a thread about the civil unrest in egypt (& elsewhere in 'the region' if necessary)

Gulf nation hypocrites

Bahrain is kicking out Doctors without Borders for treating injured protestors there

Neo-con editorial in Washington Post urges Obama to do more about Syria but never says what "more" is...

Per above, maybe encouraging European Union to not buy oil from Syria (US gets its oil from elsewhere)

if we gave a shit about the human rights abuses of our trading partners then this keyboard im a-tapping would likely never have been made

you say that like it's a bad thing

ha ha. Do some people still make the argument that only through "engagement" can we influence these countries to change?

I think Canada is saying take our oil instead (taken from that environmental disaster oil shale project). Call it a grand bargain...

Tripoli seems to be a falling to the rebels tonight.

Assad's not leaving Syria, but he is promising parliamentary elections in February 2012. First though:

In Latakia province, a site of strife in recent days, the government on Sunday worked to clean away evidence of the bloody crackdown in advance of an expected visit by a U.N. humanitarian team, a diplomat said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/08/21/syria.unrest/

The European Union's political security committee is considering an embargo on Syrian crude oil. Oil and gas make up about a quarter of Syria's economy, according to the International Monetary Fund

The EU has been considering this for weeks and weeks. Is it really that financially difficult for them to get oil from elsewhere?

Syria is a pretty small oil producer, I doubt that high a percentage of oil consumed in Europe comes from there.

The EU is not famous for its quick decisions. I'm guessing the political security committee is the same body that never quite gets round to invoking the human rights clauses in trade deals with Israel, so I wouldn't hold your breath on this one.

The EU should be able to get more oil again from Libya

soon

(Reuters) - Iran has cut back or even stopped its funding of Hamas after the Islamist movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, failed to show public support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said Sunday.

Hamas has denied that it is in financial crisis but says it faces liquidity problems stemming from inconsistent revenues from tax collection in the Gaza Strip and foreign aid.

"O Ali and O Bashar, Qaddafi lost his head," shouted demonstrators in the main square of the Yemeni capital Sanaa' on Monday, referring to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Local news agencies reported a heightened military presence in all major Yemeni cities, with at least 60 tanks entering the presidential compound in Sanaa' on Sunday.

"The news of Tripoli being taken by rebels will certainly influence the revolutions in Yemen and Syria, although the picture is still unclear as to Qaddafi's destiny," Muhammad Al-Musfir, a political scientist at Qatar University, told The Media Line.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/24/libyas-imperial-hijacking-threat-arab-revolution

this is all pretty unpleasant, as usual from seumas milne, but what does this mean?

Since the Arab revolution despatched two western-backed dictators in quick succession at the start of the year, there has been a three-pronged drive by the west to bring it under control. In Egypt, US and Saudi money has been poured in to suborn it. In Bahrain, conservative Gulf states have been given support to crush the uprising by force. And in Libya, the western powers have attempted to hijack it, while channelling covert support to the brutally repressed opposition in Syria.

is the last bit about syria part of the three-ponged drive or?

whatever, it's an amazingly occidentalist view of what's going on

Many of those who have fought for power in Libya, including Islamists, clearly won't accept the dispensation that's been prepared for them. But only when Nato and its bagmen are forced to leave Libya can Libyans truly take control of their own country.

yaaaaay

one of the prongs is a fork

http://www.juancole.com/2011/08/iraq-adopts-irans-backing-of-assad.html

Juan Cole on Iraq and Iran supporting Assad in Syria

Milne piece is all over the place. Whether the west supports an uprising or helps to crush it, it's all part of the same evil plan. What course of action would qualify as OK by Milne?

He also flatly acknowledges that the uprising would have failed without NATO help yet NATO help has contaminated it - another lose-lose scenario by his standards.

Presumably his alternative to "pick-and-choose liberal interventionism" (all foreign policy - all politics - is pick-and-choose) is doing nothing ever. I'm struggling to imagine a parallel universe in which Milne writes an editorial praising the west for its consistency and un-imperialist restraint in letting Gaddafi crush the rebellion. You appease an oil-producer = you want the oil. You help to topple an oil producer = you want the oil.

I don't see the point of reading critiques of western foreign policy by somebody who always thinks western foreign policy is de facto pernicious and never changes his mind. I don't agree with the anti-war case on this occasion but it deserves a better advocate than this.

