...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Tuesday it was up to Syrians to shape their political transition in hoped-for peace talks, after warning of the potential "Somalisation" of the country.
He spoke as fighting prevented chemical weapons inspectors from visiting two sites, although UN chief
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
said the mission to destroy Syria's arsenal by mid-2014 was still on track.
Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived...
the World Health Organisation confirmed an outbreak of polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set...
in Syria -- the first since 1999 -- saying laboratory tests had confirmed the disease in 10 of 22 suspected cases.
Brahimi has been seeking to build on the momentum of last month's US-Russian deal to eradicate Syria's chemical weapons in order to launch the so-called Geneva II peace talks proposed for next month.
But the talks have been cast into doubt by the increasingly divided opposition's refusal to attend unless the departure of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
is on the table, a demand rejected by Damascus.
In brief remarks to news hounds outside a Damascus hotel, Brahimi insisted the Geneva talks would be "between the Syrian parties, and it is the Syrian parties who will determine the transitional phase and what comes after, not me."
In an interview with French website Jeune Afrique published on Monday, Brahimi had said Assad could contribute to the transition to a "new" Syria but not as the country's leader.
Brahimi had angered the regime during his last visit to Syria in December when he called on Assad to hand over power to a transitional government.