Friday, January 31, 2014

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Colleen Graffy: War crimes in Syria

Colleen Graffy: War crimes in Syria

February 01, 2014
The Gulf Today


We don’t know their names but we know their numbers, and we can see the evidence of their torture, thanks to a former crime-scene photographer who says he became a reluctant documenter of murder “on an industrial scale” committed by Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.

The photographer, code-named Caesar to protect his identity after his defection from Syria, says he worked in the military police for 13 years documenting crime scenes and accidents. But after the civil war began, Caesar says, Assad’s government put his skill-set to a different use: photographing the bodies of detainees who had been killed by the regime.

For three years, he says, his only job, along with others on his team, was to photograph corpses, sometimes as many as 50 a day. Only the security services knew the identity of the victims, but each body was given two numbers with which they were photographed. One was a reference to the security service responsible for the victim’s detention and death; the other, given after the body’s arrival at the military hospital, was to falsely suggest that the death had occurred at the hospital.

The elaborate documentation process, Caesar says, was to prove to authorities that the executions had been carried out and that none of the bodies had been accidentally released to the families, who were falsely informed that their loved one had died of a heart attack or breathing problems.

The bodies in the images tell another story. They are emaciated. They have oozing ulcers. They are bruised and show deep marks from the cords that bound them.

All of this was revealed last week – just as the Geneva II negotiations on Syria were beginning in Montreux, Switzerland – in a report commissioned by the London law firm Carter-Ruck. To determine the credibility of Caesar and his photos, the law firm put together a respected group that included three former war crimes prosecutors and an experienced forensics team. The report they produced is not a definitive pronouncement of crimes but a confirmation that evidence exists that would probably hold up in court. It is clear that the Assad government will not willingly give up power to a transitional government, the stated aim of the talks in Switzerland. But the report does provide some leverage if the international community is willing to use it.

Previous calls to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court have gotten little traction, in part out of concern that it would dig Assad in deeper. Also, because Syria is not a party to the ICC, the court can establish jurisdiction only through a resolution by the United Nations Security Council, which has not been feasible because veto holders Russia and China consider the conflict an internal matter, and the council’s remit is to act on threats to international peace.

But with a death toll of more than 100,000 and a conflict that has spilled into neighbouring countries, creating instability across the Middle East, the situation is unquestionably international. And the report offers evidence that would clearly support a criminal action. The report’s authors concluded that the regime’s need to photograph the approximately 11,000 people who were killed strongly suggested that the killings were “systematic, ordered and directed from above.” They concluded that the photographs might well support a finding of crimes against humanity and war crimes in a court of law.

In the absence of military intervention to oust Assad and stabilise Syria, the international community should seize the moment to pressure image-conscious, Sochi-sensitive Russia to allow a Security Council referral to the ICC.

Let’s hope that the brave efforts of Caesar will be a catalyst to stop the carnage against innocents in Syria. Hail Caesar.

MCT



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WORLD_ SYRIA_ Assad razing entire districts


Stricken: Rescuers rush to a building hit by an airstrike in Aleppo on Thursday. Human Rights Watch says President Bashar Assad's regime is razing pro-opposition neighborhoods in Damascus and in Hama province as 'collective punishment.' | AFP-JIJI


World

Assad razing entire districts

AP
Jan 31, 2014
Article history
The Japan Times


BEIRUT – The Syrian government used controlled explosives and bulldozers to raze thousands of residential buildings, in some cases entire neighborhoods, in a campaign that appeared designed to punish civilians sympathetic to the opposition or to cause disproportionate harm to them, an international human rights group said Thursday.

The demolitions took place between July 2012 and July 2013 in seven pro-opposition districts in and around the capital, Damascus, and the central city of Hama, according to a 38-page report by Human Rights Watch. The New York-based group said the deliberate destruction violated international law, and called for an immediate end to the practice.

“Wiping entire neighborhoods off the map is not a legitimate tactic of war,” Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher for HRW, said. “These unlawful demolitions are the latest additions to a long list of crimes committed by the Syrian government.”

HRW said many of the demolished buildings were apartment blocks, and that thousands of families have lost their homes because of the destruction.

It said government officials and media have described the demolitions as part of urban planning or an effort to remove illegally constructed buildings. But HRW said its investigation determined that military forces supervised the demolitions, which in each instance targeted areas that had recently been hit by fighting and were widely understood to be pro-opposition.

There also is no indication, HRW said, that similar controlled destruction had occurred in districts supporting the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The neighborhoods targeted were Masha al-Arbaeen and Wadi al-Jouz in Hama, and Qaboun, Tadamoun, Barzeh and the Mezzeh military airport in Damascus, as well as Harran al-Awamid outside the capital.

The report includes satellite images of the neighborhoods before and after the demolitions, providing a window on the scale of the destruction.

Buildings in the Hama neighborhood of Masha al-Arbaeen, a wedge-shaped district bordered by highways on three sides, are clearly visible in a photo dated Sept. 28, 2012. In a second photo from Oct. 13, the buildings have been pulverized into a white smudge, while the adjacent neighborhoods remain untouched.

Residents told HRW that the government bulldozers directed by the military moved in after the rebels retreated from the area in the face of an army offensive.

Another Hama neighborhood, Wadi al-Jouz, faced a similar fate.

HRW cited one woman who lived near Wadi al-Jouz, who said the army came to her district afterward and announced over loudspeakers “that they would destroy our neighborhood like they destroyed Wadi al-Jouz and Masha al-Arbaeen should a singled bullet be fired from here.”

In the cases of both Hama neighborhoods, local residents told HRW that opposition fighters had used the districts to enter and leave the city because of their location on the outskirts.

The report also provided accounts and images of the Damascus neighborhoods of Qaboun, Tadamoun, Barzeh and the Mezzeh military airport, as well as Harran al-Awamid outside Damascus.

Residents said government forces gave them little or no warning before razing their homes, and it was nearly impossible to remove their belonging before the demolitions, the report said, adding owners reported receiving no compensation from the Syrian government.

Some demolitions took place near military facilities or in areas recently engulfed in fighting.

“It’s not enough that there’s some tangential military objective or benefit to conducting the demolitions,” said Lama Fakih, Syria and Lebanon researcher at HRW. “The standard really requires that it be militarily necessary, and even with that military necessity there’s a manner in which these demolitions need to take place that does not disproportionately harm civilians, which has not been the case here.”

HRW said it based its report on 14 satellite images, interviews with 16 witnesses and owners of houses that were demolished. It also reviewed media reports, government statements, and videos posted online of the destruction and its aftermath.