This bit from the Cole piece is interesting. I didn't know this:

Cole: The Iranians have jumped up and down and been very vocal about the repression in Bahrain and they have even supported the Libyan uprising. In fact, they have supported all of the uprisings. They claimed that the uprisings are Islamic in character and inspired by Iran’s revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini. But the Iranians do not say anything about what is going on in Syria. It is just like a blank slate and a point of clear hypocrisy on their part.

I thought they were ignoring the uprisings because they don't want the one in Iran to arise again

Business as usual in Syria:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/world/middleeast/26syria.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

Masked gunmen severely beat Syria’s best-known political cartoonist on Thursday, breaking his hand and leaving him to bleed on the side of a road in Damascus, activists said.

The attack came days after the artist, Ali Farzat, published a cartoon showing President Bashar al-Assad hitching a ride out of town with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, who was toppled from power this week.

Also Thursday, Syrian security forces carried out military operations against antigovernment activists in several areas across the country, killing nine people, activists and residents said.

....

The Local Coordination Committees, a group of Syrian activists involved in organizing and documenting the protests, said that four soldiers were also shot dead in Rastan after they refused to fire on protesters and residents. Activists said that a Turkish driver was killed as he was driving through the same village, though the reason was not clear.

The committees said that among those dead was a 9-year-old boy from Baniyas, a city along the Mediterranean Coast that was the scene of a brutal crackdown in May.

I guess the EU is still continuing to think about (as they have done for months) whether to stop getting oil from Syria. Syria may not have much, but it is a percentage of their income.

It feels like a no-brainer to me - the very least the EU could be doing.

NPR story excerpt:

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/26/139952344/western-sanctions-may-put-slow-squeeze-on-syria

On a recent government-sponsored tour, called "Syria Is Fine," reporters were shown bustling markets in Damascus where Syrians bought clothes, electronics and basic necessities.

The tour was arranged shortly after the United States formally called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and banned the import of oil and gas.

American officials acknowledge this will have little impact unless Europe joins in as well. Europe buys nearly all of Syria's crude exports, and those sales account for about one-third of Syria's economy.

Looking To Iran

In an interview on Syrian state TV, Assad called these moves by the West "meaningless."

In the mind of a lot of Syrians, oil is linked to the army. ... So when you say, OK, we're going to stop the flow of crude, you're basically saying to the Syrian people at the same time, we're going to stop the flow of blood.

- Asaad al-Achi, Qatar-based Syrian activist
"We have alternatives," Assad said. "We'd already decided to start looking to the east, and we will continue to look east."

Analysts say that means if Syria can't sell its oil to Europe, it will sell it to India and China. But Assad wasn't just talking about India and China. He also was referring to his strongest ally, Iran.

Regional news outlets have reported that Iran recently moved billions of U.S. dollars to Syria to help keep the Syrian currency stable. Syrian economic officials denied the reports.

Yemen is still such a mess with President Saleh still in Saudia Arabia recovering from injuries and refusing to give up his office, loyalists supporting him, others opposed, and fundamentalist extremists taking over the southern portion (and ocassionally being hit by US drones)

"Syria Is Fine"

the thing that's probably hard to keep focus on, in this year of way-too-much-news, is that the uprising in egypt was a genuine geopolitical gamechanger, with significant consequences playing out for a long time to come (good and bad): it's producing a lot of anxiety, falling out, confusion, cognitive dissonence and switchback silliness everywhere, from the various embattled autocracies and not-really-democracies in the middle east up the courtier factions in Washington, across to their media mouthpieces and professional kneejerk foes, and down away into every kind of dissident local org trying to escape hegemony of same

"Nothing to See Here Folks"

dissonAnce: haha i wrote "cognitive dissidence" first and nearly didn't spot it -- seems like a useful term for something

I am being amused here by the dissatisfaction regarding events in Libya coming from a political movement here in Ireland that has in the past benefited from Colonel Gadafi's largesse.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2011/08/26/01003-20110826ARTFIG00322-ali-ferzat-le-caricaturiste-syrien-aux-mains-brisees.php

Internationally famous caricaturist, Ali Ferzat, found after thugs broke his hands and beat the stuffing out of him.

that's almost poetical in its brutishness. if someone is drawing caricatures, you don't threaten or try to silence him, obviously you just break his hands.

The NY Times story upthread about it notes: The attack came days after the artist, Ali Farzat, published a cartoon showing President Bashar al-Assad hitching a ride out of town with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, who was toppled from power this week.

