LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 17/2012

Bible Quotation for today/The Flock of God
01 Peter 05/0I-11: "who am an elder myself, appeal to the church elders among you. I am a witness of Christ's sufferings, and I will share in the glory that will be revealed. I appeal to you to be shepherds of the flock that God gave you and to take care of it willingly, as God wants you to, and not unwillingly. Do your work, not for mere pay, but from a real desire to serve. Do not try to rule over those who have been put in your care, but be examples to the flock.And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the glorious crown which will never lose its brightness. In the same way you younger people must submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you must put on the apron of humility, to serve one another; for the scripture says, God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time. Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you. Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that other believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings. But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to share his eternal glory in union with Christ, will himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation. To him be the power forever! Amen.
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Al-Assad regime playing for time/By Tariq Alhomayed/March 16/2012
Syria: when the right to intervene becomes a duty/By:By Amir Taheri/March 16/2012
Syria is drowning/By Mshari al-Zaydi/March 16/2012

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 16/2012
Canada Remembers Victims and Condemns Repression on the Anniversary of Syrian Uprising
Israel ultimatum: Stop the missiles by Saturday night. Hamas leader in Tehran
Lieberman in China: Israel reserves right to attack Iran if sanctions fail
Lieberman: International community can stop Iran's nuclear program
Netanyahu and Barak, alone at the top
Top Iran official: All options on the table if nuclear facilities attacked
India turns to Iran for information on New Delhi terror attack
U.K's Cameron: No justification for Israeli attack on Iran
Israeli threats of attack sparked new wave of Iran sanctions, officials say
George Clooney, Jewish leaders arrested at anti-Sudan protest in Washington
Israel’s Iron Dome is the best show in town - for now
Backlash to Netanyahu's Iran speech ignores Holocaust's enduring effect
Hamas chief meets with Turkey PM on Palestinian reconciliation
Annan urges UN Security Council to break Syria deadlock
Turkey urges citizens to leave Syria, set to cut consular services
Report: Gulf Arab states to close Syria embassies over regime violence
Turkey considers Syria buffer zone; Annan seeks unity
Displaced Syrians wait in south Beirut
Annan warns of Syria escalation, says talks continue
Pope Benedict XVI to Kick Off Lebanon Visit September
Fransen Rejects Indictment Amendment, Baragwanath Suspends Defining 'Criminal Association'
STL reelects Baragwanath as president, Riachi as vice president
Jumblatt salutes Syrian 'martyrs,' urges dialogue in Lebanon
Congo under scrutiny over Hezbollah business links
Ethiopian consulate sues Lebanese man in abuse case
Future Movement denies link to 'Rafik Hariri Brigade'  
Islamic Jihad Member Says Hizbullah Providing Quds Brigades with ‘Significant Help
Sleiman urges army, police to strike security saboteurs with iron fist
Army Arrests Head of Hermel-based Kidnap Gang

Fransen Rejects Indictment Amendment, Baragwanath Suspends Defining 'Criminal Association'
by Naharnet/Judge Sir David Baragwanath, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, has decided to temporarily suspend proceedings to define the crime of “criminal association”, following Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen’s rejection of the Prosecutor’s request to amend the indictment, the STL said on Friday. “The Prosecution had filed a confidential request to amend the indictment on 8 February and sought to add a count of ‘criminal association’ to the indictment. The Pre-Trial Judge then asked the Appeals Chamber to define ‘criminal association’, which is an offence under the Lebanese Criminal Code (article 335),” the tribunal announced in a statement. Fransen later rejected the Prosecution’s request in a confidential decision on March 13, the STL said, noting that the rejection was based on “procedural grounds.”Baragwanath has now asked the parties and the Defense Office to make submissions on whether the Appeals Chamber should continue with the process of defining “criminal association,” the STL added.

STL reelects Baragwanath as president, Riachi as vice president
March 16, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon's appeals chamber unanimously reelected Judge Sir David Baragwanath as the court's president and Lebanese Judge Ralph Riachi as its vice president, the STL said in a statement Friday. Baragwanath was first elected head of the U.N.-backed court after late Judge Antonio Cassese stepped down due to health reasons in October of 2011. Riachi was appointed as vice president in March of 2009. The STL has indicted four Hezbollah members for involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. The Lebanese authorities have failed to apprehend the suspects prompting the court to set trials in absentia for the four. Hezbollah as denied allegations and said that the suspects, described as “honorable men” of the resistance party, would never be apprehended. The party has described the court as a “U.S.-Israeli” tool aimed at targeting the resistance and sowing sectarian strife in the region. Earlier this month, the prosecution at the STL requested its indictment be amended in the killing of Hariri and that it include a crime of “criminal association.” According to Lebanon's Penal Code, which the STL adheres to, if two or more persons establish an association or enter into a written or oral agreement to commit felonies against people or to undermine the authority of the state, then they are punishable by fixed-term hard labor.

Lieberman in China: Israel reserves right to attack Iran if sanctions fail
By Reuters /Haaretz
Speaking during official visit, Foreign Minister says 'hopeful' for positive results in planned P5+1 nuclear talks.Israel on Friday took its concern about Iran's nuclear program to one of Iran's main partners, China, and hinted it could launch a preemptive attack on the Islamic Republic despite repeated calls by China to allow diplomacy to take its course. China, which has close energy and trade ties with Iran, has urged a negotiated solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions and long opposed unilateral sanctions on Iran. Iran insists its nuclear energy program is purely non-military and has been adamant it will not abandon it under external pressure. "For us, it's crucial to explain our position to our Chinese partners," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters on a visit to Beijing.
"It's crucial to clarify our position to China in the hope they understand our concerns, our problems," he said, adding that Israel would "continue the dialogue" with China.Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned Iran in January against any effort to acquire nuclear weapons but apart from that, China has shied away from speaking out strongly against Iran. That position on Iran underscores the tricky path China is trying to steer between pressure from the United States and its allies and, on the other hand, expectations from Iran, which looks to China as a sympathetic power and a big oil customer. But an increasingly tough-talking Israel is threatening to take military action, with or without U.S. support, if Iran is deemed to be continuing to defy pressure to curb its nuclear projects. Speculation is growing that Israel could launch some form of strike against Iranian nuclear installations, which Israel sees as a threat to its existence. "We prefer that the international community will resolve the Iranian issue through talks, P5+1, through some negotiations, sanctions etcetera," Lieberman said. "But if not, I think it's our right to protect ourselves, to defend ourselves," he added. "As I mentioned, we keep all options on the table."
The P5+1 group, made up of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, accepted an offer last week from Iran for new talks on its nuclear energy program. Lieberman said Israel was hopeful of "positive progress" at the talks. But despite Western sanctions inflicting increasing damage on Iran's oil-based economy, Israel had not seen "readiness from the Iranian side to give up their nuclear ambitions or to stop their enrichment", he said. China has also resisted Western efforts to exert pressure on Iran by imposing sanctions on its oil exports, much of which flows to China.

