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Subscribe to RSSMOSCOW - A top Kremlin aide said on Monday Moscow could do little more for Syrian President Bashar Assad, opening the door to a shift in Russia's position after 10 months of bloodshed.
Moscow is one of Assad's few remaining allies, resisting pressure to call for his resignation and, with China, blocking a Western-crafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned a crackdown that has killed thousands of civilians.
But Russia can do no more, state-run news agency Itar-Tass quoted Mikhail Margelov, a senior lawmaker who is President Dmitry Medvedev's special Africa envoy and has also engaged in diplomacy over Syria, as saying.
"(Our) veto on the U.N. Security Council resolution was the last instrument allowing Bashar al-Assad to maintain the status quo in the international arena," Margelov was quoted as saying.
The veto "was a serious signal to the president of Syria from Russia. This veto has exhausted our arsenal of such resources," said Margelov, who is chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia's upper parliament house.
The Syrian government says the country is being attacked by extremists but some civilians say the only armed gangs in the city are the security forces. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
Syria earlier rejected the Arab League's wide-ranging new plan to end the crisis, saying the League's call for a national unity government in two months is a clear violation of Syrian sovereignty.
President Bashar Assad blames the uprising that erupted in March on terrorists and armed gangs acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilize the country. His regime has retaliated with a brutal crackdown that the U.N. says has killed more than 5,400 people.
There is growing urgency, however, to find a resolution to a crisis that is growing increasingly violent as regime opponents and army defectors who have switched sides have started to fight back against government forces.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in a suburb outside the capital, Damascus, to mourn 11 residents who were either shot dead by security forces or killed in clashes between army defectors and troops a day earlier, activists said.
The crowd in Douma — which one activist said was 60,000-strong — was under the protection of dozens of army defectors who are in control of the area after regime forces pulled out late Sunday, said Samer al-Omar, a Douma resident.
The reports could not be independently confirmed.
Some say the Arab League observers' mission has been a failure. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
The Arab League has tried to stem the bloodshed by condemning the crackdown, imposing sanctions and sending a team of observers to the country. On Sunday, the League called for a unity government within two months, which would then prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held under Arab and international supervision.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Somebody should take the bastard out for good. End of problem.
I agree that there is a place for assassination.
Here's the problem. Regardless of how al-Assad's regime ends (his death or exile), Islamists or other factions are likely to take over. Just like Egypt, Libya, and to a lesser extent Tunisia, the downfall of the regime in those places resulted (and is resulting) in instability. Right now in Libya Kaddafi fighters are in control of a town. Other factions are calling for the ouster of the interim leader there. In Egypt they've taken to Tahrir square again demanding the military relinquish control.
So we must be careful what we wish for. The replacement regime to Assad will likely contribute to the region's instability.
If there is one potential positive outcome, it is that whatever group replaces Assad probably won't be so friendly with Iran.
Syria is being prepared for the Muslim brotherhood.bbc: Obama ''We will support this outcome by pressuring President Assad to get out of the way of this transition,'' I really think Obama should keep his nose out of this as it is not the business of the USA. We stick our nose in everyones business and many more people die as in Libya and now in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood is in control,doesn't seem possible but the entire Islamic world is becoming much more radical on Obama's watch.since Obama is calling for all these leaders of other countries to go I will try ''Obama must go''
Of course, GW Bush did a much better job in Iraq. There is now a Shiite-majority government with both Sunni and Shiite radicals who both detest the United States. Where is all this cheap oil we were supposed to get due to a "US friendly" government? Gas was much cheaper prior to the 2003 Gulf war. We need to keep our noses out of external affairs unless our country's safety is in direct peril. The best way to support our military is to keep them out of foreign quagmires.
"Liberty&Freedom LuVr"
Interesting name you have there. If you love liberty & freedom, then shouldn't you support the liberty / freedom of the citizens of other countries to select whomever they want to lead them? As far as I can tell you are saying they have rights to liberty and freedom as long as they chose what you would chose. Hmmm, that seems a little hypocrtical somehow?
It wouldn't matter to me which party our President was from - in the current circumstances in Syria, I believe expressing disapproval of Assad is reasonable. If their fellow Arabs are disgusted with their treatment of civilians, shouldn't we be too? In fact it is probably the one country in the region right now that you can't say we are expressing our position based on oil reserves.
And unless I'm confused, the citizens that Assad is killing are asking for...
liberty and freedom...
Battsman I am for liberty&freedom for the USA what the muslims do to each other is none of our business,in other words in regards to these issues noninterference.
