Kofi Annan has stepped down as the UN-Syria peace envoy. To which the rest of us reply: "What took you so long?"
The Annan plan isn't working for the simple and practical reason that neither side wants the situation to freeze in place along "armistice lines" -- lines that could very well be used to divide up the country into buffer zones of neighboring states. They want an end to the conflict that results in their side taking it all.
Bashar Al Assad wants his old stomping (and fingernail-pulling) grounds back. Meanwhile, the jihadists who seem to dominate the Free Syrian Army want to enclose as much territory as possible within their Caliphate -- and they know they've got the momentum.
Nadia Khoury is a Contributing Writer for The PropagandistMore >>
Should America be arming the Free Syrian Army? The first concern is that we don't know who these people are. The second concern, tied to the first, is that even before the smoke has cleared between the FSA and the Assad regime, the FSA is already devoting critical manpower and resources to extorting and banishing the Christians from Syrian territory.
Nonetheless, here's American Republican Senator John McCain on CNN (via Think Progress):
CROWLEY: U.S. arms, you want to get U.S. arms to them. You don’t…
MCCAIN: Sure, why not? Why not? Russian arms are coming in. Iranians are on the ground. Meanwhile, the Iranians are helping Bashar al-Assad and they are committing acts of — they are committing terrorist acts around the world — they are planning on terrorist acts. The talks with Iran on their nuclear development have broken down and where is the United States of America?
Sometimes the enemy of your enemy isn't your friend.
Nadia Khoury is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist...More >>
The Syrian regime has spent the past week or so showing its good faith towards implementation of a "peace plan" by indiscriminately shelling people in a city it has effectively declared the base of the resistance. Over 9,000 people have been killed thus far, with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, the Free Syrian Army has a bone to pick with the way the regime wants to set the terms of the deal with the United Nations:
“When the regime asks Kofi Annan for written guarantees that we will drop our weapons it is actually mocking the United Nations. This is a joke.”
It sounds to me like a genuine peace deal is imminent.
Nadia Khoury is a Contributing Writer for The PropagandistMore >>
It remains to be seen whether Al Qaeda has truly infiltrated the ranks of the Free Syrian Army. Then again, it hardly matters whether FSA insurgents are carrying Al Qaeda business cards -- despite reassurances by US officials, it is clear from video footage that opposition to the Syrian regime has coalesced around jihadists. There is no meaningful opposition from liberal democrats, a unicorn-like species in this part of the world.
This fact does not in any way excuse the brutality of the Syrian regime, whose bloodthirsty ways were well-established decades before international media started paying attention. But after Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, we should not be under any illusions about the inevitable outcome: when Bashar Al Assad is gone, theocratic fascism will reign.
Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The PropagandistMore >>
