UK imposes sanctions on Syrian and Congolese officials accused of sexual violence
Four men given travel bans and have assets frozen in effort to stamp out use of rape as a weapon of war.
Full story: https://www.ft.com/content/db7c82cc-a48e-4751-b862-96c9abf0669b
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Article at Radio Zamaneh - https://en.radiozamaneh.com
By Zamaneh Media
Dated 07 June 2023 in Cartoon - full copy:
Cartoon of the Week: The Syrian Dictator’s Return to the Arab League
"Assad's great achievements" by Ahmed Falah. Source: CartoonMovement.
We should evaluate the normalization of relations with the Syrian dictator against the statistics: More than half a million dead and 12 million displaced. The cartoon of Iraqi cartoonist Ahmed Falah points to the same issue.
In the last days of May, the 32nd meeting of the Arab League concluded with the presence of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Arab governments officially called Syria to return to the Arab League.
It is not clear whether the process of normalizing relations with the Syrian dictator, who killed, tortured and displaced his own people for years during the country’s war, relying on the military support of the Islamic Republic and Russia, will be followed by the rest of the global community.
At the same time the Arab League was held, in the few areas of Syria that are still in the hands of the opposition, protesters shouted, “People want the fall of the regime!” and said that, “Syria cannot be represented by the criminal Assad.”
The Syrian revolution that began in 2011 turned into a civil war and then an international war.
Out of the 21 million population, 12 million people were displaced and between 503, 000 and 613,000 people were killed.
About 1,400 civilians died due to the use of chemical weapons by Assad’s army. The Syrian economy was destroyed and 90% of the population fell into poverty.
Our cartoon this week is “Assad’s great achievements” by Ahmed Falah. Source: CartoonMovement.
“Assad’s great achievements” by Ahmed Falah. Source: CartoonMovement.
Tags: assadcartoon of the weekSyriasyrian war
View original: https://en.radiozamaneh.com/34429/
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(CNN) -- Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has announced the formation of a new government, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported Thursday.
The prime minister is Adel Safar, a Baath Party member who was the agricultural minister in the previous Cabinet, which resigned last month.
The announcement was made as Syria is overwhelmed by anti-regime protests and clashes between demonstrators and security forces, conflict that has caused scores of deaths. The Syrian government claimed Thursday that one of its soldiers was shot dead in the city of Banias.
Syria has retained its foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, and defense minister, Ali Habib. But there are new heads in other positions, including the key ones of interior, finance, and media affairs, Syria TV said.
Opposition forces demanded the lifting of the country's emergency declaration and the end of one-party rule in Syria, among other things, as the winds of change in the Arab world whipped through Syria over the last month.
Al-Assad has made some moves intended to placate opposition activists, such as studying whether to end the 48-year-old state of emergency and providing citizenship for stateless people in the Kurdish region.
However, activists say the government has cracked down violently on peaceful protesters. That claim is disputed by the Syrian government, which blames armed groups for attacking security forces and citizenship.
CNN's Tracy Doueiry and Rima Maktabi contributed to this report
WASHINGTON - The US State Department has secretly funded Syrian opposition groups, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
The cables show that the State Department has funneled as much as $6 million since 2006 to a group of Syrian exiles to operate a London-based satellite channel, Barada TV, and finance activities inside Syria, the Post said.
Barada TV began broadcasting in April 2009 but has ramped up operations to cover the mass protests in Syria that began last month as part of a long-standing campaign to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad the Post said.
The US money for Syrian opposition figures began flowing under President George W. Bush after political ties with Damascus were frozen in 2005, the newspaper said.
The financial backing has continued under US President Barack Obama, even as his administration sought to rebuild relations with Assad, the Post said. In January, the White House posted an ambassador to Damascus for the first time in six years.
The article said it is unclear whether the United States was still funding Syrian opposition groups, but the cables indicate money was set aside at least through September 2010.
An uprising against Assad's authoritarian rule have spread across large parts of the country. Rights groups put the death toll at more than 200 people. Syrian authorities blame the violence on armed gangs.
The previously undisclosed cables show that US Embassy officials in Damascus became worried in 2009 when they learned that Syrian intelligence agents were raising questions about US programs, The Washington Post said.
An April 2009 cable signed by the top-ranking US diplomat in Damascus at the time read Syrian authorities "would undoubtedly view any US funds going to illegal political groups as tantamount to supporting regime change," the Postreported.