@onejulia: Your idea sounds good, but it will not solve the problem, it's bigger than just Bashar Assad. Take him out, a nice visceral response to all that is going on in Syria, but his regime would remain in tact, what will be do about that? Doing nothing would mean the situation would only worsen and instead of posters of Assad, the Syrians would get thousands of sculptures immortalizing the man. Take him out - and all his cronies, lackies and ardent supporters. But, lets' have someone else do it this time and not America.
Assad isnt legitimate therefore there isnt any Syrian sovereignty. No free and fair elections. No consent of the governed.
Actually, Russia can do a lot more, but they won't not can't. They can join the rest of the civilized world in condemning Assad's brutality against his own people. They can stop shipping him the arms to continue his slaughter. I'm sure there are plenty more, but those two come to mind primarily.
They could do more, but then they can't be too critical of tactics that the Russian government may have to use after the next sham election that puts Putin back in power.
Why would Russia do more?
They are still being able to sale arms $$$$.
Syria is exporter in Oil, so is Russia. Oil price goes up, profit goes up.
Russia cant do more is when UN prevent shipments to Syria from Russia. iono bout them oils though.
van-1120261 The UN can't prevent Russia from nothing, because Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and would veto it. That happens when you have a lot of nukes.
How about not shipping arms to Syria?
Headline on today's Jerusalem Post. "Russia Agrees To Sell Syria $550 Million Worth of FIGHTER JETS." Two faced-lying Hypocrits. No different than our own Disgrace-Hussein.
No different, huh?
Alan-1380274
- Spoken like a true whackjob. Grow up, kid.
@Alan
Please elaborate.
Just like the US supplying F-16 fighter and billions of dollars to Pakistan who is supporting terrorist who fight against the US
For the life of me I'll never understand why Russia has never really wanted to end the cold war. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, they could have had a thriving country by now had they just played strait with Europe and the US. They seem to enjoy working against the greater peace loving world than working with us.
Some Russians have never wanted to end the Cold War for the same too-human reasons that so many Americans insist that the Vietnamese or Korean Wars could have been "won," that addictive mix of nationalistic and personal pride that cannot accept anything less than victory. The rumbling and grumbling about staying in Afghanistan or returning to Iraq or getting militarily involved in Iran are manifestations of that feeling, as it is with some of those who attempt to relitigate conflicts that ended nearly a century and a half ago.
I disagree, the answer is simpler than that. Simply put, the list of trading partners that Russia has is continuing to dwindle. There is a huge market in the third world for arms and Russia is all too happy to fill that void. If Russia could properly develop their oil and gas (and keep it out of the control of organized crime), you'd be putting Russian gas in your car.
Fear, and fear alone. They have been through so much, there is no room for them to trust anybody anymore.
Too bad; together we could put China, and Islam back in its place.
ChuckinOlathe-
As far as putting Russian oil and gas into American vehicles, whether or not Lukoil distributes in your area, you might want to google that name.
Fear, and fear alone. They have been through so much, there is no room for them to trust anybody anymore.
Too bad; together we could put China, and Islam back in its place.
My point exactly sonar guy. What a lost opportunity.
I read Pravda as I get a different view from them than our American papers. There is an article on there right now of Russias economy. It is going very well according to that article and the grading given them by international organizations.
Boy are the American people going to fall hard.
It is a puzzlement - after all, when everyone on the planet is on the same page, would there not be peace? - Peace, so that a countries efforts, energies and resources could be focused on it's people, seeing to it that they have shelter, food on the table, medical care -
let us all pray for peace
Russia has a flat income tax. We should be so lucky.
@madmadam. If you read Pravda in the original Russian then you may know an old Soviet joke about there being no pravda in Pravda. Apperently not much has changed sence Soviet times. For those on this vine that don't speak Russian "pravda" is Russian for "truth". Not sure if irony was/ is lost on its edditors.
Leave it to Russia and China to be the ones supporting tyrants. Fitting, isn't it?
I just read the other day that China will and has already started loosing jobs back to the USA. Fuel cost for shipping has out pasted cheep labor cost, and with the Americans push to buy American first, the jobs have started to flow back here where they belong. Now If we can just get read of all the Congress people that allowed the jobs to be shipped overseas to start with we can keep those jobs here. But to do that We need to get read of the Rep's on the High Court that let the flood of money from anywhere in the world to flow into the elections.
"Birds of a feather" - It's all about control; controlling their own people.
Ruken says,
"Leave it to Russia and China to be the ones supporting tyrants. Fitting, isn't it?"
That is really quite hilarious.They may support left-wing dictators.But there's not a ring-wing dictator around,that we aren't notorious for supporting.