“No one should be fooled by the government’s claim that it is undertaking urban planning in the middle of a bloody conflict,” HRW’s Solvang said. “This was collective punishment of communities suspected of supporting the rebellion.

“The U.N. Security Council should, with an ICC referral, send a clear message that cover-ups and government impunity won’t stand in the way of justice for victims.”


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Thursday, January 30, 2014

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syria Peace Talks Set to End with Little Progress

Syria Peace Talks Set to End with Little Progress

VOA News
January 31, 2014


The first round of peace talks involving Syria's government and opposition is set to wrap up Friday after making very little progress on key issues.

An agreement to meet again - likely in one week - is expected to be the only outcome of the seventh and final day of negotiations in Geneva.

U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said he hopes for more substantial talks at the next round, noting this is "only the beginning of the process."

The two sides have bickered over even what topics are up for discussion at the long-awaited talks.

The government wanted to start by addressing terrorism. On Thursday, it presented a resolution calling for an end to the funding of "terrorist acts."

The opposition rejected the communique as "one-sided," and said it is useless to discuss it without first forming a transitional government.

In response, the Damascus delegation suggested opposition delegates rejected the terrorism communique because they themselves are terrorists.

There has also been little progress on bringing aid to the hardest-hit areas of Syria's civil war, an issue where many thought common ground could be found.

Brahimi said he was "very, very disappointed," the U.N. has not been able to deliver aid to the besieged, rebel-held city of Homs, where many are said to be starving.

Stephen Zunes, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of San Francisco, told VOA that making even limited progress on Syria's humanitarian crisis is a useful starting point.

"Even on this issue, there's going to be a lot of posturing on both sides. But this is one area where we can conceivably get some mode of cooperation between the rebels and the government and that could possibly help establish a level of trust that could eventually get to more substantive issues," said Zunes.

Although it is considered a success that the two sides have agreed to meet at all, Zunes said there no expectations of a real breakthrough in the near future.

"Basically, it's a lose-lose situation. Neither side can win a military victory. More people are going to die. And that really is really not in the interest of either side," said Zune.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 as peaceful protests against the government before spiraling into a civil war that the U.N. says has killed well over 100,000 people and forced nearly 9 million from their homes.



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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
31012014

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WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syria chemical arms accord shaky

Syria chemical arms accord shaky

January 30, 2014 10:53 PM
By Jonathan S. Landay / McClatchy Newspapers
post-gazette.com


WASHINGTON -- The United States on Thursday accused Syria of deliberately delaying the surrender of its chemical weapons stockpiles and jeopardizing a tightly timed and costly international removal and destruction operation that narrowly averted U.S. airstrikes last year.

It was the first formal accusation that Syria was not cooperating with the terms of its disarmament after months in which international diplomats and chemical weapons experts marveled at the speed with which the process was being carried out. The public denunciation, however, closely tracked concerns that independent experts have expressed privately in recent weeks about the operation's pace.

The failure of Syria to meet the terms of the agreement would pose a potentially embarrassing problem for the Obama administration and Russia, which sponsored the removal effort as a way to head off U.S. military action in response to an Aug. 21 sarin gas attack near Damascus widely blamed on President Bashar Assad's government.

A senior State Department official said that while the U.S. threat of force remains in place, "it's also fair to say we're not looking to rush into an open-ended conflict in Syria." The official requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.

Most chemical weapons experts agree that Syria's ability to manufacture and deploy the banned weapons was destroyed last year. But subsequent requirements to remove and neutralize Syria's stockpile of chemicals used to make the weapons "has seriously languished and stalled," Robert Mikulak, head of the U.S. delegation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, told the OPCW executive council in the Dutch city of The Hague.

Syria has sent to its main port in Latakia for shipment abroad only 4 percent of the most critical components of the 1,433 tons of chemical weapons it declared to the OPCW and the United Nations, Mr. Mikulak said, according to a transcript of his remarks the State Department distributed. Moreover, he said, Syria didn't begin shipping the substances to the Mediterranean coast until after Dec. 31, the deadline by which all of Syria's most critical chemical weapons components were to have been removed.

"Today, we are one month past the 31 December completion date set by the [OPCW executive] council. Almost none of the Priority One chemicals have been removed, and the Syrian government will not commit to a specific schedule for removal," said Mr. Mikulak, adding that a Feb. 5 deadline for shipping out the next category of substances won't be met either.

He rejected Syria's assertions that the delays are because of security problems and a need for donations of additional equipment, including armored jackets for shipping containers and explosives detectors. "These demands are without merit and display a 'bargaining mentality,' rather than a security mentality," said Mr. Mikulak, an apparent reference to concerns that Syria is tying the removal operation's pace to progress in Geneva peace talks with U.S.-backed moderate opposition factions.

"Syria's requests for equipment and open-ended delaying of the removal operation could ultimately jeopardize the carefully timed and coordinated multi-state removal and destruction effort," Mr. Mikulak said. "The international community is ready to go, and the international operation to remove the chemicals is fully in place and ready to proceed once Syria fulfills its obligation to transport the chemicals to Latakia."

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday that he had called his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shogun, and asked him to "do what he could to influence the Syrian government to comply with the agreement that has been made." During a visit to Poland, Mr. Hagel said, "The United States is concerned that the Syrian government is behind in delivering these chemical weapons precursor materials on time."

The operation's delay could prove embarrassing for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is one of Assad's main backers in the civil war, and who put his personal prestige behind the deal by first proposing it formally.

It also could create a new diplomatic headache for Mr. Obama, who cited the removal operation as a diplomatic achievement in his State of the Union address Tuesday. "American diplomacy, backed by the threat of force, is why Syria's chemical weapons are being eliminated," he told the nation.

Mr. Obama has sought to limit U.S. involvement in the civil war pitting Assad's government against mostly Islamist rebels dominated by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority. But he hasn't taken off the table his threat to launch airstrikes if Assad reneges on his agreement to surrender all of his chemical weapons.

An estimated 130,000 people have been killed and 8 million driven from their homes in the nearly three years of war, which began in March 2011 as demonstrations against some 40 years of Assad family rule.

Under the agreement being overseen by the OPCW and the United Nations, Syria must transport the chemical components of its stockpiles of sarin, VX and other nerve agents to Latakia, where they are to be shipped to Italy. From there, some are to be taken for disposal at sea by a U.S. military ship, while the rest are to go to commercial disposal facilities in Europe.