"A reassessment of current US-sponsored programming that supports anti-[government] factions, both inside and outside Syria, may prove productive," the cable said.
The Post said the State Department declined to comment on the authenticity of the cables or answer questions about its funding of Barada TV.
DAMASCUS, Syria — Thousands of people gathered in protest at funerals in the southern city of Dara’a on Thursday, despite a major crackdown by Syrian security forces that suggested that leaders here would not tolerate pro-democracy protests like those that have swept other Arab nations.
An assault on the central mosque there early Wednesday, and subsequent attacks by security forces, left an unknown number of deaths, some of which appeared to be documented in bloody videos posted on YouTube. An American official who would speak only on background about intelligence reporting said that “about 15 people” were killed by forces of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Reuters quoted an unnamed hospital official in the city as putting the death toll at 37. Various Web sites were collecting names of those believed to be killed.
No violence was reported in the huge gatherings around the funerals for the dead on Thursday.
Information has trickled out slowly and incompletely from Syria, one of the most closed and repressive nations in the Middle East, which is closely allied both to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. But as the death toll from the Dara’a crackdown rose, Mr. Assad faced growing pressure both internally, as the protests spread around the south, and from other nations.
After calling the protesters’ grievances “justified,” one of Mr. Assad’s top advisers, Bouthaina Shaaban, announced a series of reforms that have been demanded by the protesters, including possibly suspending the long state of emergency rule, reducing corruption, establishing political parties and opening up the media.
Her statements came after Britain, France, Germany and the United Nations all condemned the violence.
Andrew J. Tabler, who spent a decade living in Syria and is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said six days of protests of this size were unknown in Syria since at least 1982. In February of that year, Mr. Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, killed at least 10,000 people in an assault on the city of Hama to definitively end an Islamist uprising.
"The regime is under serious pressure, and it’s hard to predict where this may lead," he said.
The protests are in a Sunni area and the turmoil threatens to “crack the Sunni veneer” of the government of Mr. Assad, who is of the Alawite religious minority, said Mr. Tabler. But he said the protests have not so far taken on a strong sectarian character and are mainly a response to years of broken promises and delays in carrying out political reforms.
The crackdown in Dara’a began early on Wednesday after the Syrian Army reinforced the police presence in the city, near the Jordanian border, and confronted a group of protesters who had gathered in and around the Omari mosque in the city center. Activists and news reports said five or six people were killed after the forces tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas and then live ammunition.
Among the dead was Ali al-Mahameed, a doctor, who witnesses said was shot while tending to the injured. At least one person was killed after Dr. Mahameed’s funeral on Wednesday afternoon, attended by thousands of people, some of whom tried to return to the city center. Syrian state television said Wednesday that it was not security forces who that had killed people at the mosque but rather an “armed gang.” The broadcast showed guns, grenades, ammunition and money that was said to have been taken from the mosque after a police raid. The report acknowledged four dead.
The official SANA news agency reported that the “gang” had killed a doctor, a medical worker and a driver in an ambulance and “security forces faced down those aggressors and managed to shoot and wound a few of them.”
Despite emergency laws that have banned public gatherings for nearly 50 years, protests have grown in the last week in several cities around Syria. The largest have been in Dara’a, with thousands taking to the streets on Friday and again on Sunday, when protesters burned government buildings and clashed with the police. Several people were reported to have died.
The mosque’s imam, Ahmed al-Sayasna, told the news channel Al Arabiya that there were no weapons in the mosque, which he said was under police control.
A video posted on YouTube showed the mosque with a voice coming from the loudspeakers addressing the police: “Who would kill his own people? You are our sons, you are our brother.” Armed security forces could be seen running at a distance, amid gun shots and cries for help.
“Streets are full of scores of wounded and many dead, and no one can go to their rescue,” a witness said.
Scott Shane contributed reporting from Washington.
(Kuwait City, 2 December) - In a meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his Syrian counterpart's deputy, Faisal al-Miqdad, on the sidelines of the International Donors and Investors Conference on Eastern Sudan, both officials expressed their countries' commitment to the unity and integrity of Sudan and their opposition to ongoing efforts to cut the African country into two parts. Mottaki and al-Miqdad pointed out to the significance and importance of the huge north eastern African country in and for the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Non-Alligned Movement, the Arab League as well as the African Union.
