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Both sides "skirmished over a draft Security Council resolution proposed by Morocco (serving Washington) that calls for (Assad) to leave power as the first step of a transition toward democracy."
Ignored were international law issues. Among others, the 1933 Montevideo Convention explicitly prohibits interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. So does the UN Charter. Nations doing so are criminally culpable. None are more guilty than Washington, Israel, and rogue NATO partners. In contrast, Iran and Syria threaten no one.
Yet MacFarquhar blamed Russia for blocking Security Council actions. In fact, Moscow's resolute against Washington replicating its Libya model. Various language revisions left considerable wiggle room for war.
Russia's determined to prevent it. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "Russia will not support anything that is imposed on Syria." He firmly opposes anti-Assad resolutions. He called replicating "another Libya" disastrous. China's view is similar. Both have Security Council veto power. Lavrov promised to use it.
He and others also assailed Syria's externally generated insurgency. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr-al Thani spuriously blamed Assad's "fail(ure) to make any serious effort to cooperate with us."
Syrian Observers Report
It contradicts al Thani. It called many of the 166 team members too old and/or too ill for their task. Mission head General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi praised Assad's cooperation. He also said:
"Regrettably, some observers thought that their visit to Syria was for pleasure. In some instances, experts who were nominated were not qualified for the job, did not have prior experience, and were not able to (fulfill their) responsibility."
On January 18, Arab League Secretary-General General Nabil Elaraby suspended their mission. He said violence undermined it, dismissing the competence issue al-Dabi raised and reports about about Assad's cooperation.
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