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conbenho
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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
31012014

___________

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POLITICS_ U.S. accuses Syria of stalling over removal of chemical arms agents

World / Politics

U.S. accuses Syria of stalling over removal of chemical arms agents
AP
The Japan Times

BEIRUT – The United States on Thursday accused the Syrian government of using stalling tactics to delay efforts to remove and destroy chemical agents, an indication that the international community’s patience is wearing thin over the slow pace of the operation.

The comments, delivered by the U.S. representative to the international chemical weapons watchdog, marked some of the strongest public criticism of Syria’s commitment to relinquish its chemical stockpile.

Syria agreed to surrender its arsenal after a deadly chemical attack last August on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus raised the threat of punitive U.S. missile strikes. U.S. President Barack Obama has touted the agreement as a victory and a major policy achievement for his administration on Syria’s intractable civil war.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is leading the mission to eliminate Syria’s 1,300-ton stockpile by a June 30 deadline.

Under the OPCW’s tight timeline, the most toxic chemicals in Syria’s arsenal were to have been removed from the country by Dec. 31, but that deadline was missed due to poor security amid Syria’s raging civil war as well as other factors. So far, just two small consignments of chemicals have been shipped out.

“The effort to remove chemical agent and key precursor chemicals from Syria has seriously languished and stalled,” Robert Mikulak told the OPCW’s 41-nation executive council in a closed-door meeting. His remarks were later posted on the State Department’s website.

Mikulak, who is the U.S. representative to the OPCW, acknowledged that the timeline for the removal of Syria’s most dangerous chemicals was ambitious, but he expressed frustration that a month after the deadline “only 4 percent” of the chemicals have been removed “and the Syrian government will not commit to a specific schedule for removal.”

He called on Damascus to comply with the U.N. resolution for Syria to relinquish its chemical stockpile.

According to the OPCW timeline, all but 100 tons of chemicals are to be removed by Feb. 5 — a deadline that surely will not be met.

Mikulak said Damascus has cited security concerns for the delay in transporting the chemicals to the port city of Latakia for destruction abroad. But he dismissed Syria’s insistence on receiving additional security equipment, such as armored jackets for shipping containers and high-tech electronics, to secure the convoys, saying the demands were “without merit.”

“Syria’s requests for equipment and open-ended delaying of the removal operation could ultimately jeopardize the carefully timed and coordinated multistate removal and destruction effort,” he added. “For our part, the international community is ready to go.”

An American ship, the MV Cape Ray, is on its way to the Mediterranean Sea to pick up the most toxic chemicals in Syria’s stockpile, including mustard gas and raw materials for making sarin nerve agent. The Cape Ray is equipped with two machines that will render the chemicals inert.

Danish and Norwegian cargo ships are picking up the chemicals from Latakia and will transfer them to the Cape Ray in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro.

“There should be no doubt that responsibility for the lack of progress and increasing costs rests solely with Syria,” Mikulak said.

The Syrian government had no immediate comment.

The mission to rid Syria of its chemical arsenal is one layer in the country’s exceedingly complex and bloody civil war. The conflict, which began in March 2011 as largely peaceful protests before shifting into an armed insurgency, has killed more than 130,000 people, forced 2.3 million to seek refuge abroad and unleashed a devastating humanitarian crisis at home and throughout the region.

On Thursday, the United Nations delivered hundreds of relief parcels to a besieged rebel-held Palestinian neighborhood in the Syrian capital that has suffered from crippling shortages of food and medicine for months.

The Yarmouk camp, located on the southern edge of Damascus, is one of the hardest-hit of a number of opposition enclaves under tight blockades imposed by pro-government forces. Activists said Wednesday that at least 85 people have died in Yarmouk since mid-2013 as a result of starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or lack of medical aid.

Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the U.N.’s UNRWA agency that supports Palestinian refugees, said a convoy carrying 900 food parcels entered Yarmouk on Thursday morning. He added that despite “chaotic scenes,” by noon 720 parcels had been distributed.

“We are encouraged by the delivery of this aid and the cooperation of the parties on the ground,” Gunness said, adding that 18,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are in need of assistance.

Anwar Raja, a Palestinian official in Syria, said a number of elderly people also were to be evacuated from Yarmouk.

In the nearby suburb of Daraya, meanwhile, Syrian Army helicopters dropped barrels packed with explosives and fuel, killing at least 11 people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In a new report released Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused the government of using controlled explosions and bulldozers to raze thousands of residential buildings, in some cases entire neighborhoods, in a campaign that appeared designed to punish civilians sympathetic to the opposition or to cause disproportionate harm to them.

The demolitions took place between July 2012 and last July in seven pro-opposition districts in and around the capital, Damascus, and the central city of Hama, according to a 38-page report by Human Rights Watch. The New York-based group said the deliberate destruction violated international law, and called for an immediate end to the practice.

The report includes satellite images of the neighborhoods before and after the demolitions, providing a window on the scale of the destruction.

Buildings in the Hama neighborhood of Masha al-Arbaeen, a wedge-shape district bordered by highways on three sides, are clearly visible in a photo dated Sept. 28, 2012. In a second photo from Oct. 13, the buildings have been pulverized into a white smudge, while the adjacent neighborhoods remain untouched.

The government also has been accused of using airstrikes and rocket attacks indiscriminately against residential areas.

In a video from last week, men frantically dug through rubble after an alleged airstrike in Aleppo and unearthed a toddler, still alive and with her face covered in dust. The rescuers chanted “God is greatest” as they pulled Ghina Khalil from the smashed building.



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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
31012014

___________

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OPINION_ Syrian Talks: A Precedent From the Bosnian War

Syrian Talks: A Precedent From the Bosnian War
JAN. 30, 2014
The New York Times

To the Editor: Re “Bosnia’s Lesson for Syria” (Op-Ed, Jan. 22):

Philippe Leroux-Martin seems to prefer a hands-off policy in seeking any peace settlement in Syria. He takes this lesson from the “unsuccessful” Vance-Owen peace plan in the Bosnian war of the 1990s, which he says was a “fruitless” idea that increased the intensity of violent ethnic cleansing.

This view of the historical record may distort sound policy prescriptions for Syria and does a disservice to former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance.

Mr. Vance — serving as the representative of the United Nations secretary general — proposed that the Bosnian fighting could be quelled by decentralizing power to 10 newly drawn provinces, with mixed ethnicities and guarantees for the rights of minorities in each area. Serbia’s president, Slobodan Milosevic, agreed to the plan.

Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader, initially demurred. But what precipitously doomed the plan was the unwillingness of the Clinton White House to consider any method of enforcement. The new Democratic president preferred to begin his presidential term with health care reform, rather than putting international troops or police on the ground.

