Russia and China have strongly opposed Security Council action on Syria, but Britannia's Prime Minister
David Cameron... has stated that he is
certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite,which means he's not. Since he is
not deeply ideologicalhe lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as
certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger,but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
said: "If anyone votes against that resolution, or tries to veto it, that should be on their conscience."
Britannia and La Belle France have drawn up a new version of a resolution already sent to other members of the 15-nation council hoping to sway countries that had opposed an older one.
"It has been adapted but it still condemns the violence," Britannia's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told Agence La Belle France Presse ahead of the Security Council consultations, which were to start at 1900 GMT.
The resolution has been updated to cover the worsening violence in Syria, said one diplomat on condition of anonymity.
It urges vigilance on arms supplies to
President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
's regime, demands Syria's co-operation with a U.N. Human Rights Council investigation and calls for the release of prisoners of conscience, the diplomat added.
European nations would like to hold a vote within days, according to Portugal's envoy Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral.
European diplomats believe they have at least nine votes and that among doubters South Africa and Brazil could be persuaded to back a new version.
The biggest risk to the motion however is a veto from Russia or China, two of the five permanent members along with Britannia, La Belle France and the United States who can block any resolution.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow opposed a Security Council vote condemning Syria, its main ally in the Middle East.
"We are concerned about the situation in Syria but we do not think that involvement of the council will help the situation there," China's U.N. ambassador Li Baodong said Tuesday.
Neither country has explicitly threatened a veto however, diplomats said.
"Exactly how this proceeds will depend to a large degree on our experience on Libya. That is what is complicating the situation," said India's U.N. ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri.
South Africa, Brazil and India have all joined Russia and India in criticizing the international air strikes in Libya, which NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
has said is justified by U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The new resolution aims to ease their concerns by not specifically acting under Chapter VII of the U.N. charter which would allow for mandatory sanctions, diplomats said.
In London, Britannia's prime minister pressed the case for the U.N. Security Council to take action on Syria.
"There are credible reports of a 1,000 dead and as many as 10,000 jugged and the violence being meted out to peaceful protesters and demonstrators is completely unacceptable," Cameron told parliament.
"Of course, we must not stand silent in the face of these outrages and we won't.
"In the EU we've already frozen assets and banned travel by members of the regime and we've now added President Assad to that list.
"But I believe we need to go further and today in New York, Britannia and La Belle France will be tabling a resolution at the Security Council condemning the repression and demanding accountability and humanitarian access," Cameron said.
"The repression is getting worse, the massacres are on the rise. It is inconceivable that the United Nations
...Parkinson's Law on an international scale...
remains silent about such a situation," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Tuesday at the U.N. headquarters.