Oops, curmudgeon. I didn't see that. :(

2 excerpts from different stories on the roles of outsiders in Syria:

Youth Coalition of the Syrian Revolution leader Wahid Saqr on Friday accused Lebanon’s Hezbollah group of having deployed armed militias in Syria, assisting the regime there in the brutal crackdown of pro-democracy protesters

and

Gulfsands Petroleum PLC said Friday it had a successful drilling result in Syria and vowed to continue operations there, despite pressure from the European Union of a possible embargo, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The London-traded oil and gas company did not mention sanctions in its operations update released Friday.

Syrian issues affect Jordan (refugees heading there and Jordan's reliance on food from Syria)

Jordan imports most of its foodstuffs from Syria or through Syrian territories. So far, the trade line has not been disrupted, but concern is growing that retaliation could lead Syria to seal its borders with Jordan, a blow that the kingdom would find difficult to handle, considering its limited resources and options in the region, say analysts.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=235842

pro-assad syrians just hijacked the columbia university fb wall

http://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaNYC

what the fuck

bizarre. why columbia?

no idea

Esraa Mostafa
♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥ BASHAR AL ASSAD ♥
about an hour ago

almost d/n worthy

Other Syria news:

Royal Dutch Shell PLC will not stop producing oil in Syria unless it is directed to do so by the European Union, media in the Netherlands report

from W. Post

and from Dow Jones wire via WSJ:

Under EU rules, for sanctions to be adopted there first needs to be a so-called silence procedure during which all 27 member states are given a final chance to raise an objection.

One diplomat said an objection was raised Tuesday by Italy to when an EU embargo on Syrian oil exports was due to start. Another diplomat said there may also have been an objection to one of the Syrian companies listed among those to be targeted by the sanctions.

H____ S____
Hello, I'm a Syrian citizen, I'd like to apologize to your university for the inappropriate posts on your wall, but there is a facebook page called "The electronic army of syria"encouraging these kinds of spams, to support the syrian president, a killer who is responsible for alot of crimes against humans, from the button of our hearts, we are deeply sorry for this.

something kinda poetic abt 'from the button of our hearts'

yes

excerpt from NY Times editorial on Syria:

Turkey, which does $2.5 billion in annual trade with Syria, needs to take an unambiguous stand by imposing economic sanctions.

The Obama administration has frozen all Syrian government assets here and banned American citizens and corporations from doing any business with Damascus. But Washington has limited leverage. The European Union, a major importer of Syrian oil, could have a far greater impact. The Europeans announced last week that they would impose new sanctions, but members are still squabbling over details. An oil embargo is essential, but sanctions should also be imposed on Syrian banks and energy and telecommunications companies.

And Mr. Assad still has a few, far too powerful, protectors. Russia and China, along with India, Brazil and South Africa, are blocking a United Nations Security Council resolution that could impose broad international sanctions on Damascus. Their complicity is shameful.

Amnesty International has a lobbying campaign aimed at the latter three countries' representatives:

http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=11245

this is from the fox news website re the EU's just imposed embargo on Syrian oil:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/09/01/peaceful-way-to-bring-down-syrias-assad/

The Wall Street Journal reports that loopholes in the legislation will allow European energy companies to continue oil operations in Syria. In short, the EU will embargo direct imports of Syrian crude oil, but permit European energy companies to continue producing and developing Syrian gas and oil.

If the EU were to impose real energy sanctions on Assad, their impact on his political future could be tremendous.

The Financial Times estimates that Europe consumes almost 95 percent of Syria’s oil exports, and oil revenues amount to roughly 25 percent of Syria’s government funds.

Shell’s 32 percent stake in Syria’s Al-Furat oil consortium gives it especially great influence on Assad. If Shell were to sever its contracts, and Total were to do the same -- ceasing exploration in the oil fields of the Euphrates and Syria’s central region -- Syria would be deprived of substantial western investment capital.

The Obama administration is uniquely positioned to induce Shell and Total to leave Syria by threatening to deny them access to U.S. markets. The U.S. Treasury department set an important precedent in this regard in 2010, prompting Shell and Total to beat a hasty retreat from their oil operations in Iran.

For energy sanctions to be most effective in pressuring Assad, the U.S. and its European allies will want to persuade Chinese, Russian, and Indian energy companies to suspend their operations in Syria, at least until the violence comes to an end -- an implicit, if not explicit, commitment to a post-Assad government.

EU bans oil imports from Syria

whoops sorry

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/09/10/world/10egypt2/10egypt2-articleLarge.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/world/middleeast/11egypt.html?_r=1&hp

no talk about the embassy?