By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
In late March, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan persuaded Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to agree to a sensible plan to stop the killing in Syria and start a process of genuine dialogue. Unfortunately, that plans seems highly unlikely to succeed.
That is because the Syrian regime is not fundamentally interested in dialogue with the political opposition. It seeks instead to brutally eradicate that opposition.
Unfortunately, such a strategy can be effective if a government is fully willing to be as brutal as Bashar al-Assad has been.
In this context, it is not clear to me that a plan like Kofi Annan’s could work unless it had some muscle behind it. But there is a limit to what people on the outside can do for Syria. Syria is not Libya, where the opposition was able to gain geographic control of certain parts of the country, including the key city of Benghazi. Libya had an east-west division that allowed the opposition to coalesce and then retrieve supplies through Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
None of these factors apply in Syria. The Syrian opposition has not been able to create a geographic stronghold and it is therefore difficult to supply that opposition. In this context, it’s hard to see where the muscle needed to force dialogue could come from.
Russia, which has great influence on Syria, is unlikely to put any kind of real pressure on the country. Russia seems to view Syria as its last ally in the Middle East. During the Cold War, Russia had an array of allies in the region. The Middle East was divided between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, that alliance structure broke down. Most of the Soviet allies left the Russian sphere of influence. The Russians are left with Syria, and they are very reluctant to give it up.
America does not have much leverage on the Syrian government via coercion or anything else. So without Russian pressure, it’s difficult to see how Kofi Annan’s diplomacy could work.
Annan’s plan is well intentioned. Annan himself is a very intelligent man. But ultimately you cannot have this kind of diplomacy work without a credible threat of force. And I don’t see a credible threat of force.
I think the reality therefore in Syria is that you’re going to have a low-grade insurgency. The government probably won’t be able to crush the opposition entirely. But it seems highly unlikely that the insurgency will be able to gain much ground.
The one fact that might change this dynamic is that Syria is not an oil-rich country like Iran. Syria does not have vast amounts of money pouring into its coffers every year. It is being supported by Russia and Iran. We don’t know the extent of that support, but it’s quite conceivable that the Syrian government is going to run out of money eventually.
Money is what has allowed Bashar al-Assad to keep the Syrian army and the intelligence apparatus on his side. It has also helped him keep a core element of the Sunni elite from turning against him. If the money flow to Syria slows to a trickle, you might begin to see defections from many of these key groups. This would be a sign that the rats are leaving the sinking ship.
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It's time to take out, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has become, one of the most disliked (hated) people in the middle-east or the world. Why.., his beautiful and intelligent wife, hasn't told him to stop the killing, is beyond me. She is twice as smart as he is and as for looks..., nothing more needs to be said. It's time to take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his cronies.. Mike in Montana
...she is just as bad as he is, her comments and lack of concern for anything going on illustrates her complicitness in this whole situation.
It's unclear whether Asma al-Assad really loves her husband or the idea of being Syria's first lady. If the content of those emails disclosed by The Guardian were genuine, then she's totally out of touch with reality. Last year she did her shopping on line. She indulges herself with luxuary designer clothes and shoes.
Nevertheless tight sanctions against Syria and the efforts of the opposition to win the hearts of Assad's supporters are the only way to topple the regime. Moreover the opposition and the other Arab states could ingratiate themselves with Russia. If Moscow feels flattered, it might turn its back on Assad.
i I agree with u 100%
what is so sad that she is from the city of Homs which was hit the most ... while she was shopping on line for her $ 7000 shoes, her very own people were getting killed in cold blood by this brutal regime...the children of her own city were dying hungry and cold...... unbelievable how money and power could turn people heartless and cruel .....
She is NOT a Syrian. She's from the UK. So she probably hasn't got the same empathy for the people. And being married to a Syrian, she's probably been told to butt out – big time. And how do you people KNOW she hasn't said anything to her husband?
america is broke ask saudi to pay and invade syria
The uninformed posts here with their bubblegum drivel are noting less than hysterical! The sheeple have been thoroughly brainwashed by the warmongers in Hell Aviv and Washington.
complicity
I’m pretty much OK with a cruise missile with Assad’s name on it. Or a chopper full of buff commandos re-enacting “Call of Duty – Seals out of Water 2”.
I like your style Keybanker! Only the US has the power to get rid of criminal dictators. And trust me, this beady eyed pencil neck psychopath is also a proven wimp, so it won't take long. Finally the benefit for the US is not only saving humanity in Syria but also avenging the 241 marines killed in Lebanon on the hands of Hezbollahand (without the support of the Syrian regime this gang can't exist), isolating Iran (Without their agent regime in Syria, Iran has no powebase in Lebanon and the region) and re establishing power in Iraq.
All the arm chair militants can reflect on how grand and 'low cost' the US plan was against 'the other Baathist regime' (Iraq). Those cruise missles worked great against Bin Laden back in the '90's eh?
Assad learned well from Dad (even better eyebrows), but the fact is Damascus supports the young 'coot' so... OK – go on, American needs to nuke here, there, and everywhere... and chastise the world about the dangers of NK and Iran...
I think someone needs to go back to their video games and pop tarts and leave the real world challenges to adults. lol... hysterical! You're watching too many Hollywood movies and playing doom too much! kids!
And on their way I would love if they take out the Saudi king and his royal family as well.
Not to be rude, but it is not the business of America, nor should it be despite that we do it, to go around toppling dictators in the name of freedom and our values. Don't send in troops, stop fighting the wars of others in some odd policy of world dominance. If the people of a nation want new government, they will have to do it from within. I, for one, am tired of sending our people in and risking our lives and blood just to make some sort of "hooah" freedom rally.
Mike, there is no good choice here. Take him out and you know who will run Syria? The ones dancing in the streets on 911.
There is no good option here. If the CIA was as powerful as the middle easterner's think, there would be a 3rd alternative.
Assad has been the link between Iran, Hizbollah and other terrorist organizations.
This is the golden opportunity to topple this ruthless terrorist regime of Assad and shrink the influence of Iran and Hizbollah. The conditions could not be better.
Shame on us if we don't take this opportunity and help the Syrians in their quest for freedom.
The number of trolls hired by Assad to comment on CNN boards increase whenever his thugs commit more crimes, the good thing is that their stupidity is beyond mind boggling
Just shut up,please shut up,I beg you to shut up. Syrians did not dance on the streets after 9/11.I am a Syrian and I have no problem with the US or with any other nation on this planet,people like you who make false claims and manufacture truth
are the source of most problems in this world.
Moussa,
Then that would be a first. When we step in to help countries like Kuwait and Bosnia from atrocities, we're labeled as infidels, invaders, and oil thieving. When we do nothing, we're also condemned as uncaring.
Can you tell me which negative connotation you would like to use for the US today? The invader or the uncaring?
Trust me, you don't want our help. You'd just be shooting our soldiers in the back 6 months later anyway.
And I would imagine that part of the reason we don't want to get involved is that when we were in Iraq, we lost many US soldiers lives due to the supplies and foreign fighters streaming from the Syrian border. Google it. Don't pretend I'm making stuff up.
As a whole, your people chose your side already. And it cost many of our brave men and women. Good luck.
This is ignorance at its most Fred, I am too an American Syrian and I hate the people behind 9/11 as mush as you do. And by the way, 18 out of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, none was Syrian, and still Saudi Arabia, where people get executed by decapitation and women would get hit if they drive cars, is our best ally. Go figure!
Don't rule our the probability that both Bashar and his wife are trapped by the situation. He does not rule alone. There are thousands of powerful people in Syria who have much to lose if he negotiates to reach a compromise with the opposition. If he really tries (or tried....it's too late now) to put reforms into place, its likely that his life wouldn't be worth a plug nickel, and that another Alawite strongman would kill him and take his place in order to keep the wealth and power in the hands of the current Plutocracy.
Not that any of this an excuse. Trapped or not, he should still be shot for what he's doing.
Sid
He is not 'trapped' and he is guilty up his neck, go read his emails. This dude does not have the IQ or modesty to see the world around him. He will face an ugly ending like those before him despite zakaria's poor predictions/analysis.
Americans have fought and died for freedom throughout our history. Let the Syrians do the same. If Iranians, Afghans or any muslim country truly want freedom from dictators and mullahs, let them unite and fight. US stay out of it!
my point was that, why not Russia and Iran stay away from funding the government of Syria, as this article says, and the US stays away from funding the oppositionists ...let themselves decide the future of their own country...and this refers not only to Syria...so this comment of Dawg1954 was indeed to the point...
Even the 'Americans' had the french to support them against the english. It is our duty as the world's super power to stand by freedom with all means possible. There is ALOT we can do for the revolution in Syria without losing one american soul. We could also get funded by the gulf states for any military operation. We must exercise leadership and show Russia that evil will nto prevail.
Tom is right.Obama is supposedly the leader of the FREE world,and what has he done to help the Syrians win their freedom? Nothing.
i quite agree with Dawg1954...America is no longer the Super-Power because they are on a mission to help and pay as well. why can't they (USA)at least GET PAID for their help? ...Billions of $$ in Afghanistan, America is getting poor and the $$ are being hauled away somewhere in suitcases...America helps them build and all they know is how to destroy. let them PAY and they can destroy their own muslim country.They come and destroy the biggest structure on 9/11, they use means of transportation to destroy our lives (planes, subways, they are now hacking into accounts and private information)...i say keep the soldiers in America, and fortify the American borders, and the hell with what Iraq, Iran, Syria and others do on their own soil !!!!!!!!
How can one talk so casually about "taking out" world leaders is what I'm more worried about. This is just such insanely irresponsible policy. We've created a landscape of instibilty from Pakistan to Algeria. Who knows what will happen with the 500 Million people living in these failed-states we've nurtured into existence with Iran and Saudi Arabia the only two left standing. Sounds like a recipe for success to me
The problem is not leaving a country after helping them when asked to do so, and not immediately encouraging the rule of law. Both or one applicable to Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. Also, it is necessary to note that seeing the country as 'a free fire zone' even when helping overthrow a dictatorship is extremely counter productive. Force is sometimes necessary, but the least amount of force necessary to get the job done should be applied. This was actually done fairly well in Libya, but all went to hell when Secretary Clinton completely disregarded the rule of law and encouraged mob justice on Khadaffi. He deserved it no doubt, but the rule of law is for the benefit of all going forward and the result of that is now clear to see in Libya.
Zakaria – 6 months ago, you predicted that Assad would be gone just about now. Not happening. In fact most of your predictions accross the range of topics have not come to pass. I have no idea why CNN keeps allowing your shallow journalism covering every topic appear on its daily headlines. You have not earned it.
And you can cover these topics better?
right, because predicting what's going to happen in the middle east is easy. it's the most volatile region in the world subject to countless influence from around the world.
asma assad is beautiful because she drinks the blood of freshly killed rebel infants......when that runs out, she turns into a toothless bearded hag
Life is NOT a movie. If you've got nothing sensible to say, best keep quiet, eh?
ha ha ha ha that was a good one bro
That is very much the truth about her and her so-called husband.
@mttrailboss I agree!!! But we should arm the Free Syrian Army instead of attacking Assad directly... Arm the Free Syrian Army with weapons more powerful than the ones that Assad has...
What we need to do is figure out some other leader that Russia and China can tolerate, and offer to pay Russia and China for any business interruption should some of their contracts become canceled or worthless. With that settled, put a few Tomahawks into the presidential palace and be done with it, and install the new leader and get back to other business.
I'm pretty surprised Russia favors a guy who is known to support fundamental Islamists and terrorist groups. You'd think the last thing they'd want after Beslan was a group of well-armed fundie Islamic terrorists.
