wealth "in the billions of euros" through corruption, embezzlement of public funds, misuse of corporate assets and other crimes.
Mr al-Assad has vehemently denied acquiring assets in France through illegal means.
"Were there even the slightest doubt over my client's real estate ... would President Francois Mitterrand have awarded him the Legion d'Honneur (France’s highest distinction) in 1986?,” his lawyer Marcel Ceccaldi said last Friday.
He told Reuters that his client’s real estate holdings dated back to 1984-1986 and were transparent and legal.
The son of Rifaat al-Assad, Siwar al-Assad, told France Info radio his father had received funds since 1984 from "states, leaders and friends abroad." That included a gift from the king of Saudi Arabia of a 45 hectare (111 acre) property and stud farm north of Paris, he said.
French media have reported that his holdings include a mansion and several dozen apartments in Paris, with newspaper Le Monde estimating the total value of his estate in France at 160 million euros.
Earlier this year, Mr Rifaat sought to sell an entire building at 38 Avenue Foch - one of the most prized properties in the French capital. The sale was reportedly cancelled at the last minute as the 70 million euro (£60 million) offer was deemed insufficient.
There have been repeated reports that he is seeking to sell up in France due to concerns the French government is trying to clean-up its image as a safe investment haven for dictators and their families.
Last year, two Right-wing local councilors wrote to then French president Nicolas Sarkozy to ask him to freeze all the Assad family assets in France. “We don’t want our district to become a refuge for dictators of all kinds,” they wrote.
Since the Syrian uprising, the European Union and the US have imposed asset freezes on around 150 individuals deemed “responsible for the violent repression of the civilian population in Syria”.
The opposition Syrian National Council has called for Rifaat al-Assad to be subjected to international sanctions like current senior officials in the Syrian government because of his past crimes. But to date he has not been targeted.
He has previously called on Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Paris prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into the assets in France of Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the Syrian president Bashar, amid accusations he illegally bought properties worth tens of millions of pounds.
By Henry Samuel, in Paris
6:09PM BST 30 Sep 2013
The probe follows a criminal complaint filed earlier this month by anti-corruption groups Sherpa and Transparency International alleging the 66-year-old had illicitly acquired "extraordinary wealth" in France.
Rifaat al-Assad owns a string of properties elsewhere in Paris and France, as well as other cities abroad, including a £10million Georgian mansion in Mayfair, London.
The Syrian former vice president, once head of the feared Defense Companies paramilitary unit, has lived in exile in Europe since he unsuccessfully tried to seize power from his brother, Hafez, in 1983.
Hafez was the father of current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is fighting in a civil conflict that has left more than 110,000 dead since it began in March 2011.
Rifaat al-Assad is reviled by many in his homeland for leading a February 1982 military assault on Hama to suppress an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, allegedly leaving between 10,000 and 25,000 people dead.
Related Articles
_ The 11-year-old face of Syria's collateral damage - 30 Sep 2013
_ Syria: Ban Ki-moon holds first meeting with opposition - 29 Sep 2013
_ UN Security Council adopts Syria resolution - 28 Sep 2013
_ Syria: UN investigating chemical attacks 'that happened after August - 21' 27 Sep 2013
The bloody attack, in which entire districts were said to be razed to the ground, earned him the nickname of “the Butcher of Hama”.
The criminal complaint accuses Mr al-Assad of acquiring wealth "in the billions of euros" through corruption, embezzlement of public funds, misuse of corporate assets and other crimes.
Mr al-Assad has vehemently denied acquiring assets in France through illegal means.
"Were there even the slightest doubt over my client's real estate ... would President Francois Mitterrand have awarded him the Legion d'Honneur (France’s highest distinction) in 1986?,” his lawyer Marcel Ceccaldi said last Friday.
He told Reuters that his client’s real estate holdings dated back to 1984-1986 and were transparent and legal.
The son of Rifaat al-Assad, Siwar al-Assad, told France Info radio his father had received funds since 1984 from "states, leaders and friends abroad." That included a gift from the king of Saudi Arabia of a 45 hectare (111 acre) property and stud farm north of Paris, he said.
French media have reported that his holdings include a mansion and several dozen apartments in Paris, with newspaper Le Monde estimating the total value of his estate in France at 160 million euros.
Earlier this year, Mr Rifaat sought to sell an entire building at 38 Avenue Foch - one of the most prized properties in the French capital. The sale was reportedly cancelled at the last minute as the 70 million euro (£60 million) offer was deemed insufficient.
There have been repeated reports that he is seeking to sell up in France due to concerns the French government is trying to clean-up its image as a safe investment haven for dictators and their families.
Last year, two Right-wing local councilors wrote to then French president Nicolas Sarkozy to ask him to freeze all the Assad family assets in France. “We don’t want our district to become a refuge for dictators of all kinds,” they wrote.
Since the Syrian uprising, the European Union and the US have imposed asset freezes on around 150 individuals deemed “responsible for the violent repression of the civilian population in Syria”.
The opposition Syrian National Council has called for Rifaat al-Assad to be subjected to international sanctions like current senior officials in the Syrian government because of his past crimes. But to date he has not been targeted.
He has previously called on Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
OPINION_ OPINION: Syria: Home of the Brave
OPINION: Syria: Home of the Brave
From Bridget Johnson, former About.com Guide
Updated August 10, 2011
(Image via protester video)
To get the real story on the 2011 uprising in Syria, you can't flip on the TV to see cable news correspondents reporting live from the streets of Damascus. With media banned from covering the revolt, you certainly can't take the regime in Damascus on its word that it's simply quashing the "terrorism" of murderous outlaws and "radical and blasphemous intellectuals."
You have to go to the source of where the Arab Spring began and flourished. As a group of Syrians, both at home and in exile, smuggle out video and send information for posting on Twitter, Facebook and blogs, the picture comes together for those of us watching from the outside: These are some of the bravest people we've ever seen.
Like with the rebellion against Moammar Gadhafi, there is no going back once you decide to take on a ruthless dictator like Bashar Assad. They may try to lure opponents back with the promise of reform, but no one doubts that mass arrests, torture, executions, or simply disappearances would follow. Dictators don't survive on the enduring love of their people, but on the control that they exert.
And for years, those who have dared to dissent in Syria have not been treated kindly. The country has been under oppressive "emergency rule" since 1963, websites are censored and bloggers detained, political opponents and human-rights activists have been arrested, and there are no elections or political parties. Human-rights advocates have characterized the country's human-rights situation as one of the worst in the world.
Despite this daunting track record, and a brutal crackdown on this year's pro-democracy demonstrations, protesters keep pouring into the streets demanding a better life. When the military lowers the hammer on one region, other pockets across the country pop up in protest of the government's heavy handed actions. It isn't easy to see a post-Assad Syria through the smoke of the vicious government assaults, but the Syrian people have not given up.
To understand why today's protesters are so determined, you have to understand what they have been facing.
In the city of Hama, circa 1982, a Sunni Islamic revolt began against the regime of Assad's father, Hafez. The elder Assad ordered a massacre in Hama, bombing by air, shelling and storming it with tanks, going door to door and killing survivors, lighting gasoline in the old city's tunnels and killing whomever was hiding and tried to flee the flames. The death toll ranged from anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 civilians. The massacre was par for the course for Hafez's regime, which was notorious for brutal repression and killing of political opponents.
Human Rights Watch investigated the 2011 Syrian uprising, which began in March, and issued its horrifying findings on June 1 in a 54-page report charging the regime with no less than crimes against humanity. The report focused on Daraa, where protests began after 15 children were arrested and tortured for allegedly painting anti-government graffiti. In stemming the protests, Syrian security forces have opened fire on the peaceful demonstrations without warning the participants to disperse first. Government snipers have been picking off civilians who have dared to venture outside their homes. When people from neighboring towns tried to bring food and water to the blockaded city, where electricity and communications were cut off, in marches carrying olive branches and declaring their humanitarian intentions, Syrian forces opened fire on the Good Samaritans. Forces have also opened fire on medical personnel trying to assist the wounded and dying. Those wounded who tried to seek care at hospitals were arrested.
In custody, the human-rights group found, scores were subjected to electric shocks and beatings with sticks and wires, sometimes with the victim stretched out on a rack. Executions without trial were also reported, as was at least one rape of a male detainee with a baton. Defectors told Human Rights Watch that they were ordered to shoot unarmed protesters or be shot themselves. Some Syrians were sought and detained for as little as shouting "with excitement" at a pro-democracy, anti-regime protest. Amnesty International reported on one young man, Khaled al-Hamedh, who tried to go buy medicine for his 4-year-old brother in Hama, and was shot in the back crossing the street before a tank deliberately rolled back and forth over his body.
The carnage is unspeakable, and Syrians undoubtedly hope they have the momentum of the Arab Spring on their side. Other Arab nations have reacted angrily; Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, for example, withdrew their ambassadors in protest. The international community has responded with sanctions and varied calls for action, including referral to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity (where Gadhafi has landed for his brutal crackdown on his people).