As The Times reported on May 21, 1993, the White House preferred a strategy “that accepts, at least for the moment, the territorial gains made by the Serbs in Bosnia.”

The war continued for an additional 30 months. The only palliative was the creation of isolated “safe zones” such as Srebrenica, which proved to be anything but safe. It was an unfortunate instance of health care isolationism, costing some 100,000 Bosnian lives.

RUTH WEDGWOOD
Washington, Jan. 25, 2014

The writer is a professor of international law and diplomacy at Johns Hopkins University.



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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
31012014

___________

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WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syrian government 'demolished thousands of homes'

Syrian government 'demolished thousands of homes'
BBC



The Syrian government has been "deliberately and unlawfully" demolishing thousands of homes, a new report by Human Rights Watch says.



Satellite images appear to show large-scale demolitions with explosives and bulldozers in opposition strongholds in Damascus and Hama in 2012 and 2013.

The report says the apparent wanton destruction of civilian property and collective punishment are war crimes.

It comes as government and opposition delegates attend peace talks in Geneva.

On Wednesday, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi admitted he did not expect there to be any substantial progress during the current round of negotiations, which are scheduled to end on Friday.

However, he said the "ice is breaking slowly" between the delegations and that he hoped for more progress at the second round of talks next week.

In a rare symbol of harmony on Thursday morning, both sides reportedly stood together to observe a minute of silence in honour of the more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011.

'Wiped off the map'

Human Rights Watch's report, Razed to the Ground, documents seven cases of large-scale demolitions which it says took place between July 2012 and July 2013.





Satellite images, online videos and eyewitness reports suggest they were carried out by government forces, it concludes.

The satellite images show seven districts of Damascus and Hama before and after the demolitions.

In many of the images, buildings - many of them blocks of flats several stories high - have been reduced to rubble.

Homes in the Hama district of Mashaa al-Arbeen are clearly visible in a satellite photograph dated 28 September 2012. In a second image from 13 October, all that remains is a white smudge. Adjacent districts are untouched.

HRW said it had documented the destruction of at least 145 hectares of building land - a total area equivalent to about 200 football pitches.

Thousands of families had lost their homes as a result of these demolitions, it added.

"Wiping entire neighbourhoods off the map is not a legitimate tactic of war," said Ole Solvang, an HRW emergencies researcher. "These unlawful demolitions are the latest additions to a long list of crimes committed by the Syrian government."

He added: "This was collective punishment of communities suspected of supporting the rebellion."

HRW demanded the Syrian government immediately end the demolitions, saying they were in violation of international law, and provide compensation and alternative housing to the victims.

It also urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

'Illegal construction'

Government officials told HRW that the demolitions were carried out in order to remove illegally constructed buildings.



Human Rights Watch created a mosaic of video frames showing the destruction of the Tadamon, Damascus


However, the New York-based group found that there had been no similar demolitions in pro-government districts.

The demolitions were also supervised by military personnel and often followed fighting in the areas between government and rebel forces, it said.

Several residents also told HRW that they had all the necessary documentation for their homes.

They added that government forces had given little or no warning of the impending demolitions, and that they had not been allowed to remove their belongings.

"No-one should be fooled by the government's claim that it is undertaking urban planning in the middle of a bloody conflict," Mr Solvang said.


Analysis 

Jim Muir BBC News

The HRW report documents seven cases of mass demolitions between July 2012 and July 2013 in and around Damascus and at Hama, where the entire Mashaa al-Arbeen district appears to have been totally flattened.

The evidence produced by the report is hard to ignore. But it's not clear whether those were relatively isolated cases in time and location, or whether it is an ongoing process in different places amid massive destruction inflicted by the war itself.

The July 2012 start date could stem from the fact that this month was when the conflict finally engulfed Syria's two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. HRW has called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court because of what it terms these "latest additions to a long list of crimes committed by the Syrian government".

That is certainly highly unlikely to happen. Syria is not a signatory to the relevant conventions, and could only be referred by a unanimous vote at the Security Council, where Russia and China have systematically defended Damascus.


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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
31012014

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới Giáp Ngọ

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới Giáp Ngọ

Kính chúc Quý Anh Chị một Năm Mới An Lành, Mạnh Khỏe, Vạn Sự Như Ý

Vui Xuân ở xứ người ta
Không quên cộng phỉ đã bán nước ta cho tàu


Và xin hãy đừng quên đồng bào ruột thịt của chúng ta đã và đang ... "tự do" đón Xuân dưới những hầm cầu, đầu đường xó chợ ... trên khắp mọi miền đất nước thân yêu .



Những người dân lao động tự do ở gầm cầu Long Biên tranh thủ nghỉ ngơi lấy sức, với họ Tết có cũng như không courtesy ndh/CAND


Xin hãy đừng quên "Người Tù Thế Kỹ" Nguyễn Hữu Cầu
và hằng triệu con dân nước Việt vẫn còn đang bị đọa đày trong nhà tù của bè lũ BÁN NƯỚC DIỆT NÒI cộng sản VN .

Những kẻ "áo gấm về làng" xin hãy đừng bơm hơi tiếp máu nuôi dưỡng chế độ bán nước diệt nòi cộng sản VN .



Thân kính


conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
Giao Thừa Giáp Ngọ

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Vì danh vì lợi quên tâm niệm, “ăn xổi ở thì”: ngụy ngữ phân_ Chuyện Dài Paltalk 2013-2014 (tiếp theo..)

Cùng Quý Anh Chị từng ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog", nhân ngày cuối năm con rắn ..

Hôm nay là ngày 30 Tết Việt Nam, lòng bỗng chợt buồn, một chút gì rất xót trong tim khi nhớ về gia đình thân yêu, nhớ về những người thân ruột rà đã bao năm chưa lần  gặp lại, nhớ về quê hương vời vợi dấu yêu, đã và đang bị chà đạp, bị hủy diệt bởi bè lũ cầm quyền chó má bán nước diệt nòi việt cộng, càng buồn hơn khi thấy hải ngoại có những kẻ công thành danh toại, có tiếng trong những phong trào tranh đấu cho quê hương đất nước đã vì lợi danh mà đánh mất chính nghĩa tranh đấu của dân tộc mình, đã đi theo chiều hướng mà bè lũ việt gian cộng sản muốn, qua những gì mắt thấy tai nghe trên mạng toàn cầu, đặc biệt diễn đàn "nói" Paltalk, xin gởi đến Quý Anh Chị vài dòng thô thiển ...