(Khartoum) - The Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, Dr. Omer Mohamed Saleh, has reviewed the spheres of cooperation between the Council of Ministers' Secretariats General in Sudan and Syria and for implementation of the agreements and protocols signed by the two countries.
The Director of the Decision-making Department at the Syrian Cabinet, Hussein Ibrahim, appreciated following his meeting with Dr. Saleh affirmed the deeply-rooted relations between Khartoum to Damascus in all domains. He said that the meeting came in the context of the efforts to consolidate the cooperation and exchange of experiences between the two sisterl countries.
IF/MO
(Damascus, 1 October) – Syrian official sources informed of a meeting held yesterday between Vice President Farouk al-Sharra and Sudanese information minister Kamal Ebeid to discuss the latest political developments as well as means and ways to bolster bilateral relations.
Damascus shares Khartum's interest in maintaining Sudan's national unity and in protecting itself against the negative repercussions of foreign interference in domestic issues.
Khartum, for its part, sees its interests best protected within the frame of a consolidated Arab bloc. In this context Syrian information minister Mohsen Bilal discussed with his Sudanese counterpart the importance of establishing integrated work mechanisms and programs to implement cooperation between the various print and broadcasting media of both countries and their official news agencies.
Both countries' ministers agreed to exchange visits between working delegations with the aim to set up a daily press communication keeping the public in Syria informed about realities on the ground in Sudan, especially in the run-up to the referendum to be held in south Sudan.
It was also agreed upon to boost cooperation in the field of engineering and technical training and to set up a program for joint TV, documentary and drama production. Ministers Mohsen Bilal and Kamal Ebeid concluded the meeting signing an agreement of cooperation between the Syrian news agency SANA and the Sudanese SUNA.
Syria said today that it “has the will” to make peace with Israel within the framework of United Nations resolutions calling for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory, stressing that the return to it of the Golan Heights is non-negotiable.
“Syria wants "just and comprehensive peace achieved through the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and the Arab Peace Initiative,” Foreign Minister Walid AI-Moualem told the General Assembly. “Our solemn position has been known for years. We have the will to make peace and we are the masters of our decision, which is unwavering. The Occupied Syrian Golan is not negotiable nor is it ? bargaining chip.
“Recognition of the fact that it must be returned fully is the basis on which peace making arrangements should be made,” he said, adding that Syria is ready to resume Turkish-mediated peace negotiations from the point where they stopped with the previous Israeli Government in 2008 if it finds in Israel ? partner committed to the terms of reference and with the necessary political will.
Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian talks, he said that there is much talk about peace in Israel “yet the drums of war continue to sound,” with land appropriation for settlement building going on unabated.
“Peace negotiations, we are told, are under way on the basis of the two-state solution but relentless settlement activities are about to make this two-state solution a dead letter that stands no chance of survival,” he said.
“Israel is feverishly pursuing its Judaization plans for Jerusalem which it has long sought to depopulate of its Palestinian inhabitants. Israeli actions threaten the safety of Jerusalem’s holy sites.
“Through settlement activities, actions and declarations relevant to Jerusalem, Israel pursues ? fait accompli policy on the basis of which it imposes its will regardless of whether negotiations continue or stall. Peace can be genuine only if there is ? genuine will to make peace. This is the litmus test. Political manoeuvres during negotiations under the umbrella of ‘the desire for peace’ strain and exacerbate the situation and may make it more volatile.”
Mr. Moualem said Israel must comply with international decisions calling on it to adhere to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and submit its nuclear installations to the international safeguards regime, declaring this “of extreme significance for the security and stability of the region.”
On Iraq, he said the war-torn country’s security is contingent upon its national unity based primarily on its Arab-Islamic identity, and on the participation of all the stripes of the Iraqi people in building their present and future.
Turning to Sudan, where a referendum on possible independence for the south is scheduled for 9 January, he said Syria follows developments there “because we are dedicated to Sudan's unity, sovereignty, security and stability.”
US declines to put NKorea back on terrorism blacklist
The Obama administration declined Thursday to put North Korea back on a blacklist of countries supporting terrorism despite pressure from lawmakers to do so.
In its report for 2009, the State Department kept the same countries on the list as it did in 2008 -- Iran, Sudan, Cuba and Syria -- with Iran again listed as the "most active state sponsor of terrorism."
Former US president George W. Bush de-listed North Korea in 2008 after it vowed to end its nuclear program, agreed to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and pledged to disable its nuclear plants.