Top Iran official: All options on the table if nuclear facilities attacked
By Haaretz /In interview to CNN, top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei plays down Ahmadinejad's remark on wiping Israel 'off the map,' saying the Iranian President did not mean it in a military sense.All options are on the table in regards to an Iranian response to a possible attack on its nuclear facilities, a top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a interview published on Thursday, adding that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not want to "wipe Israel off the map" in a military sense. Speaking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Mohammad Javad Larijani indicated that Iran does not exclude the possibility of blocking the Strait of Hormuz in response to an attack, nor would it exclude a missile strike on Israel. "Here I want to copy the wording of [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama," Larijani said, adding: "Every possibility is on the table." The top Iranian official also referred to the recently cited comment by Ahmadinejad, in which he stated Israel must be "wiped off the map," saying that the remark was "definitely not" meant in a military sense and that such a move was not "a policy of Iran." Larijani criticized the West for what he said were sanctions "beyond being unfair," adding that they could not stop Iran's nuclear progress. "Does it stop Iran's capability for developing its nuclear facilities for peaceful means?" the Iranian official asked. "Definitely not. So it is a failure."
In his interview to CNN, Larijani also referred to the attempts to restart nuclear talks between Iran and the West concerning the country's contentious nuclear program, offering to be more transparent regarding Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for what he called "cooperation" from western states. "If the western community is asking us for more transparency, then we should expect more cooperation," Khamenei's adviser said, adding that the "equation is simple. The Western community can ask us for more transparency. What we want in place of that is cooperation." Speaking of the Parchin military base near Tehran, which diplomatic sources indicated could be the site of suspicious nuclear tests, Larijani said that the "Parchin issue is a recurring issue." "Once it has been discussed, a lot of evidence was given to the agency, but still with the new request Iran did not reject it," the Iranian official said. "Iran asked elucidation on what basis, what kind of test they want to do, where they want to look and what will be the end result." Ultimately, Iran is willing to allow "full transparency" of its nuclear program with "permanent human monitoring," he said, conditioning such a move on the West allowing Iran all the rights accorded to it under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which it is signatory.

Israeli threats of attack sparked new wave of Iran sanctions, officials say
By Barak Ravid/Haaretz
Foreign Ministry official says recent sanctions imposed by EU, U.S., as well as China's reduction of oil purchases from Iran, point to international community's apprehensions about Israeli military strike.Senior officials in the Foreign Ministry believe that the latest sanctions imposed by the West against Iran result from the threats Israel issued about launching a unilateral attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities.
Yesterday, Swift, the global provider of financial services, announced that it is severing 25 Iranian banks from its systems, starting tomorrow. This dramatic move means that Iran's government will effectively have to transact its international business in cash. A top Foreign Ministry official said that the recent rounds of sanctions imposed by the European Union and the U.S. against Iran, along with the fact that states such as Japan and South Korea have joined efforts to pressure Tehran, and also China's reduction of oil purchases from Iran, bear witness to the international community's apprehensions about an Israeli military strike. "These aren't sanctions against Iran. Instead, they are sanctions imposed by the West to curb Israel's attack plans," a senior foreign ministry official said. "Had Israel not spoken out about its intention to attack, none of this would be happening. The Iranians are frightened. You have to understand what's going on there in stores; citizens grab food off the shelves because they are worried about an impending attack. Inflation is soaring and the currency has lost half its value. All this attests to fear." Israel's political leadership remains divided regarding how to react to the Iranian nuclear reactor issue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak believe that international sanctions will not successfully end Iran's drive to develop nuclear weapons, and support a unilateral Israeli attack; on the other hand, a considerable number of top officials oppose such an attack under the current circumstances, and believe there is time to see whether sanctions will work.
Members of this group of opponents of a unilateral strike includes four members of the inner cabinet of eight - Moshe Ya'alon, Dan Meridor, Benny Begin and Eli Yishai. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close associate of Netanyahu, continues to sit on the fence, and Foreign Minister Avigor Lieberman's position on the Iranian issue remains a mystery. Many ministers believe that Lieberman has joined the Netanyahu-Barak camp, but the foreign minister has refrained from public comment and in private discussions has expressed support for the sanctions policy.
Lieberman, who arrived yesterday in China on an official trip during which he will discuss the Iranian nuclear issue along with plans to expand the volume of Israel-China trade, will serve as the swing man who casts the deciding ballot on any vote taken by the eight-man inner cabinet regarding Israel's response to the Iranian threat.
Yet for the time being at least, the inner cabinet is not likely to hold a decisive discussion on the Iranian issue. The last time the inner cabinet discussed the issue was four months ago.
Members of the inner cabinet have indicated that Israel is not about to reach a decision regarding a military strike on Iran. The issue could become more pertinent on July 1, when the oil embargo emplaced by the EU against Iran becomes fully operational, these officials suggest.
One of the eight ministers said that Netanyahu is discussing the Iranian threat primarily with Ehud Barak. Netanyahu also confers with ministers individually on the matter, the inner cabinet member said. "As in the case of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal, or discussions about the possibility of extending the freeze on settlement construction, Netanyahu and Barak sit with ministers separately and ascertain their position," said the minister. A top Foreign Ministry official expressed satisfaction yesterday about the "Swift" decision. He defined it as "another mortal blow to the Iranian regime," adding that the move will further restrict the Iranian government's ability to trade with foreign states. Swift is based in Brussels, and operates a huge global financial services network. It handles more than 80% of the financial transactions and electronic money transfers that occur around the globe. Some 10,000 banks and financial institutions in 210 countries subscribe to Swift's services.
Swift's decision comes in the aftermath of a new European Union decision to prohibit any company listed in one of its countries from carrying out electronic transactions with any of the 25 Iranian banks boycotted under the sanctions policy. Swift announced that starting Saturday March 17, it will sever all connections with the 25 Iranian banks. This is an unprecedented move, and it means that Iran's government will have to physically relay cash or gold bars to pay for its transactions overseas. During his recent talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, Netanyahu brought up the issue of severing the Iranian banks from Swift. A top Israeli official said yesterday that during his talks in Washington and Ottawa, Netanayhu insisted that we need "Swift sanctions swiftly."
The Prime Minister's Office yesterday released a response to the Swift decision, saying "Prime Minister Netanyahu welcomes Swift's decision to sever the Iranian banks from its system."

