The U.S. "does not have plans for any sanctions at the moment, but will certainly continue pressure on Syria to show more cooperation with the investigations" into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, according to a high ranking U.S. diplomat in New York. The official who wished to remain anonymous told The Daily Star: "It is still hard to know what UN Chief Investigator Detlev Mehlis will say in his final report."| Or what Kofi will try to have cut out of it... |
The paper added, quoting a diplomatic document, that senior U.S. diplomats had said that as a consequence of the Syrian stance, the Security Council might impose sanctions on Syrian officials: the president, members of the Syrian Parliament, the prime minister, the defense minister and the foreign minister. Mehlis, who is scheduled to leave Lebanon in the next 48 hours, "is currently adding the final touches to his report which he will then present to the UN before a December 15 deadline; maybe around December 13," security sources said. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "is currently looking at a small number of names to take over from Mehlis when his mandate is over," UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told The Daily Star Thursday.
| For my money, and I could be wrong but I'm not, this is the most important story we've got going now, and it's totally ignored by the ace newshounds of the MSM. There isn't much blood and gore, it's not good teevee, and the moves are so Byzantine that the ghost of Anna Comnena keep sighing in admiration. You actually have to pay attention to follow it, and they're showing they don't have the attention span. If it's not Worse than Watergate™ or Just like Vietnam™, they're not interested. Baby Assad has dug himself a hole and he's trying to pull it in over himself, and all the U.S. has to do is nudge occasionally. Even the Frenchies are on our side, at least mostly, when nobody's looking. This is a brilliant piece of diplomatic work, with far-reaching implications for the Arab world as a whole and for Iran especially, which is pulling the Syrian strings. When Syria topples — and I continue to stand by my prediction that it'll be prior to 9-11-06 — we're going to be down to only two adversaries: Iran and Soddy Arabia, the Shiite puppet masters and the Wahhabi puppet masters. And the pieces for the moves against the ayatollahs are being positioned while Syria's shoved into the hopper. I'm watching this little dance with something like awe. And I'm also feeling greater contempt for the press every day, because they're missing it. When the Syrian domino falls they're going to be standing around, staring stupidly and wondering where it came from. Then they'll get to work digging dirt to see what we did underhanded that we can be cirticized for. |