Vì danh vì lợi quên tâm niệm, “ăn xổi ở thì”: ngụy ngữ phân



“Tranh đấu” bầy đàn vang tiếng ngựa
“Đấu tranh” sấp ngữa vữa tai bò
“Tự do” “dân chủ” “nhân quyền” mứa
Láu cá lưu manh quỷ quyệt hò

“Trí thức” bảng khoa khui chiến lược
“Sĩ phu” xu phỉ mở đầu đê
Bơm hơi tiếp máu nuôi giặc nước
“Dân trí khai thông” một lũ hề

Lũ giặc cộng buôn nòi diệt chủng (*)
Bán giang sơn tổ quốc cầu vinh
Ra công xóa tội quân bán nước
Còn lộng ngôn : “ăn xổi ở thì”

Vào ra “kết hợp” trong ngoài nước
"Thỉnh nguyện kiến thư" gởi tội đồ
"Dân chủ" van xin loài cẩu trệ
"Nhân quyền" quỳ lạy bọn vong nô

“Tự do” bịt miệng người tranh đấu
Trét trấu bôi tro bỉ mục hành
Rao bán đầu dê đề thịt chó
“Nhân quyền” “dân chủ” đó hôi tanh

Lật đổ bạo quyền là trách nhiệm
Càng nhanh càng chóng cứu muôn dân
Vì danh vì lợi quên tâm niệm,
“ăn xổi ở thì”: ngụy ngữ phân (**)

“Nhiệt tình ngu dốt thành phá hoại”
Ngụy ngữ của dân “trí thức” đần
Giặc bán giang sơn còn vọng ngoại
“Ăn xổi ở thì” ngụy ngữ phân .

Khôn cho Dân Nước khôn tròn tiết
Khôn biết đồng tâm triệt giặc thù
Khôn lo danh lợi nuôi giặc cướp
"Khôn liền" Dân Nước miệt ngàn thu .


(*) bè lũ việt gian phản quốc cướp nước diệt chủng bán nước độc đảng cộng sản VN .



(**) vài vị trí thức khoa bảng nổi tiếng ở hải ngoại đã "phân tích" rất đểu, rằng thì là những người con dân nước Việt muốn tranh đấu lật đổ bè lũ phản quốc cướp nước diệt chủng bán nước việt gian độc đảng cộng sản VN là "ăn xổi ở thì"; những người chủ trương "tranh đấu lật đổ cộng sản là sai" ...

Thực tế không ai đòi hỏi quý vị "trí thức", "khoa bảng" này phải lên tiếng "tranh đấu lật đổ cộng sản", nhưng thiết nghĩ quý vị này không cần thiết phải "phun châu nhả ngọc" cái kiểu "bất tri", "tắc trách" như thế khi có những người lên tiếng cho Công Cuộc tranh đấu có tính dứt khoát, kiên định như vậy vì tình hình đất nước đã nguy ngập, nếu bè lũ chó má cộng sản VN còn tiếp tục cầm quyền dân Việt chúng ta thì đất nước sẽ bị HỦY DIỆT hoàn toàn một ngày không xa, dân tộc không những bị suy vong mà là DIỆT VONG dưới mưu đồ của bè lũ chó má phản quốc cướp nước diệt chủng bán nước việt gian đảng cộng sản VN .

Mặt khác, bè lũ chó má cộng sản VN là TỘI ĐỒ của dân tộc Việt, trách nhiệm và bổn phận của con dân Việt là phải tẩy trừ bè lũ ký sinh trùng đã hủy diệt đất nước và con người VN, không thể lý luận rằng thì là "việt cộng cũng là người VN" để ngồi chung chia quyền hành với chúng .

Đảng cộng sản VN là tập hợp những kẻ PHẢN QUỐC BÁN NƯỚC DIỆT CHỦNG đã là TỘI ĐỒ của dân tộc và lịch sử, không có lý do gì, không bất cứ ai chống cộng có thể viện dẫn lý lẽ gì để xóa TỘI ÁC của chúng để duy trì quyền lực của chúng, trừ phi những kẻ này là những kẻ chống cộng cuội, là những kẻ dối trá, nằm vùng, là ĐỒNG LÕA với gian đảng cộng sản VN .


Nực cười thay có những kẻ rất ư là "anh hùng" mồm to cứ mở miệng là đòi "đánh giặc tàu xâm lược" nhưng không hề dám đụng tới bọn chó má bán nước diệt nòi  đảng cộng sản VN, cứ mở miệng là chống cộng hăng say nhưng lại cứ bơm hơi tiếp máu nuôi giặc cộng, đây mới chính là những kẻ "nhiệt tình ngu dốt thành phá hoại", những tên này cứ luôn "dán" cho người khác cái "danh hiệu" này để dạy đời người khác mà không nhận ra chính họ mới xứng với cái "danh hiệu" rất hề này !

Còn nữa, những tên hề Paltalk này chuyên nghề nhổ ra liếm vào, chính bọn họ đã dùng những "audio (s)" để làm "bằng chứng" tố cáo người khác, nhưng họ lại lo sợ phải nghe những audio (s) TỐ CÁO cái NGU DỐT của họ, họ cho rằng "audio cũng không tin được vì có sự cắt xén,..." !

Thực tế cái trò gian trá, đê tiện, bẩn thỉu cắt, xén, lắp, ráp ... vô cùng hèn hạ này đã từng xảy ra ai cũng nên biết .

Tuy nhiên, nếu đã biết và hiểu được điều này trong sinh hoạt Paltalk, thì tại sao không tự tìm lấy "audio nguyên thủy" để không bị cắt, xén, lắp , ráp ...

Và nếu những audio(s) "nguyên thủy" đó đã BỊ LẤY XUỐNG từ các websites mà "nó" (s) được đưa lên thì không biết những tên hề Paltalk này sẽ phải làm gì để XÓA cái NGU "nhiệt tình" của họ ?!


conbenho xin được tạm dừng ở đây và sẽ tiếp tục chia sẻ "Chuyện Dài Paltalk" cùng Quý Anh Chị trong năm mới Giáp Ngọ .