Assad, who is seemingly sinking into bunker mentality, has publicly insisted that the people love him. But what they've clearly shown is that they love the antithesis of Assad: freedom. They love freedom so implicitly that they continue to risk all for the chance to be able to celebrate in the square like Egyptians. They tear down Assad posters and cheer with the hope that someday they can clean the country of all Assad posters without risk of bloody reprisal. They come out into the streets, again and again, not willing to let their brothers and sisters suffer alone.
No matter the outcome in the bloody repression of the peaceful quest for the fall of Assad in Syria, freedom wins every time brave Syrians step outside their door to demand, once again, that the dictator go.
Read more: http://worldnews.about.com/od/syria/a/Opinion-Syria-Home-Of-The-Brave.htm
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
From Bridget Johnson, former About.com Guide
Updated August 10, 2011
(Image via protester video)
To get the real story on the 2011 uprising in Syria, you can't flip on the TV to see cable news correspondents reporting live from the streets of Damascus. With media banned from covering the revolt, you certainly can't take the regime in Damascus on its word that it's simply quashing the "terrorism" of murderous outlaws and "radical and blasphemous intellectuals."
You have to go to the source of where the Arab Spring began and flourished. As a group of Syrians, both at home and in exile, smuggle out video and send information for posting on Twitter, Facebook and blogs, the picture comes together for those of us watching from the outside: These are some of the bravest people we've ever seen.
Like with the rebellion against Moammar Gadhafi, there is no going back once you decide to take on a ruthless dictator like Bashar Assad. They may try to lure opponents back with the promise of reform, but no one doubts that mass arrests, torture, executions, or simply disappearances would follow. Dictators don't survive on the enduring love of their people, but on the control that they exert.
And for years, those who have dared to dissent in Syria have not been treated kindly. The country has been under oppressive "emergency rule" since 1963, websites are censored and bloggers detained, political opponents and human-rights activists have been arrested, and there are no elections or political parties. Human-rights advocates have characterized the country's human-rights situation as one of the worst in the world.
Despite this daunting track record, and a brutal crackdown on this year's pro-democracy demonstrations, protesters keep pouring into the streets demanding a better life. When the military lowers the hammer on one region, other pockets across the country pop up in protest of the government's heavy handed actions. It isn't easy to see a post-Assad Syria through the smoke of the vicious government assaults, but the Syrian people have not given up.
To understand why today's protesters are so determined, you have to understand what they have been facing.
In the city of Hama, circa 1982, a Sunni Islamic revolt began against the regime of Assad's father, Hafez. The elder Assad ordered a massacre in Hama, bombing by air, shelling and storming it with tanks, going door to door and killing survivors, lighting gasoline in the old city's tunnels and killing whomever was hiding and tried to flee the flames. The death toll ranged from anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 civilians. The massacre was par for the course for Hafez's regime, which was notorious for brutal repression and killing of political opponents.
Human Rights Watch investigated the 2011 Syrian uprising, which began in March, and issued its horrifying findings on June 1 in a 54-page report charging the regime with no less than crimes against humanity. The report focused on Daraa, where protests began after 15 children were arrested and tortured for allegedly painting anti-government graffiti. In stemming the protests, Syrian security forces have opened fire on the peaceful demonstrations without warning the participants to disperse first. Government snipers have been picking off civilians who have dared to venture outside their homes. When people from neighboring towns tried to bring food and water to the blockaded city, where electricity and communications were cut off, in marches carrying olive branches and declaring their humanitarian intentions, Syrian forces opened fire on the Good Samaritans. Forces have also opened fire on medical personnel trying to assist the wounded and dying. Those wounded who tried to seek care at hospitals were arrested.
In custody, the human-rights group found, scores were subjected to electric shocks and beatings with sticks and wires, sometimes with the victim stretched out on a rack. Executions without trial were also reported, as was at least one rape of a male detainee with a baton. Defectors told Human Rights Watch that they were ordered to shoot unarmed protesters or be shot themselves. Some Syrians were sought and detained for as little as shouting "with excitement" at a pro-democracy, anti-regime protest. Amnesty International reported on one young man, Khaled al-Hamedh, who tried to go buy medicine for his 4-year-old brother in Hama, and was shot in the back crossing the street before a tank deliberately rolled back and forth over his body.
The carnage is unspeakable, and Syrians undoubtedly hope they have the momentum of the Arab Spring on their side. Other Arab nations have reacted angrily; Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, for example, withdrew their ambassadors in protest. The international community has responded with sanctions and varied calls for action, including referral to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity (where Gadhafi has landed for his brutal crackdown on his people).
Assad, who is seemingly sinking into bunker mentality, has publicly insisted that the people love him. But what they've clearly shown is that they love the antithesis of Assad: freedom. They love freedom so implicitly that they continue to risk all for the chance to be able to celebrate in the square like Egyptians. They tear down Assad posters and cheer with the hope that someday they can clean the country of all Assad posters without risk of bloody reprisal. They come out into the streets, again and again, not willing to let their brothers and sisters suffer alone.
No matter the outcome in the bloody repression of the peaceful quest for the fall of Assad in Syria, freedom wins every time brave Syrians step outside their door to demand, once again, that the dictator go.
Read more: http://worldnews.about.com/od/syria/a/Opinion-Syria-Home-Of-The-Brave.htm
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
01102013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ Syria: Agony of victims of 'napalm-like' school bombing
30 September 2013 Last updated at 00:54 GMT
Syria: Agony of victims of 'napalm-like' school bombing
By Ian Pannell
BBC News, Aleppo
Footage of a napalm-like attack on a school in Syria filmed by a team working for Panorama shocked the world. Now the BBC has returned to find out what happened to the children who suffered horrific burns.
We had travelled to Syria to film two British doctors from the UK charity Hand in Hand for Syria providing care to parts of the country where the medical system is barely functioning.
The British medics had stopped off at a hospital in Aleppo Province. It was set up by the charity to provide general medical care, but in a climate of war it is just as likely to be casualties of the conflict who are carried through the door.
Within an hour of being there we received the first sign of what was to come.
A seven-month old baby boy arrived, his pink face was blistered and raw. His father was also burnt and sat helplessly on a stretcher clutching his son as the staff rushed to help.
The British doctors were hearing rumours that there were more cases on the way.
Soon, dozens of people, mostly teenagers, were being rushed in on stretchers with napalm-like burns. Their clothes were burnt, their bodies charred and in some cases their hair had melted.
Their faces were brutally disfigured with huge blisters forming over their bodies. Almost in slow motion they lumbered in; shocked and in pain. The smell of burnt flesh was overpowering.
Within minutes the hospital was overwhelmed. Dr Rola Hallam and Dr Saleyha Ahsam began treating the casualties.
There were no shrapnel injuries or loss of blood typical of most aerial bombs.
We did not know for sure what the device contained but it caused appalling burns consistent with an incendiary device, containing a substance like napalm or thermite.
The pressure group Human Rights Watch has documented the use of similar bombs elsewhere in Syria.
All of this unravelled in a climate of fear. It happened just days after the chemical attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus that killed hundreds of people and many were terrified that the same had just happened here.
Doctors ripped open packets of saline fluid and poured the liquid over the victims. The few beds in the emergency room quickly filled up and many of the teenagers were writhing in agony on the floor.
Thick white cream was applied to their bodies to treat the burns, while yet more patients were brought in.
Outside in the hospital courtyard, a water tanker sprayed the crowd so they could clean themselves - terrified that this had been a chemical attack.
Fathers and mothers desperate for news fought to be allowed into the hospital, cursing their president, Bashar al-Assad.
Eyewitnesses described the same thing - a fighter-jet circling overhead, apparently looking for targets. A large crowd had gathered at the school where the incendiary bomb was dropped.
Eighteen-year-old Siham Kanbari had terrible burns to much of her body.
She had been in a maths class when the blast ripped through the window.
One of the youngest victims was 13-year-old Ahmed Darwish.
When he arrived at the hospital he was shaking uncontrollably. The emergency ward was so full he was told to wait in the corridor.
Dr Saleyha described the scene.
"Out of all the war zones I have ever been to, today has been by far the worst," she said.
"I have never seen anything like that - the fact that they were children, teenagers, same ages as my nieces and nephews."
The hospital admitted 30 patients that day.
Most had more than 50% burns - which meant their chances of survival were less than half.
The injured needed intensive care therapy but none was available in Aleppo's field hospital.
By dusk the chaos began to subside as patients were rushed across the border to Turkey for treatment. Some died on the way.
"I thought it was never going to end," Dr Rola said. "We lost a gentlemen on transfer to Bab-al-Hawa, he had extensive third degree burns.
"We tried to stabilise him and refer him as soon as possible but we weren't able to rescue him. I've never seen a burn that bad.
"I think his face is going to stay with me for quite a long time."
Two days after the attack we went to the school.
It had been one of the few to remain open in this part of northern Syria. But when we visited the classrooms were empty.
The smell at the scene and the debris suggest it was an incendiary bomb. It is not a chemical weapon but is classed as a conventional one.
More than 100 countries have banned their use against civilians but Syria has not signed the treaty.
The air at the scene was still thick with the smell of whatever was dropped that day; it is hard to imagine or to describe the horrors of what the pilot did.