Lieberman: International community can stop Iran's nuclear program
By DPA /In China, FM Avigdor Lieberman says that Israel prefers that Iran nuclear issue be solved diplomatically, but that Israel reserves the right to defend itself.Israel hopes sanctions and negotiations will persuade the Iranian government to end its nuclear program, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday. "We believe the international community is capable of stopping Iran and it's just a matter of determination and of being firm," he told a news conference in Beijing, where he is on an official visit. Lieberman's comments come amid growing speculation that Israel will soon launch a military strike on Iran to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. Israel sees Iran as an existential threat, fearing that nuclear bombs could be used to back up statements by Iranian leaders that Israel should be wiped off the map. Iran insists that its nuclear program is purely for peaceful pursuits. While no Israeli leader has explicitly threatened - in as many words - to attack Iran, officials, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu down, have repeatedly hinted that such a scenario cannot be ruled out, adopting the mantra that all options regarding Iran are on the table. "We prefer that the international community solve the problem though talks, negotiations, and other means, but if this doesn't happen we reserve the right to defend ourselves," Lieberman said. He said that despite the sanctions against Iran, Tehran showed no sign of giving up on its nuclear ambitions. Lieberman added that he agreed with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that talks due to begin next month "are the last chance for Iran to solve the matter peacefully."

Israel ultimatum: Stop the missiles by Saturday night. Hamas leader in Tehran
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 16, 2012/ After five days of non-stop missile fire on a dozen towns and villages, Israel Thursday night, March 15, gave Egypt and Hamas two days to halt the shooting or else the Israeli Defense Forces would go into action against Gaza. debkafile’s military sources report that neither Egypt nor Hamas can be expected to go up against the missile shooters now. The attacks have now been taken over from Jihad Islami by a small group of Salafi Palestinians calling itself Haraka Muhaheddin, which belongs to Jalalat, the al Qaeda roof organization in the Gaza Strip.
Most of the missiles are now coming from the Salafi concentrations in the southern part of the enclave –targeting Beersheba and Netivot Thursday morning and as night fell aimed at Ashdod, Ashkelon, Shear Hanegev and the Eshkol region. The firing escalated after Israel laid down its ultimatum
Egypt and Hamas don’t know exactly who is giving Haraka the missiles, except that they are smuggled from Sinai through tunnels managed by Iranian intelligence agents in conjunction with local al Qaeda networks.It is highly unlikely that Hamas will venture to lay hands on these Salafi terrorists at a time when one of its top officials in Gaza, Mahmoud A-Zahar, is visiting Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders who are keen to keep the missile assaults going. His visit marks the Hamas fundamentalists’ return to the Iranian fold - that is if they ever really left it. This, Israeli strategists have chosen to ignore and are treating Hamas as a non-participant in the missile offensive and available to help Cairo bring the terrorists to accept a ceasefire. The sequence of events leading up to this week’s violence points to the opposite conclusion and, therefore, the probable escalation of the violence rather than a truce. Five days before the missile fire began, on March 5, a Hamas Deputy Politburo Chief Mousa Abu Marzouk and Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah met in Beirut and finalized tactics for building up tensions on Israel’s borders. Monday, March 12, Mahmoud A-Zahar was in Cairo to wind up Gaza ceasefire terms with Egyptian officials when, to their astonishment, instead of returning to Gaza, he boarded a plane to Tehran. He is still there.And so, while the Egyptians try and reach some sort of accommodation with Hamas for a truce, Hamas itself is in close communion with the Iranians, who want to see the Israeli military stuck in a messy a showdown with the Palestinian Salafis.
 

Canada Remembers Victims and Condemns Repression on the Anniversary of Syrian Uprising
March 15, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement on the solemn anniversary of the start of peaceful protests in Syria:
“One year after the Syrian people began their peaceful protests seeking reforms by the Assad regime, we remember sadly the thousands of Syrians who have been detained, tortured and killed by this reckless regime.
“The lives of those who have stood up against this savage repression cannot be lost in vain.
“Recent reports have emerged that the Syrian military has laid a band of anti-personnel mines along stretches of Syria’s borders. It is clear that the principal victims of the mines will be the innocent Syrian people trying desperately to flee the violence. We expect Syria to halt these actions immediately.
“One thing is clear, Assad must go. There is no other course of action.
“Those backing the Syrian regime should reconsider their support for such a brutal regime that continues to lack all regard for human life. Those who continue to support the regime and its repression will only share responsibility for their crimes.”
Minister Baird was pleased to note that Canadian parliamentarians unanimously passed a motion condemning the Assad regime and called upon it to end its reprehensible actions.