Money does not talk, it swears.
Bob Dylan
zakaria the terrorist wants to help islamists take over their government.............why am i not suprised!
I think we often make the error of thinking that "the problem" is one guy, take him out, no problem. The problem is the army/police and other people, lots of them, willing and able to act on the one guy's policies. No one guy is holding a whole country hostage to his violence, he needs a lot of help and willing compliance. If it weren't for millions supporting him, Hitler would have been another guy downtown yelling at the lamp posts.
ASSAD= DEAD MAN WALKING
yeah me and you will take him out
tell saudi to invade syra and pay for the war not usa
ASK SAUDI TO PAY AND USE THEM TO INVADE SYRIA. AMERICA IS BROKE BEING POLICEMAM SAYS THE 99 PER CENT OF AMERICANS
It is time for usa to butt out and ask saudi to pay for invasion
OK, if it's "time to take out Assad," you can fly right to it, as our armed forces are already busy. I'll hold your coat for you.
Get you gun or rifle and a lot of money from Saudi Arabia and Qatar and go to Syria to get Al Assad yourself.
Do not expect the US taxpayer and the US Army to fight your war.
the most hated in the world are america and israel.
SHOOT HIM.
Bashir al-Assad 's wife looks to be a 22nd centruy repeat of the Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano Lopez's wife, who bought chandeliers and jewels. This was during the Guerra de la Triple Alianza, when Argentina and Brazil attacked Paraguay and Uruguay was ordered to join in or lose independent status. The Paraguayan army had next to no bullets, no artillery shells, no shoes and little food. They conitnued to import luxuries instead of necesities.
This English money grubbing tart appears to be just another sell-your-soul-for-your-greed type person.
Nick you are Richter about Uruguay Boeing fórceps into that war, but There it ends. Paraguay had its own arms industry which is what Argentina & brazil wanted to destroy
Assaf is keen on killing the opposition, the key question is whether anyone is truly interested in stopping him. Regime change in Syria would be a good thing, for the whole region, as long as the whole situation dons not degenerate like it has in Lybia
Most Arab countries have a population structure where the primary loyalty is to tribe or clan, the state concept is hazy at bet in most people's minds
And BTW the ones dancing after 9/11 where the Palestinians and some Argentinians, google it, particularly Hebe Bonafini stating that the suicide attackers were like sons to her....
Nuke them.......
Ya, Nuke Them. Can i push the button please ?
That's all well and good, Mike, but then WHO or WHAT is left to run the country, be incontrol of the military and all the weapopns? The Muslim Brotherhood? I think not. There has to be a much better option and way to keep Syria from being run like Iran, with nutcases in charge.
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no one cares what american people think about bashar! the only thing that matters is what SYRIAN peopl think about Bashar! AND
sorry ...Chechnya... need more be said?
Both he and his beautiful need to start making friends with the LOWLY.Eventually thy will become like the common people. If they ignore this, then the street people will not accept them in their circle of life. It's best to do it now, while they are on the way down.Read the Bible–it's there.
Both he and his beautiful wife need to start making friends with the LOWLY.Eventually thy will become like the common people. If they ignore this, then the street people will not accept them in their circle of life. It's best to do it now, while they are on the way down.Read the Bible–it's there.
I think it's time to take her out too...both should be hanging from a telephone pole...
What would we do in the US if our government was faced with an armed insurrection? It is unclear from our media as to who the "activists" are and what they want.
Don't try to out-think this situation. It's much more basic, and easy to understand. In Syria you have an unelected government that has never really been remotely responsive to the needs of the people. At least four times it has gone after the people with the army, including one of the most brutal assaults on civilians ever seen. The government, as Iraq was, is a minority religious group that only slightly tolerates the differences of the majority of the citizens. In addition, Assad likes to think of himself as the Big Guy in the neighborhood while not really having anything to back that up. He doesn't have oil. He doesn't have anything else especially strategic. He is a left-over from the cold war (through his father) and is playing Russia because that's the only card he's got.
In short, this is a dictatorship and the people aren't happy. Sooner or later he will fall, and it won't be pretty. He could probably leave now, more or less on his own terms. If this keeps up for much longer, he won't have that option. You don't level whole sections of cities with tanks and artillery going after "armed gangs" unless you don't care about collateral damage. Obviously Assad doesn't care at all. He'd be happy to rule a complete wasteland...as long as he's still in "power."
Governments are autocratic because they have to be autocratic. You can't have democracy in a country where the opposition is just as autocratic in their goals as Assad is. The only differences between him and the insurgents is that he's amassed enough power to effectively control the country for the past 20 years and they havent. So in that sense he is the legitimate ruler of the country. Legitimacy is more about the ability to control people than it is about some do-gooder Western interpretation of human rights.
Wow disgruntled, pretty amazing worldview. By your belief system Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao Tsedung and Joseph Stalin are all examples of good governance.
Assad needs to go. When you need to kill thousands of civilians just to stay in power then something is very wrong . These protestors are not terrorist but ordinary civilians and Assad has killed them with tanks and guns. I know people who have been detained just cause they wrote anti government stuff on their facebooks.
What makes you think these are "ordinary civilians"?...our media?
It matters very little if they are 'ordinary' or not. What matters is just what the OP said. They are civilians and he's had to kill a bunch of them to stay in power. For the good of his own nation, he should step down, even if he just hands it off to his VP and cease fire. If the rebels start back up, let the UN take em out.
Yeah, and the insurgents have killed civilians in order to seize power as well so what makes them so special and so different from Assad?
You lie. You know very well that the militants are sent into Syria, recruited and armed by Saudi Arabia and other examples of democracy in Middle East. You lie shamelessly. Your "civilians" are running interrrogation and execution sqads and are being interviewed by German Der Spiegel (it is in English, so find it). The "rebels' we are supporting are terrorizing civilians - tried to prevent them from voting in Referendum, and now will do everything to prevent elections for parliament. Your fine friends in Saudi Arabia would like to see Syria become another place run by religious extermism. Today, all religions are free in Syria, women are free to live life as they choose. That will ALL be done in an instant should the "rebels" get hold of Governnment. Saudi Arabia will pay SALARY to each mercenary. Since Taliban were created in Pakistan with Saudi money, this is the biggest jobs program for unemployed, uprooted people - from Afghanistan to Libya.
With NDAA you're likely to be next with anti Leader; anti-government rants on facebook. The camps are built all over America already! Watch Jessie Ventura!
rebels in america man you crazy
To make sure he was milking the right cow, al-Faisal also said that the Gulf Counter-revolution Club (GCC), also known as Gulf Cooperation Council, wanted to get further into bed with the United States. Translation, if any was needed; the US-GCC tag team, as expressed by the weaponization of the Syrian "rebels", is meant to body slam Iran.
America prevented Saudi Arabia from arming rebels. This U.S. position against the Syrian people .
Where did you get that piece of information?
Patrick : You dont follow the news about Syria. Ask Hillary Clinton ?
ony
The Saudis now want to see stronger action against Assad, including the arming of rebels, something the United States is reluctant to do for fear of being drawn into a messy civil war.
I do not find anywhere your assertion that USA stopped KSA from "arming the rebels".
i dont think so you are a g ay kid
The Arab League consensus on Syria is not shaped by countries previously distinguished by the practice or advocacy of democracy. Rather, it largely reflects the millennium-old conflict between Shi'ite and Sunni and an attempt to reclaim Sunni dominance from a Shi'ite minority. It is also precisely why so many minority groups, such as Druzes, Kurds and Christians, are uneasy about regime change in Syria.
Henrry Kissinger .(washington post interview).
Kissinger. Kissy butt. ewww 'nuff said.
It amazing how naive we in the west are. Let these people kill each other. You people all think that these rebel elements wouldn't be doing the killing if the shoe was on the other foot. You all fail to see the truth behind all this bloodshed in the Islamic world, and its all so simple. Islam in general doesnt care about bloodshed, period. You erase on regime another more brutal one will take over. The problem lies within Islam itself and unfortunatly too many western leaders are either blind or stupid when it comes to these FACTS.
bashing a religion is not necessary unless this is your primary agenda. conflict is everywhere...
The vast majority of wars today are where Islam is majorly practiced. I'm sorry if that rubs against your multi-cultural sensitivities, but it's the truth. Why are people so anxious for the US to go to war and replace one bad regime with one that is, quite possibly for our sake, even worse? Carter did the same thing in Iran years ago and look at the place. Same thing in Afghanistan after the Russians left, looked how that one turned out. Egypt is now an Anti-western hotbed on the verge of becoming an Islamic/fanatical run state and people want to run and do the same for Syria? This little democracy experiment you liberals are running is going to come back and bite us square in the *** and anyone who doesn't see that ignores history and is blind as a bat.
Islam cannot be a religion. It is nothing more than a cult of violence and hatred.
Religion tends to be a more important factor in conflicts involving Islamic ethnoreligious groups.
Also, Islamic majority groups control governments which are disproportionally autocratic.
Either Islam is not a religion, or muslim countries are not really countries. This is what you get when you put religion above the law (we call them by their religion, instead of where they are from). Now you know how the game is wrigged, so in order to avoid an awefull crucade, let's just change this...
Donny
How would you change this?
Frank, where do you get off saying the liberals are running a "little democracy experiment?" The way I see it, the US has distanced itself as much as it can from the Syrian situation. If anyone should be accused of playing nation-builder, that is GW Bush and his bosses, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Have you forgotten Iraq, and the region-destabilizing mess and financial black hole cluster**** that has been? Talk about sticking our noses where they didn't belong. Obama has in almost every ME situation attemped to engage multilateral agreement as the best way to handle them. What you're implying is just flat not true, so knock it off.
Muslims kill muslims everyday. Islam is evil. How else can you explain it?
@ALLAMERICAN: No ALLAMERICAN, you are wrong. Religion is a main cause. Just because yoo live in "Land of the free", earth is not cylindrical.
Islam or Christianity, Hinduism are equally bad. Religion should be abolished and a non-god based rule e.g. Buddhism should take over if it is necessary to indeed keep a religion.
Patrick
Rewrite the Islam or reject it all together as a religion, if I had a say in it. Or at the very least, teachings from it must be limited and be monitored, in all of the western society. Also, start thinking of ways about who and how to punish eastern countries that neglect terror, warcrimes or use propaganda, and, apply them the second they screw up or even threaten behind our backs. These people only learn from persistance, so we need a predefined system. Also the Arab League must be held responsable, because they are not in the position to neglect the terror that is clearly benefitting them. How am I doing?
It is up to the followers of Islam to decide whether they want war, hate, martyrdom and violence; or, they love their children and are willing to work, with everybody, to make the world a better place.
Problem here in Europe is that they make love like rabbits, and they do not get mixed into other races at all. They will remain pure muslims and going to mosques to follow Mecca's orders. Sure they choose peace, now. But look at how much 'peace' they have at their core...
not without religion in the background, or funding from the Churches, in 1978 , my father was in the army battling against 'terroroist' or freedom fighters in Zimbabwe , his own Anglican church was supplying the opposotion with weapons and bullets–hard to pry on a sunday when your priest has a smirk
Throughout history RELIGION( the opiate of the uneducated masses) has been used successfully to motivate people to subjugate and kill one another for the alternate purpose of A POWER HUNGRY ELITE "MAN" AND HIS CHRONIES TO DOMINATE THE WEALTH OF AN AREA OF THE WORLD. The ASSAD MAFIA CLAN are really atheists, believing only in maintaining their own corrupt lifestyles, at the expense of the stupid masses who allow them to stay in power. This is the story of HUMAN HISTORY and NOT any specific religious clan.