The Obama administration has kept it off the list again after citing narrow legal definition for what constitutes support for terrorism.
In June 2009, 16 US Republican Senators urged President Barack Obama's administration to place the communist regime back on the US blacklist.
The North conducted its second nuclear test the previous month and defied international criticism by firing a volley of short-range missiles and threatening to attack the capitalist South.
Though the report does not cover events this year, Republican senators renewed their call for North Korea to be listed again after South Korea and the United States blamed it for sinking a South Korean warship in March.
In keeping four countries on the blacklist, the Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 said "Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism".
"Iran?s financial, material, and logistic support for terrorist and militant groups throughout the Middle East and Central Asia had a direct impact on international efforts to promote peace, threatened economic stability in the Gulf and undermined the growth of democracy," it said.
The US accuses Iran of actively supporting groups like the Taliban in Afghanistan, Shiite groups in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
On Sudan, the report said the government was cooperating with US counter-terrorism efforts, but said "Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist elements as well as elements of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and HAMAS, remained in Sudan in 2009."
The report said the United States disagrees with Syria's support for what it calls national liberation movements, groups Washington considers are terrorist.
"Syria continued to provide safe-haven as well as political and other support to a number of designated Palestinian terrorist groups, including HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC)," the report.
The report complained that Cuba still gives safe haven and ideological support for three terrorist organizations.
"The Government of Cuba has long assisted members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN), and Spain?s Basque Homeland and Freedom Organization (ETA), some having arrived in Cuba in connection with peace negotiations with the governments of Colombia and Spain," it said.
The White House has said it is increasingly concerned over reports that Syria is sending sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah in Lebanon, a day after the Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Damascus of supplying Scud missiles to the militant group.
The reports are a blow to the Obama administration's attempt to engage positively with the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad after years of tension between Washington and Damascus.
"We are obviously increasingly concerned about the sophisticated weaponry that ... is allegedly being transferred," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. "We have expressed our concerns to [the] governments [of Lebanon and Syria]."
Mr Gibbs was responding to questions about the Israeli president's comments. He did not confirm that the transfer had taken place but warned it could have a potentially destabilizing effect on the region.
Israeli fears
Hezbollah is backed by Iran; both are Israel's arch enemies. If the militant group obtains medium and long range ballistic missiles, such as Scuds, this could alter the military balance in the region.
Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006 during which Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel but Scuds would put all of Israel within reach.
Israel's president has said Syria is supplying Scuds to Hezbollah
Some military experts however believe Hezbollah already has longer-range missiles, in which case this latest development would be important because of the signal it sends at a time of simmering tension in the region.
Israel is worried about Iran's nuclear programme and has often warned it could strike Iran if it felt threatened.
Syria and Hezbollah would be likely to be immediately drawn into the conflict. But Iran's allies could also choose to strike pre-emptively at Israel.
Iraq has had enough. Faced with ongoing attacks from forces supported by Syria, the Iraqis are taking an increasingly hard line and are refusing to back down. They are fully aware that a confrontation brings the risk of further instability, but the Iraqis recognize that the only way to ultimately stop the violence is to stop those enabling it. Already, their new stance towards Syria is bringing results, while the U.S. keeps rewarding Syria through inaction — a silent way of confirming to the Syrians that we understand that our security is dependent upon them.
This assessment of the impression given to Syria is not speculation, but is a summary of a thinly veiled, successful Syrian strategy. Take a look at the following words of Ahmed Salkini, a political advisor to the ambassador to the United States, regarding the current state of relations: “A previous administration did not want to cooperate, even if it cost American lives. This administration is realizing you have to cooperate in order to save lives, in order to advance U.S. interests, and that’s what we’re looking forward into the future.”
In other words: you need us and if we’re not happy, you’ll suffer. Supporters of the Assad regime will claim that Salkini was stating a simple fact that international cooperation increases security, but Syria has been directly supporting the insurgents in order to achieve the U.S. policy shift they seek. This is blackmail, pure and simple. The Obama administration apparently recognizes this and has reversed its previous plans by deciding not to send an ambassador to Syria.
The Iraqis are to be admired for refusing to be bullied. State sponsors of terrorism engage in such activity because they believe their involvement can’t be proven and that the victim won’t punish them out of a fear of escalating the conflict and not having the smoking gun proof to back up their assertions. The Iraqis have wisely responded by making their complaints public, rather than confining them to behind-the-scenes talks. They continue to demand that the United Nations establish a tribunal to prosecute those in Syria involved in the violence. Al-Maliki even hinted at supporting Assad’s own dissident elements in retaliation, saying, “Neighboring countries should behave like good neighbors because it is not hard for us to do the same things they did.”