The First Anniversary of the Syrian Revolution
Farid Ghadry Blog
The History of mankind revolves around revolutions. Whether it's information or industrial revolutions or the more sinister kind in the form of political or social revolutions, they all have one thing in common: All deliver a paradigm shift that enables mankind to improve upon his past sooner or later.
There are exceptions to this statement such as the Bolshevik Revolution or the more extremist Islamic ones. But eventually, their remnants will disappear to revel a more enlightened era.
Like many political revolutions in the past, be it the French Revolution of 1789 or its American counterpart started in 1774 or the series of the Latin Revolutions in the early 19th century, they all moved from radicalism to constitutional systems of government. The Russians will eventually reach this apogee and so will all Muslim countries. The latter will find solace and wisdom in either separatism or Islamic antinomianism (The return to divinity as the ultimate faith).
Our Syrian Revolution is one year old today. Behind all Syrians and the world as their witness is a panoramic view of some of the most horrific videos and images that the western world has experienced in the 21st century. By any measure of our imagination, the Syrian Revolution has shattered beliefs, perceptions, understandings, and convictions. Those who lapped like poodles the Assad misinformation campaign claiming to pursue peace with Israel or stability through strength, including those who danced around the Assads' past atrocities to serve their own self-interests are suddenly silenced by one image of a grieving mother or a video of a young Syrian opening his chest to deadly sniper bullets.
The preeminent reason for discovering the real faces of terror behind those Facebook pages of smiles, designer clothes, and waving hands of friendship are the Americans and the Europeans. Without their technology assistance, pinhole cameras, and satellite linkages, the world would have never witnessed the savagery of the Assad family. Maybe Nokia's mobile video capability captures the happy smiles of Christmas in Norway but it also captured the ugly face of humanity when left festering over the fate of a whole nation and beyond.
If the Syrian Revolution images and videos were heartbreaking to many, especially to Syrians in exile who felt powerless in the beginning but eventually found ways to help their people, just imagine for a moment the tragedy of life itself under Assad during not only the last year but the last 42 years plus. Imagine, for a moment, that what we are witnessing today represents a portion of what really goes on or went on for almost a half century. Imagine a gathering of the Assad men in a room discussing ways of subduing the Revolution by any means possible using textbook examples the Soviet people experienced under Stalin or the Ugandans under Idi Amin or the Sudanese under Omar al-Bachir.
The courage at display by the Syrian people in the face of true barbarism is a reminder to all of how serious this Revolution is. When history is written about this episode of Syrian life or even the region, the impact and results of the Syrian Revolution will be central to explaining its brighter future for generations to come. This sounds like an optimistic prediction but past Revolutions with such tenacity and determination have always changed the course of history.
The Syrian people, in a collective effort, are about to end the era of one of the most ruthless families of the 20th century. It is a Revolution that is about to force Khameini to kneel for prayers of salvation, one that is about to spark more conclusive Revolutions in other Arab countries chronically ill with devastating diseases of corruption and cronyism, and one that has awakened a new Cold War era. This Revolution will impose political necessities in the form of new treaties or policies that will change the region forever. In short, the Syrian Revolution created a new form of life and new energies the region has rarely experienced before and is definitely in dire need of. It's a Revolution for the ages to be studied, debated, and lauded for its perseverance and moxie.
Many countries experience tragedies but courage always extracts the part in our souls most vulnerable to our humanity. We can deny arguments and we can resist definitions but humans are weak when they see courage in all its glory because just courage almost always breeds success. And there is nothing like success to attract the unbelievers to your cause and to your side. The expected success is compelling even the most ardent supporters of the Assad regime to either take the sidelines, defect, or wear their life jackets in anticipation of a rough landing. It's creating, under extreme penalties for failure, covert opportunities the regime cannot continually stay on-guard against.
There are some effective realists who see this Revolution for what it can or can't conclude today in the service of one nation or interests. One can even argue that their realism, as logical as it seems, strikes a chord amongst a select group of influential people who long ago have traded vision for practicality, predictions for pragmatism. Many will adhere to their views. But lack of vision of what this Revolution means does not qualify us to ignore its potential. No one is right but no one is a censor of history either. What this Syrian Revolution will or will not accomplish on a scale to have the deep impact I am predicting is inconsequential if one drowns himself in the debate it is generating today. How our Revolution is shaping our decision-making process today and how best to take advantages of it to defeat an opponent or an ideology is the priority of many involved in its direction. The big picture, though, will be in full view long after our generation has yielded its wisdom to a finer generation.
So while the killing goes on and our tragedy resonates around the world, Syria's future today resembles France's future in the post Bastilles era. It also resembles the era of the pre-Continental Congress and the Constructional triumph in the birth of a new nation. No matter who the opposition is and no matter how the next generation of Syrians ascend to power, the responsibility that will be heaved upon our shoulders will yield greater men and women with a greater purpose in the service of Syrians. Waiting for that firmament moment is the hard part but knowing this Revolution is planting the good seeds is a relief to those fighting ignorance and tyranny. If you see weeds growing, it's no different than the weeds we have witnessed in the ones preceding La Cinquième République.
That's my prediction even though many will concentrate on the negatives of an extended timeframe when they should concentrate more on what the future holds for the region.
Copyrights © Reform Party of Syria (Project Syria, Inc.) 2003-2011

A Syrian Revolution Museum and a Holocaust Museum in Damascus
Farid Ghadry Blog
Reform Party of Syria
"As a proud Arab, my dignity is not connected to the fate or history of other countries but rather it is the result of direct self-questioning, self-dependence, and absorption in the delicate engineering of building a confident society."Syria is a crossroad of past civilizations that saw the rise of some of the most industrious and innovative people of past era. But Syria is also the base from which religious battles have been waged and modern ethnic wars pegging two people against each other (The Palestinians and the Israelis) still to this day defines its politics and policies.
Many understand the underlying reasons of waging a cultural and ethnic war on the Jews, which remains centered around Arab tyranny intent on diversionary tactics and distorted history. As a proud Arab, my dignity is not connected to the fate or history of other countries but rather it is the result of direct self-questioning, self-dependence, and absorption in the delicate engineering of building a confident society.
We, Syrians, have a lot to prove to reach that level of civilized sophistication. As our country writes a new history, it is incumbent upon us to filter through the bad influences affecting the Syrian opposition today like a virus affects a toddler. The Arab League is not an example by which Syrians need to set their Litmus civilization test upon or sync their watches with to process and define their future goals.
In fact, the Arab League represents everything that is wrong with our region. What benefits can we possibly derive from the mission of an organization fully in the service of its ruling families rather than the people barely existing in those countries?
Syrians can and should attend to their national needs by developing a vision dependent upon the self-reliance of their people and an independence of thoughts and practice able to create the conditions for a Renaissance. This vision starts with practical and focused acts able to dispatch our message for the future we are building to bury our modern past responsible for our miseries and decline.
Honoring the Syrian Revolution should be our duty. The horrific picture and videos, the stories, the Blogs, the charred pieces of wood or the broken pieces of concrete, the blood-stained scarves or the the sounds of mothers grieving or children dying must be displayed for the world to witness the barbarism all Syrians experienced unfairly over the last half a century. A portion of that museum should also be dedicated to the horrific actions of the Iranian regime and the Russian speeches in support of a violent dictator. There is no better way to do this but by honoring the Iranian people suffering as much from their regime of terror and tyranny. We must also honor the thousands of Alawites who stood by Syria and in support of a peaceful future together. Their courage is as judicious as ours.
But we Syrians must also turn a new page in our history. A page that guarantees us a seat amongst civilized nations without trampling upon our national interests. For us to express the New Syria we have no choice but to build a Holocaust museum to imperatively educate our people about the real history starting with the reasons why Israel exists in the region. If only Syrians can see the pictures of the Holocaust horror and understand the barbarism of the Nazi party the way many Israelis see what Assad is doing to us today and have expressed solidarity with our cause, we would then be able to grasp the importance of a Holocaust museum in Damascus.
Our neighborhood is dangerous, full of violence, and revenge is most on our mind in defending our honor. But what we lack are the traits that embody humanity for others the way we overwhelmingly showed our human side towards the killing of our own people. Killing people, no matter the reasons, is very wrong except to defend our physical being. Allowing the Arab League to influence us to continue on the path of hate will only lead to accepting that the killings that may result from that hate is justified. That, in short, what separates us from greatness.
The Syrian opposition must show independence today by expressing revolutionary and forward-looking new ideas able to bifurcate from our past. Even at the expense of offending some Arab League members. Our civilization is thousands of years old and with all due respect to many of the people of the Gulf countries, theirs has just started and not exactly on the right foot because it is led by families with clearly defined selfish goals.
To express that independence and a future based on understanding violence, there are no better way than to build a Syrian Revolution museum and a Holocaust museum in the timeless city of Damascus, the seat to our industrious past. Those ideas must come from the Syrian opposition of today leading the effort in liberating Syria.
But hope is one precious commodity if it is to be spun around asking Syrians to define their future when western countries, in support of that opposition, see little wrong in the Arab League or have an inherent incapacity to see our future due to their own different history with its own influences and perceptions. We, Syrians, are the victims of a League pressuring us to imitate their wrongful ways of cronyism and favoritism on one side and western countries unaware of the dangers that lie in not just promoting peace but in their ignorance of understanding the spirit to really promote it.
Will I or my fellow Syrians ever see a Syrian Revolution museum? The chances are better than good when we defeat Assad. Will I and my fellow Syrians ever see a symbol of understanding what it means to co-exist and to eradicate hate from the soul of our country that comes in the most visual forms of building a Holocaust Museum? Probably not given who is leading the opposition today, the influence peddling of the Arab League, and the unconsciousness of the west with regard to the carpenters needed and their tools for this difficult task.
Copyrights © Reform Party of Syria (Project Syria, Inc.) 2003-2011

