Archive for the ‘Global peace process’ Category
Posted by seumasach on June 18, 2013
This is good news for peace in Syria. Cameron has dropped his “Assad must go” clause. There is no reference to the Syrian government using chemical weapons and he has agreed to work against extremism and terrorism in Syria. Amongst the “key institutions of the state” which he has pledged to maintain there is, of course, the Syrian national army.
Cameron outlines seven key agreements on Syria crisis
ITV
18th June, 2013
David Cameron has outlined seven agreements that have been made among G8 leaders in respect to the Syria crisis.
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Posted by seumasach on June 6, 2013
A realistic assessment as befits the author of “The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat.” I would only point out that the defeat of the rebels doesn’t mean the defeat of diplomacy- it is a precondition for it. The takfirist rabble was never going to feature at an international peace conference even if they were disposed to negotiate and, furthermore, they would never respect any cease-fire agreement. A token presence, however, can always be arranged. The essential role of the peace conference, in the first instance, is to conceal the reality revealed in this article. But we can have high hopes that once the process has been set in motion its consequences will be positive and far-ranging.
Vali Nasr
Bloomberg
4th June, 2013
Syria’s uprising offered the possibility of a strategic defeat of Iran. In this scenario, Iran would be weakened by the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, its single Arab ally and a vital link to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Isolated, Iran would become more vulnerable to international pressure to limit its nuclear program. And as Iran’s regional influence faded, those of its rivals — U.S. allies Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — would expand.
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Posted by seumasach on June 5, 2013
Guardian
4th June, 2013
The Palestinian Authority has bound its survival to John Kerry‘s peace effort, warning that if the US secretary of state’s campaign to draw Israeli and Palestinian leaders back to the negotiating table fails, the West Bank could fall to radicalism and violence.
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Posted by seumasach on June 4, 2013
Kerry to U.S. Jews: Next few days will determine Middle East fate for decades
Haaretz
4th June, 2013
The coming days will be crucial for both Israelis and Palestinians, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday, warning against the dire implications of failing to reach a two-state solution.
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Posted by seumasach on June 3, 2013
Chinmaya R. Gharekhan( former Indian Ambassador to the United Nations, was until recently Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Special Envoy for West Asia)
Hindu
4th June, 2013
Secretary John Kerry has demonstrated courage and wisdom in abandoning his predecessor’s insistence on President Bashar al-Assad’s departure as a precondition to talks for a political solution to the Syrian crisis, thereby bringing the American position closer to that of Russia and many others, including India. He has to go a step further and drop objection to Iran’s participation in the Geneva II conference. Iran has more than convincingly established its potential to prolong the conflict; it should be given an opportunity to play a constructive role.
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Posted by seumasach on June 3, 2013
Talking to All Sides including Iran
Fred H.Lawson
Juan Cole.com
June, 2013
Secretary of State John F. Kerry took a major step toward engaging the United States in the quest to find a solution to the devastating civil war in Syria during his visit to Moscow on May 6-7. Kerry persuaded Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov to join Washington in organizing an international conference to lay the foundation for a transitional government, whose members would include a broad range of Syrian political actors. More important, the secretary signaled that the Obama administration would not insist that Syrian President Bashshar al-Asad step down before the talks began, and agreed with his hosts that the Syrian armed forces would remain intact as part of an overall settlement.
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Posted by seumasach on May 27, 2013
EU Observer
27th May, 2013
Austrian foreign minister Michael Spindelegger said Monday in Brussels he is not willing to talk about relaxing the EU arms embargo on Syria in line with Anglo-French demands. “We [the EU] are a peace community and we would like to stay a peace community,” he noted.
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Posted by seumasach on May 27, 2013
“It’s clear that the US has basically moved towards the Russian position on the Geneva communiqué, which is where we were nearly a year ago,” Yezid Sayigh, Syria expert and senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, told Ahram Online.
“If it (the opposition) refuses to attend, it may lose the political recognition of the Friends of Syria and receive no further material assistance,” especially from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Sayigh says. Consulting with these countries for influence in the SNC may leave the opposition “without clear, unified, and unconditional political support from either,” he argues.
It does appear that the “opposition” will be “persuaded” to attend
Al Ahram
26th May, 2013
Amid a flurry of meetings, it is still largely undecided whether an international peace conference aimed at resolving the conflict in Syria will take place in June.
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Posted by seumasach on May 27, 2013
Hans Blix urges Britain to relinquish Trident nuclear programme
Guardian
Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix has said it is time for Britain to relinquish its Trident nuclear programme.
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Posted by seumasach on May 27, 2013
“Beyond Afghanistan,” he said later, “we must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’
White House officials who brief reporters before the speech suggested that, among other provisions, the Guidance called for gradually shifting responsibility for drone strikes and targeted killings from the CIA to the Pentagon – a reform long sought by human-rights groups.
Jim Lobe
Asia Times
24th May, 2013
WASHINGTON – Responding to growing criticism by human rights groups and foreign governments, US President Barack Obama Thursday announced potentially significant shifts in what his predecessor called the “global war on terror”.
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Posted by seumasach on May 24, 2013
US Willing to Keep Assad to Avoid Regional War
Jason Ditz
Antiwar
22nd May, 2013
Though the “official” US position on Syria seems to change wildly by the hour and is based primarily on who is talking and who is standing near them at the time, new reports suggest the Obama Administration is ready to ditch their demands for regime change.
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In These New Times 