The former Iraqi national security advisor is saying that they have evidence that Syrian intelligence officers are providing logistical support to al-Qaeda in Iraq, and following the October 25 bombings of the Justice Ministry and Baghdad government buildings killing 160 people, the foreign minister said they had “strong and tangible evidence” that those behind the bombings had safe harbor in Syria. It is unknown if the Assad regime had a direct hand in the attacks, but it is obvious that they at least did not stop acting as a safe harbor with the full knowledge of what it would result in.
The Iraqis previously accused Syria of having responsibility for the twin bombings in Baghdad on August 19, which really escalated the crisis between the two countries and resulted in the recalling of ambassadors. The Iraqis say they have wiretaps, confessions from captured terrorists, and photos of terrorist training camps in Syria to prove the Assad regime’s role in facilitating the attacks. They also have documents outlining the routes used by the terrorists to reach Iraq from Syria. On August 30, the Iraqis released the videotaped confession of a captured al-Qaeda terrorist believed to have led operations in Diyala Province, saying that he was trained at an al-Qaeda camp in Syria that “was well known to Syrian intelligence.”
The U.S. has disgracefully reacted to the crisis with neutrality. On August 26, a spokesperson for the State Department was asked about the tension between Iraq and Syria. He responded with: “We consider that an internal matter. We believe that, as a general principle, diplomatic dialogue is the best means to address the concerns of both parties.”
An Iraqi official has said that his country is experiencing major resistance from the U.S. in its push for an international tribunal to be created to target those in Syria involved in the insurgency. By failing to act against Syria or even provide political support for this move, the U.S. is helping the Assad regime and failing to understand that by waging war on Iraq they are waging war on the U.S. and its interests.
Al-Maliki now has to make a move. Some Iraqi politicians are accusing him of pointing the finger at Syria in order to distract from his own failure to establish security ahead of the elections. His government’s statements are failing to capture the attention of the world or convince the U.S. to modify its “engagement” policy to account for these transgressions.
After the threat to push for a tribunal, terrorist activity in Iraq dropped by three-fourths according to one Foreign Ministry diplomat. The October bombings obviously alter that statistic, but it is clear that al-Maliki made the right move in trying to remove the incentive for Syria to engage in covert support of terrorism by exposing it. More evidence should be released in a dramatic fashion, similar to Colin Powell’s 2003 presentation, albeit with more solid information. This will force America’s hand — and the Obama administration can’t accuse the Iraqis of disloyalty if they do so, considering their reaction to the Iraq-Syria crisis. It will also prove the credibility of the accusations and make the Assad regime think twice about putting its fingerprints on such violence.
The U.S. has complained about Syria’s sponsorship of terrorism for years and years, but for whatever reason has failed to make public the evidence to demonstrate how serious and deadly it is. The Iraqis have shown the way forward, not only in handling Syria, but in helping to deter state sponsorship of terrorism as a whole.
Ryan Mauro is the founder of WorldThreats.com and the director of intelligence at the Asymmetrical Warfare and Intelligence Center (AWIC). He’s also the national security researcher for the Christian Action Network and a published author. He can be contacted at TDCAnalyst@aol.com.
PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday stepped up French diplomacy in the Middle East, holding talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders ahead of an Elysee meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.- - -
With the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort in peril, Sarkozy spoke by phone with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas after meeting for nearly two hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris late Wednesday.
He "underscored the urgency of re-starting the Middle East peace process and discussed, in light of his recent international contacts, the conditions that would allow a rapid resumption of negotiations," said an Elysee statement.
While the French diplomatic efforts between Israel and the Palestinians yielded no concrete announcements, Sarkozy was also turning his attention to Syria after Israel said it was open to reviving talks with Damascus.
Sarkozy is to explore prospects for Israeli-Syrian talks during a luncheon meeting with Assad at the Elysee palace on Friday, the latest in a string of visits underpinning warmer ties between Paris and Damascus.
Facing a dead-end on the Palestinian track, an Israeli official travelling with Netanyahu held open a chance of progress on the Syrian track of the stalled regional peace plan.