Question: "Do angels appear to people today?"
GotQuestions.org/Answer: In the Bible angels appear to people in unpredictable and various ways. From a casual reading of Scripture, a person might get the idea that angelic appearances were somewhat commonplace, but that is not the case. Likewise, in our society there has been increasing interest in angels, and it would seem that angelic appearances are normal and common today. Angels appear in every religion, and generally seem to have the same role of messenger. In order to determine whether angels appear today, we must first get a biblical view of their ancient appearances.
The first appearance of angels in the Bible is in Genesis 3:24, when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. God placed guardian angels, or cherubim, to block the entrance with a flaming sword. The next angelic appearance is in Genesis 16:7, about 1900 years later. Hagar, the Egyptian servant who bore Ishmael to Abraham, was instructed by an angel to return and submit to her mistress, Sarai. Abraham was visited by God and two angels in Genesis 18:2, when God informed him of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The same two angels visited Lot and instructed him to escape the city with his family before it was destroyed (Genesis 19:1-11). The angels in this case also displayed supernatural power by blinding the wicked men who were threatening Lot.
When Jacob saw angels (Genesis 32:1), he immediately recognized them as the army of God. In Numbers 22:22, an angel confronted the disobedient prophet Balaam, but Balaam did not see the angel at first, although his donkey did. Mary received a visit from an angel who told her that she would be the mother of the Messiah, and Joseph was warned by an angel to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to protect them from Herod’s edict (Matthew 2:13). Often when angels appear, those who see them are struck with fear (Judges 6:22; 1 Chronicles 21:30; Matthew 28:5). Angels deliver messages from God and do His bidding, sometimes by supernatural means. In every case, the angels point people to God and give the glory to Him.
Modern reports of angelic visitations come in a variety of forms. In some cases, a stranger makes a statement or does something which prevents serious injury or death, and then mysteriously disappears. In other cases, a winged or white-clothed being is seen momentarily, then is gone. In both situations, the person is often left with a feeling of peace and assurance of God's presence. This type of visitation seems to agree with the biblical pattern as seen in Acts 27:23. Another type of visitation which is sometimes reported is the “angel choir” type. In Luke 2:13, the shepherds were visited by a heavenly choir as they were told of the birth of Jesus. Some people have reported similar experiences in places of worship. This experience seems to stretch the model, as it typically serves no purpose other than an emotional high. A third type of visitation is the physical feeling. Elderly people have often reported feeling as though arms or wings are wrapped around them at points of extreme loneliness. God is certainly the God of all comfort, and Scripture (Psalm 91:4) speaks of God covering with His wings. This may well be an example of that covering.
God is still just as active in the world as He has always been, and His angels are certainly still on the job. Just as they protected God's people in the past, we can be assured that they are guarding us today. Hebrews 13:2 instructs us, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” As we obey God's commands, it is quite possible that we may encounter His angels, even if we do not realize it. In special circumstances, God allowed His people to see His unseen servants, so they would take heart and continue in His service (2 Kings 6:16-17).
While we can be encouraged by this knowledge, we must also heed the warnings of Scripture: there are fallen angels who work for Satan who will do anything to subvert and destroy us. Galatians 1:8 warns us to beware of any “new” gospel, even if it is delivered by an angel. Colossians 2:18 warns us against the worship of angels. Several times in the Bible, when men bowed down before angels, those beings firmly refused to be worshiped. Any angel who receives worship, or does not cause glory to be given to God, is an imposter. Second Corinthians 11:14-15 clearly states that Satan and his angels disguise themselves as angels of light in order to deceive and lead astray anyone who will listen to them.
We can certainly be encouraged by the knowledge that God's angels are at work, and in special circumstances, we might even have one of those rare personal visitations. Greater than that knowledge is the knowledge that Jesus Himself has said, “Surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus, who made the angels and receives their worship, has promised us His own presence in our trials.
Recommended Resource: Angels: Elect & Evil by C. Fred Dickason.

