Tag Archives: Syria

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When do we not want it?

Now.

Members of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA), – from left: Sinn Fein TD Sean Crowe, Seamus Rattigan and David Morrison) – released a Red C commissioned poll result today on Irish attitudes to intervention in Syria.

They say that approximately 8 in 10 Irish People do not support a war in Syria without a UN mandate  – roughly the same number who are now in favour of  Irish neutrality.

PANA seeks to advocate an “Independent Irish Foreign Policy, defend Irish Neutrality and to promote a reformed United Nations as the Institution through which Ireland should pursue its security concerns”.

PANA

2013425113133925580_20You’re doing it wrong.

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

Vladimir Putin.

A Plea for Caution From Russia (Vladimir Putin, New York Times)

(AFP)

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Syria’s President Assad in an interview with Charlie Rose of CBS News.

Charlie Rose: “The United States is prepared to launch a strike against your country because they believe chemical weapons are so abhorrent that anybody who uses them crosses a red line and that therefore, if they do that they have to be taught a lesson so that they will not do it again.”

President Assad: “What red line?”

Rose: “A red line of the use of chemical weapons against your own people.”

Assad: “Who drew it?”

Rose: “The president says it was not just him but the world has drawn it in their revulsion against the use of chemical weapons. That the world has drawn that red line.”

Assad: “It’s not the world because Obama drew that line and Obama can draw that line for himself and for his country, not for other countries. We have our red lines, like our sovereignty, our independence. Well if you want to talk red lines, United States used depleted uranium in Iraq, Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza and nobody said anything. What about red lines? We don’t see red lines. It’s political red lines.”

 

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Claire McKeever, of UNICEF Ireland, writes:

“We thought you’d like to see this heart-warming letter which was sent by a young girl in Galway to UNICEF Ireland’s Syria Emergency Appeal [above]

“With heightened tension in the region and the number of refugees rising above 2 million – half of them children – UNICEF is continuing to provide urgent life-saving supplies to children inside Syria and in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt but we’re severely underfunded.

“If your readers would like to help they can donate here.”

Previously: How Many?

Sweden Vs Ireland


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During the Senate hearings on Syria, photographer Melina Mara spotted Senator John McCain playing poker on his iPhone.

The Senate’s Syria hearing: Live updates (Washington Post)

Pic: Melina Mara/Washington Post

OB-YT063_whtict_G_20130831224015President Obama in the Oval Office with Vice president Joe Biden on Saturday.

After a 45-minute walk Friday night, President Barack Obama made a fateful decision that none of his top national security advisers saw coming: To seek congressional authorisation before taking military action in Syria.

The stunning about-face after a week of U.S. saber rattling risked not only igniting a protracted congressional fight, which could end with a vote against strikes, but a backlash from allies in the Middle East who had warned the White House that inaction would embolden not only Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but his closest allies, Iran and Hezbollah.

At the Last Minute, Obama Alone Made Call to Seek Congressional Approval (Wall Street Journal)

Pic: White House

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Troops of the 43rd Infantry Group Mission on a ‘Mission Readiness Exercise in the Glen of Imaal, Co Wicklow this week among 110 heading for Syria.

The troops are being assessed under simulated high risk situations prior to their deployment as part of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

Name that veh-icle anyone?

Previously: ‘In Less Than A Month’

(Photocall Ireland/Department of Defence)