A VIOLENT OVERTHROW, IS THE ONLY SOLUTION IN THESE SITUATIONS, and despite of all the sanitized diplomacy and irrelevant excuses why outsiders should not interfere, THIS SITUATION WILL COME TO A VIOLENT END, with the elimination and brutal death of many of ASSAD's chronies. You can't put this cat bag in the bag. The RUSSIANS better make friends with the OPPOSITION soon , if they want to be on the right side of history. But than again they have always chosen the wrong path just like the Syrian Assad Mafia, they have the Putin-Medvedev Mafia.
well said Peter thank u
Humanity was into mayhem, subjugation, murder... long before religion.
Agree. Political correctness will be our undoing. To publicly face the fact that Islam is a threat to world peace is to provoke much turmoil and anxiety. I think our leaders are aware but don't know what to do.
i `your hate towards Islam should not blind u about the truth.. the Syrian people and I am one of them wants an end to the most brutal regime in the 21 century.. the whole revolution started because of the torture of the little children of Daraa which is one of the cities .. please educate yourself.. the power of people to be free will topple that regime no matter how long it takes... we will be free.. this revolution has no religion ..it is about dignity and humanity..
You told it as it is. Thank you.
Regional leaders are not doing enough. This is a regional issue, Why not create a peace keeping regional force and dispatch to syria, I am sure they can deal with this evil man in many ways if they want.
Anyhow, the Arabs do not want to pay the bills.
The make "Fence sitting" an art form.
Be a lot more brutal if the US and NATO go to work in Syria. 10,000 dead in 6 months would be a days body count.
@ALLAMERICAN is wrong. Islam is not simply a religion it is an ideology and a way of life and death. The western liberal mind fails to understand Islam becaues it uses other religions as a reference and ends up in a complete failure of thinking.
Any religion that allows murder and lying is difficult for anyone to accept, if, of course, they are in their right mind.
Assad is a war-criminal. Kofi Annan has no business negotiating with him.
Kofi Annan has been conned by Bashar. Its better for him to go back to Africa to try to resolve mali n other african conflicts. He failed. period
When one listens to Annan's absurd demand that no one in the opposition "seriously consider using violence" discussed earlier in this space, it's difficult to avoid considering the analogy of Neville Chamberlain's spineless and feckless attempts to appease Hitler.
he's never resolved anything for anyone , take a look at Africa and see how well he looked after them during his tenure-why the world listens to this old fart I do not know.
Send special forces to Assad to kill him as happened to Osama bin Laden .Tens of thousands of innocent people were killed, boarded, tortured, displaced to neighboring countries in order to keep one person in power! This is not reasonable.
Agreed. There is no other way to resolve the syrian conflict but to take out Bashar. How can Kofi Annan be so naive. Bashar is a lunatic. He thinks he is the good guy even after murdering some 10,000 people and he thinks he is doing a favour to the syrian people, UN and annan by having a ceasefire by asking all to lay down arms and giving guarantees
Although that would be the most feasible thing to do, unfortunately a long time ago, law was made to prevent the U.S. from "assasinating" world leaders. Of course it could possibly go on indirectly and discreetly, and we would never know about it, but your current President is probably too much of a "dudley do-right"
...."But ultimately you cannot have this kind of diplomacy work without a credible threat of force. And I don’t see a credible threat of force."
Finally; a voice of cold, hard reality. Pity it appears so rarely in the mainstream media.
Thank You
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This is not a rocket science; everyone knows that ASSad will not come to dialogue as long as he believes that he has stronger military position on the ground. Once he sees that the rebels of FSA are strong to topple his dictatorship he will come running and beginning for a ceasefire. The only solution is to arm the FSA to a standstill situation where both parties are forced to come to the negotiating table.
Beg to differ. Its beyond negotiation. Its either Bashar surrenders which he will not OR the UN/FSA/Arab League will have to take Bashar out to end the conflict. If not, a massive massacre will b committed if prolonged if not already committed
They are going to kill him. It's as simple as that. When and how are the only two questions now. He should step down before it gets any uglier and save his family by running back to England. He made the wrong friends with Iran and that has cost him dearly.
The same thing would happen to the citizens of the United States if they tried to overthrow our government so Syria should be no different. If they cannot behave then they deserve such fate.
Respected, Mr. Fareed Zakaria Garu, When i read your thesis, my self one question was raised that, mr. Kofi Annan Garu, here work doing on behalf on U N O or U S. Pleaqse conform me. Mr. Bashar Al-Assad Garu is a Democratic ad innocent. But infront of U S he is a Offender. So please do the needful and co-operate to stabiliseing Govt.
Innocent does not go around killing women n children using snipers n destroy homes by indisdriminate bombing intentional. what a weird sense of logic n rational. this is the work of a lunatic n mass murderer
Dear Jimmy Lim Garu, Assad Govt. doing very well in this crises, When rebels using Weapons then Govt. will take ceasefire action, So entire fault from Rebels and Rebels inconnection with U S. U S need more OIL.
What is this "Garu" thingy eh?
Dear Ali Asgar Garu, GARU means respect to Respected persons.
everyone knows that assad is innocent and that everything is the fault of the USA!
Obama said on the anniversary of Rowanda ,we will not allow what happend in Rowanda to happen again and what is happening in Syria sort of similar but on bit smaller scale.If the US do not put an end to the criminal Bashar and his bandits you will see another Rowanda in Syria ,this is typical hypocrisy of the US. We syrian know that the key of solving this atrocities is in Israel ,they are not allowing to change bashar in syria because he was agood boy for 40 years and was not any bother for Israel.After one year of every minute killing is taking place ,I think enough is enough do not you have any humanity left in you.Until when you are going to allow Israel to control your life you americans
free syria, you are silly is the best I can say. The issues in Rwanda and Syria are NOTHING alike. The US is NOT hypocritical to deal with them differently. And Israel, which bugs me immensely, is in no way responsible for the internal politics of Syria.
Hello, pls understand that US is in a very difficult n delicate position. US cannot go round n police the world n cannot simply interfere in other countries domestic affairs unless its George Bush. Damn if u do n damn if u dont. pls leave Israel out of this conflict. This is a conflict amongst syrians and has to be resolved by syrians. maybe assisted by UN n Arab League. Pls blame syrians n NOT US or Israel
The American people don't want any part of this mess. They want the troops to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, not get involved in yet another Muslim based country. Fight it out yourselves if you won't listen to the UN.
You are a Syrian just as myself.
Having no religious faith, I must be nuts to comment on the Sunni-Shiite split. I will anyway. If I DID believe a supreme being made any sense, my relationship with that being would be direct. No mere other human being would ever be able to come between that supreme being and my own heart, to tell me that THEY had better understanding than I do of what the god expects from ME. So to imagine that a god would tie itself to the fortunes of a given human clan or lineage, for untold generations, that's just stupidity to an even more extreme level. Therefore Sunnis 100%, Shiites zero.
Mr. Zakaria, here's my hope that you soon will present a careful assessment of the various elements in Syria, and exactly how many of the citizens there want an armed struggle to take down Assad and the ruling class. Give a clear picture of the various insurgent groups and then of the Alawite minority ruling class( a Shia offshoot) , the merchant class, the Christian groups, the other minority groups, the big Sunni groups, etc. Could we have an honest assessment of how many Syrians really want the present ruling class to be eliminated and give clarity on who would then form the government? Give facts on who is funding and arming the insurgents with what projected benefits for themselves. We only have to look at Iraq to see the terrible consequences to thousands and thousands of innocent people dead there and the continuing violence after the previous Western attacks and elimination of Baath-Sunni ruling class. The insurgents in Syria are not a united group nor democratic. All this loose talk of going into a country, removing the government, with no viable after thoughts and realistic plans seems a repeat of US love affair of using military actions in troubled and complicated countries without a grasp of the history and political and social aspects in the country. Disasters result. Remember the Sunni and Shia struggles over the centuries, and how needed is a protection – truce of both factions in each ME country.
He works for CNN. You want him to get fired? Mr. Zakaria is an Indian/American of of the Kokani Muslim background which adheres to the Sahfi'i madhhab school or religious law within in the SUNNI branch of Islam.
Arabs need dictators but they need to have term limits. Russia is pretending but the Chinese have succeeded. We have succeeded as well. We're able to change governments every 2 to 4 years without any important policy changes.
Children are brought up to believe in Santa Clause, the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy which in turn prepares them to believe the lies of politicians. So here in the US we have peace (except for NRA inspired gun nuts).
A brilliant analysis which will not be heeded
In late march, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan persuaded Syrian OPPOSITION to agree to a sensible plan to stop the killing in Syria and start a process of genuine dialogue. Unfortunately, that plans seems highly unlikely to succeed.
That is because the Syrian OPPOSITION is not fundamentally interested in dialogue with the GOVERNMENT. It seeks instead to brutally eradicate this GOVERNMENT.
I guess you are getting your views from Syrian TV
I guess you are getting your views from CNN
Qatar controlled Al-Jazeera
Assad and his cronies need to be held accountable for crimes against humanity irrespective of how long it takes to bring them to justice. Russia and China's support of this regime is also indefensible and pathetic.
I did not make this statement.
Whomever is using my moniker–STOP.
It is not Assad who is "keen on violence" . It is "west" who organize, fund armed uprizing, provide weapons and equipment to armed bandits with goal to undermine Iran in region.
If not that financing of foreign paid mercenaries – there would be no blood spilled in Syria. So – as usually, hands of "west" are source of bloodshed. Nothing new.
Yet another Syrian TV viewer.......
I do not listen to Syria TV, moreover, I can not do that. And I am not Syrian.
Anyone with brains may check – who, how whern and why funded this military revolt at Syria.
Yes, I understand you have not brains, CNN with its propaganda is your brains....
We know that Israel wants to keep Assad in power even if he killed millions of innocent people. You Should be ashamed of yourselves .
"Israel wants to keep Assad in power"?????????????
Where oh where did you get this info (out of your hiney?)
"we know"? What "we know" is that you are looking for reasons to slander Israel even though it has so little to do with Assad killing his own people.
If so excellent. Assad can retire to France.
This is all tiresome !!! True it is not Libya , but how can a president proclaim that while there are atrocities being commited by a country against its people America can not stand idly by and allow it to happen ? To believe that with such commitment as to bypass congress with loop holes to particapate in the libyian conflict ... Yet now stand idly by and not help the people of Syria ??? The presidents argument at the time was there were going to be mass casualties . So there has already been more casulties in Syria than there was in Libya at the time of invasion. Just a hard reminder our president is a liar and speaks not with truth but convenience. Libya had no air power ... Take out syrias air power and it will not matter where the supplies are dropped and picked up at . Bottom line all the grand standing our president did over Libya was show . Just another factual example of how our presidents foreign policy is flip flop along with his whole presidency . A man without true convictions or beliefs is a shell and can never be great so how can we expect that kind of person to lead this nation to greatness .
Moron!
America needs not to involve ourselves in another war in a Muslim land. Muslims hate us because of our every infringement.
Lets begin offshore Drilling in Alaska, California and Florida!
It's not a matter of what's on the left or right, but it's what's "right". We import so much oil.
Like a drug.
