Shadoer posted:

So the UN has approved unanimously a 30 day extension to the UN observer mission. Guess the Russians wanted to throw Kofi Annan a bone.

Xandu posted:

Somewhere between 20,000 people and 30,000 cars have passed into Lebanon from Syria in the last 2 days.

Young Freud posted:

Think they've started realizing that the situation has changed significantly, especially if the rumors of Assad telling the Russian ambassador are true.

Nenonen posted:

Something in this doesn't match...

http://twitter.com/#!/JohnWreford posted:

Ramadan in Damascus, cooking gas more than 3 times its usual price

Damascus Old City, hard to find fresh veg, silly prices,

http://twitter.com/redrazan posted:

People are fighting for bread, there is no bread anymore at this hour in Damascus, people are also buying lots of food #Syria

I went out to buy some food, in the center market of Damascus, everyone is closed except one restaurant and four shops #Syria

quote:

Ambassador Alexandre Orlov told French RFI radio that Assad, embattled by a rebellion against his rule, signaled readiness to step down when he accepted a recent international declaration which foresaw a transition towards a more democratic Syria.

"At the Geneva conference, there was a final communique that foresees a transition towards a more democratic system," Orlov said. "This final communique was accepted by Assad. Assad nominated his representative to lead the negotiations with the opposition for this transition. That means he accepted to leave, but in an orderly way."

The Syrian Information Ministry quickly denied this, saying Orlov's remarks were "completely devoid of truth".

A spokesman for the Russian embassy in France later said Orlov's words were "taken out of context" and that he had no "exclusive information about Assad's readiness to step down", the Interfax news agency reported.

Capt Murphy posted:

The Guardian Liveblog has the draft of the resolution as well as some more quotes.

UN Security Council posted:

1. Decides to renew the mandate of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) for a final period of 30 days, taking into consideration the Secretary-General's recommendations to reconfigure the Mission, and taking into consideration the operational implications of the increasingly dangerous security situation in Syria;

2. Expresses its willingness to renew the mandate of UNSMIS thereafter only in the event that the Secretary-General reports and the Security Council confirms the full implementation of paragraph 2 of resolution 2043 and a reduction in the level of violence sufficient to allow UNSMIS to implement its mandate;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council on the implementation of this resolution within 15 days;

4. Decides to remain seized of the matter.


I'm more or less out of words for the Russians and the Chinese at this point. Pack of assholes.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120720/174698082.html posted:

A Russian cargo ship carrying a batch of Mi-25 attack helicopters and air defense systems for Syria has offloaded the aircraft in the Russian port of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region, a security source said on Friday.
"The ship has unloaded," the source said. "These helicopters are now on the shore. A decision from Rosoboronexport on what to do with them is expected shortly."

The helicopters, which were originally overhauled at the 150th aircraft repair plant in Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad, have been at the center of a diplomatic row between Russia and the West.

U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia in June of supplying helicopter gunships to Damascus which could be used to massacre civilian demonstrators in the ongoing insurrection in the country. Russia said it was fulfilling a contract previously signed long ago for repair of the aircraft and denied they could be used for attacking civilians.

Femco, the shipping agent which owns the ship, the Alaed, previously said the documentation accompanying the cargo did not contain any data linking it to Syria.

The Alaed originally set sail from Baltiysk in June, allegedly carrying three Mi-25s and some air defense equipment. The ship turned back to Russia later that month, after its insurance cover was suspended by its British insurer, Standard Club. It later turned back and entered the port of Murmansk, and was later re-flagged as a Russian registered vessel.

The U.S. Congress voted to break off all contacts with Russia's state arms corporation Rosoboronexport on Thursday over concerns about Russia continuing to supply arms to Syria. Russia has maintained it is only fulfilling contracts signed before the current wave of unrest in Syria, and said last week it will not supply a batch of Yak-130 advanced jet trainers to Damascus.

Xandu posted:

Valley Troll posted:

I could only get the cashed version of this for some reason, but apparently according to Syrian state media all those videos that Brown Moses and others have been posting were all produced in Qatar:

[url]http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://sana.sy/eng/22/2012/07/19/432383.htm[/url]


Consider yourselves duped

"Jerusalem Post" posted:

Israel is preparing for a possible military intervention in Syria in case the Syrian government hands missiles or chemical weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Friday.