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 Quý Anh Chị Năm Mới Giáp Ngọ An Lành, Mạnh Khỏe để tiếp tục góp phần vào Công Cuộc Giành Lại Quê Hương Đất Nước Việt Nam yêu dấu từ tay bè lũ bán nước diệt nòi cộng sản VN cho dân tộc Việt Nam làm chủ, để góp tâm sức đưa đất nước thân yêu của chúng ta tiến lên cùng thế giới tự do, để chúng ta có thể tự hào "chúng ta là người Việt Nam", để có thể ngẩng cao đầu khi nói tới Tổ Quốc- Danh Dự- Trách Nhiệm của những người con dân nước Việt .





conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
30012014
Ngày 30 Tết Giáp Ngọ

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syria crisis: Yehya El-Kholed warns other Australians they will die if they wish to fight in civil war

Syria crisis: Yehya El-Kholed warns other Australians they will die if they wish to fight in civil war

By the national reporting team's Mark Solomons
Updated 10 hours 39 minutes ago
ABC NEWS

An Australian activist with first-hand experience of the horrors of the Syrian civil war is warning fellow Australians against travelling to the country, whatever their motivations.

Brisbane man Yehya El-Kholed, who recently returned from his third trip in two years to the war-torn country, has close family ties in Syria and Lebanon, and supports the overthrow of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

But relentless bloodshed, daily air raids on civilian areas around Aleppo and, most significantly, the descent into chaos and infighting by anti-Assad forces, have left him disillusioned.

"My advice to Australians is do not go to Syria ... because you're going to get killed," he said.

"They're killing Westerners. Free Syrian Army will kill them thinking they're ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), and ISIS will kill them thinking they're Free Syrian Army.

"If you take a side you'll be killed, and if you don't take a side you'll be killed."

His most recent trip, at the end of last year, went ahead despite a last-ditch attempt by community leaders and the Australian Federal Police to persuade him to stay at home.

Mr El-Kholed took money he raised in Australia for humanitarian aid, which he says he distributed to families affected by the conflict.

He said he came across only "a couple" of Australians in Syria but "thousands" of foreign fighters, mostly from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and France and a few from the UK.

"It's like the whole world is in Syria," he said.

He also spent time with militants including Free Syrian Army fighters and members of Islamist rebel group the Tawhid brigade.

People planning to go to Syria even for humanitarian reasons should think twice, he said, with so many refugees having fled to neighbouring countries, there was more that could be done outside Syria.

"If you want to help out, go to Jordan because our sisters are being sold to prostitution (there)."

'I just saw Muslims killing Muslims'

He also warned of the risks for well-meaning foreigners of becoming desensitised and sucked into bloody factional battles that were only worsening the conflict.

Mr El-Kholed said he was not against people waging "jihad" against the Assad regime, but he would not encourage it.

"I just saw it was Muslims killing Muslims, and people killing civilians," he said.



My advice to Australians is do not go to Syria ... because you're going to get killed.

Yehya El-Kholed


"You see these videos ... (men) looking like mujahideen... thugs who converted to Islam who've got violence within themselves. They're just there for their own violent fetish."

Mr El-Kholed said he had witnessed first-hand how a popular uprising had transformed into bloody civil war and Islamist groups begin to fill the political vacuum.

"You had a revolution that came out for democracy, (and) they got butchered by the (Assad) government.

"The world which loved democracy did nothing about it (and Al Qaeda-linked group) Jabhat al Nusra started defending them.

"No-one from outside came to defend them and this touched their hearts.

"So the hearts of the Syrians have now moved away from democracy and to sharia - which in some areas is working really well."

More arrests predicted in relation to recruitment of fighters

Since his return at Christmas, Mr El-Kholed said he had heard news almost daily of friends being killed in factional infighting or dying of their wounds in neighbouring Turkey.

His comments came as the Australian Federal Police predicted more arrests in relation to the recruitment of people to fight in Syria, a serious crime under Australian law.

If you take a side you'll be killed, and if you don't take a side you'll be killed.

Yehya El-Kholed


AFP counter-terrorism chief Neil Gaughan told the ABC there were probes under way in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

It follows the arrest of Sydney man Hamdi Al-Qudsi, who has been charged with sending six young Australians to fight in Syria, including two who were killed in rebel infighting earlier this month.

"The arrest in Sydney in December did smash one cell ... but we have not stopped the problem," Mr Gaughan said.

"People continue to travel."

Know more? Contact us investigations@abc.net.au



Photo: The city of Homs has been the scene of vicious fighting. (Reuters: Yazan Homsy)


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
30012014

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC


 

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syrian negotiations resume amid sinking expectations for any progress

Syrian negotiations resume amid sinking expectations for any progress

By The Associated Press
January 29, 2014 6:00 AM
canada.com


GENEVA - Syrian negotiators have resumed talks over the country's future a day after cutting short their discussions over a U.S. decision to resume aid to the opposition.

The government and opposition delegates met with the U.N.-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi on Wednesday, but chances for a breakthrough before everyone goes home Friday appear almost nil as both sides continue to blame each other for an impasse.

A deal to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged city of Homs remain stalled, with the Syrian delegation demanding assurances the U.S. aid will not go to "armed and terrorist groups" in the central city.

The negotiations aimed at ending Syria's three-year-old conflict began Friday in Geneva and Brahimi has said both sides were willing to continue despite lack of progress.


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
29012014

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syrian Talks Disrupted by Congress’s Approval of Aid to Rebels

Syrian Talks Disrupted by Congress’s Approval of Aid to Rebels

By ANNE BARNARD and NICK CUMMING-BRUCE
JAN. 28, 2014
The New York Times

GENEVA — New fireworks erupted at talks between the Syrian government and the opposition here on Tuesday, as the government sharply criticized a recent decision by the United States Congress to approve continued support for the Syrian rebels, and the United Nations’ top mediator decided not to continue talks in the afternoon. 


The opposition delegation presented a detailed plan for the future of Syria, said Oubai Shahbandar, an adviser to the delegation. But after what Mr. Shahbandar called an “outburst” from the government’s lead negotiator, Bashar al-Jaafari, no further discussion was held on forming a transitional government, the central issue in the talks under the protocols of the first Geneva conference, in 2012.

Syria’s information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, played down the clash in the morning meeting, saying in an interview that the two sides had spent “10 minutes laughing” after Mr. Jaafari, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, joked that Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned pan-Arab news channel that the government despises for its sympathetic stance on the insurgency, was “founded by Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.”

Mr. Zoubi said the American aid to the rebels, now with explicit congressional approval, contradicted the United States’ role as a sponsor of the peace talks. Russia, the other sponsor, has supported the Syrian government with arms sales, but Syrian officials say that falls under legal bilateral relations and is not equivalent to the American funding.

“Russia is working with the Americans to find a political solution, and suddenly they find a solution which contradicts the initiative,” he said, referring to the American financing of the rebels. “Do they want to destroy Geneva?” He accused the United States of supporting terrorists.