This is just American and western propaganda. Leave Syria alone. That is stupid for ordinary Americans to agree for their taxpayer's money and govt funds to support Islamic radicals trying to topple a conservative Islamic govt. You unknowingly did the same thing in the 1980's, spending $5B arming foreign Mujahidin fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and loof where that got you – 9/11 and global terrorism. You never learnt your lessons and you still believe propaganda who love to demonize leaders who are not your enemies just so that your govt funds can be used to benefit the MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-POLITICAL COMPLEX. You are accessories to criminal behavior and kill thousands of innocent people all over the world because of your ignorance and greed.
Thousands of innocent people are killed for various reasons under Islam . If indeed Syria poses no threat or strategic benefit for America then we should allow what has happened for centuries going from the ottoman empire and further back which is Arabic Muslim nations and factions to fight amongst themselves, for no matter how good intentions are corruption and greed taint new and old leaders. It is sad peace will come at a great price to the middle east if ever at all.
The world wont leave Syria alone while its government is massacring it citizens – this is the core of the criminal behaviour happening in Syria today. Assad and the Syrian regime need to be brought to international justice at some point. This despite what you and the Syrian regime apologists may hope or think. The Syrian regime is finished, its just a matter of time.
We should, in general, leave other countries alone. However, one of the principles on which the US is founded is that when a people becomes dissatisfied with their government, they have the right to alter or abolish it. In the case where it only takes a single drone strike, I might be in favor of helping them out. Unfortunately, it might just make things worse.
At least we cannot say that all the people of Syria support the policies of Assad's government. In many of the Arabic and Islamic countries, where there is no serious civil warfare or opposition (such as Iran), we can safely say that the entire country is at fault for their policies, and send more than a single drone when the time comes.
In these tribal peoples ruled by religious leaders under a religion that conflates politics and religion, civil warfare is the norm. Finally we are seeing it full-blown in Syria, where all Assad needs to do is change the shape of his mustache a little bit. Islam must reform or be destroyed.
Zakaria needs to mind his own business and go back to India instead of meddling in other countries. If he is opposed to what is happening let then why doesn't he himself go over and try and change it instead of getting the United States involved in another countries dispute.
Fareed in an American citizen.
that doesnt really change Adam's statement.
I'm sure we are not talking about religion but about people being killed for voicing their concerns. You might be right to feel that your leaders are stupid. But I do not think they are. They (your leaders) brought democracy to the rest of the world and I see nothing wrong in their standing up for its ideals or helping other countries shape it.
I think what matters now is what the world can do to stop bloodshed in Syria.
The U.S opposes arming FSA by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This means that America supports Bashar al-Assad "secret." Everything became clear. American hypocrisy has become very clear. In short, "America against the Syrian people" .
and you support giving arms to the FSA because why?... you love watching syrians kill syrians? You know that if they were armed, the USA would be blamed for any additional violence caused by "using US weapons". Damned if we do, Damned if dont... You know this, Troll. Lay off the USA, we are doing the best we can.
The only way to get rid of this guy is if Turkey, with one of the strongest armies in the world, moves in. No other way.
Way to state the obvious Zakaria
Fareed is a little globalist minion. Every time i see his face i want to throw up because he is such a lackey, He isnt capable of critical analysis, hes just a lap dog, pimping garbage from his higher up pals. Screw you Zakaria this isnt the 1950's anymore people are waking up. You are PATHETIC.
I have no respect for Assad...however......... it was a reasonable demand to ask for a signed agreement on a ceasfire and also to demand that there would be a stop to funding from foreign governments. This was rejected by the rebels which I think was a fatal flaw. They have now declared, and chosen.... all out war and the no government would put up with that.
By the way....... no one has beenmore brutal when it comes to putting down a group of people who do not agree with the government...than America. I think of the brutal and murderous sanctions that America enforced on the Iraqi people. According to a 2002 UNICEF repoort, sevral hundred thousand Iraqi children died as a direct result of those sanctions. So no one has proven to be more brutal that the Americans when it comes to killing innocent people. If you don;t buy that arguement..then look at what they did to the people of Falluja in Iraq........ it was a masacre.
This does not mean that what Assad is doing is right His government needs to be held accountable.
But so does everyone else........including the west.
When we ignore international law ....how can we expect anyone else to stick to it?
There's only one person who can straighten this mess out. Look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a moron! It's Super Sarah!
Fareed Zakaria = gov. mouthpiece... nuff said. Syria Won Already !
Are you sure Mr. Zakaria that you are follwing up what is taking place in Syria in a vissionary well informed way? who is killing who?how relegious groups are being treated by armed groups ? who rejected the priciple of dialogue ?Are you really aware of the fate of the Libyan rvol.??!! which democratic countries helped achieving that situation.Credibilty has always been part of honesty<and honesty needs genuin Knowledge.
Instead of making debatable comments and trying to throw mud at Fareed, are YOU able to answer all your questions so that the answers are valid, reliable and verifiable?
Fareed, this is the best journalism you can come up with? Do you really think Al Assad AGREED to a peace plan? Come on......Kofi is a stooge as well.
Bisho is a vampire, he kills anyone who disagree with him. Don't be fooled with his ceasfire game, if he can kill everyone who is against him and get away with it, he will do it today before tomorrow. And everyone keeps worrying about the muslim brotherhood, you seem to forget that his allies hisbullah and iran are the biggest terror producers in the world. I will bet my whole paycheck that all the bombing in iraq against the US army were inflicted by him and iran to make america look weak and push us out of there and they succeeded. Sunnis are no threat to the US, most of them are educated and have some sort of western influence, however shiaa is a whole different story, They tend to be poor, uneducated and brainwashed that the west is corrupt and evil. I am not saying we should deploy our troops there but we should make it rain few bombs on his palaces and all baath party headquarters and show them who is boss. But i doubt anything will happen since Obama is trying to win his second term and he don't want anything that will hinder that goal.
Jacques Zohair Imadi
Ending Islamist Wahhabi, Salafi offensive and violance on Syria, and in the world , would requier the use of strong will and a strong hand for the good of not only Syria but may be also for the goods of all the world who needs not only more democracy but also additional enlightment rather than a support of some gulf countries culture of wahabi, Salafis violance and darkness!.
I wonder if Farheed writes the CNN headline, too. "Assad not keen on dialogue" is the understatement of the day. This whole article is an exercise in stating the blindingly obvious.
The solution to Assad is as follows:
1. Give him 72 hours to stop killing his people
2. If he does not stop in 72 hours, send one missile to his Presidential Palace. The palace sits in the hills and can be viewed from Damascus. It is currently not occupied and is more "symbollic."
3. Bombing the Palace will send a clear warning to Assad that his policies are not working. If he doesn't take heed from the Palace bombing, then bomb his other infrastructure and eventually fully arm the opposition.
After the initial palace bombing, he will see the world is not BSing with him and will hopefully seek asylum in other countries.
The FSA (Free Syrian Army) can overthrow Assad and his clan if they get the proper weapons from Saudi, etc. Saad Hariri should fund the opposition as well, since he is a billionaire and the Syrian Govt killed his dad.
the moment a "foreign power" sends that missile in, you can bet that Assad would have a hay day with the propaganda value. All it would do is strengthen his popular support. We have seen this happen over and over as we stick our nose in mid east affairs. And of course, we would get blamed too! Let them fight eachother until they finally get sick of it. This is the only way.
I thought there was nothing but good times ahead now in Syria being the 'pope' gave instruction to end the violence. I wonder if Al-Assad really cares what the 'pope' might desire or might command.
assad doesnt care what anyone thinks. The value of the Pope's statement is that at least we know that Christians care. Compare his statements to the Ayatolla's...
After ABC put out an edited version of an interview that was not biased.. After rebels hack he and his wife's email account to publish "headlines" because he downloaded a lady Gaga song, and had pics of a partially nude woman I wouldn't be forthcoming with anymore voluntary dialogue either.
What is this guy thinking? The UN and the international community actually gave this guy an opportunity to get out of this situation alive. If Assad follows Annan's plan, he could withdraw his forces, allow for an election, and slip into retirement. Instead, it looks like he is determined to get hauled into the ICC, or meet the same fate as Gaddafi. How does an insane idiot like that end up running a country?
he aint no idiot. He knows his people and he knows his culture. And most important, he knows the West... very well.
Still waiting for an accurate analysis from Zak! Not holding my breath...
what assad is interested in is reagansque enforceable agreement : trust but verify.
clearly, the man is smart; he does not want to be thrown to the wolves like gaddafi was.
America, has no credibility as long as they are not getting rid of their bloody dictators in Kiwuit, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yeman and Qatar. Oh right those are the ones paying for this rebellion while killing their own citizens at home.
Question. The media uses terms such as 'brutality', 'slaughter' in the context of Syria. But if one takes the frequently cited UN number of civilian casualties ( quite possibly overblown as it is based on opposition claims – and they have an interest in inflating it ) it comes out as ~ 0.05% relative to Syrian population. In the case of Iraq war, this figure was ~ 1%, if not higher. Since suffering is generally proportional to fractional civilian casualties that would have made Iraq hell on earth and certainly a great slaughter relatively speaking for civilians. Yet this was never conveyed to us by many of the same journalists. Why? Is it perhaps because there is not a common measure of suffering, or is it just because journalists prefer to be fashionable.
Smart man. Look at the numbers in Libya and it's even worse considering the shorter time span.
In your world there does not seem to be a difference between the "overblown" 100 killed and the 98 or 78 or even 58.
Could you define your take on "fashionable"?
I am not advocating the argument that any civilians killed is acceptable, but I am questioning the nature of the presentation relative to past/or other events and the motive therefor ( and there are quite a few examples – not just the one I selected ). The discrepancy between the presentation natures suggests that when we ( or our allies ) are killing civilians, that is fine and not very important – however when a state we do not like kills civilians that is horrendous. If journalists actually practiced as journalists the commonality of reportage would be obvious. Since it is not, what is the motive? Another case in point, during the Iraq war Fallujah was surrounded, bombed and shelled by US forces. Estimates place the number of civilians killed at ~ 6000 in that engagement alone. How many journalists reported from inside Fallujah? None as I recall. So, fashion, convenience, self advancement, ease of access and not too dangerous – perhaps. Consistent principle? Does not look like it.
Bob
The so-called term “collateral damage” denotes the accidental murder of innocents. No matter what the nationality of the innocent, murder is murder and it should be appalling to anyone.
However, accuracy in ME reporting is difficult due, in part, to the propaganda techniques used by Muslims such as Misinformation, Card stacking, Simplification et al. that have warped the flow of information in a multiple of situations.
For example, Anti-Israel ideologue Robert Fisk, who is also a columnist for The Independent, has long been accused by media critics of unethical and reporting lies. But now it is his former colleagues who are finally willing to expose Fisk for fabricating his facts, after he turned on them in one of his typical anti-Israel rants. Sadly enough, this type of exposure, which would be a career killer for most journalists, will probably do nothing to cool the ardor of his biggest fans that depend on Fisk's dishonest anti-Israel rants to "legitimize" their own.
The comments of the author is skewed
Every thing is wrong with ASSAD alone
Nothing is wrong with the US destabilizing all the unfriendly govts in the middle East
The opposition that has taken arms against the State is not wrong.
I do not understand why the Western media continue to believe that every body is a moron
Has any Western leader asked the opposition to lay down arms??
Shame on CNN
So your statement is that alllllllllllll the problems in the ME is due to America's meddling, and, furthermore, allllllllllll the media is in cahoots–and yet, it is still a secret!
Do you have anything valid, reliable and verifiable for this statement?
What he is telling you, had you listened, is that it's NOT a secret. Those who read mainstream media think it is
Bezboy
I have no idea how such a secret could be kept by so many!
Humanity does not keep secrets well.