The headmaster said he felt helpless. He was too afraid to give his name.
"The worst thing in life is for someone to die before our eyes.
"People burning in front of you. People dying. People running. But where will they run to?
"They're not safe anywhere. This is the fate of the Syrian people."
Ten children died in the attack and many more have been left struggling to survive terrible burns.
'Please let it be over'
We visited Ahmed, in a Turkish hospital, a few weeks after the incident. Described as a hard working boy with a smiley face, he now has 40% burns to his body.
"I'm in a lot of pain," he said. "I had a fever all last night. I'm in pain on my neck and my shoulder.
"Why bomb us while we are at school. Why?"
When we last saw Siham, in the Aleppo hospital, she was screaming in pain. She is now in a ward alongside Ahmed, in Turkey. She told us the day we visited that her body still feels like it is burning.
She was in her final year of school. Described as one of the smartest in her class she is now suffering with 70% burns.
"Please let it be over now", she said. "We need to find a way out. We've had all we can take."
As the controversy over chemical weapons dies down, the world's attention will once again move on from Syria.
But for those whose lives are being torn apart by war, the suffering continues.
Panorama: Saving Syria's Children, BBC One, Monday 30 September at 22:35 GMT and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24288698
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
30092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Syria: Agony of victims of 'napalm-like' school bombing
By Ian Pannell
BBC News, Aleppo
Footage of a napalm-like attack on a school in Syria filmed by a team working for Panorama shocked the world. Now the BBC has returned to find out what happened to the children who suffered horrific burns.
We had travelled to Syria to film two British doctors from the UK charity Hand in Hand for Syria providing care to parts of the country where the medical system is barely functioning.
The British medics had stopped off at a hospital in Aleppo Province. It was set up by the charity to provide general medical care, but in a climate of war it is just as likely to be casualties of the conflict who are carried through the door.
Within an hour of being there we received the first sign of what was to come.
A seven-month old baby boy arrived, his pink face was blistered and raw. His father was also burnt and sat helplessly on a stretcher clutching his son as the staff rushed to help.
The British doctors were hearing rumours that there were more cases on the way.
Soon, dozens of people, mostly teenagers, were being rushed in on stretchers with napalm-like burns. Their clothes were burnt, their bodies charred and in some cases their hair had melted.
Their faces were brutally disfigured with huge blisters forming over their bodies. Almost in slow motion they lumbered in; shocked and in pain. The smell of burnt flesh was overpowering.
Within minutes the hospital was overwhelmed. Dr Rola Hallam and Dr Saleyha Ahsam began treating the casualties.
There were no shrapnel injuries or loss of blood typical of most aerial bombs.
We did not know for sure what the device contained but it caused appalling burns consistent with an incendiary device, containing a substance like napalm or thermite.
The pressure group Human Rights Watch has documented the use of similar bombs elsewhere in Syria.
All of this unravelled in a climate of fear. It happened just days after the chemical attack in the eastern suburbs of Damascus that killed hundreds of people and many were terrified that the same had just happened here.
Doctors ripped open packets of saline fluid and poured the liquid over the victims. The few beds in the emergency room quickly filled up and many of the teenagers were writhing in agony on the floor.
Thick white cream was applied to their bodies to treat the burns, while yet more patients were brought in.
Outside in the hospital courtyard, a water tanker sprayed the crowd so they could clean themselves - terrified that this had been a chemical attack.
Fathers and mothers desperate for news fought to be allowed into the hospital, cursing their president, Bashar al-Assad.
Eyewitnesses described the same thing - a fighter-jet circling overhead, apparently looking for targets. A large crowd had gathered at the school where the incendiary bomb was dropped.
Eighteen-year-old Siham Kanbari had terrible burns to much of her body.
She had been in a maths class when the blast ripped through the window.
One of the youngest victims was 13-year-old Ahmed Darwish.
When he arrived at the hospital he was shaking uncontrollably. The emergency ward was so full he was told to wait in the corridor.
Dr Saleyha described the scene.
"Out of all the war zones I have ever been to, today has been by far the worst," she said.
"I have never seen anything like that - the fact that they were children, teenagers, same ages as my nieces and nephews."
The hospital admitted 30 patients that day.
Most had more than 50% burns - which meant their chances of survival were less than half.
The injured needed intensive care therapy but none was available in Aleppo's field hospital.
By dusk the chaos began to subside as patients were rushed across the border to Turkey for treatment. Some died on the way.
"I thought it was never going to end," Dr Rola said. "We lost a gentlemen on transfer to Bab-al-Hawa, he had extensive third degree burns.
"We tried to stabilise him and refer him as soon as possible but we weren't able to rescue him. I've never seen a burn that bad.
"I think his face is going to stay with me for quite a long time."
Two days after the attack we went to the school.
It had been one of the few to remain open in this part of northern Syria. But when we visited the classrooms were empty.
The smell at the scene and the debris suggest it was an incendiary bomb. It is not a chemical weapon but is classed as a conventional one.
More than 100 countries have banned their use against civilians but Syria has not signed the treaty.
The air at the scene was still thick with the smell of whatever was dropped that day; it is hard to imagine or to describe the horrors of what the pilot did.
The headmaster said he felt helpless. He was too afraid to give his name.
"The worst thing in life is for someone to die before our eyes.
"People burning in front of you. People dying. People running. But where will they run to?
"They're not safe anywhere. This is the fate of the Syrian people."
Ten children died in the attack and many more have been left struggling to survive terrible burns.
'Please let it be over'
We visited Ahmed, in a Turkish hospital, a few weeks after the incident. Described as a hard working boy with a smiley face, he now has 40% burns to his body.
"I'm in a lot of pain," he said. "I had a fever all last night. I'm in pain on my neck and my shoulder.
"Why bomb us while we are at school. Why?"
When we last saw Siham, in the Aleppo hospital, she was screaming in pain. She is now in a ward alongside Ahmed, in Turkey. She told us the day we visited that her body still feels like it is burning.
She was in her final year of school. Described as one of the smartest in her class she is now suffering with 70% burns.
"Please let it be over now", she said. "We need to find a way out. We've had all we can take."
As the controversy over chemical weapons dies down, the world's attention will once again move on from Syria.
But for those whose lives are being torn apart by war, the suffering continues.
Panorama: Saving Syria's Children, BBC One, Monday 30 September at 22:35 GMT and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-24288698
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
30092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Sunday, September 29, 2013
WORLD_ Is this game, set and match to Russia and Assad? Almost, but not quite
Is this game, set and match to Russia and Assad? Almost, but not quite
By David Blair - World - Last updated: September 27th, 2013
30 Comments Comment on this article
*** David Blair became Chief Foreign Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in November 2011. He previously worked for the paper as Diplomatic Editor, Africa Correspondent and Middle East Correspondent.
Later today, the Security Council will probably manage to pass a Resolution on Syria for the first time since the country’s civil war began over two years ago. The draft text, agreed by all five permanent members, requires Syria to surrender its arsenal of chemical weapons.
But it also amounts to a prize example of the notion that securing a Resolution is an end in itself. You can spot the huge compromises that America, Britain and France have had to make in order to reach agreement with Russia and China.
So, the Security Council will declare itself “deeply outraged” by the poison gas attacks of August 21, but not deeply outraged enough to actually say who was to blame. Remember how President Obama said on Tuesday that failing to pin responsibility on the Assad regime was an “insult to human reason”? Well, the Security Council will insult reason in just such a way – and it will do so with American approval.
And what happens if Assad breaks the deal and fails to disarm? The very last clause of the draft says the Security Council “decides, in the event of non-compliance with this resolution, including unauthorised transfer of chemical weapons, or any use of chemical weapons by anyone in the Syrian Arab Republic, to impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.”
To “impose measures”? What measures? The Security Council would presumably have to make a further decision on this, giving Russia and China the chance to veto any punishment at all. So from Assad’s point of view, this draft Resolution allows him to escape the censure of the UN for the poison gas attacks and, if he chooses not to disarm, the Security Council is threatening no more than to hold another meeting to decide how to respond.
Is this game, set and match to Russia and Assad? Not quite. At least the Resolution will give legal force to the agreement to disarm Syria of chemical weapons. And the Security Council has finally achieved unity on Syria for the first time since the crisis began. But this is lowest-common-denominator diplomacy of the most obvious kind.
Read more by David Blair on Telegraph Blogs Follow Telegraph Blogs on Twitter
*** 30 Comments
Read more: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidblair/100238430/is-this-game-set-and-match-to-russia-and-assad-almost-but-not-quite/
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
30092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
By David Blair - World - Last updated: September 27th, 2013
30 Comments Comment on this article
*** David Blair became Chief Foreign Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in November 2011. He previously worked for the paper as Diplomatic Editor, Africa Correspondent and Middle East Correspondent.
Later today, the Security Council will probably manage to pass a Resolution on Syria for the first time since the country’s civil war began over two years ago. The draft text, agreed by all five permanent members, requires Syria to surrender its arsenal of chemical weapons.
But it also amounts to a prize example of the notion that securing a Resolution is an end in itself. You can spot the huge compromises that America, Britain and France have had to make in order to reach agreement with Russia and China.