Backlash to Netanyahu's Iran speech ignores Holocaust's enduring effect
By David Landau/Haaretz
Between the lines, in his speech Bibi was conducting a harsh reckoning with the predecessors of the Jewish leaders cheering him in that Washington auditorium. Israelis needed, as we know, an entire generation until they were able to look the sights of the Holocaust, its refugees, the very fact of its occurrence, straight in the eye. We needed another entire generation until we began to acknowledge, or at least to consider, the claim that there was something cold and aloof in the Yishuv's response and in its conduct even during the time of the Holocaust itself.
Something twisted burrowed deep into the inner workings of the reemergent nation and distorted its ways of thinking. The story about David Ben-Gurion, who berated a refugee who had escaped from the camps and somehow made it to Palestine at the end of 1944 for speaking about her experiences in "a foreign language" (Yiddish ) illustrates just to what extent such a sanctification of "practicality" could warp the mind. What was at play here, apparently, was a combination of a mental inability to grasp an unprecedented, inconceivable reality with an escape into a sense of complete political impotence. This, apparently, is what gave the leadership the strength to persevere.
Certainly, there were other elements as well. Future historians, and future psychoanalysts, will continue to try to decipher just what happened then. They would do well to also study what is happening here now.
To judge by the nearly Pavlovian reactions of ridicule and disgust that filled the press in regard to the AIPAC speech in which Benjamin Netanyahu drew a comparison between Auschwitz and the Iranian nuclear bomb - it appears that this syndrome, i.e., our inability emotionally to confront the Holocaust, has yet to be cured.
"Comparing Nazi Germany to Iran," my good friend Gideon Levy wrote here, "is to minimize and cheapen the Holocaust ... Israelis eat this stuff up. In a survey, 98 percent (! ) of Israelis responded that the Holocaust is the most important guiding principle to them, more than any other principle. This is the result of Netanyahu's speeches."
In an editorial entitled "Kitsch and death threats," this paper wrote mockingly that "to spice up his speech with one of those visual gimmicks he so loves, he even pulled out a photostat of correspondence in order to imply a comparison between U.S. President Barak Obama's cautious approach toward attacking Iran and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's refusal to bomb the rail lines to Auschwitz."
And historian Yechiam Weitz wrote on Ynet that "Netanyahu's comparison did not transform the reactor in Qom into Auschwitz. It transformed Auschwitz into another reactor that might be dangerous."
These responses, and many more like them, manifest that same repression, those same inhibitions. That same early pioneer, Eretz-Israel machismo which found it so difficult to accept the fact that there was someone who fully intended and was actually capable of murdering millions of Jews. That same clinging, just as back then, to the comforting belief: It's not happening, and even if it is - there's nothing we can do about it.
Certainly, one can disdain the style of Bibi's speech. "If it looks like a duck ...," he bellowed, with tasteless humor, to the thousands of cheering Jews in the audience. "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then what is it?"
However, his critics' fastidiousness does not exempt them from having to answer his question. Nor does it discharge them from the duty of historical discernment.
Many of us feel loathing and contempt for the frequent recourse of our right-wing leaders, Begin chief among them, to invoking the Holocaust in their every political speech and action. In doing so, they devalued the Holocaust time after time and profaned its memory.
Begin's letter to Ronald Reagan in 1982, in which he compared Yasser Arafat hiding in besieged Beirut to Hitler in his bunker in Berlin, still echoes infamously in Israel's annals. But this is not to say that the right-wingers, most especially the Bergson (Hillel Kook ) group in the United States, were not correct during the Holocaust, when they fought to create political pressure on Roosevelt to save the Jewish victims of the Holocaust - and were rudely rebuffed by the Jewish and Zionist establishment.
Between the lines, in his speech Bibi was conducting a harsh reckoning with the predecessors of the Jewish leaders cheering him in that Washington auditorium. Many of those applauding understood this. Netanyahu himself all too often wallows in that Revisionist propensity for hollow rhetoric coupled with cynical abuse of the memory of the Holocaust. He is recognized, moreover, at home and abroad, after six years at the helm of the country, as a prevaricator, a dissembler and indeed an outright liar on peace and the two-state solution (and on many other, less fateful matters as well).
But this does not mean that on this particular fateful matter, the Iranian nuclear bomb, which he has been addressing incessantly for 20 years now - and rightly so as a leader haunted by the Holocaust - that here too his positions are necessarily unfounded and his statements worthy only of derision and condemnation.
It is the unwillingness (or inability?) to make this distinction, together with the intensity of the almost instinctive dismissal by most analysts of his remarks to AIPAC, that raise the fear that our Israeli Holocaust syndrome is still with us, dulling our reason and distorting our judgment.