You don't seem to be interested in researching it yourself. Fine. Go ask a Syrian friend of yours who has family in Syria. He will give you some insight. And no, the U.S. is not responsible for all the problems in the Middle East.
Why won't Russia or China stop this? A few of the reasons: Tianamen Square, Chechnya, Tibet, Armenia, Falun Gong... There may be secret (or not so secret) admiration by the Russians and Chinese that Syria is taking care of business in the ways they approve.
Excellent point! China and Russia would also kill their own people if they had too. It is the way of the one-party system.
No one need to follow hindism, lies of western hindu'a, opportunist. to hind, deceive in hindu Judaism, criminal self center ism is way of western hindu's, imperialist to make humanity their gentile, slave, to deny equality to rest of humanity in defiance of truth absolute.
You are one crazy Hindu hater. At least you've found a niche.
hindu's lairs cry their heart out, hindu's deniers of truth in hinduism, denial of truth must be exposed Not just on CNN but it will be exposed on all out let's around the globe, till hindu criminal will be no more along with their hinduism, criminality for peace, Islam among humanity.
when i look around the world, I see expansionist Islam in conflict with its neighbors. The conflict with Hindus in India is no exception. You are clearly biased!
their is nothing wrong to biased to hinduism, racism, every human must condemn hinduism, racism by name. Any one in opposition to condemnation of hinduism is none but a hindu, denier of truth, not worthy of being a human.
Uh, dude, first of all, outside of India, the proportion of the population that are Hindi is vanishingly small.
Second, the ONLY two religions which have not gone around and proselytized by force are Buhhism and Hinduism. Your precious Islam, however, is about the only religion worse than oldschool Christianity when it comes to religious violence.
So basically, you are ranting nut with zero facts to support your cause, yet you wonder why we send drones over to deal with people of your mindset. Get a clue nutcase.
STRATEGY OF AL-ASSAD: Promise, Buy Time, Kill Kill Kill, Break Promise, Lie, Sabotage Process, Kill Kill Kill all the while – NOW REPEAT about 10 times before anyone really does anything about 10 broken promises and thousands dead!
الدولة الكردية
البارزاني يهدد المالكي بسحب الثقة
البارزاني حذر من أن العراق يتجه إلى "كارثة وعودة الدكتاتورية" (الأوروبية- أرشيف)
جدد رئيس إقليم كردستان العراق مسعود البارزاني هجومه على رئيس الوزراء العراقي نوري المالكي متهما إياه بالدكتاتورية، وملمحا إلى إمكانية طرح مسألة سحب الثقة من حكومته. كما هدد الزعيم الكردي أثناء زيارة للولايات المتحدة باللجوء إلى استفتاء بشأن إنشاء دولة كردية.
وقال البارزاني في تصريحات صحفية الأحد إن "العراق يتجه إلى كارثة، إلى عودة الدكتاتورية، والاستئثار بالسلطة في كل مرافق الدولة"، في إشارة إلى المالكي من دون أن يسميه. ورأى أنه يجري حاليا "تهميش الجميع، وكأنه تم إسقاط النظام الجديد في العراق على يد شخص، فيما الباقون يعيشون على مكرمات القائد الجديد".
وأعلن البارزاني -الذي يقوم حاليا بزيارة إلى الولايات المتحدة- أنه "عندما أعود إلى كردستان، سأدعو إلى اجتماع كل القادة العراقيين لدراسة الوضع بمسؤولية، وليس للمجاملة أو إيجاد حلول وقتية أو مسكنات للأزمة". وتابع "إما حلول جذرية، وإما كل واحد يعرف طريقه ويجب أن يكون اللقاء جديا وحاسما، وإذا لم يستجيبوا، فثمة حديث آخر".
وهدد رئيس إقليم كردستان العراق باللجوء إلى استفتاء بشأن إنشاء دولة كردية في حال رفض نوري المالكي حضور اجتماع عام للقيادات العراقية في أربيل لإيجاد حلول لمشاكل الإقليم مع بغداد. كما شدد على إمكانية سحب الثقة من الحكومة العراقية في بغداد.
المالكي والبارزاني دخلا في شراكة سياسية منذ انتخابات 2010 (الأوروبية-أرشيف)
رفض المالكي
وفي جوابه عن سؤال بشأن احتمال رفض المالكي حضور الاجتماع إذا تم وضع شروط، قال البارزاني "نريد اجتماعا لتفكيك الأزمة، لإصلاح الوضع، الاجتماع ليس لمجرد الاجتماع، إذا رفض المالكي حضور الاجتماع لحل المشكلة، فنحن نرفض بقاءه في الحكم".
وأوضح الزعيم الكردي أنه يجب "إما معالجة الوضع وإما مواجهة وضع لا يمكن القبول به وفيه شخص واحد يستحوذ على كل مرافق الدولة ويتصرف وفق إرادته ويهمش الآخرين ثم يبقى رئيسا للوزراء، هذا غير مقبول على الإطلاق".
من جانبه قال القيادي البارز في الحزب الديمقراطي الكردستاني علي حسين إن تصريحات البارزاني تتفق مع الدستور وليست لإثارة الرأي العام.
وأوضح "نشعر أن السيد المالكي يتصرف منفردا بعيدا عن بنود الدستور والديمقراطية، نحن ندعو إلى الالتزام بالدستور، لأن بقاءنا مع العراق مرهون بالالتزام بالدستور، وهذا ما يشير إليه الرئيس مسعود البارزاني عندما يلوح بالرجوع للشعب ليتخذ قراره، ديباجة الدستور العراقي يجعل بقاءنا مرهونا بتطبيقه".
".
إن بارزاني يعي ما يقول وإن المالكي وأصحابه الذين أتو من على الدبابات الأمريكية أصبحو طغاة ويحاولون بناء الديكتاتوريات في زمن انتهى زمن الظلم وإن البرزاني تأخر كثير على هذا الموقف وكان يتوجب منه منذ زم أن يعلن الاستفتاء على إقامة الواة الكردية فالعيش مع المالكي واعوانه كارثة لكل الأكراد وجريمة بحق الانسانية
This article has nothing to do with Iraq or Kurdistan doorknob.
bashar al kalb use waht shiia call ALTAQEYA , please read about shiia taqeya , it lie their faith allow them to lie and use lies it is good in the shiia quran
those fk syrian evil cult shiia are killers and worswe than iran, iraqi shiia send killers along with hizboallah and al dawa party and iran send cash , russia send the wepaons, evil is helping evil
To all of you Assad trolls, your stupidity is astounding and beyond mind boggling and always revealed through your moronic comments
Asma Assad and her husband they don't care about civilians. The US, NATO, Saudi Arabia and the Israelis don't care about civilians either, they consider them "Collateral Damage". I don't trust any of them. They couldn't care less about the casualties, they just want to achieve their goals. Disgusting.
Why should they? The "civilians" are going to do what the other "Arab spring" country's did and elect Islamic nutcases to power once they get rid of their dictators. The world doesn't need more of that rubbish.
equalizing NATO with Assad is just plain wrong. Its really only the nations of the West that care at all about civilians, a result of WWII. Until the middle east has its own WWII, the people there will lust for war. Until then, moral relativists like yourself will make stupid comments!
Fareed,
So what you're saying is that the NATO needs to put up or shut up. I gave a speech at an anti war gathering in college that actually got an applause from people you wouldn't guess would applause. The topic was basically: "Hey guys I know you're anti war, but what happens when someone just refuses to play nice? Not every problem is a nail, but that doesn't mean throw away the hammer."
This guy seems like a perfect example.... but we've stretched ourselves so thin we cannot be the world's hammer.
first of all for the lost ones bashar assad is not a muslim they r a branch of evil same with iran again they are not muslims ITS TIME TOO TAKE HIM OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT ENOUGH OF THIS TORTURE HE IS KILLING INNOCENTS CHILDREN WOMANNNN MENNNN ANIMALSSS EVEN THE COUNTRYYYYYY WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOIN ON HEREEEEEEEEEEE TAKE HIM OUTTTTTTTTTT
N need to be a hindu, deceptive, Call them openly what you think they are, Shiite, based not on human equality, fundamental principal of Islam, but hindu Mithra ism, savior ism, as is Christianity with same fundamentals. So is Suni ism and worst of all is Saudi Whabism, justifying hindu Pharoahnic divide of truth absolute 360* in to 2, hindu, Pharaoh the man god and hindu priest the other man god. Divide of governance in Saudi Arbia is not of Islam but based on hindu principal of trinity, None of the actors are following truth of Islam but claiming to be, what they do not live by, ISLAM.
Where is the Turkish and Arab humanitarian flotilla to Syria? Where are the activists who seem to forget everyone else’s tragedy except if their actions are directed against the US and Israel? Where are their voices? Where are their actions? Why there are not peaceful marches with thousands of Muslims in Washington, London, Paris, etc? Poor Syrians, nobody cares, the US and Israel are not involved!!!
nice point! thanks for making it. there is obviously a double standard!
Stop twisting things. There is no blockade in Syria. Gaza and Syria are not at all comparable. Gazans are living in an outdoor prison so the flotilla mission was carried out, which was not a Turkish mission, the ships were filled with people from all over Europe. The next ship was to leave from Greece but it was cancelled due to the extremely cruel response from Israel which left 9 unarmed peace activists dead, which the entire world condemned and absolutely nobody sided with Israel afterwards except the US government (not the people, the politicians who are under continuous threat of Jewish lobbies). Syria has an uprising against the government for democracy, you can't just show up with aid, who are you going to give them to? You seriously need to stop posting such utter nonsense as propaganda. Turkey is already helping as much as possible by opening its door and providing shelter and supplies to the poor people who run away. Instead of appreciating, you twist it and try to make it serve to your filthy methods. As usual, you do all the bad, Turks do good, you badmouth them. Shame on you.
How did Zakaria become the world expert? If he is so damn smart, why did he go to work for CNN?
I Prefer Salim Mansur. He is a Muslim Political Science professor in Canada. Much more engaging and actually pro-Western or realistic.
Fareed Zakaria is one of the best and most distinguished journalists in the world. I don't think you would be wise to dismiss his thoughts.
Word hindu drives from Latin word hindered, negative, Hun, great, Han to be in greatness, hin, to be negative to both of them, hindu, noun in negativity, hinduism, way of negativity , based on hindu filthy hinduism racism to deny human equality granted by truth absolute 360*, Handy work of Pharoahnic hindu's, criminals and practiced in hindered, out law land india.
Why should the West do anything? I think the Arabs need to step up and take care of their own problems. Get out of your golden gilded palaces and do your own dirty work. They want the West to act, take the blame and the casualties.
What happens after you remove one Arab killer, another takes his place, or the Muslim Brother Hood. Time to let the Muslims sort out their own messes and pay for it as well.
If one bad guy is replaced by another bad guy, we must look for the third bad guy. We claim the Sunnis are the main cause of terror, but then how do we explain muslims expanding their territory in Africa. Oh yeah, this ain't over anytime soon...
this man is wose than his father....and the world just sits by and watches............always letting russia and iran off the hook!......
All cowards prefer violence and control over dialogue or discussion. He is his father's son, isn't he?
KJMU and Collin, I couldn't agree more! Let the Saudis, Egyptians and Turks step up and sort out the mess. By the way, after Assad is ousted it won't take long for the Salafists to come out of the woodwork.
Let the Salafists come out of the woodwork. They can shoot it out with the Mehdi Army, Hezbollah, etc. Once they've softened each other up, Israel can finish the job.