So, the Security Council will declare itself “deeply outraged” by the poison gas attacks of August 21, but not deeply outraged enough to actually say who was to blame. Remember how President Obama said on Tuesday that failing to pin responsibility on the Assad regime was an “insult to human reason”? Well, the Security Council will insult reason in just such a way – and it will do so with American approval.
And what happens if Assad breaks the deal and fails to disarm? The very last clause of the draft says the Security Council “decides, in the event of non-compliance with this resolution, including unauthorised transfer of chemical weapons, or any use of chemical weapons by anyone in the Syrian Arab Republic, to impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.”
To “impose measures”? What measures? The Security Council would presumably have to make a further decision on this, giving Russia and China the chance to veto any punishment at all. So from Assad’s point of view, this draft Resolution allows him to escape the censure of the UN for the poison gas attacks and, if he chooses not to disarm, the Security Council is threatening no more than to hold another meeting to decide how to respond.
Is this game, set and match to Russia and Assad? Not quite. At least the Resolution will give legal force to the agreement to disarm Syria of chemical weapons. And the Security Council has finally achieved unity on Syria for the first time since the crisis began. But this is lowest-common-denominator diplomacy of the most obvious kind.
Read more by David Blair on Telegraph Blogs Follow Telegraph Blogs on Twitter
*** 30 Comments
Read more: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidblair/100238430/is-this-game-set-and-match-to-russia-and-assad-almost-but-not-quite/
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
30092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ SYRIA_ At least 16 dead as Syrian school hit in air strike - activists
At least 16 dead as Syrian school hit in air strike - activists
Reuters – 3 hours ago.
Reuters/Reuters - A boy holds a school uniform of pupils near the site of the secondary school that activists said was hit by an air strike from forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad in Raqqa, eastern Syria September 29, 2013. REUTERS/Nour Fourat
BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 16 people, most of them students, were killed in an air strike that hit a secondary school in the rebel-held Syrian city of Raqqa on Sunday, activists said.
Fighting continued across the country including in the outskirts of the capital, underlining the relentless nature of the civil war in the face of international efforts to destroy Syria's chemical arms and revive peace talks.
Raqqa in northeastern Syria has been under the control of insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad since March but the city has been regularly bombed by government forces.
Videos posted online by activists showed the bloody and charred remains of bodies said to have been from the air strike in Raqqa. Some of the victims appeared to be young men, possibly in their teens.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group with a network of sources across the country, said the death toll was at least 16 - 10 of them students at the school - but that the number was likely to rise because some people were critically wounded.
Fighting also continued in the southern Deraa province, a day after rebels in that area - including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front - seized a former customs post on the southern border with Jordan.
On the outskirts of the capital, an attack by rebels on military bases in the Qalamoun area killed at least 19 government fighters and wounded dozens of others Late on Saturday, the Observatory said.
The death toll from a car bomb on Friday in the town of Rankus north of Damascus also rose to 34, the Observatory added.
More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict, which started as a peaceful uprising in March 2011 and turned into a civil war after a violent government crackdown on civilian demonstrators.
Reporting restrictions make it difficult to independently verify events inside Syria.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday that demands the eradication of Syria's chemical weapons, following an August 21 sarin nerve gas attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after the vote that big powers hoped to hold a peace conference on Syria in mid-November in Geneva.
The international envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said on Sunday that date was "not 100 percent certain" and urged Syria's fractious opposition groups to unify behind one delegation at the planned meeting.
"If there are different delegations, I worry that this will lead to failure, not success," he told the al-Arabiya news channel.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Andrew Heavens) .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Reuters – 3 hours ago.
Reuters/Reuters - A boy holds a school uniform of pupils near the site of the secondary school that activists said was hit by an air strike from forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad in Raqqa, eastern Syria September 29, 2013. REUTERS/Nour Fourat
BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 16 people, most of them students, were killed in an air strike that hit a secondary school in the rebel-held Syrian city of Raqqa on Sunday, activists said.
Fighting continued across the country including in the outskirts of the capital, underlining the relentless nature of the civil war in the face of international efforts to destroy Syria's chemical arms and revive peace talks.
Raqqa in northeastern Syria has been under the control of insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad since March but the city has been regularly bombed by government forces.
Videos posted online by activists showed the bloody and charred remains of bodies said to have been from the air strike in Raqqa. Some of the victims appeared to be young men, possibly in their teens.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group with a network of sources across the country, said the death toll was at least 16 - 10 of them students at the school - but that the number was likely to rise because some people were critically wounded.
Fighting also continued in the southern Deraa province, a day after rebels in that area - including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front - seized a former customs post on the southern border with Jordan.
On the outskirts of the capital, an attack by rebels on military bases in the Qalamoun area killed at least 19 government fighters and wounded dozens of others Late on Saturday, the Observatory said.
The death toll from a car bomb on Friday in the town of Rankus north of Damascus also rose to 34, the Observatory added.
More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict, which started as a peaceful uprising in March 2011 and turned into a civil war after a violent government crackdown on civilian demonstrators.
Reporting restrictions make it difficult to independently verify events inside Syria.
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday that demands the eradication of Syria's chemical weapons, following an August 21 sarin nerve gas attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said after the vote that big powers hoped to hold a peace conference on Syria in mid-November in Geneva.
The international envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said on Sunday that date was "not 100 percent certain" and urged Syria's fractious opposition groups to unify behind one delegation at the planned meeting.
"If there are different delegations, I worry that this will lead to failure, not success," he told the al-Arabiya news channel.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Andrew Heavens) .
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
30092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ Syria air strike kills 16 in high school
Syria air strike kills 16 in high school
THE AGE
September 30, 2013 - 5:39 AM
An air strike on a high school killed 16 people, most of them students and teachers, in a rebel-held city in northern Syria on Sunday, a monitoring group said.
"The Syrian air force bombed a technical high school in the city of Raqa, killing 16 people, among them 10 students aged under 18, and wounding many others, some critically," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, updating an earlier toll.
The Britain-based group posted video footage showing mangled bodies, one lying under schoolbooks. Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.
"There was panic, with children crying as they sought to take shelter," the Observatory quoted a survivor as saying.
Raqa, on the Euphrates River valley 160 kilometres east of the main northern city of Aleppo, is the only provincial capital entirely in rebel hands.
Captured from government forces on March 6, the city is now largely controlled by Al-Qaeda loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The air strike came after rebels launched an overnight attack on army positions in Nasseriya al-Qalamun, north of Damascus, killing at least 19 soldiers and wounding 60, the Observatory said.
"There were also losses in the ranks of the rebels, who succeeded in capturing several positions," it added, without giving a figure.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 14 pro-regime militiamen killed in Zamalka east of Damascus were transported to their native city of Homs, said the Observatory.
The army said it killed "a large number" of rebels in Nashabiyeh, north of the capital.
Violence has raged for months around Damascus, as the army has fought hard to keep the rebels out of the city.
Activists say the army has for months besieged rebel-held areas, mainly east and southwest of Damascus.
The Observatory, meanwhile, updated its toll to 34 for a Friday car bombing at a mosque in Rankus north of the capital.
Among the casualties were four children, it said.
In southern Syria, after four days of fighting that killed 26 soldiers and "a large number" of rebels, among them seven non-Syrians, the opposition took a customs building and an area linking Daraa to the Golan Heights, the Observatory said.
A security source downplayed the development, saying: "We cannot say the terrorist groups have taken over this or that position, because the situation shifts. The fighting continues."
Amman, meanwhile, protested to Damascus after a shell struck the northern Jordanian city of Ramtha three days ago.
AFP
VIDEO:
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/syria-air-strike-kills-16-in-high-school-20130930-2umvh.html#ixzz2gJlbVanP
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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conbenho
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___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
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THE AGE
September 30, 2013 - 5:39 AM
An air strike on a high school killed 16 people, most of them students and teachers, in a rebel-held city in northern Syria on Sunday, a monitoring group said.
"The Syrian air force bombed a technical high school in the city of Raqa, killing 16 people, among them 10 students aged under 18, and wounding many others, some critically," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, updating an earlier toll.
The Britain-based group posted video footage showing mangled bodies, one lying under schoolbooks. Its authenticity could not immediately be verified.
"There was panic, with children crying as they sought to take shelter," the Observatory quoted a survivor as saying.
Raqa, on the Euphrates River valley 160 kilometres east of the main northern city of Aleppo, is the only provincial capital entirely in rebel hands.
Captured from government forces on March 6, the city is now largely controlled by Al-Qaeda loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The air strike came after rebels launched an overnight attack on army positions in Nasseriya al-Qalamun, north of Damascus, killing at least 19 soldiers and wounding 60, the Observatory said.
"There were also losses in the ranks of the rebels, who succeeded in capturing several positions," it added, without giving a figure.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 14 pro-regime militiamen killed in Zamalka east of Damascus were transported to their native city of Homs, said the Observatory.
The army said it killed "a large number" of rebels in Nashabiyeh, north of the capital.
Violence has raged for months around Damascus, as the army has fought hard to keep the rebels out of the city.