The State Department rejected that claim. “Any notion that we support terrorists is ludicrous,” Edgar Vasquez, a department spokesman in Geneva, said in a statement. Referring to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, he added: “The Assad regime is a magnet for terrorists. The regime’s brutality is the source of the violent extremism in Syria today. We support the moderate political and military opposition who are fighting for the freedom and dignity of all the Syrian people.”

Members of Congress last year raised a variety of concerns about a C.I.A. program to arm and train Syrian rebels in Jordan, accusing the Obama administration of wading deeper into the Syrian war without a clear strategy, and expressing worries that the arms could end up in the hands of Islamic militants.

The White House was able to overcome these objections, and lawmakers ended up approving money for the mission in classified defense appropriations legislation, as Reuters reported on Monday.

But the exchanges in Geneva again illustrated how little common ground there is. The United Nations mediator for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon: “These are not easy negotiations. They were not easy before, they will not be easy in the coming few days, but I’m glad that nobody is willing to leave.”

The two sides have been unable to even begin discussing the issue of political transition. The government submitted a new document as an opening statement for the basis of talks that did not refer to a transition of power, and the opposition rejected it.

Nor was there progress on what Mr. Brahimi and others had hoped would be the easiest win for the talks, a humanitarian pause in the fighting in the western Syrian city of Homs to allow aid to reach blockaded areas there.

The United Nations has trucks loaded with food for up to 2,500 people ready at a warehouse outside Homs but has not yet received authorization to proceed, a World Food Program spokeswoman told reporters on Tuesday.

In four days of stuttering peace talks in Geneva, Mr. Brahimi has pressed Syria’s government and opposition to allow aid agencies to enter blockaded areas of Homs and let civilians leave as a confidence-building step, but with little success.

Tuesday’s afternoon session was canceled over what opposition delegates described as differences over the goal of the talks, and to give the government time to make a proposal for the future of the country.

“There is deep resistance by the regime to move the discussions onto the question of a transitional government,” an opposition negotiator, Ahmed Jakal, told Reuters. Murhaf Jouejati, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition’s negotiating team, told The Associated Press that the opposition was giving the government the chance “to come out with their own vision for a future Syria” within the context of the agreement reached at the first Geneva conference.

On the question of humanitarian assistance, the Syrian government says it is generally ready to provide aid under an existing plan worked out with international agencies, and blames threats from insurgents for any obstruction. But the opposition coalition, its Western backers and some United Nations agencies say that when it comes to specific permission, particularly for convoys to enter areas under insurgent control, the government often denies access.

“The humanitarian discussions haven’t produced much, unfortunately,” Mr. Brahimi told reporters at the end of Monday’s discussions, citing “all sorts of problems,” including the presence of snipers.

The World Food Program spokeswoman, Elisabeth Byrs, said the United Nations was preparing to send in a convoy once it received the go-ahead; the agency has been unable to get supplies into the Old City of Homs for over a year.

United Nations agencies say they do not know how many people remain in the Old City, but in addition to the month’s worth of supplies for 2,500 people, the World Food Program also has specialized nutrition for children presumed to be suffering from acute malnutrition and stunted growth.

The agency distributed food to 687,000 people at 50 other locations in Homs Province last month, Ms. Byrs said, but in many towns it has been able to enter only every three to six months. The United Nations is increasingly concerned about the fate of 775,000 people elsewhere in the country, including in the city of Deir al-Zour in the east, which it has been unable to reach for some months, Ms. Byrs added.

United States officials in Geneva said earlier that talks were continuing among the United Nations, Russia, the Syrian government and the opposition on the issues of humanitarian aid to “besieged communities,” prisoner releases and exchanges, and localized cease-fires — all seen by international negotiators as potential confidence-building measures.

Western diplomats have said that if progress is not made soon, they may take the impasse to the Security Council, where they believe Russia is less likely now to use its veto than in the past because it is concerned about its image on the eve of hosting the Winter Olympics.

Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Geneva, and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on January 29, 2014, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Syrian Talks Disrupted by Congress’s Approval of Aid to Rebels.



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
29012014

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syria talks break up on US issue

Syria talks break up on US issue

Updated: 04:50, Wednesday January 29, 2014
skynews.com.au

Syria's warring sides will not meet again at peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday, the UN said, after a morning session broke up with the regime accusing Washington of 'arming terrorists'.

After announcing the start of a morning session at about 11am local time, the UN said in a terse statement later that 'no meeting has been planned for this afternoon'.

A member of the opposition negotiating team, Rima Fleihan, told AFP that UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi had adjourned the meeting 'because the regime is not cooperating on any subject, not on humanitarian issues and not on a transitional governing body'.

'There will be no session this afternoon or tonight. The next session will be tomorrow at 10.00 am,' she said.

Tuesday's morning session saw the regime present a statement it wanted adopted by participants condemning Washington.

The statement, obtained by AFP, said 'the United States has made a decision to resume arming terrorist groups in Syria'.

'This decision can only be understood as a direct attempt to obstruct any political solution in Syria through dialogue... Those participating in the meeting condemn this American step.'



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conbenho
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Nguyễn Hoài Trang
29012014

___________

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WORLD_ SYRIA_ Nothing good on the table at Syria talks

Nothing good on the table at Syria talks

International
Tue 28 Jan 2014, 18:48 GM
socialistworker.co.uk


Talks in Geneva between the Western-backed elements of the Syrian opposition and representatives of dictator Bashar al-Assad were deadlocked as Socialist Worker went to press.

Assad was refusing to even allow medical and food aid into the rebel-held old city of Homs. His troops have laid siege to the area since June 2012 with daily shell attacks.

It’s estimated that around 500 families are trapped by the siege, many of them starving and in desperate need of medical supplies.

But Assad wants the names of those who might want to be escorted out of Homs—leading rebels there to fear mass arrests.

Western powers want to negotiate a resolution to the Syrian conflict in their own interests. They would like to see Assad departing but a transition government of their choosing taking his place.

They are worried that the rise of Al Qaida-affiliated groups in Syria could pose problems for them.

But opposition forces on the ground in Syria face enemies in both the regime forces and Al Qaida. They don’t want to see Assad’s regime remain with only the figurehead removed.

The talks are no solution to a conflict that began as people marched for freedom.

___________


The talks are no solution to a conflict that began as people marched for freedom.

What do you think?



