Sunday, 15 January 2012





People look at ships at Limassol port January 11, 2012. A ship reportedly carrying ammunition to Syria will be allowed to leave Cyprus after giving assurances it will change its destination, authorities said on Wednesday. - People look at ships at Limassol port January 11, 2012. A ship reportedly carrying ammunition to Syria will be allowed to leave Cyprus after giving assurances it will change its destination, authorities said on Wednesday. | ANDREAS MANOLIS/Reuters
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THE GLOBE AND MAIL












http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/russia-stands-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-besieged-syrian-leader/article2302589/



POWERFUL ALLY


Russia stands shoulder-to-shoulder


with besieged Syrian leader

PATRICK MARTIN

BEIRUT— From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published
Last updated

Russia has served notice that it has no intention of abandoning Syria’s embattled leader Bashar al-Assad to Western demands that he surrender all power in the face of persistent opposition.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov flatly rejected Western proposals that the UN Security Council adopt a resolution that would hold Mr. al-Assad responsible for the deadly crackdown on opposition protesters and fighters.

“Unfortunately, the West’s approach radically differs from ours,” Mr. Gatilov said Friday. “Their position attempts to completely and wholly place the blame on the Syrian government and in every way possible absolve the actions of the armed opposition.”

“Their goal is clearly aimed at removing Assad’s regime in Damascus,” he said.

Russia and China vetoed such a proposal in October and Russia, at least, seems prepared to do so again.

If it wasn’t clear enough that Russia is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Syrian regime, then consider its clandestine efforts at re-arming Syria: Sometime on Thursday, the cargo vessel Chariot, a ship flying a St. Vincent and the Grenadines flag, docked at the Syrian port of Tartus– its cargo, some 60 tonnes of Russian bullets. The ammunition apparently is destined for the depleted arsenal of the Syrian military that in the past 10 months, according to the United Nations, has killed more than 5,000 members and supporters of the country’s opposition.

The ship, which left the St. Petersburg port on Dec. 9, had briefly been detained by Cypriot authorities earlier this week. The vessel had apparently been boarded when it put into the Cypriot port of Limassol to refuel. Finding the munitions were destined for Syria, in contravention of EU sanctions against Syria that Cyprus is bound to uphold, the ship was barred from leaving until the captain signed an agreement that he would change course and take his cargo to Turkey.

Apparently upon leaving Cypriot waters, Chariot sailed straight for Tartus.

Russia strongly opposed arms embargoes against Syria, calling them “dishonest” since they would be enforced only against the Assad government and not against opposition forces. Moscow vowed to fulfill arms contracts with Syria, one of its top weapons customers, despite the increasing international pressure.

Earlier this week, the head of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, claimed to know of a Western plan to establish a no-fly zone in Syria with the help of neighbouring Turkey.

“We are receiving information that NATO members and some Persian Gulf states, working under the ‘Libyan scenario,’ intend to move from indirect intervention in Syria to direct military intervention,” the Russian security chief said bluntly.

Mr. Patrushev, who served with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Soviet-era KGB, added that the West is putting such pressure on Syria not for repressing the opposition, but because Damascus refuses to break off its alliance with Iran.

Russia has its own plan for resolving the conflict in Syria, one that would have Mr. al-Assad share power and become subject to limits of a new constitution and democratic elections.

This Russian initiative, modelled after one that seems to have defused a similar crisis in Yemen, is to be unveiled later this month, say some academics close to the parties involved.

The key to the Russian formula is the role that would be played by a major opposition group, believed to be the National Co-ordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), a domestic umbrella organization, as opposed to the external, Western-backed Syrian National Council (SNC). Leading figures in the group would hold high office in a kind of national unity government, that would not include many, if any, members of the ruling Baath Party.

Under the formula, the president would have to seek re-election in a more democratic process and be subject to a limit on his term.

While the SNC this week announced it was supporting the use of force against the regime by the opposition Free Syrian Army, the domestic NCC believes that the change from despotism to democracy can best be achieved through dialogue with the government.

This is the only kind of initiative that has any hope of succeeding, says Sami Moubayed, a historian and editor of Damascus-based Forward magazine.

Dr. Moubayed, who has recently written strongly-worded columns about the need for an end to one-party rule in Syria, believes the Russians will not relent in their efforts to ease, rather than to expel Mr. al-Assad from office.

“If the Syrian regime falls, the Russians are certain,” Dr. Moubayed wrote, “then so will their influence in the Arab world.”

Posted by Britannia Radio at 09:15