Activists say the army has for months besieged rebel-held areas, mainly east and southwest of Damascus.
The Observatory, meanwhile, updated its toll to 34 for a Friday car bombing at a mosque in Rankus north of the capital.
Among the casualties were four children, it said.
In southern Syria, after four days of fighting that killed 26 soldiers and "a large number" of rebels, among them seven non-Syrians, the opposition took a customs building and an area linking Daraa to the Golan Heights, the Observatory said.
A security source downplayed the development, saying: "We cannot say the terrorist groups have taken over this or that position, because the situation shifts. The fighting continues."
Amman, meanwhile, protested to Damascus after a shell struck the northern Jordanian city of Ramtha three days ago.
AFP
VIDEO:
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/syria-air-strike-kills-16-in-high-school-20130930-2umvh.html#ixzz2gJlbVanP
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
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Saturday, September 28, 2013
WORLD_ Good news from the UN … until you stop to think about it
Good news from the UN … until you stop to think about it
By Peter Foster - World - Last updated: September 27th, 2013
170 Comments Comment on this article
*** Peter Foster is the Telegraph's US Editor based in Washington DC. He moved to America in January 2012 after three years based in Beijing, where he covered the rise of China. Before that, he was based in New Delhi as South Asia correspondent. He has reported for The Telegraph for more than a decade, covering two Olympic Games, 9/11 in New York, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the post-conflict phases in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
No one likes a party pooper, but the great rejoicing coming out of the United Nations this week following the resolution on Syria's chemical weapons and Iran's new-found desire to cut a deal over its nuclear programme urgently needs tempering with reality.
So before we start popping champagne corks, here's are some reasons to pause for thought:
Be under no illusion, Iran, Russia and Syria are driving the agenda here.
Given their past records, why is it that Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Bashar Al-Assad are all signing up to these resolutions and agreements-in-principle, and at a time when the hand of the West has never been weaker?
Is it because they have had some Damascene conversion, or is it because they are getting what they want? The former is deeply unlikely. The latter should be extremely troubling.
So if Putin, Rouhani, and Assad are getting what they want, what is it?
In Putin's case, control of the UN, which was clearly demonstrated by the "toothless" (Foreign Policy) resolution on Syria. There is no meaningful threat of force, Barack Obama saw to that by his terrible miscalculation in going to Congress, forever weakening his hand and quite probably the presidents who will follow him.
In Assad's case, time to regroup and kill lots more people by conventional means, secure in the knowledge that he isn't about to get bombed. He can spin out the chemical weapons issue at his leisure, and he will.
In Rouhani's case, legalised UN-sanctioned access to the nuclear fuel cycle (albeit limited to five per cent enrichment) and the rapid lifting of economic sanctions.
Is that so worrying? In the post-Cold War era, world diplomacy is no longer a zero sum game, right?
If only. Obama and Cameron may have saved face at home, they may have given their public what they want, but opting for a quiet life today does not necessarily lay the foundations for a stable tomorrow.
Putin's hand is now immeasurably strengthened. He gets to prop up his last client in the Middle East, burnish his prestige on the world stage and enforce (as the toothless UN resolution on Syria shows) the Russian/Chinese view that sovereignty is all.
Mr Obama warned in his UN speech that sovereignty "cannot be a shield for tyrants". Well that's what happening, and the Syria "deal", which the US, UK had no choice by to accede to having failed so dreadfully at home, has set a dangerous precedent.
But how can Iran be said to be "driving the agenda"? Aren't they making concessions?
Superficially, but only because Tehran has already won the most crucial argument – that it should have access to the nuclear fuel cycle and be able to enrich its own uranium. That is Iran's big victory here, to set up this negotiation as a binary choice between a "deal" (give us enrichment) and "no deal".
This ignores the "third way", which is to give Iran access to nuclear fuel from third-party countries, something that US and UK diplomats have already privately accepted Iran will not accept.
But if Iran accepts enrichment cap of 5 per cent, and intrusive IAEA inspections, isn't that a win-win?
Sure, until it all goes wrong. If the deal goes through, Tehran has already crossed one vitally important threshold – legal recognition of its right to enrich uranium. Tehran well knows – given what happened in Syria – how difficult it is for the US to intervene these days, even when children are writhing and dying right in front of us. How much harder to convince the public of the need to address something nebulous, far away and deep underground.
So having shown such "good faith" in agreeing to this "deal", it will be virtually impossible to sell the need for intervention to stop a "legal" programme, even if – and no doubt Tehran will find an excuse – there starts to be some slippage on inspections and enrichment.
Iran has already demonstrated its capacity to enrich to 20 per cent, which crosses a key technological threshold, meaning that they can get to 90 per cent (needed for a bomb) pretty quickly if they try.
As in Syria, the West is negotiating from a position of weakness, and Tehran knows it.
But if you take such a cynical/distrustful attitude, how can there ever be a deal?
The Ayatollah's seductive argument, exactly. The fact is, over the last decade Iran has done nothing to deserve trust – as former IAEA inspectors will testify. Sure, sanctions are hurting – hence the current overtures – but that doesn't mean Tehran has suddenly given up on its ambitions to build a bomb.
Rouhani is in the UN promising "transparency" and "assurances" of Iran's promise not to build a bomb, but the facts of that past decade simply don't fit.
Given that past history, there is every reason to be suspicious about why Iran wants legally-sanctioned access to the cycle. If the ambition was to have civilian nuclear power, they could have had it a long time ago, with the Russians or another trusted third party providing the fuel, as already happens at Bushehr.
So, what should we do, nothing?
No, but we need to be clear-eyed about what is going on here. Diplomacy is a game of poker and there are winners and losers. The fact that Western publics are war-weary and want to believe that Russia, Iran and Syria are suddenly seeing the light, unfortunately doesn't make it so.
On the contrary. Iran, Russia and Syria rightly sense weakness and division in the West and they are moving to capitalise on that space, correctly calculating that Western public is happy to buy in to the fiction, and that their leaders will do so for a quiet life. And if that sounds binary/Cold War, then sad-to-relate, that's how the world goes round.
As the saying goes in poker, if you don't know who the mug is round the table, it's very likely that it's you.
Read more by Peter Foster on Telegraph Blogs Follow Telegraph Blogs on Twitter
*** View comments (175)
Read more: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterfoster/100238440/good-news-from-the-un-until-you-stop-to-think-about-it/
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Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
29092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
By Peter Foster - World - Last updated: September 27th, 2013
170 Comments Comment on this article
*** Peter Foster is the Telegraph's US Editor based in Washington DC. He moved to America in January 2012 after three years based in Beijing, where he covered the rise of China. Before that, he was based in New Delhi as South Asia correspondent. He has reported for The Telegraph for more than a decade, covering two Olympic Games, 9/11 in New York, the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the post-conflict phases in Afghanistan and Iraq and the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
No one likes a party pooper, but the great rejoicing coming out of the United Nations this week following the resolution on Syria's chemical weapons and Iran's new-found desire to cut a deal over its nuclear programme urgently needs tempering with reality.
So before we start popping champagne corks, here's are some reasons to pause for thought:
Be under no illusion, Iran, Russia and Syria are driving the agenda here.
Given their past records, why is it that Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Bashar Al-Assad are all signing up to these resolutions and agreements-in-principle, and at a time when the hand of the West has never been weaker?
Is it because they have had some Damascene conversion, or is it because they are getting what they want? The former is deeply unlikely. The latter should be extremely troubling.
So if Putin, Rouhani, and Assad are getting what they want, what is it?
In Putin's case, control of the UN, which was clearly demonstrated by the "toothless" (Foreign Policy) resolution on Syria. There is no meaningful threat of force, Barack Obama saw to that by his terrible miscalculation in going to Congress, forever weakening his hand and quite probably the presidents who will follow him.
In Assad's case, time to regroup and kill lots more people by conventional means, secure in the knowledge that he isn't about to get bombed. He can spin out the chemical weapons issue at his leisure, and he will.
In Rouhani's case, legalised UN-sanctioned access to the nuclear fuel cycle (albeit limited to five per cent enrichment) and the rapid lifting of economic sanctions.
Is that so worrying? In the post-Cold War era, world diplomacy is no longer a zero sum game, right?
If only. Obama and Cameron may have saved face at home, they may have given their public what they want, but opting for a quiet life today does not necessarily lay the foundations for a stable tomorrow.
Putin's hand is now immeasurably strengthened. He gets to prop up his last client in the Middle East, burnish his prestige on the world stage and enforce (as the toothless UN resolution on Syria shows) the Russian/Chinese view that sovereignty is all.
Mr Obama warned in his UN speech that sovereignty "cannot be a shield for tyrants". Well that's what happening, and the Syria "deal", which the US, UK had no choice by to accede to having failed so dreadfully at home, has set a dangerous precedent.
But how can Iran be said to be "driving the agenda"? Aren't they making concessions?
Superficially, but only because Tehran has already won the most crucial argument – that it should have access to the nuclear fuel cycle and be able to enrich its own uranium. That is Iran's big victory here, to set up this negotiation as a binary choice between a "deal" (give us enrichment) and "no deal".