Syrians are Arabs. Saudis are Arabs. Egyptians are Arabs. But...... Turks are not Arabs, they don't have any ethnic relationship to Arabs either. Also, they were backstabbed by Arabs throughout history and they don't like eachother. Why should Turks sort it out?
http://www.Hear-The-Truth.com
No spit Sherlock. Of course he won't comply with the resolution. It doesn't take a genius to figure out. The longer we go without helping the more responsible we become for atrocities that happen. We cannot allow world powers to abuse human rights like this or we might as well let it happen here at home. Oh wait. We do. But mostly only to poor people and black people so no one seems to care.
Syria fight is not about freedom and democracy. It is all about US/Saudi/Israel/UK in one side and Russia/Iran/ China in other side. Saudi is sponsoring many factions with their oil money to promote their race and their ideology. All problems in Iraq is under Saudi regime. Thier ex-prime minister was sponsor of all bombing in Iraq supported by Saudi. US in conjunction of Saudi and Israel are using same technique to create complication in Syria. . That does mean Alassad is innocent and etc. But fighthing in Syria is NOT about democracy but a race fight and stradegy set by US and Israel to divert attention and break collation between Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebonan So please stop looking at one side of coin and cover facts. Once again, Syria regime is not a democrat regime, but the again which regime is democrat in Middle east?
Syria case is a symbol of how the west view muslims and their religion. Simply the west and USA are careless about saving the syrian people from the hand of Assad family and their thugs. It is quite obvious that israel want this mafia to rule syria. The blind eye that president Obama is keeping on violation of humanity at a large scale is very clear. The USA govement is also prohibiting syrian neighbours such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan from taking any action to save the syrian people. For those who are blaming syrians and other muslims they have to know the fact that USA favor obstructing any action. Russian Army ships are in the syrian ports providing arms to kill syrians. Iran's proxy; Iraq is a path route for iranian support and fighters. Shame on all who claim that the holocast should not repeat it self and at the same time participating in the elimination of syrians.
The Russiaian army and "Security forces" killed far more people in Grozny alone let alone Chechnya than have been killed in Syria so far and nobody did a thing about it. Russia is so heavily involved in Syria, I don't expect a different outcome.
That is precisely what I don't get about Russia...why would they want to be friends with someone arming and abetting a huge Islamist terrorist organization? I would think their problems in Ingushetia, Chechnya, etc. were bad enough. Then again, the Russians do a lot of self-defeating things anymore, so who knows.
zakaria is major DB, all of his articles are non sense BS
Russia isn't necessarily married to this regime, but they've been burned by their Syrian allies before, so they'd be reluctant to support a new government without guarantees of a more solid alliance with themselves. They may decide they stand to gain more by selling out the Alawites for greater foreign relations around the region and the world. They would certainly remove Syrian support for concessions in nuclear disarmament negotiations, which they won't get, or in missile-shield talks, which they might. Then again, they might also shake with their right hand while their left hand is passing out weapons to Al-Assad. Whatever they decide, I wouldn't expect any movement from their position until after Putin takes office, and he may just wish to wait until after American elections.
Since when Mrs Kofi Annan is a vital man who has influence on world policies. It is degrading to humanity to deligate him a mission that is doomed for failure from the begining. Kofi Annan, Ban KI Moon even president Obama all are sympbols of impotent individuals who has no say on the world policies. This is a degrading time orchestrating by the western power dominiating decisions that favor their interests. Syrian poeple are now victims of world 's power conspiracy and bargins which agree on one point that we all know.
Fareed @ Can you please give us spotlight of whats happening after Egypt , Tunisia,Libya collapsed .why Media is not showing how they are doing ? .. I am not in support of Assad , he should be punished but i strongly believe that by eliminating all these guys ... all these countries will fight internally for power.. Middle East will become like Africa by creating lot of terrorist groups.. I think by providing weapons to people no body knows and attacking the Govt and after Assad removal .. where will be the accountability for weapons and peace.
I strongly believe UN should take control rather providing weapons to people who are not known.... Again after 10 years everyone should fight these guys ... it never ends.
I think OBAMA is doing good as far as syria and iran are concerned . He is diplomatic and wise man.. Killing is not the solution ...
Fareed@ whats happening to you.. Your are writing an article which everyone knows.. You are not doing justice to your skills these days >>> We admire you but there is no punch or serious analysis in your thoughts.. Sorry but its true.
None of the actors of this conflict are obeying fundamentals of Islam, Call them openly what you think they are, Shiite, based not on human equality, fundamental principal of Islam, but hindu Mithra ism, savior ism, as is Christianity with same fundamentals. So is Suni ism and worst of all is Saudi Whabism, justifying hindu Pharoahnic divide of truth absolute 360* in to 2, hindu, Pharaoh the man god and hindu priest the other man god. Divide of governance in Saudi Arbia is not of Islam but based on hindu principal of trinity, None of the actors are following truth of Islam but claiming to be, what they do not live by, ISLAM.
Word hindu drives from Latin word hindered, negative, Hun, great, Han to be in greatness, hin, to be negative to both of them, hindu, noun in negativity, hinduism, way of negativity , based on hindu filthy hinduism racism to deny human equality granted by truth absolute 360*, Handy work of Pharoahnic hindu's, criminals and practiced in hindered, out law land india.
Hindu does not come from the word hindered. Hinduism has been around for at least 5,000 years, far longer than even the earliest vestiges of the Roman empire.
Only by hidnuism, lies of hindu's, lairs, less than three thousand years old, People of sub continent were forced to convert to hinduism, racism by hindu's of Egypt and Persia to be their gentiles slaves, Word hindu ignorant has nothing to do with word, sindhu, Letter S never indicate high or low, No need to hind, lie to cover hinduism, absurdity of pot head hindu sanatans, criminal goons pretending to be man god's and followed by hindu's, ignorant s.
Fundamentals of Islam? In case you hasn't noticed, the OIC is spreading like wildfire, and in all cases it is violent. Keeping the nucleus in power will escalate this movement. Find the nucleas. Hint: Mecca.
hindu's criminals in their hindu Judaism, criminal self center ism will burn in this fire like hindu's, insects with their hinduism, secularism, have no doubt about it hindu's, criminals.
Assad does need to go but he is not the one calling the shots. Syria is still firmly under the military control created by his ruthless barbaric father.
annan signed the shoot to kill order....if assad wins this one say goodby to the middle east!.......
do people really read these posts ? how would you know?
Nobody except Israel cares about Syria because they do not have any oil. The challenge to the U.S. is to not be manipulated into intervening in a war between Israel and Syria. For the U.S., war with Syria also means war with Syria's ally...
...Iran.
Who would take control of control of Syria's government when Assad is gone? I think, not sure however, that this is why other countries have not truely intervened. I myself would like to see Syria in peace, it is a beautiful country. But, now to the debate part, they (world community) want someone to step up, yes, I know, we have seen signs, but not enough for the world to go with. Do we go in with bombs, and destroy and rebuild? That's not right. Too many conlficts around the world, way to many. I believe Assad will not go so it does require a true Syrian person to unite his or her people. Damn, this is so tough for a people to still have to go through this. I do feel for all that suffer.
Despite what you think, most Syrians are not the Salafist nutjobs you see from the Gulf countries. I've met some Syrians, pretty decent dudes mostly. So I think there would likely be plenty of good people to do the job once Assad and his criminals are out of power.
Who are the opposition to Bashar al-Assad? Should we support someone we are not even sure of? No, we should sit this one out. If the Arab League or Turkey wants to intervene, go ahead.
Exactly! Where are the Muslim brothers to help in this slaughter? Sitting high upon their thrones I suspect.
It's possible, that next week the Arab League may have an increased sensitivity to an increased concentration of gunpowder in the morning.
nah, they are downwind.
Russian's leader Putin seems to be supporting a czar-like figure Bashar Assad as he crushes his own people who have creatd a crisis by protesting the brutal power of the regime.Dimplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have been vetoed by both Russia and China at the U, N. Syria's leadership knows that that avenue to stop the carnage has been neutralized.Aside from this crisis and dimplomatic efforts in this troubled area perhaps your program could gives us a view of dimplomacy around the globe and the role it plays. Very few us realize the work that is taking place.
Their is a logical disscussion going on here on this thread unlike anything i have seen on any other discussion threads on CNN.
It is onlylogical that the Syrian government demands that the rebels and terrorists lay down their weapons at the same time as the government withdraws the army. Governments are responsible for alw and order. Since when is a ceasefire/truce single-sided yet effective?
The West just once again is pushing for a casus belli. Never mind if it results in islamists gaining power. we'll bomb them in a year or two again, just to make sure that Israel can continue to slaughter Palestinians without anyone in the region having the power to stand up for them.
Once more, the news is helping america come to the aid of radical muslim fanatics
خبر عاجل وهام جدا جدا ::::::
تقوم المخابرات العامة في دمشق بأخذ كميات من الدم الفاسد من المشافي الحكومية الى افرع السجون حيث يتم حقن المعتقل بكمية 5 سم من هذا الدم وعلى اثرها يتوفى وفاة طبيعة /يرجى النشر لجمعيات حقوق الانسان/
By: شبكة اخبار حمص العدية (عاصمة الثورة السورية)
reliable sources from my collegues syrian doctors in syria .
the intelligence services in syria are collecting spoiled blood and injecting forcefully prisioners with 5 ml of it to let them die naturally ...please share to human rights watch and all human organizations around the world ....please ..please ...please .
None of that surprises me, but I don't think that news has any relevance to the situation. It's already well known that the Assad regime is criminal. He's supported Hezbollah for decades, assassinated a pro-Western prime minister, and tried to build nukes. Bush should have kicked his tail when we invaded Iraq, we had the opportunity and blew it.
Well that's better than chopping them to pieces like some other OIC regimes would do. This is clearly a genocide, blessed by the grand mullahs.
Don't believe all of this pro-war propaganda American's. They did this same thing to us in Iraq. The media is being controlled by the war machine.
This war has the CIA and mossad written all over it.
This war do by " KGB and Russia, China and Iran .
oh pulheese. The evil CIA? That's a great answer for someone who doesn't know geopolitics well.
Bashar al-Assad must resigen for his job. He doesnt have right to kill the innocent peoples. I don't know why he listning his beautifull wife...
How quickly we blame the wife without looking at the big picture. Assad is obligated to the soul of the OIC which is Saudi. He has explained his position to him, and in Islamic custom the mullah has blessed Assad to make his desicions based on tradition.
We cannot compare the Islamic Rules of War (law) with the West. They are not based on Roman ethics and morals or the Geneva Convention. Assad is doing his duty to the Muslim world by the hand of it's ruler, which is the House of Saud.
Do you have anything to back such a connection?
We truly find your statement most interesting.
I remember well in 2005. Assad regime and Hezbollah did the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister "Rafik Hariri." After that, President George W. Bush has sent military warning to Bashar al-Assad "You must withdraw your army from Lebanon during the 30 days, if you do not, you will get a military strike." Assad's army fled Lebanon during the 14 days only! "Army coward." . If America wants to stop the massacres in Syria, President Obama should send a warning to Assad military "if they did not stop the massacres during the 3 days and withdraw your army from the cities, you will get a military strike." I'm sure that Assad will stop the massacres and applies the Annan plan for peace. About Assad "diplomacy will not succeed without the threat of force." If the president did not do, I think that America dont care in killing innocent people in Syria!
Thank You
The given information is very effective
i will keep updated with the same
industrial automation
Time to bomb syria. I mean look at how wonderful libya became; they attack British graveyards, ban women from working, and try to enact sharia law. What a wonderful country
Has anyone considered that Syria is being supported by Saudi? Saudi is the grand puppet master in this case. He met with them in private, and continued the onslaught. The wealth from the Sunni bank and the Quran is supply Assad's forces.