Syria: when the right to intervene becomes a duty
By Amir Taheri
Asharq Alawsat
What is the good of history if we learn nothing from it? This is the question that surged in my mind the other day as I followed Kofi Annan’s forlorn mission to Syria. The former Secretary General of the United Nation had been picked by his successor Ban Ki-moon and the Arab League to take the road to Damascus to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to stop massacring his people.Annan’s new mission reminded me of another episode in his distinguished diplomatic career in 2003. Then, as the prospect of war loomed larger, Annan had embarked on a “last-chance” mission to Baghdad to persuade Saddam Hussein to accept a “peaceful solution”.
On his way to Iraq, Annan briefed half a dozen columnists at a dinner on the fringes of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. None of us believed that Annan’s mission would get anywhere, and told him so without affecting his optimism.
After we had left the table, I walked with Annan to ask what Saddam should do to prevent foreign intervention.
Although he said he could not offer details, Annan answered with a list that, had Saddam agreed to implement even half of its items, would have destroyed the Ba’athist regime in Baghdad.
It was obvious that Annan, and those who backed his mission, missed a simple point: diplomacy does not work with regimes like that of Saddam.
Let’s return to Syria now. For a brief moment at the start of the uprising, President Assad hesitated at an intellectual fork on the road. The question he pondered was: to kill or not to kill? Whether because of his own analysis or under pressure from his entourage, Assad decided to kill. And once he had taken that decision, there was no turning back.
Like every language, every political system has its grammar. One cannot understand the Norwegian system with rules that apply to the political system in Syria and vice versa.
A study of the grammar of the present political system in Syria would show that, even if he wanted to, Assad could not embark on reforms that might satisfy his opponents.
All political systems have their founding myths. In the case of the system in Syria, however, what we have is a set of lies masquerading as myths.
The first lie is that of pan-Arabism.
The system is supposed to be an instrument for achieving that elusive unity.
However, we know that, under the Assads, Syria has moved steadily away from that objective. The Ba’ath Party, used by the Assads as a political fig-leaf, was instrumental in the military coup that ended the brief union with Egypt under Nasser. And since then, Syria has done more to divide than unite Arabs.
Over the past three decades, Syria has been closer to Iran than to any Arab country, ending up as a satellite of the Khomeinist regime. No wonder, Iranian spokesmen speak of Syria as if it were a province of the Islamic Republic.
The second lie is that of “resistance” supposedly against Israel. However, the truth is that since the Assads came to power the ceasefire line with Syria has been Israel’s quietest boundary with its neighbours.
The third lie concerns the regime’s claim to be protector of minorities. However, it was the Ba’ath that, with a stroke of the pen, deprived ethnic Kurds of their citizenship. The fact that the regime divides Syrians into “minorities” that need protection is reason enough for perpetuating sectarianism. While none of the “minorities” have full citizenship rights, the Sunni Muslim majority is presented as a monster waiting to be unshackled.
In recent months, the regime has added new lies to its founding lies. Assad tells foreign visitors that if he steps aside Syria would slip into civil war. The truth is that Syria is not divided into two camps of more or less equal size, the key condition for a civil war. If Assad steps aside, Syrians, including a part of his regime, could work out a peaceful transition.
Assad is desperately working to provoke a civil war. His regime has tried to divide the opposition, even by creating fake opposition groups run by his intelligence services. His “shabbiha” commit mass slaughter with the aim of provoking an armed reaction that would, in turn, allow Assad to describe his opponents as terrorists.
The good news is that, sooner or later, even if disguised as myths, political lies are exposed.
The above analysis is not intended to knock Annan or diplomacy as such. It is wise to allow diplomacy to take its full course as it did in Iraq, to persuade the world public opinion that there is no diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis as long as Assad remains in power.
Annan’s mission has highlighted a fact that many recognized from the start. Syria is heading for a situation in in which the right to intervene, now well established in international law, becomes a duty for those capable of making a difference.
With Assad, and despots like him, no diplomat, not even one as brilliant as Annan, is likely to get anywhere.
Diplomacy cannot persuade the Assad regime to act against its political DNA. This regime came into being through violence and has maintained power by a mixture of massacre, mass imprisonment, censorship and corruption. It cannot behave against its nature. In a bad system, even the best of men cannot do much good while a good system may prevent bad men from doing the worst. Having bad men running a bad system is a recipe for tragedy.

Syria is drowning
By Mshari al-Zaydi/Asharq Alawsat
I don't know what planet joint UN – Arab League Envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, is living on, following his recent statements from Damascus.
The man appears completely out of his depth. Can you believe that he made these statements at the same time that pro-regime Shabiha militia were carrying out an appalling and horrendous massacre in Homs that resulted in the deaths of dozens of women and children, in a shocking scene that was completely indifferent to international condemnation?
Annan said that he was "optimistic” following a second round of talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday. However he also acknowledged that it’s going to be “tough” to reach an agreement to stop the bloodshed. Speaking to journalists in Damascus, he added “it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be difficult but we have to have hope.” Annan explained that there was a general desire for peace in Syria, adding “I am optimistic for several reasons.”
I do not understand Annan’s optimism, nor do I understand how UN Secretary-General [Ban Ki-Moon] can be so sanguine about Annan's mission in Syria.
The reality that everybody is trying to dismiss, with the exception of Saudi Arabia and the majority of the Gulf States, is that what is happening in Syria is a revolution to oust a brutal regime, not just “differences in opinion” or demands for limited reform.
The Russians are failing to differentiate between the victims and the perpetrators in Syria. More than this, they are leaning towards the perpetrators, and this is immoral, false, and a distortion of the facts on the ground. What is even more unfortunate is that the Arab League seems to have acquiesced to this during the recent meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. Regrettably, Arab League Secretary-General [Nabil Elaraby], the disciple of Mohammed Hassenein Heikal, has endorsed this disgraceful agreement between the Russians and the Arabs on the Syrian crisis.
It is preposterous to compare the pro-regime Shabiha militia, who have raped women and killed children in Homs and Hama, with their innocent civilian victims. This comparison, in itself, is another despicable crime.
There are those who say that what happened in Cairo between the Russians and the Arabs constitutes a breakthrough in the rigid Russian position that is supportive of the al-Assad regime. This emanates from the belief that Arab League and UN resolutions will be the launch pad for resolving the Syrian crisis, and that ultimately, such resolutions will ensure that the regime – or to be more precise, that Bashar al-Assad and his cronies – relinquish power in the same manner as the Yemeni scenario. However in my own view, this is overly optimistic. Russia is fighting with the west over the dead bodies of the Syrian people. For Russia, Syria is a theatre of war with the West, even if this comes at the expense of the innocent Syrian people. This is a battle over regional interests and security, not a struggle over a humanitarian or moral issue.
It was claimed that the Russian position was subject to the presidential election in Russia, and that if Putin won this election – as he did – then the escalatory tone that was being employed by Russia to provoke a sense of national patriotism, would slowly soften. However, the Russians rushed to reassert their "strong" stance on the Syrian crisis, which was no different than their original position. The core of the Russian position focuses on aiding the al-Assad regime to hold out, and promoting the theory – which is solely held by the Damascus regime – that a “balanced” conflict is taking place between the regime and the Syrian uprising, or the “armed gangs”, as is reported by the al-Assad media. In reality, attempting to obtain a Russian stance congruent with the Arab and particularly the Gulf stance, in order to save the Syrian people from the atrocities that are being committed by the al-Assad regime, is like chasing a mirage.
Russian political discourse – in the same manner as Chinese political discourse – does not focus on humanitarian or moral dimensions. This political discourse views everything in a purely geo-political manner. Hence, it regards the Syrian scene as a stereotypical Cold War battle, and they cannot be blamed for that. After all, you cannot ask a stranger to share your pains!
I believe that "ignoring" the Russians and the Chinese, i.e. not being overtly hostile toward them, is the ideal solution. We should endeavour to resolve this crisis without any consideration for the Russians and their followers in Beijing.
Some might view this idea as being unrealistic. But facts indicate that if three specific countries decided to sincerely join forces and coordinate with one other, then the brutal al-Assad regime would collapse sooner rather than later, and at a far lesser cost.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan, in the region surrounding Syria, are the countries capable of tipping the balance and disciplining the pro-regime Shabiha militia.
This solution does not need a miracle; rather all that is required is for the Syrian opposition to be given political and international legitimacy, namely through the recognition of the Syrian National Council [SNC]. If the SNC were provided with buffer zones in Jordan and Turkey, they could resist and surround the pro-regime Shabiha militia from the north and the south, namely via Bab al-Hawa and Jisr ash-Shugur in the north and Deraa in the south. In addition to this, it would also not be difficult or costly to arm the Free Syrian Army [FSA], providing it with weapons like RPGs in order to counter the al-Assad regime’s helicopters.
Indeed merely providing explicit political support and weapons to obstruct the free movement of the al-Assad regime’s tanks and aircraft would be more than sufficient to topple the regime. This would allow the Syrian opposition to redress the mismatch of forces and increase the defections from the al-Assad regime.
We do not need international or regional “consensus” in order to support the Syrian people; particularly as such “consensus” has never and will never be achieved.
Following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, no international consensus was obtained to drive Saddam's troops out of Kuwait. Anyone who looks at history, and reviews the arguments that were made at the time, can clearly see this. When the Muslims in Bosnia were being massacred by the Serbs, no international consensus was obtained to support the Bosnians. Indeed, the Russians – at the time – supported Belgrade against the Muslims. If we had focused all our attention on convincing the Russians to change their position, we would still be in the midst of the Balkan crisis today, whilst massacres would still be taking place throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Those who fear civil war breaking out in Syria, if the opposition is armed, or Sunni extremists coming to power, like US President Barack Obama or Egyptian Foreign Minister [Mohamed Kamel Amr], are giving Bashar al-Assad the green light to continue to pursue his military campaign and butcher more Syrian women and children, in the same manner as what happened recently in Homs.
They must realize that the al-Assad regime was not overthrown by the efforts of the first Dabi mission [Arab League monitoring delegation], nor will it be toppled by the “second Dabi mission” which is headed by Kofi Anna today, as described by my colleague Iyad Abu Shackra in his own column for Asharq Al-Awsat.
On the contrary, the international reluctance to carry out clinical airstrikes against Syria, as suggested by US Senator John McCain, only serves to incite the Syrian revolution, as it will provoke the Syrian revolutionaries to take the decision to respond with violence to avenge the massacres that are being committed by the regime. This regime has never stopped promoting sectarian violence and inciting the fears of Syria’s minorities.
The Syrians won't stop protesting no matter how long it takes. However, the most extreme voice will win in the end, particularly as the world has turned its back on the tragedies being suffered by the Syrian people.
Protests started peacefully in Syria, but after a whole year passed with conspiracies, international procrastination, successive missions and ridiculous Arab League solutions, the FSA and the military dimensions of this battle have emerged.
If this undervaluing of the tragedy being suffered by the Syrian people persists, we won't be able to blame the opposition if it turns to military and security escalation, or even if it turns to extremist political discourse which could go beyond the borders of the Syrian State.
In summary, it would be wrong if anyone in the world or the region assumes that time alone is capable of aborting the Syrian revolution. No, this revolution will only get stronger and nastier, particularly with the international community letting down the Syrian people and proposing paltry solutions.
We must brace ourselves for another chapter of bloodshed, tears, and instability in Syria. Within a few months, such missions and political solutions might be viewed as nothing more than empty political talk, far removed from reality.
Regional and international countries can still introduce some initiatives, but time is running out, and we may soon be crying over spilt milk.
In summary, let’s forget about the Russians and the Chinese, Obama’s reluctance to take action, and the conspiracy theories being espoused by some Arab parties. Those who are willing to take action and who believe in the Syrian revolution should act now: namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, Jordan and Turkey. At the very least, those of the above who are ready to take the initiative must do so now!Reaching a consensus is impossible. Those who are ready should act.