"I have instructed the military to increase its intelligence preparations and prepare what is needed so that ... (if necessary) ... we will be able to consider carrying out an operation," Barak said in an interview on Channel 10 television.

Kombotron posted:

More bad news.

Patter Song posted:

Oh gently caress. No No No No No. This is really not good news.

MRC48B posted:

Sabre rattling,

Stupid sabre rattling. How can they possibly think making a statement like that will improve things, or even impress anyone?

Nenonen posted:

If chemical weapons were brought to Lebanon that would be a disaster on its own.

Xandu posted:

The CIA has got people talking to Syrian defectors and opposition figures to try to locate, and when the time comes secure, Syria's chemical weapons, like they did in Libya.

Israel can't move in the region without provoking a war. That's the effect of the last 70 years of policy. It leads to potentially serious threats like Hezbollah receiving chemical weapons (unlikely and honestly far from the biggest threat which the Syrian government or opposition outright losing control of them), but it means talking about a "possible military intervention" is one of the worst things Israel could do.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120720/OPINION04/307200046/David-Ignatius-US-working-influence-endgame-Syria?nclick_check=1 posted:

Libya was a test case for controlling chemical weapons amid revolutionary chaos. CIA officers on the ground helped the Libyan opposition secure the main chemical weapons bunker at Waddan. The CIA also helped connect the new Libyan government with officials from the deposed regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi who were knowledgeable about the location of the weapons.

The CIA team, working with the Libyans, discovered that in addition to the Waddan stockpile, the regime had imported — perhaps from Iran — chemical-weapons artillery shells that were hidden in Sabha, a town in the central desert that is Gadhafi’s ancestral home. These were moved to Waddan, where they are now awaiting disposal, under international supervision.

Nenonen posted:

Is this news, though? To "instruct the military to increase its intelligence preparations and prepare what is needed so that ... (if necessary) ... we will be able to consider carrying out an operation" means nothing in practice.

Can you imagine the Israeli government not coming up with contingency plans?


It's not sabre rattling so much as it is soothing the people. Keep in mind that the Hezbollah strikes across the border are a kind of thing that the Israeli people are always worried about.

Xandu posted:

Nenonen posted:

Is this news, though? To "instruct the military to increase its intelligence preparations and prepare what is needed so that ... (if necessary) ... we will be able to consider carrying out an operation" means nothing in practise.

Can you imagine the Israeli government not coming up with contingency plans?


It's not sabre rattling so much as it is soothing the people. Keep in mind that the Hezbollah strikes across the border are a kind of thing that the Israeli people are always worried about.

Winston Churchill posted:

I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. We have definitely adopted the position at the Peace Conference of arguing in favour of the retention of gas as a permanent method of warfare. It is sheer affectation to lacerate a man with the poisonous fragment of a bursting shell and to boggle at making his eyes water by means of lachrymatory gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum. It is not necessary to use only the most deadly gasses: gasses can be used which cause great inconvenience and would spread a lively terror and yet would leave no serious permanent effects on most of those affected.

Nenonen posted:

Yeah, Libya went down really beautifully in that regard. The disarmament program was already under way and the chemical weapons or ingredients for them were, maybe by luck, not messed with at any point.

I don't see any purpose in allowing chemical weapons stockpiles to be kept by any nation. Many countries rely on WMDs as a deterrent, but chemical weapons in particular are a very weak deterrent: Iraq had them in 1991 and the west believed they had them in 2003, yet they weren't used at any point. There should be a universal ban on chemical weapons, in particular on nervous gases. No one is better off with Sarin and VX around, someone's going to call the bluff anyway and gases are difficult to use effectively. I would hope that this war will convince the world on the need for a complete, immediate, obligatory disarmament treaty. One which no one is allowed to circumvent by not signing to it.

computer parts posted:

We've already got basically everybody to already sign that though, and I don't think it'd be that difficult to get the others to sign on (assuming Syria doesn't devolve into total chaos, I guess).

Nenonen posted:

And yet Britain did not use chemical weapons against 'uncivilised tribes', nor Germans during WW2, nor at any later point.

Young Freud posted:

Also, Hezbollah using chemical weapons against Israel would be a bad move. A real bad move, since Israel would end up using nuclear weapons in southern Lebanon as retaliation.