Why would the Saudis want this?
I say go Valkyrie on his behind, that should do it.
So much hate statements on this panel. Most come from ASSAD thugs under christian fake names to give the opposition in syria a religous style and agenda. You Alawaite thugs why you are targetting women and children and unarmed civilian. That because you are criminals an inhumane inyour make up. Alawite has lost syria forever because of backing their criminal leaders. For all other zionist fanatics who have the same genes women in the middle east are a driving force in this arab spring.
or is Saudi? hmmmm. Think about it. Who wants to control the region with their timeclock tower to take over Greenwich Mean Time? Who controls al Qaeda to protect their oil fields? Who has the lions share of the region and gives it out sparingly? And where are the Saudis to help in this conflict?
oooooooooo hate statements...........ooooooooooo everybody makes "hate statements" but "tony"...........oooooooooooooooooooo "zionist fanatics" ..........ooooooooooo jews on tony's "mind".......oooooooooooooo
He's even sporting the Hitler mustache
Fareed, the poor people of Syria want you to be their leader. Only with your wisdom will they find peace.
I hope that's sarcasm. I really do!
Forget it. Assad has won, plain and simple. The world is already forgetting about this. It is old news and the main fighting is over. Noone cares enough to actually lift a finger, so screw it. Its done.
ASSAD= DEAD MAN WALKING...
What makes Fareed Zakaria and expert on Syria? It seems he is watching too much news with little knowledge of what is on the ground. If the Obama administration wants to remove Sad, they out to call Netanyahu. Once Netanyahu says Bashar got to go, Bashar will be taken out shortly after. The fact is that Syria’s border with Israel has been calm without a single incident for the last 30 years indicate that Israel likes Bashar until it finds a replacement.
whoo, for awhile i was worried; mistakenly thinking that Israel didn't control syria. Your assurances to the contrary comfort me. its also interesting to see that even Muslim apologists like "Simon" dont believe that their people can do a revolution on their own.
Give me $1B and I will take care of Assad and his thugs; then on the Africa. That kind of money can buy lots of mercenaries and equip them very well.
Bloodshed, followed by bloodshed followed by, guess what, even more bloodshed. Duh!
As I watched Hillary sitting and smiling with some Saudi Arabians in their 'native Arab garb' (a recent photo op on the news discussing on what to do about Syria), I wondered what the Saudi Royal Family and Arabian oil elite were and are thinking... Are we next???... Mubarak, Qaddafi, Assad and others have kept 'stability' in the area for 30 or more years being financed by the U.S. big time to keep 'the peace' with Israel... Who's going to be 'thrown under the truck' next??? Jordan... an obvious U.S. lap dog... whose monarch claims a blood line to The Prophet himself. Are these who claim to be Muslim ready for a Disneyland , Starbucks and McDonalds in Mecca and on every block???..Where is all this going???The latest news propaganda from Saudi Arabia..'.our women are now allowed to drive'???...with or without a male chaperon...???..Sham interviews with smiling Saudi women who have nothing better to do with their shekels..trying to project some democratic change???.Yes...every Saudi citizen is well provided...I believe each citizen is given at leat $75,000.00 a year ...free with other benifits!!!...Again...where is all of this going???...My personal opinion...the Saudi Royal Family should trade in their Arab dress for Armani (Italian) suits once and for all! ...Need I say more???...One minute their wearing traditional Arab dress...the next minute their wearing expensive European designer suites!!! Who the hell is kidding who???
Why is the US still pushing the Marshal Plan.
We need to let these countries work out their own issues.
The US does not need to police the world.
We can barely keep our own country going and out of debt.
I say it the rest of the world work out their own issues.
Since the russian secretary of state was requesting that the UN to be equal between the government and the FSA, I think that the world has to commit to arm the FSA equally as the government which is armed by the Soviet Union. Then the solution path woud take its place very easily. The FSA represents more than 80% of the population. It's so strange that the democratic world is sitting idle on the atrocities commited by the government!!!!
P..S. – The Saudi's, with all their citizens being taken care of by the monarchy have no need for an 'Arab Spring' or 'Uprising' in their country. With their oil wealth, they can afford to take whoever and whomevers side they choose and buy whoever and whomever they wish... How sad...My advice to Hillary...what not to do... and I wouldn't be surprised..she has already asked Obama..and the Fed....START PRINTING MORE WORTHLESS PAPER...AND THROW IT TO THE SYRIAN REBELS AND SYRIAN PEOPLE!!!.. I believe that they ..the current U.S. administration will follow suit and do the same illogical thing as they did in Iraq...mistake...after mstake... after mistake...yaddahhh...yaddahhh...yaddahh...send 'The Bill' to the bankrupt American people....How...sad.
Fareed Zakaria, I know you are an intelligent man but lately you have been disappointing me. How can you possibly think that the deal Kofi Annan did with Syrian regime had any chance. I am shocked that Annan tried to make a deal with the same person who clearly stated to Barbara Walters in an interview that he does not recognize the UN; and when he was asked how come he had an ambassador in the UN he said it is only a game and he plays the game.
Is the world so naive to believe anything this man says? I don't think so. I blame the Arab leaders and the Arab league for standing on the sidelines and cheering for whoever is willing to save their behinds. Arabs should not rely on US and/or Europe to keep doing their dirty work. Saudi Arabia invested millions and billions in weapons and training their forces to be ready for war. Which war? Have not seen anything from them yet, this goes for many other Arab countries. Maybe they are waiting till Iran starts invading their countries and then they will run like they did in 1967.
Wake up Arabs, Iran is already taking over the region, look at Lebanon, look at Iraq, look at Syria...Wake up now or sleep forever and die.
I like Fareed Zakaria, but he has a very idealistic and myopic view of the world.
I like that he's 20 times smarter than you.
The people of Syria hate the West and especially the USA - none of our business the heck with them
We think you suffer from tunnel vision.
You only post comments that are meant to try and separate America from its friends and allies.
Now that you know we know, you should try another avenue.
You are getting very boring.
Wrap a noose around assad and his wifes neck and drag them through the street and end this just another dictator hiding under lies, russia and china is making money selling arms to asssad no wonder they don't want intervention the united nation has become a bunch of 9 year old girls
Agreed!
@ Bob
Why do you think that other countries do not like the USA.
Maybe becasue we keep getting involved in their issues.
We need to leave other countries alone and take care of our own.
It's because other nations are jealous of us. We are rich, attractive and have freedom. Canada comes close but there's way too many dorks that live there.
Jealous of what?
We are NOT rich at least not me. we have one of the largets Debts in history.
Freedom what freedom, Where you say a negative word about Omaba and you go to prison,.
And the Patriot Act alows them to invade you privacy..
Also Canada has the worlds 3rd Largets Oil fields adn yet we still ignore them.
Look like we are the dorks.
You girlfiends are acting like a bunch of divas.
Great Acting! Bravo.
This is your pitiful attempt at starting islamic jihadist ca ca between USA and Canada?
You just do not understand friendship.
All you know is that allah the magnificent and his profiteer 'hammed tell you to kill, lie and kill, lie and kill, lie...
Assad would do well to read the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám:
" . . .The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on:
nor all thy Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it."
What's next? More torture and death for the people of Syria. tyranny marches on leaving a trail of the blood of its people.
Liar Liar pants on fire! More than that will burn, Mr. ASSad.
When does Assad's war crimes trial begin at the Hague?
Zakaria is nothing more than a jihad apologist. This idiot should spend his time trying to be a better husband and father. Oh wait, he sucks at both. I am tired of hearing this muslim lover talk kiss Iran's a$$. Mr. Zakaria, how about you kiss america's a$$, after all, you were nothing before you came to the US.
General Wesley Clark said right after 9/11 he was told by Rumsfeld that there was a plan to invade 7 countries in 5 years. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and Iran. Looks like they're running a little behind schedule. Youtube "the elite blew it" for the interview.
And where did you find this info?
Come on buddy, share.
In reply to nada's post; total power corrupts absolutely! Asma al-Assad don't care about her people as a matter of fact she is more of stranger culture wise who became a ruler of Syria through her husband; I don't think she grew up poor at all so she will never understand the pligth of people and according to her latest comments she is more or less equally brutal has he is especially if she condone to such act of dictatorship. in other words she is as guilty as he is!
How do you know whether she knows anything.
She is muslim and female–why should her husband tell her anything?
She is only there to look good and breed.
you can't negotiate with terrorists. Al-Assad knows that since he LIVES AMONG THEM. He'll make sure they are no longer a problem. I support Al-Assad. Long live a secular nation. Down with extremists.
Assad is a murderous terrorist. He and his traitorist wife should be hung like Saddam.
Assad is also a liar, so we shouldn't trust dealing with him at any level.
Simply place 10 cruise missles into his compound.
Then dispatch him the same way as Bin Laden.
The Suni population should go and protect their Suni brothers. Is that not what Allah demands?
The supposed leaders who sit back and do nothing, are just as guilty as Assad.
Russia and China are cowards!
Protecting their murderous friend Assad while he murders thousands.
I thought Putin was supposed to be a man. A man would put a stop to this.
Instead Putin and Chinese leaders are kissing up to Assad for oil. Just proves what cowards they are!
Were the "opposition" to overthrow Assad and take over Syria, that country would become a Saudi type of State. a de facto ally of Israel and the US. Given that choice, I submit Syrians are better off with Assad.
Are Libyans better off NOW then during Gaddafi's rule?
Who armed and trained the rebels? Why can't the protest the non-violent way .. Like OWS.
I have a strong feeling that few people truly understand the real situation in Syria and the sentiments of the people.
I'll try to make it simple for you. If you're in the U.S., imagine 20% of the states rebelling, creating their own army and making terror attacks and raid on other states within the Union, burning police cars, killing officers, both police and military. What would the government do to restore peace? Move in in force and crack down on the separatists. Oh, wait - I think it already happened - you people call it the Civil War.
Same thing happens in Syria.
Fares Raslan MD
خبر عاجل وهام جدا جدا ::::::
تقوم المخابرات العامة في دمشق بأخذ كميات من الدم الفاسد من المشافي الحكومية الى افرع السجون حيث يتم حقن المعتقل بكمية 5 سم من هذا الدم وعلى اثرها يتوفى وفاة طبيعة /يرجى النشر لجمعيات حقوق الانسان/
By: شبكة اخبار حمص العدية (عاصمة الثورة السورية)
reliable sources from my collegues syrian doctors in syria .
the intelligence services in syria are collecting spoiled blood and injecting forcefully prisioners with 5 ml of it to let them die naturally ...please share to human rights watch and all human organizations around the world ....
also they are sending 50 truks aday since 3 months ago those trucks going to hizboallah south of lebanon , full of weapons , cash, arms, rockets, and some chemical weapons please take a note this is an eye wotness ....why no body is doing any thing to those thugs , war criminal shiia thugs?
Bashar Al Assad belong to a family of known history of schizophrenia. He had a brother who died after batteling with this illness. When you look carefully at the faces of Al Assad family, you can see that non-of them has innocent looking face. It remind me of looking at one of the mafia family portrate. Bashar Al Assad in this picture look like Hitler. He resemble him in many ways. Hitler and his croneys were convinced to kill millions of jews without any mercy. Can you imagine this young president inherited syria at age 34... what a shame in the history of great syria , a history that begun more than 10 000 years ago. Remmber when the holocast started all of modern sophisticated Europe did not care....