Al-Assad regime playing for time
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat
We are facing a new absurd diplomatic phase between the international community and the Bashar al-Assad regime that is attempting to play for time as usual, and this is what it has been doing for a full year of the Syrian revolution. However the last such game it has played is the “no-paper” game, which took place between al-Assad and the UN envoy Kofi Annan.
For after everybody was waiting for al-Assad’s response regarding what was proposed by Mr. Annan, the al-Assad Foreign Ministry spokesman came out to say that “Kofi Annan presented during his recent visit to Syria ‘no-paper’ suggestions to exchange views on them, and the Syrian ‘no-paper’ response to those suggestions was very objective and of an illustrative character of the way the preliminary suggestions are to be implemented.” This is concise language that confirms that the al-Assad regime is not talking about steps proposed by Mr. Annan, but rather it is talking about “an informal proposal for the exchange of views” which were not put forward to the al-Assad regime in writing, and which the tyrant’s regime also did not respond to in writing, in other words what is happening – simply speaking – is non-binding, valueless, empty talk. From here, it becomes clear that the al-Assad regime is not taking Annan’s mission seriously, and is not considering the weight of the international community, for so long as the al-Assad regime does not see fleets being deployed or the flow of arms to the opposition, it will not believe anything, in the same manner as previous such regimes, whether we are talking about Saddam or Gaddafi. If al-Assad does not hear the roar of airplanes, he will not be deterred. For everything that the al-Assad regime had heard and seen until now is mere agitation, nothing more and nothing less, whether from his enemies or his friends. Al-Assad, for example, is not concerned about the scolding he received from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a Q & A session at the Russian State Duma, during which Lavrov said “unfortunately, our advice is reflected practically in his action far from all the time and far from in a timely manner.” He added “he [al-Assad] had approved useful laws reviving the system and making it more pluralistic, but it had been done after a long delay.” Lavrov also confirmed that the proposal to begin national dialogue in Syria was also “slow”, warning that this “inertia” may “ultimately engulf everyone.”
All of this fails to concern al-Assad, even when he heard yesterday that Moscow, for the first time, had allowed US troops to use its territory to carry out operations targeting Afghanistan, and even if there are some in the al-Assad regime who are asking: if Russia is so concerned about the US pervasion in the region, wouldn’t they refuse to allow the US to use Russian territory? However this development will also not concern al-Assad, despite the fact that it is an important indicator!
Therefore, what will convince al-Assad – and those close to him – of danger is when he sees a buffer zone being established, the flow of arms [to the opposition], and the deployment of fleets, via a coalition of the willing, rather than the UN Security Council. This is the only language that the al-Assad regime understands, rather than verbal messages, particularly as this regime cast aside the fig leaf long ago!