"Mr Sarkozy raised the issue of the Syrian track," a senior aide traveling with Netanyahu said Wednesday.
"The prime minister said he is willing to meet with the Syrian president at any time and anywhere to move on the peace negotiations on the basis of no pre-conditions," he added.
Syria has repeatedly demanded the return of the strategic Golan Heights, which Israeli captured in the 1967 war and unilaterally annexed in 1981, as a non-negotiable condition for peace.
Assad on Wednesday told a meeting of Arab politicians that Syria would not "put forward conditions on making peace" but warned it had "rights that we will not renounce," according to the SANA news agency.
Turkish mediation between the foes broke off last year during Israel's offensive in Gaza, closing a promising diplomatic channel, but Ankara has said it was willing to resume its role.
The editor of Syria's ruling party newspaper Al Baath, Abdel-Latif Omran, told AFP that while Syria was sticking to its demands for the return of the Golan Heights, it was also ready to negotiate on parallel issues such as water, normalisation of ties and security arrangements.
"The Israeli side is trying to sabotage all international peace efforts," said Omran.
"We hope that the efforts put forward by the European Union and France will lead to true peace in the Middle East, but there is no Israeli willingness to make peace."
Relations between France and Syria have been warming since Assad paid a landmark visit to Paris last year for Bastille Day celebrations and Sarkozy visited Damascus two months later in September 2008.
The Syrian leader recently played a key role in convincing Iran to grant bail for French academic Clotilde Reiss on trial for "provoking rioters" after the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Keeping the pressure on Israel and the Palestinians, Sarkozy is dispatching Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to the region for talks next week.
Sarkozy outlined "important suggestions" aimed at restarting the comatose peace process during his talks with Abbas, according to a Palestinian aide.
A senior Palestinian official told AFP that Sarkozy's "suggestions" included holding a Middle East peace conference in Moscow, an idea Russia has been pushing for months.
After discussing peace efforts with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Paris on Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy phoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in order to discuss conditions for the renewal of negotiations, according to an AFP report.
Quoting an Elysee statement, the report said that Sarkozy "underscored the urgency of re-starting the Middle East peace process."
Sarkozy - apparently wishing to assert his position as a Mideast mediator - is slated to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday.
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(ISTANBUL) - A summit of Islamic countries in Istanbul next week will boost Turkey's quest to deepen ties with the Muslim world, but some of its new friends are not to the taste of its traditional ally, Washington.Cross-posted to Sudan Watch and Tehran Watch
Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has an international arrest warrant against him for war crimes, and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, engaged in a standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme, are among leaders who will attend an Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting.
The one-day summit on Monday will add to growing concerns in some Western circles that Turkey, an OIC member which is seeking European Union membership, is shifting away from its pro-Western foreign policy and embracing countries such as Iran and Syria, while distancing itself from regional friend Israel.
"I think this summit will put Turkey again on the frontline, both in regards with Iran and Bashir," said Hugh Pope, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.
"Engagement and cooperation can be a way to bring autocratic states into the international system, but the challenge for Turkey is that it needs to show results and that the behaviour of these states is changing," Pope said.
Although the 57-nation body's meeting has been billed as an economic summit to discuss trade and anti-poverty measures among members, the presence of Bashir and Ahmadinejad will likely overshadow its economic goals.
Western powers are seeking to exert pressure on Tehran for concessions on its nuclear programme, and Ahmadinejad could use the summit to undermine efforts to isolate the Islamic republic and to give one of his trademark anti-Western speeches.
The West fears Tehran's nuclear programme is a covert plan to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran has denied this and says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity.
The visit by Sudan's Bashir, who has travelled to African countries since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the arrest warrant against him in March for war crimes in Darfur, puts NATO member Turkey in an awkward position, but a Turkish Foreign Ministry official said there were no plans to arrest him.
"We have invited Bashir as one of the heads of state to the meeting and he will be treated as one," the official said.
Turkey, which has deepened commercial ties with Sudan, has not ratified the 2002 Rome Statute that established the ICC, but is under pressure to do so to meet European Union standards.
WESTERN WORRIES
The attendance of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad might also add weight to the summit of the OIC, which has little political power.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday he did not wish to run for re-election in January, voicing disappointment at Washington's "favouring" of Israel in arguments over re-launching peace talks.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in what would be his first trip abroad since his re-election was announced this week following a fraud-marred ballot, is also expected to attend.