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"CHRISTIANS TO BEIRUIT, ALAWITES TO THE WALL!"...that has been the cry of the Syrian opposition since the beginning Mr. Zakaria. It is grafitti written across walls throughout Homs. Mr. Zakaria you cannot have dialogue with armed people who wish to kill you. All you can do is kill them before they kill you. Lets not kid ourselves the Syrian opposition is not some peaceful, pro-Democratic protest movement like CNN and Fox News would make it out to be. The Syrian opposition is armed (probably from the US, UK, TURKEY, QATAR and SAUDI ARABIA) it enjoys the aid of US intelligence and amongst its ranks are hardened Wahhabist/Salafist Islamists not unlike Ayman al Zawahiri or Osama bin Laden. There is no doubt in my mind that the Sunni opposition will ethnically cleanse if not outright massacre Shia Alawites, Druze and Syrian Christians if they succeed in toppling Assad. They rightfully back Assad as do Russia, China and Iran.
urgent
Fares Raslan MD
خبر عاجل وهام جدا جدا ::::::
تقوم المخابرات العامة في دمشق بأخذ كميات من الدم الفاسد من المشافي الحكومية الى افرع السجون حيث يتم حقن المعتقل بكمية 5 سم من هذا الدم وعلى اثرها يتوفى وفاة طبيعة /يرجى النشر لجمعيات حقوق الانسان/
By: شبكة اخبار حمص العدية (عاصمة الثورة السورية)
reliable sources from my collegues syrian doctors in syria .
the intelligence services in syria are collecting spoiled blood and injecting forcefully prisioners with 5 ml of it to let them die naturally ...please share to human rights watch and all human organizations around the world ....
also they are sending 50 truks aday since 3 months ago those trucks going to hizboallah south of lebanon , full of weapons , cash, arms, rockets, and some chemical weapons please take a note this is an eye wotness ....why no body is doing any thing to those thugs , war criminal shiia thugs?
IF USA, UK, FRANCE, ISRAEL AND GERMANY DONT DO NOTHING AND STAY SILENT IS LIKE ASKING HITLER TO COME BACK AGAIN
THEY MUST ATTACK SYRIA AND HIZBOALLAH NOW TO CLEAR THE WAY TO TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF IRAN WEAPONS AND EVIL EMPIRE AS THEY HELP TERRORISTS AROUND THE WORLD. IRAQI SHIIA THUGS ALSO NEED TO BE ATTACKED AS THEY ARE HELPING IRAN TO SALE OIL FOR THEM AND GIVE THEM CASH!!!!
Bashar is protecting his citizens from all the terrorists. There are no citizens of Syria being murdered...only terrorists.
14,000 women , children and old men had been killed, bashar al kalb the shiia thug backed by terrorists hizbioallah and evil iranians whp pay cash to rusia to send weapons to bashar to kill kurds, sunni and civilians, bashar is a war crfiminal and ,must be hangged he is the baath part leader and all agree that baath is evil party just vlike in iraq. we must detroy syria baath and syria minority shiia who are 8% controling 92% of people who dont want him as his father cvome by force and not ellection and pass the country to his son!!!! kill asad is good for peace....hizboallah is helping him they are pure evil terrorists
vir gin mary had a son mmmm then she wasnt vir gim any more.........christeans myth every faith love virgins
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The huge awakening is underway. The storm of global awakening is underway. If you do not join the nations, this storm will uproot tyranny and oppression. It is to your interest to be on the side of the nations,” the Iranian President said, addressing the Western powers
chech this out U don't see that in CNN
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/235172.html
“No they did not wake up in the morning. America has been against us for over 30 years. Who supported Saddam for eight years in the war against Iran? For eight years it was America and some European governments. They’re continuing the same policy. I have a serious question to ask – have the policies of some European countries and America in the past 32 years been right against Iran? Have we ever been an aggressor to another country? Have we ever attacked another country? Have we ever started a war at the borders of Europe? No. We have always hoped to have fair and friendly relationships. I believe that the European leaders should know that the Shah will never come back to Iran.”
Bashar the lion fart will be removed sooner or later and anybody betting on otherwise will be a sore loser. No matter what the outside players decide, the will of the people at the end of the day will prevail. The people no longer fear the thug regime, and they have nothing else to lose.
Yes more people will die, but that will be the price we the Syrians will have to pay so that no future leader will be allowed to commit similar crimes in the future. Unfortunately, the west is sitting as if they are watching a Hollywood movie, wake up people, this is just as real as it gets. You should not allow this for the sake of humanity.
How is this news? I thought news should be written in an informative only manner, and not a persuasive manner.
This is biased.
27 For as the alightning cometh out of the beast, and shineth even
unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
fk bashar al kalb and his wife and al sestani wal ja3fari wal al shiia al kelab al khawana fk iran fk al jalabi wal pajaji fk moqtada al qather fk nori al haleki of iraq and kul al shiia al khawa weld al mot3a fk hizboallah fk iran and all those shiia muslims thugs
the terrorists is bashar and hizboallah , he is helping hizboallah allowing cash and weapons come from shiia iran and iraq toward hizboallah he is the terrorists, hizboallah is will know terrpr thugs along with the shiia syrians
basahr al asad and iran alonmg with hizboallah are the terrorists and alwyas have been, they want to remove israel from the map as iran stupid ahmedi nejad said and bashar agrees....those thugs must be dealt with iron fist dont allow to terrorists shiia thugs control the world
It is so sad that the world is prepared to watch innocent people and their defenders being slaughtered by a selfish and brutal dictator and his army. Only if there were large oil deposits in Syria none of this would be unfolding. A coalition lead by the US, UK, and France would have already saved the innocent Syrians from the this blood thirsty dictator regardless of Russian and Chinese objections.
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al-Assad: Killing children is where I draw the line. You have 72 hours to leave, or I will set a chain of events in motion that will result in your spending the rest of your life in prison if you are lucky enough to make it out of the country.
bashar of syria killed 450 sunni officers and they burnthe bodies and put them in the sea 6 days ago
وردتنا معلومات من احد منتسبي الاستخبارات مفادها ما يلي :
قامت مجموعه من مهربي المخدرات تابعين الى منظمة " بدر" يرأسة هادي العامري بادخال ( ثمانيه ونصف ) طن من المخدرات ( حشيشه ) من ايران وعبر مدينة البصره ثم الى الناصريه لغرض تهريبها الى المملكه العربيه السعوديه وجزء من الكميه تذهب الى محافظات الوسط ( كربلاء – النجف – الديوانيه – بابل ) لبيعها في هذه المدن
تمكنت مفارز الاستخبارات في مدينة الناصريه من القاء القبض على المخدرات والمهربين وفورا تحرك المهربين للاتصال باللواء ( صباح الفتلاوي ) قائد شرطة ذي قار وتم الاتفاق معه على تسوية القضيه وعلى الشكل التالي ( بعد فحص كمية المخدرات وجدت انها حشيشه مغشوشه ) مقابل ( ٦٠ ) الف دولار تسلمها اللواء صباح من المهربين بغية اطلاق سراحهم من السجن وتسليم المخدرات ( المغشوشه ) ؟؟؟
ارسلت الاستخبارات معلومات الى وزارة الداخليه حول كمية المخدرات وتفاصيل الاتفاق الذي تم ما بين اللواء صباح الفتلاوي والمهربين تم الاتصال من قبل وزير الداخلية وكالة " عدنان الاسدي " برئيس الوزراء نوري المالكي " القائد العام للقوات المسلحه واعلمه بتفاصيل القضيه وكان جواب المالكي لوكيله عدنان الاتي : ( صباح الفتلاوي" ابنه " اكتفي بنقله الى بغداد اما المهربين وهم من ( منظمة بدر) امر المالكي باطلاق سراحهم مخاطبا وكيل وزير الداخليه ( تعرف ذوله من جماعة " هادي العامري " ( حزام ظهرنه ) ..
مع العرض ان المنظمه نشرت معلومات سابقه عن الخلاف الذي نشب بين اللواء صباح الفتلاوي شقيق ( لهلوبة المالكي ) بسبب قيام احد مرافقي " صباح " بشفط ( 80 ) الف دولار ارسلها بيده صباح الى اهله في محافظة بابل وهي مبالغ رشى المخدرات ولم يسترجعها له وهدده بكشف الاموال الطائله التي جناها شقيق حنان من تهريب المخدرات .
After EGYPT a modern middle east country turned back into a islam danger ..
After Libeya a dictatorship country turned into a civil war bloodbath ...
People EVEN DARE TO SAY mess UP SYRIA ?
Godsake with reality staring people in the eyes .
Are people gone insane and dumb ? so what if 10.000 die , sorry revolutions has to start with the people themself.
Nobody else but the people can free themself , you going to send another country into civil war that going to last 10 yearor longer , when US isn´t even qualified to clean up Afghanistan of opium fields , establish peace .
Honestly just forget about Syria , anybody with a sense of history and intelligence should have realised .
The more you intervene the more it comes back to haunt you .
lol that picture of al-Assad looks alot like Hitler
It is not often I am proud of our world. But this time I am. And I am proud of the UN. The peace deal negotiated in Sryia by UN Special Envoy Kifi Annan has to be one of the brightest points in the history of the United Nations, regardless of the outcome.
Instead of sending 100+ cruise missiles, ostensibly programmed to not kill civillians, to the horrific gangland execution of Muammar Gadaffi in the back of a truck, the Libyan model was a model created and executed in hell, this time it is different. Like giants coming to their senses, the Great Powers are talking before using their clubs.
At last we have the hawks, NATO, the doves, sitting down at the UN security Council (which I sometimes call the Insecurity Council) and rationally, with extreme self control, attempting to solve a humanitarian crisis through peaceful means.
Kofi Annan is all but guaranteed the Nobel for his efforts. But I agree that there should be UN peacekeepers behind this effort, and they should be the ones willing to lay their lives down for peace, not the innocent civilians of Syria.
As for President Assad – maybe it is too late. Maybe he has no choice, this far down the road, maybe self destruction is the only way out. Maybe he does not know the way out. Maybe no-one will tell him. His resignation will bring more chaos, it seems.
But ask yourselves – how did it come to this? What were the powerful undercurrents and the push and pull of the Tectonics of the Great Powers that brought this about? Could Syria be the child in the middle of a tug of war by its would be adopted parents? Could we doubt that the need for nations to control nations in part is responsible for this?
Would Kofi Annan have found it easier to prevent this bloodshed if he started 20 years ago? 30 Years ago? Prevention, and prevention is better than any bloody cure.
We need a vaccine, this time for the deadliest disease of our times, war. A vaccine against war, it is now becoming very late in the day. This is no small pox. This is a plague. I hope we find the vaccine soon, but no-one is working on a vaccine, only antidotes and bad medicines with bad side effects.
When does Asaad’s war crimes trial begin at the Hague?
And when does the war crimes trial begin for Assad’s generals and the members of his vicious regime?
how many quarans are being desacrated in this conflict and not a peep from any muslim?..... i guess there just waiting for an american to do it so iran and assad can blame the whole uprising on outside forces.....
What do you think would happen in any other country in the world if the people tried to over throw the government?
What did his dad do with the bodies of all those thousands of people his troops killed 35 years ago. It is hard to get rid of that many bodies.
Stay out of Syria. It's not our problem.
When do the war crimes trials begin at the Hague, for Assad, his vicious generals, and the rest of his regime?
This man needs to be captured and brought to justice. He's a madman murderer who will stop at nothing and will continue to murder his people until he is killed himself,plain and simple.