This ignores the "third way", which is to give Iran access to nuclear fuel from third-party countries, something that US and UK diplomats have already privately accepted Iran will not accept.
But if Iran accepts enrichment cap of 5 per cent, and intrusive IAEA inspections, isn't that a win-win?
Sure, until it all goes wrong. If the deal goes through, Tehran has already crossed one vitally important threshold – legal recognition of its right to enrich uranium. Tehran well knows – given what happened in Syria – how difficult it is for the US to intervene these days, even when children are writhing and dying right in front of us. How much harder to convince the public of the need to address something nebulous, far away and deep underground.
So having shown such "good faith" in agreeing to this "deal", it will be virtually impossible to sell the need for intervention to stop a "legal" programme, even if – and no doubt Tehran will find an excuse – there starts to be some slippage on inspections and enrichment.
Iran has already demonstrated its capacity to enrich to 20 per cent, which crosses a key technological threshold, meaning that they can get to 90 per cent (needed for a bomb) pretty quickly if they try.
As in Syria, the West is negotiating from a position of weakness, and Tehran knows it.
But if you take such a cynical/distrustful attitude, how can there ever be a deal?
The Ayatollah's seductive argument, exactly. The fact is, over the last decade Iran has done nothing to deserve trust – as former IAEA inspectors will testify. Sure, sanctions are hurting – hence the current overtures – but that doesn't mean Tehran has suddenly given up on its ambitions to build a bomb.
Rouhani is in the UN promising "transparency" and "assurances" of Iran's promise not to build a bomb, but the facts of that past decade simply don't fit.
Given that past history, there is every reason to be suspicious about why Iran wants legally-sanctioned access to the cycle. If the ambition was to have civilian nuclear power, they could have had it a long time ago, with the Russians or another trusted third party providing the fuel, as already happens at Bushehr.
So, what should we do, nothing?
No, but we need to be clear-eyed about what is going on here. Diplomacy is a game of poker and there are winners and losers. The fact that Western publics are war-weary and want to believe that Russia, Iran and Syria are suddenly seeing the light, unfortunately doesn't make it so.
On the contrary. Iran, Russia and Syria rightly sense weakness and division in the West and they are moving to capitalise on that space, correctly calculating that Western public is happy to buy in to the fiction, and that their leaders will do so for a quiet life. And if that sounds binary/Cold War, then sad-to-relate, that's how the world goes round.
As the saying goes in poker, if you don't know who the mug is round the table, it's very likely that it's you.
Read more by Peter Foster on Telegraph Blogs Follow Telegraph Blogs on Twitter
*** View comments (175)
Read more: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterfoster/100238440/good-news-from-the-un-until-you-stop-to-think-about-it/
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
29092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ UN resolution orders Syria chemical arms destroyed
UN resolution orders Syria chemical arms destroyed
Britain's Foreign Minister William Hague (L) and US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) vote to approve a resolution that will require Syria to give up its chemical weapons during a meeting September 27, 2013 at UN headquarters in New York
AFP
9 hours ago
New York City (AFP) - The UN Security Council unanimously passed a landmark resolution Friday ordering the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and condemning a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus.
The major powers overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon, who called the resolution "the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time," said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November.
Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arms.
The plan calls for Syria's estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014.
International experts are expected to start work in Syria to meet the tight deadline next week. Britain and China offered to finance the disarmament operation.
"Should the regime fail to act, there will be consequences," US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the 15-member council after the vote sealing a US-Russian agreement.
But Kerry hailed the resolution.
Stages in the US-Russian disarmament plan and Syrian chemical weapons sites (AFP Photo/)
"The Security Council has shown that when we put aside politics for the common good, we are still capable of doing big things," he said.
Human Rights Watch however was not impressed with the deal.
"This resolution fails to ensure justice for the gassing of hundreds of children and many other grave crimes," said the watchdog's UN director, Philippe Bolopion.
Efforts to destroy Syria's chemical weapons "do not address the reality that conventional weapons have killed the overwhelming majority of the estimated 100,000 people who have died in the conflict," Bolopion said.
"If the killing of civilians by conventional weapons continues unabated, the chemical weapons resolution will be remembered as an effort to draw red lines, not save civilian lives," he said.
Bolopion renewed HRW's call for the UN to "refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC), and adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible for mass killings."
No automatic punitive measures
Russia, Assad's main ally, has rejected any suggestion of sanctions or military force against Assad. It has already used its veto power as a permanent Security Council member to block three Western-drafted resolutions on Syria.
There are no immediate sanctions over a chemical weapons attack, but the resolution allows for a new vote on possible measures if the Russia-US plan is breached.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the council would take "actions which are commensurate with the violations, which will have to be proven 100 percent."
The resolution also applies to the Syrian opposition, Lavrov said.
The resolution "condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on August 21, 2013, in violation of international law."
Washington has blamed Assad's government for that sarin gas assault on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that US officials say killed more than 1,400 dead, and threatened a military strike over the attack.
Syria has denied responsibility.
Syria attacks must be 'accountable'
Should Syria not comply with the resolution, the Security Council agreed to "impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter."
The charter can authorize the use of sanctions or military force, but new action would require a new vote, said Russia which would likely oppose any use of force against its ally.
Russia also rebuffed calls by Britain and France for the Ghouta attack to be referred to the International Criminal Court.
The resolution expressed "strong conviction" that those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria "should be held accountable."
It formally endorsed a decision taken hours earlier in The Hague by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to accept the Russia-US disarmament plan.
Ban said the resolution "will ensure that the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program happens as soon as possible and with the utmost transparency and accountability."
Ban also told the Security Council he wanted to hold a new Syria peace conference in mid-November, and said that the foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States agreed to make sure that each side negotiate in "good faith."
A first peace conference was held in June 2012 but splits in the Syrian opposition and the international community have thwarted a follow-up.
Ban will start contacts with his Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi next week on setting the firm date and who will attend the new meeting, diplomats said.
He also noted that the resolution was not "a license to kill" with conventional arms.
"A red light for one for one form of weapons does not mean a green light for others," Ban said.
The Security Council resolution gave backing to the 2012 conference declaration, which stated that there should be a transitional government in Syria with full executive powers.
It also determined that the new peace conference would be to decide how to implement the accord.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the resolution was adopted that the international community must step up efforts to help those caught up in a humanitarian crisis.
In Brussels, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the resolution represented "a major step towards a sustainable and unified international response" to the Syrian crisis.
"This decision should pave the way to the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria, and set a standard for the international community in responding to threats posed by weapons of mass destruction," Ashton said.
The EU would provide "forceful" support in the case of non-compliance, Ashton said in a statement.
Meanwhile in Syria, a car bomb north of Damascus detonated Friday, killing at least 30 people. Eleven more deaths were reported in a government air raid, highlighting the continued slaughter in Syria's long-running civil war. .
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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/un-council-passes-landmark-syria-chemical-resolution-004535372.html
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
29092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Britain's Foreign Minister William Hague (L) and US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) vote to approve a resolution that will require Syria to give up its chemical weapons during a meeting September 27, 2013 at UN headquarters in New York
AFP
9 hours ago
New York City (AFP) - The UN Security Council unanimously passed a landmark resolution Friday ordering the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and condemning a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus.
The major powers overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon, who called the resolution "the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time," said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November.
Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arms.
The plan calls for Syria's estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014.
International experts are expected to start work in Syria to meet the tight deadline next week. Britain and China offered to finance the disarmament operation.
"Should the regime fail to act, there will be consequences," US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the 15-member council after the vote sealing a US-Russian agreement.
But Kerry hailed the resolution.
Stages in the US-Russian disarmament plan and Syrian chemical weapons sites (AFP Photo/)
"The Security Council has shown that when we put aside politics for the common good, we are still capable of doing big things," he said.
Human Rights Watch however was not impressed with the deal.
"This resolution fails to ensure justice for the gassing of hundreds of children and many other grave crimes," said the watchdog's UN director, Philippe Bolopion.
Efforts to destroy Syria's chemical weapons "do not address the reality that conventional weapons have killed the overwhelming majority of the estimated 100,000 people who have died in the conflict," Bolopion said.
"If the killing of civilians by conventional weapons continues unabated, the chemical weapons resolution will be remembered as an effort to draw red lines, not save civilian lives," he said.
Bolopion renewed HRW's call for the UN to "refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC), and adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible for mass killings."
No automatic punitive measures
Russia, Assad's main ally, has rejected any suggestion of sanctions or military force against Assad. It has already used its veto power as a permanent Security Council member to block three Western-drafted resolutions on Syria.
There are no immediate sanctions over a chemical weapons attack, but the resolution allows for a new vote on possible measures if the Russia-US plan is breached.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the council would take "actions which are commensurate with the violations, which will have to be proven 100 percent."
The resolution also applies to the Syrian opposition, Lavrov said.
The resolution "condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on August 21, 2013, in violation of international law."
Washington has blamed Assad's government for that sarin gas assault on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta that US officials say killed more than 1,400 dead, and threatened a military strike over the attack.
Syria has denied responsibility.
Syria attacks must be 'accountable'
Should Syria not comply with the resolution, the Security Council agreed to "impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter."