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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
29012014

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC

Monday, January 27, 2014

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Food convoy refusal hinders Syria talks

Food convoy refusal hinders Syria talks

January 27, 2014 11:21 PM
By Liz Sly / The Washington Post

GENEVA -- Hopes faded Monday for a quick win at peace talks between Syria's warring factions after the Syrian government declined to authorize a convoy of food to enter a besieged neighborhood in the center of the city of Homs under the terms of an agreement brokered by the United Nations.

There was no sign either that a promise to allow women and children to leave was moving forward, calling into question whether progress will be possible on the far more momentous issues that will have to be discussed if the conference is to end Syria's brutal civil war.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi seemed dejected as he briefed reporters on the third day of the peace talks, which have so far succeeded only in exposing the vast gulf dividing the government and opposition delegations. "The discussions haven't produced much, unfortunately," he said.

"We never expected a miracle," he added. "There are no miracles here, but we will continue and see if progress can be made and when."

At Monday's session, the contentious question of what the warring factions hope to achieve at the conference was broached for the first time, with Mr. Brahimi asking the two sides to present their visions for a future Syria.

The government submitted a blueprint for ways to salvage the current Syrian state, fight terrorism and restore territories lost to rebel control; the opposition immediately rejected it. "We didn't even look at it," said Munzer Akbik, an adviser to Syrian Opposition Coalition president Ahmad al-Jarba.

The opposition said it presented a copy of the Geneva I communique, which spells out the conditions under which the conference is being held, as the basis of its proposal. The communique, agreed to by the United States and Russia in June 2012, lays out a framework for resolving the Syria crisis that includes humanitarian measures, a cease-fire and creation of a transitional executive body that would take power away from President Bashar Assad's regime.

Mr. Brahimi and other diplomats have repeatedly warned that the talks could last months if they are to succeed in bridging the differences between those seeking the overthrow of Mr. Assad and those representing his government.

The failure to secure an agreement on humanitarian aid to Homs, intended to be an early goodwill gesture, is raising questions about whether Syria's government will be prepared to compromise on tougher political issues. Residents of the Old City of Homs, where people are in danger of starving after nearly 18 months under siege, said government shelling of the neighborhood intensified after the discussions began on a cease-fire to let aid in.

"We haven't seen any goodwill yet," opposition spokesman Louay Safi said. "So we ask whether the regime is serious about a political transition."

U.S. officials monitoring the Geneva talks also expressed frustration with the lack of progress on access for the convoy, comprising 12 trucks carrying aid and medical supplies. The plan had been discussed before the talks, in the hope of being able to demonstrate early progress, and the convoy has been ready to move for days, diplomats said.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/world/2014/01/28/Food-convoy-refusal-hinders-Syria-talks/stories/201401280060#ixzz2rfY2Y5Ij



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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28012014

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC

WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syria talks to continue despite deadlock over power transfer

Syria talks to continue despite deadlock over power transfer

AFP
By Jonathan Fowler and Michael Mainville
1 hour ago


Geneva (AFP) - Syrian peace talks in Geneva were deadlocked Monday over the issue of transferring power, but neither side walked away and the UN said the question of a political transition would be back on the table.

UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi admitted that talks "haven't produced much". But he said he would bring the country's warring sides together again on Tuesday for another attempt at political discussions.

"Tomorrow we are going to put forward the Geneva communique... then we are going to decide with them how we are going to proceed in discussing its many elements," he said, in reference to a text agreed by world powers in 2012 that calls for the creation of a transitional governing body in Syria.

"We are doing what the situation allows, what the market can bear," he told reporters who pressed him on the slow pace of peace efforts.

Monday marked the third day of UN-sponsored talks between the two sides in Geneva and the first dealing with political issues.

The two sides have been brought together in the biggest diplomatic push yet to end a civil war that has left more than 130,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.

Monday's session broke up quickly after the regime set out a statement of principles that did not deal with a political transition and was immediately rejected by the opposition.





Syria's civil war
January 26, 2014 12:55 PM

A child clears damage and debris in the besieged area of Homs January 26, 2014. (REUTERS/Thaer Al Khalidiya)A child clears damage and debris in the besieged area of Homs



Regime delegation member Buthaina Shaaban said the government had presented "political principles which we thought no two Syrian persons should disagree with" -- including protecting the country's sovereignty, preserving state institutions and stopping the threat from "terrorist" groups.

"We were surprised that this basic paper was rejected by the other side," she said.

Rima Fleihan, a member of the opposition National Coalition's delegation, said: "The discussions were not constructive today because of the regime's strategy to deflect... (and) change the subject by talking of terrorism."

Officials on both sides said they had no plans to leave the talks however.

The opposition says President Bashar al-Assad must leave power and a transitional government be formed based on the agreement reached during a first peace conference in Geneva in 2012.

The regime says Assad's role is not up for debate at this conference -- dubbed Geneva II -- and denies that the initial Geneva deal requires him to go.

In Damascus, official Syrian media made it clear that Assad's continued leadership remained a line that negotiators would not cross.

"Those who are deluding themselves must understand that the government delegation to Geneva II did not go to this conference to hand power to those who have conspired against the people," the Tishreen state newspaper said.

"They are in Geneva to speak in the name of the Syrian people who have been the target of terrorism by armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda," it said.

The regime accuses the opposition and its international backers of promoting "terrorism" in the country, pointing to militant Islamist rebel groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Al-Nusra Front.

'No concrete step' on Homs relief

In the first tangible promise to emerge from the talks, Brahimi said Sunday the regime had agreed to allow women and children safe passage from besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Homs.

The regime's promise raised some hopes of humanitarian relief, but was greeted by scepticism on the ground.

Activists in rebel areas of Homs said residents had "no trust" in the regime and first wanted aid supplies and guarantees that those leaving would not be arrested.

The opposition also raised concerns about a regime demand to receive a list of names of men who want to leave, saying this was part of intelligence gathering.

The Old City of Homs has been under siege since June 2012 after rebels there rose against the regime, with an estimated 500 families living with near-daily shelling and the barest of supplies.

Brahimi has also expressed hope that a convoy of humanitarian aid will be allowed to enter the besieged area on Monday, saying rebel forces had already agreed and the local governor was considering the issue.

The Red Cross said there was no movement by midday on Monday.

"Until today noon, there has been no concrete step taken for any operation of this type in Homs Old City," Robert Mardini, head of operations for the Middle East at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told AFP.

The talks have also touched on possible prisoner exchanges, with the opposition saying it had a preliminary list of 47,000 people held by the government, including 2,300 women and children whose names it had submitted.

VIEW COMMENTS (320):

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-peace-talks-focus-prisoners-084914511.html


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conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
28012014

___________

Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC