Assad feigns innocence, Clinton meets Ghalioun & SNC leaders, Shell
and Total suspend Syria operations, clashes take place along Turkish, Lebanese and
even Jordanian borders with greater frequency, defections increase, so do the killings,
the arrests, and the levels of impunity and defiance, as Syria descends slowly
into Mayhem.
Tuesday 6, 2011
Links
The Banality of Evil
The death toll in
Homs is skyrocketing with 50 people killed on Monday December 5 alone, including 34 who
were kidnapped and killed execution-style by pro-Assad militias. The average
daily death toll in Homs has hovered around 20 for weeks now, but these spikes
are becoming more frequent: on Sunday 40 were reported killed, and on Tuesday, the
death toll in the city was put at 30. Killings are taking place outside Homs as
well. Indeed, every day is now a lesson in the banality of evil, but the Assads
and their supporters seem incapable of learning, just as the international
community seems incapable of forming a coherent response, and the Syrian
opposition a workable platform.
Meanwhile, Syria’s
dictator offers a new glimpse deep into his soul… the stench of hypocrisy overwhelms
the senses.
In a rare interview,
Assad spoke Monday to ABC News veteran journalist Barbara Walters in a bid to
defend himself amid growing global condemnation of the nine-month-old crackdown
which the UN says has killed 4,000 people.
ABC News plans to air
the interview on Wednesday but a reporter for the network, seeking US reaction
at a State Department briefing, quoted Assad as saying: "I'm president. I
don't own the country, so they're not my forces."
"There's a
difference between having a policy to crack down and between having some
mistakes committed by some officials. There is a big difference," the
reporter quoted Assad as saying.
Reacting to the
excerpt, State Department spokesman Mark Toner criticized Assad and said he has
had multiple opportunities to end the violence.
"I find it
ludicrous that he is attempting to hide behind some sort of shell game (and)
claim that he doesn't exercise authority in his own country," Toner told
the briefing.
"There's just no
indication that he's doing anything other than cracking down in the most brutal
fashion on a peaceful opposition movement," Toner said.
But the violence is
not taking place in Homs alone, Idlib and Hama to the North, and the province
of Deraa/Hauran to the South continue to be the scene of increasing daily clashes
and crackdowns, and killings are a daily phenomenon there as well.
What Syrians Want
After dedicating one
Friday for calling for the establishment of a no-fly zone, Syrian protesters
held another calling for the establishment of safe havens along Syria’s
borders. The message was not only addressed to the international community, but
also to the leaders of the Syrian National Council, who continue to dither when
it comes to calling for international intervention.
In this clip from Deir
Baalbah Neighborhood in Homs City (Dec 2), the speaker addresses the crowds
and tells them that there are leaders in the SNC who still oppose international
intervention, including the establishment of a safe haven, but says that anyone
in the SNC starting with Burhane Ghalioun who opposes this demand as well as
the demands for a no-fly zone and support to the Free Syrian Army, will no longer
represent the Revolution. Protesters then begin to chant “the people want a
safe haven” http://youtu.be/D5CeYZF8Gn0
In this clip,
protesters in Idlib City address SNC President Burhane Ghalioun directly
saying “Burhane Ghalioun, can’t you hear, the people want a no-fly zone”
(December 4) http://youtu.be/xIIB_0Kd6_U In Bab Al-Sibaa
Neighborhood in Homs City protesters had had the honor to shout this slogan
first on December 2 http://youtu.be/oKH6GgqJ6KY
In this
clip from the neighborhood of Karm Al-Zeitun in Homs City, taken on
December 5, the activist shows the remains car blown up by a tank leaving 5 people
dead, and rails against the Arab League for giving continuous extensions to the
Assads, and against SNC President Burhane Ghalioun for opposing international
intervention http://youtu.be/oibBlRUHWJI
In addition to calling
for international intervention, protesters have not forgotten the home front as
well, and continue to cease the opportunity to assert their message of
inclusion even as pro-Assad militias continue to incite sectarianism. For
this reason, protesters dedicated Sunday December 4 to showing their solidarity
with Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, the Jesuit monk who has lived in Syria for
over 30 years focusing on interfaith dialog, and who recently called for real
reforms in the country saying "The first step towards saving this country
is real freedom of expression, press and opinion." Assad officials,
naturally, disapproved of this line and have decided to expel Father Paolo, as he
himself told Vatican Radio. The decision will become final once the Syriac
Catholic Bishop of Homs approves it.
On the long haul,
Sami Moubayed demonstrates mathematically why Syria can never be ruled by
Islamists:
In Syria, 10 per cent
of the population is Christian, and they would never vote for the Brotherhood.
Neither would the 15 per cent Alawite and Shiite communities, or the 3 per cent
Druze, or 2 per cent "others" (Circassians, Jews, Ismailis). Then
come 15 per cent Syrian Kurds and 10 per cent tribes and Bedouins, who although
Sunni Muslims, would also never support an Islamic party. That adds up to 55
per cent, topped with no less than 25 per cent of Syria's 75 per cent Sunni
majority, who are seculars or ordinary Syrians simply un-attracted to political
Islam. That sums up to a majority of voters in any parliamentary elections,
meaning that the Muslim Brotherhood or its sister groups would not take more
than 20-25 per cent of any incoming Chamber. Meaning, in true
internationally-monitored parliamentary elections, Islamic-driven parties like
the Brotherhood would be unable to rule on their own with no coalition parties,
as the case with the Al Nahda Party in Tunisia.
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