The charter can authorize the use of sanctions or military force, but new action would require a new vote, said Russia which would likely oppose any use of force against its ally.
Russia also rebuffed calls by Britain and France for the Ghouta attack to be referred to the International Criminal Court.
The resolution expressed "strong conviction" that those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria "should be held accountable."
It formally endorsed a decision taken hours earlier in The Hague by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to accept the Russia-US disarmament plan.
Ban said the resolution "will ensure that the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program happens as soon as possible and with the utmost transparency and accountability."
Ban also told the Security Council he wanted to hold a new Syria peace conference in mid-November, and said that the foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States agreed to make sure that each side negotiate in "good faith."
A first peace conference was held in June 2012 but splits in the Syrian opposition and the international community have thwarted a follow-up.
Ban will start contacts with his Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi next week on setting the firm date and who will attend the new meeting, diplomats said.
He also noted that the resolution was not "a license to kill" with conventional arms.
"A red light for one for one form of weapons does not mean a green light for others," Ban said.
The Security Council resolution gave backing to the 2012 conference declaration, which stated that there should be a transitional government in Syria with full executive powers.
It also determined that the new peace conference would be to decide how to implement the accord.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the resolution was adopted that the international community must step up efforts to help those caught up in a humanitarian crisis.
In Brussels, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the resolution represented "a major step towards a sustainable and unified international response" to the Syrian crisis.
"This decision should pave the way to the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria, and set a standard for the international community in responding to threats posed by weapons of mass destruction," Ashton said.
The EU would provide "forceful" support in the case of non-compliance, Ashton said in a statement.
Meanwhile in Syria, a car bomb north of Damascus detonated Friday, killing at least 30 people. Eleven more deaths were reported in a government air raid, highlighting the continued slaughter in Syria's long-running civil war. .
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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/un-council-passes-landmark-syria-chemical-resolution-004535372.html
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
29092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ Syria crisis: Russia may use veto to thwart UN action against Assad
Syria crisis: Russia may use veto to thwart UN action against Assad
Bashar al-Assad could escape punishment if he fails to surrender his chemical weapons, after Russia reserved the right to veto any future action by the United Nations against Syria's regime.
By Jon Swaine in New York and David Blair
9:23PM BST 27 Sep 2013
A resolution compelling Assad to surrender his chemical arsenal to international control was expected to be passed last night by the Security Council in New York.
It threatened "to impose measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter", which authorises military action or economic sanctions, against Assad if he fails to comply.
Yet Western diplomats confirmed that another resolution would be needed to specify any action against Assad. "Of course, Russia can just veto down the road," one told The Daily Telegraph.
At Russia's behest, the draft Security Council resolution also failed to blame the Assad regime for the killing of up to 1,400 civilians with poison gas in a suburb of Damascus on Aug 21.
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, told the UN General Assembly yesterday that Assad "committed a war crime". Repeating an earlier comment from President Barack Obama, he added: "It is an insult to human reason to suggest that the regime was not responsible."
Related Articles
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_ Syria: UN investigating chemical attacks 'that happened after August - 21' 27 Sep 2013
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_ Syria: 'Assad regime ordered me to gas people - but I could not do it' - 21 Sep 2013
_ Christians now suffering mass martyrdom, says Archbishop of Canterbury - 25 Sep 2013
However, he conceded before delivering his remarks that the draft resolution, which sets a plan and timetable for Assad to surrender the weapons, did not go as far as Britain, the US and France had wanted.
"If this was Nick Clegg's UN resolution, which it ain't, clearly the language would have been much less compromising on that point and on many others besides," he told The Daily Telegraph.
"This text is a compromise. We would also have very much liked to see tough wording on the international criminal court and human rights abuses. It's not in there."
However, he insisted that according to the agreement, "there will be, not just there might be, Security Council action under Chapter VII if Assad fails to abide by his commitments".
And he claimed that the resolution – the first of any kind since the start of a bloody two-year civil war that has divided the Security Council – represented "a total change in international co-ordination, sentiment and consensus" on the issue of chemical weapons.
"For a long time, Assad was able to hide behind his sponsor powers of Syria on the Council – obfuscating, pretending there wasn't a problem, suggesting there weren't any stockpiles. All of that is evaporating," said Mr Clegg.
UN officials confirmed yesterday that weapons inspectors were examining seven alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria, including three after the Aug 21 incidents.
The inspectors, who returned to Syria this week for a second investigation, expect to finish collecting samples and interviewing witnesses on Monday.
Jonathan Eyal, the director of studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said that America needed the resolution to give legal force to the agreement to disarm Syria.
The US judged that this goal was worth the concessions needed to win Russia's agreement. "The resolution is about the best that could be achieved," he said.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Bashar al-Assad could escape punishment if he fails to surrender his chemical weapons, after Russia reserved the right to veto any future action by the United Nations against Syria's regime.
By Jon Swaine in New York and David Blair
9:23PM BST 27 Sep 2013
A resolution compelling Assad to surrender his chemical arsenal to international control was expected to be passed last night by the Security Council in New York.
It threatened "to impose measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter", which authorises military action or economic sanctions, against Assad if he fails to comply.
Yet Western diplomats confirmed that another resolution would be needed to specify any action against Assad. "Of course, Russia can just veto down the road," one told The Daily Telegraph.
At Russia's behest, the draft Security Council resolution also failed to blame the Assad regime for the killing of up to 1,400 civilians with poison gas in a suburb of Damascus on Aug 21.
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, told the UN General Assembly yesterday that Assad "committed a war crime". Repeating an earlier comment from President Barack Obama, he added: "It is an insult to human reason to suggest that the regime was not responsible."
Related Articles
_ UN Security Council adopts Syria resolution - 28 Sep 2013
_ Syria: UN investigating chemical attacks 'that happened after August - 21' 27 Sep 2013
_ UN agree deal on Syria's weapons - 27 Sep 2013
_ Syria: 'Assad regime ordered me to gas people - but I could not do it' - 21 Sep 2013
_ Christians now suffering mass martyrdom, says Archbishop of Canterbury - 25 Sep 2013
However, he conceded before delivering his remarks that the draft resolution, which sets a plan and timetable for Assad to surrender the weapons, did not go as far as Britain, the US and France had wanted.
"If this was Nick Clegg's UN resolution, which it ain't, clearly the language would have been much less compromising on that point and on many others besides," he told The Daily Telegraph.
"This text is a compromise. We would also have very much liked to see tough wording on the international criminal court and human rights abuses. It's not in there."
However, he insisted that according to the agreement, "there will be, not just there might be, Security Council action under Chapter VII if Assad fails to abide by his commitments".
And he claimed that the resolution – the first of any kind since the start of a bloody two-year civil war that has divided the Security Council – represented "a total change in international co-ordination, sentiment and consensus" on the issue of chemical weapons.
"For a long time, Assad was able to hide behind his sponsor powers of Syria on the Council – obfuscating, pretending there wasn't a problem, suggesting there weren't any stockpiles. All of that is evaporating," said Mr Clegg.
UN officials confirmed yesterday that weapons inspectors were examining seven alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria, including three after the Aug 21 incidents.
The inspectors, who returned to Syria this week for a second investigation, expect to finish collecting samples and interviewing witnesses on Monday.
Jonathan Eyal, the director of studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said that America needed the resolution to give legal force to the agreement to disarm Syria.
The US judged that this goal was worth the concessions needed to win Russia's agreement. "The resolution is about the best that could be achieved," he said.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Friday, September 27, 2013
WORLD_ UN Security Council votes to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons
UN Security Council votes to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons
Published September 27, 2013/ Associated Press
Sept. 27, 2013: The United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution that will require Syria to give up its chemical weapons at U.N. Headquarters. (AP)
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday night to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, a landmark decision aimed at taking poison gas off the battlefield in the escalating 2 1/2-year conflict.
The vote after two weeks of intense negotiations marked a major breakthrough in the paralysis that has gripped the council since the Syrian uprising began. Russia and China previously vetoed three Western-backed resolutions pressuring President Bashar Assad's regime to end the violence.
"Today's historic resolution is the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council immediately after the vote.
For the first time, the council endorsed the roadmap for a political transition in Syria adopted by key nations in June 2012 and called for an international conference to be convened "as soon as possible" to implement it.
Ban said the target date for a new peace conference in Geneva is mid-November.
The resolution calls for consequences if Syria fails to comply, but those will depend on the council passing another resolution in the event of non-compliance. That will give Assad ally Russia the means to stop any punishment from being imposed.
The vote came just hours after the world's chemical weapons watchdog adopted a U.S.-Russian plan that lays out benchmarks and timelines for cataloguing, quarantining and ultimately destroying Syria's chemical weapons, their precursors and delivery systems.
The Security Council resolution enshrines the plan approved by Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, making it legally binding.
The agreement allows the start of a mission to rid Syria's regime of its estimated 1,000-ton chemical arsenal by mid-2014, significantly accelerating a destruction timetable that often takes years to complete.
"We expect to have an advance team on the ground (in Syria) next week," OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan told reporters at the organization's headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands immediately after its 41-member executive council approved the plan.