Ahmadinejad's visit to Istanbul will follow a state visit last month by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to Tehran, in which the two countries signed trade and energy deals.
Ankara's growing attachment to Iran has fuelled worries that Turkey, a moderate Muslim democracy and a U.S. ally, is turning its back on Washington and the EU, something it denies.
"Policymakers in the West are getting worried that Turkey's growing ties with Iran -- by lessening that country's sense of isolation -- may frustrate diplomatic efforts to prevent Tehran from building a nuclear bomb," Katinka Barysch, of the Centre for European Reform thinktank, wrote this week.
Erdogan's AK Party government, which has roots in political Islam, has sought to expand Turkey's influence in the Middle East -- a process analysts say has run in parallel with Ankara's frustration at perceived EU misgivings over its membership bid.
During his warmly received trip to Tehran, Erdogan blasted Western powers for treating Iran "unfairly" and said the Islamic republic's nuclear programme was for humanitarian purposes.
Ian Lesser, from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said that by inviting Ahmadinejad and Bashir, Turkey might deepen perceptions its foreign policy is ambiguous.
"It is an example of the risks that Turkey is running by trying to be too many things in too many places at the same time and without too much discrimination," Lesser said.
(Additional reporting by Zerin Elci and Ibon Villelabeitia in Ankara, Opheera McDoom in Khartoum and Peter Graff in Kabul) (Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Reports are surfacing online confirming that Microsoft has removed access to its Windows Live MSN services for residents in several embargoed countries, the full list of those effected includes Syria, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.
If, say, you’ve woken up in Cuba this morning and gone to log into your MSN account you would have seen this little error message pop-up, “Error 810003c1”, which, buried in Microsoft’s terms means “Microsoft has shut off the Windows Live Messenger IM for users in the countries embargoed by the US hence Microsoft no longer offers Windows Live Service in your country”.
The reasoning or logic behind which countries get denied access and which get allowed is undisclosed but could be considered more than a little confusing as other countries with sanctions against them remain unhindered in accessing the services.
The reason behind the timing of the decision is also unclear, but one thing is for sure, a simple IP-based blocking system won’t keep MSN users in those countries off of the service for very long.
Doha, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad Received on Sunday at his residence in Doha Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, and discussed with him the regional situation and the role which can be played by the UN for establishing stability in the Middle East, praising the Secretary General's stance regarding the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
President al-Assad pointed out to the danger of the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, affirming Syria's rejection of this warrant.
He underlined that the problem is in the credibility of the UN and international bodies which claim caring for human rights in Sudan while remaining motionless towards the tragic humane situation in Gaza caused by the Israeli occupation crimes and siege imposed on the Palestinian people.
For his part, the Secretary General praised Syria's efforts to bolster positive atmosphere in the region, hoping that the Arab Summit 21st session will result in decision that will boost the positive atmospheres.
The meeting was attended by Vice President Farouk al-Shara, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, Presidential Political and Media Advisor Dr. Buthaina Shaaban, and Special UN Envoy to Lebanon Michael Williams.
In a statement following the meeting, Ban Ki-moon said the meeting with President al-Assad was useful, and that they discussed several issues related to peace and stability in the region.
He expressed appreciation of President al-Assad's role in achieving Arab reconciliation and his contribution to reaching a ceasefire in Gaza Strip, stressing the need for Israel to open the Sector's crossing points and contribute to a permanent peace process in the region.
Vienna: Further inquiry may be needed into suspected nuclear sites in Syria, diplomats said on Sunday, adding however, that the results did not rule out nuclear activity.
The International Atomic Energy Agency began investigating Syria in April based on US intelligence suggesting a remote desert complex targeted by Israel was a reactor almost completed with North Korean help and designed to make plutonium for atom bombs.
Preliminary results of environmental samples did not have traces of carbon or maraging steel that would have indicated a graphite reactor, diplomats familiar with the inquiry said.
Complete results are expected in November, but they may not be conclusive either, they said.
However, Syria may have buried traces of a suspected nuclear reactor at a site bombed by Israel a year ago, diplomats said.
“This doesn't mean there was nothing there, just that the inspectors did not (or could not) search the right places," a senior diplomat, who asked for anonymity due to political sensitivities, said.
"Syria laid a big slab of concrete over it (ground where the alleged reactor stood) after digging a hole. Ideally the IAEA should be able to examine the chunks of debris but the feeling is that the Syrians may have dumped all of it down the hole.”