The U.N. resolution's adoption was assured when the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council -- Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain -- signed off on the text on Thursday.
As a sign of the broad support for the resolution, all 15 members signed on as co-sponsors Friday.
Russia and the United States had been at odds over the enforcement issue. Russia opposed any reference to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and security.
The final resolution states that the Security Council will impose measures under Chapter 7 if Syria fails to comply, but this would require adoption of a second resolution.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/27/un-security-council-votes-to-eliminate-syria-chemical-weapons/
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
Published September 27, 2013/ Associated Press
Sept. 27, 2013: The United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution that will require Syria to give up its chemical weapons at U.N. Headquarters. (AP)
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday night to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, a landmark decision aimed at taking poison gas off the battlefield in the escalating 2 1/2-year conflict.
The vote after two weeks of intense negotiations marked a major breakthrough in the paralysis that has gripped the council since the Syrian uprising began. Russia and China previously vetoed three Western-backed resolutions pressuring President Bashar Assad's regime to end the violence.
"Today's historic resolution is the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council immediately after the vote.
For the first time, the council endorsed the roadmap for a political transition in Syria adopted by key nations in June 2012 and called for an international conference to be convened "as soon as possible" to implement it.
Ban said the target date for a new peace conference in Geneva is mid-November.
The resolution calls for consequences if Syria fails to comply, but those will depend on the council passing another resolution in the event of non-compliance. That will give Assad ally Russia the means to stop any punishment from being imposed.
The vote came just hours after the world's chemical weapons watchdog adopted a U.S.-Russian plan that lays out benchmarks and timelines for cataloguing, quarantining and ultimately destroying Syria's chemical weapons, their precursors and delivery systems.
The Security Council resolution enshrines the plan approved by Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, making it legally binding.
The agreement allows the start of a mission to rid Syria's regime of its estimated 1,000-ton chemical arsenal by mid-2014, significantly accelerating a destruction timetable that often takes years to complete.
"We expect to have an advance team on the ground (in Syria) next week," OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan told reporters at the organization's headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands immediately after its 41-member executive council approved the plan.
The U.N. resolution's adoption was assured when the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council -- Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain -- signed off on the text on Thursday.
As a sign of the broad support for the resolution, all 15 members signed on as co-sponsors Friday.
Russia and the United States had been at odds over the enforcement issue. Russia opposed any reference to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and security.
The final resolution states that the Security Council will impose measures under Chapter 7 if Syria fails to comply, but this would require adoption of a second resolution.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/27/un-security-council-votes-to-eliminate-syria-chemical-weapons/
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
WORLD_ UN probes new alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria
27 September 2013 Last updated at 21:01 GMT
BBC
UN probes new alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria
Nick Childs reports on the hopes for a UN resolution
UN inspectors are investigating seven alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria - three of which happened after the 21 August Damascus incident that led to threats of US military action.
Little is known about the latest three alleged attacks, which the Syrian government asked the UN to investigate.
The 21 August attack left hundreds dead; the resulting outcry led Syria to offer up its chemical weapons arsenal.
The UN will vote later on a plan of action to eliminate the stockpile.
Its resolution is expected to incorporate the text of an agreement by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), whose 41-nation executive council is currently meeting in The Hague to give formal approval to the plan.
The OPCW will be responsible for dealing with Syria's chemical weapons, and has said it will send in its own team of inspectors next Tuesday.
US President Barack Obama said agreement on the issue by UN Security Council members was a "potentially huge victory for the international community".
Meanwhile violence goes on in Syria. Activists said a car bomb killed at least 20 people near a mosque in Rankus, a town north of Damascus, just after Friday prayers.
Militants accused
In a statement, the UN said its current inspection team in Syria is investigating seven allegations of chemical weapons use this year.
The team, led by Ake Sellstrom, arrived in Syria for its second visit on 25 September and hopes to finish its work by Monday 30 September, the statement said.
It is working on a "comprehensive report" into the allegations that it hopes to have finished by late October.
The UN listed the alleged attacks, which all took place this year, as Khan al-Assal on 19 March; Sheikh Maqsoud on 13 April; Saraqeb on 29 April; Ghouta on 21 August; Bahhariya on 22 August; Jobar on 24 August and Ashrafieh Sahnaya on 25 August.
Syria has pushed for the investigation of the three post-21 August incidents.
Its envoy to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, accused "militants" of using chemical gas against the army in Bahhariya, Jobar and Ashrafieh Sahnaya.
It was the Ghouta incident of 21 August that sparked international outrage and the threat of military action from the US and its allies.
Since then, Russia - an ally of Syria - has secured an agreement from Damascus to give up its chemical weapons.
Earlier this month, the US and Russia asked the world's chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, to decide how to ensure the "complete elimination of all chemical weapons material and equipment" in Syria by the first half of 2014.
The OPCW's text calls for inspections to begin by Tuesday. An advance team will probably arrive on Monday.
The OPCW sets out a deadline that will see the destruction of production and mixing/filling equipment by 1 November 2013 and the complete destruction of all chemical weapons material and equipment in the first half of next year.
Syria is instructed to provide "immediate and unfettered" access to the OPCW's inspectors. If it does not, a meeting of the executive council will be called within 24 hours.
The text also authorises the OPCW to inspect "any other site identified by a State Party as having been involved in the Syrian chemical weapons programme, unless deemed unwarranted by the director general".
This is unchartered waters for the OPCW, which is a small organisation that has never undertaken a job of this size or complexity, the BBC's World Affairs correspondent Paul Adams says. It will need a lot of help and is expected to ask for urgent funding and additional personnel, he adds.
If the text is approved by the OPCW's executive council, it will form part of the UN Security Council resolution, which sets out to govern the whole process.
The resolution includes a warning to all the warring parties in Syria that evidence of non-compliance will trigger measures under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which could, but does not necessarily, include force, our correspondent notes.
*** ANALYSIS
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24301618
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
BBC
UN probes new alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria
Nick Childs reports on the hopes for a UN resolution
UN inspectors are investigating seven alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria - three of which happened after the 21 August Damascus incident that led to threats of US military action.
Little is known about the latest three alleged attacks, which the Syrian government asked the UN to investigate.
The 21 August attack left hundreds dead; the resulting outcry led Syria to offer up its chemical weapons arsenal.
The UN will vote later on a plan of action to eliminate the stockpile.
Its resolution is expected to incorporate the text of an agreement by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), whose 41-nation executive council is currently meeting in The Hague to give formal approval to the plan.
The OPCW will be responsible for dealing with Syria's chemical weapons, and has said it will send in its own team of inspectors next Tuesday.
US President Barack Obama said agreement on the issue by UN Security Council members was a "potentially huge victory for the international community".
Meanwhile violence goes on in Syria. Activists said a car bomb killed at least 20 people near a mosque in Rankus, a town north of Damascus, just after Friday prayers.
Militants accused
In a statement, the UN said its current inspection team in Syria is investigating seven allegations of chemical weapons use this year.
The team, led by Ake Sellstrom, arrived in Syria for its second visit on 25 September and hopes to finish its work by Monday 30 September, the statement said.
It is working on a "comprehensive report" into the allegations that it hopes to have finished by late October.
The UN listed the alleged attacks, which all took place this year, as Khan al-Assal on 19 March; Sheikh Maqsoud on 13 April; Saraqeb on 29 April; Ghouta on 21 August; Bahhariya on 22 August; Jobar on 24 August and Ashrafieh Sahnaya on 25 August.
Syria has pushed for the investigation of the three post-21 August incidents.
Its envoy to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, accused "militants" of using chemical gas against the army in Bahhariya, Jobar and Ashrafieh Sahnaya.
It was the Ghouta incident of 21 August that sparked international outrage and the threat of military action from the US and its allies.
Since then, Russia - an ally of Syria - has secured an agreement from Damascus to give up its chemical weapons.
Earlier this month, the US and Russia asked the world's chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, to decide how to ensure the "complete elimination of all chemical weapons material and equipment" in Syria by the first half of 2014.
The OPCW's text calls for inspections to begin by Tuesday. An advance team will probably arrive on Monday.
The OPCW sets out a deadline that will see the destruction of production and mixing/filling equipment by 1 November 2013 and the complete destruction of all chemical weapons material and equipment in the first half of next year.
Syria is instructed to provide "immediate and unfettered" access to the OPCW's inspectors. If it does not, a meeting of the executive council will be called within 24 hours.
The text also authorises the OPCW to inspect "any other site identified by a State Party as having been involved in the Syrian chemical weapons programme, unless deemed unwarranted by the director general".
This is unchartered waters for the OPCW, which is a small organisation that has never undertaken a job of this size or complexity, the BBC's World Affairs correspondent Paul Adams says. It will need a lot of help and is expected to ask for urgent funding and additional personnel, he adds.
If the text is approved by the OPCW's executive council, it will form part of the UN Security Council resolution, which sets out to govern the whole process.
The resolution includes a warning to all the warring parties in Syria that evidence of non-compliance will trigger measures under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which could, but does not necessarily, include force, our correspondent notes.
*** ANALYSIS
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24301618
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28092013
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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