Huh? Alan, are you disparaging our fairly elected president? He's not even remotely similar to the nasty words you spout. What can't you tolerate about our Democratic process? I suggest one from a right wing-nut near past... 'America, Love it or Leave it'.
ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha! the clock is tickin for you to get a lickin.....come out come out wherever you are......cuz we gonna find you ASS-AD !!!! we will get you and beat you......you can run but you can't hide !!!
Just this morning -- TODAY -- Russia confirmed they already have a ship loaded with warplanes, bo mbs and am mun ition bound for Syria! Russia will just keep talking out of both sides of their two-faced government while enabling Assad to continue his program of planned population control.
Kill enough freedom loving people around the world, and nations can install tyranny everywhere.
Exactly !!!
It would be historically consistent for Russia to lend support to murderers and tyrants.
expatdownunda,
You mean like,Mabarouk,Batista,Marcos,Trujillo,Pinochet,Mobuto,Somoza,etc.Oh,no wait sorry,those were tyrants we supported.
And they supported Castro, Ortega, Arafat, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Kim il Sung, FARC, the IRA, Ceausescu, and Ulbricht.
What's your point, Bob?
You would think the Russians would try to stay the heck away from Muslims. They really don't have a good relationship with them. They were hammered by the Afghans and their neighboring istans. Their history with Chechnya isn't exactly one of loving brotherhood and compassion. Even China with their brutal history of smashing digruntled muslims has a better chance with the muslims than Russia. The only friend Syria is going to keep good relationships with is Iran, and the Supreme Leader there hates everybody that is not a walking, swalking, extremists like himself. If the international Assad supporters ever stop, Syria will attack Israel. That will be their last ditch effort to stay in power. Russia has already said if the Arab League wants to send Arab troops in to stop the slaughter, they will have no objections. Barry Obongo isn't going to do anything. The Arab League isn't going to send troops. So I guess it will just fester until enough Syrian troops defect to the other side and then Assad will shoot missiles at Israel.
Barry Obongo? Is that your name for our duly elected president? (Are you old enough to be using the computer without permission?) Suppose he did start a war with Syria...you would back him then? Your free-floating hatred of President Obama has negated your ideas on Syria. People who do not call each other names get taken more seriously. You'll learn that when you grow up.
What happens after he goes the way of G'daffy? or Mubarek? Does this mean that Christians will have 48 hours to leave? Strange to think that this brutal dictator allows some religious freedoms.
It's the mid east dude; They don't know any better and always replace tyrants with tyrants. I think they just dig the excitement or something; you know, they got to always have something to complain about.
The Syrian civil war is between the autocratic dictatorship of Assad and the terrorist forces of radical Islam. The voices calling for freedom and democracy will be stilled no matter which side wins. Our troops should not be risked and our money should not be thrown into this conflict. Let the blow hards and big shots in the Arab League spend their money and risk their lives for once in their shoddy history.
It's good to hear that Russia is sobering up about this serious issue. All that is needed to put an end to this nightmare for the good citizens is to get China on board. Without the support of the Arab League, Russia, and China, Assad will no longer have any real support... well aside from Iran. If the Arab League and U.N. work together, this brutal dictator can be deprived of his weapons of bloodshed and money to fund the slaughter. The people of Syria will take care of the rest.
The Chinese will never do that. They would not risk losing their grip on the trillion dollar Paladium mine under Afghanistan that they have been mining the whole time. They pay off the Taliban, and a few Afghan officials, these guys move to someplace nice with their millions. They both win.
Ourselves, and the Afghan people lose.
Russia must be losing money and business!!! In other words they must see it's starting to cost them supporting murderous dictators and they'll be turning on Iran in a minute.
The jerks already did enough damage shipping him arms a couple of weeks ago. Whoever in Russia was behind that, shame on you.
Just hope that if or when Assad steps down, it doesn't become another opportunity for The Islam Brotherhood and other radical Muslems. To the West: be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
The Syrian people have the right of self determination. When the majority of the Syrian people decide enough is enough Assad will be deposed. It should be left to the Syrians to determine the government they prefer. The likelyhood that any new government will be strongly influenced if not under Sharia law should further act as a deterance to outside western intervention.
In order for freedom to be truely respected it must be earned by the recipiants.
Let Freedom Ring . . .
Sounds like the Russians are finally hanging Assad out to dry. That's a good thing.
I just sit and wonder what all these other countries are thinking when they watch CNN broadcast all those G.O.P.
wanna-bees eating each other for lunch ! I'm not so sure that a Democratic government is what they have in mind. LoL
all they have to do is ask the us. hell we`ll give money to anybody for anything .
Duality at extreams closing up; is it a good sign?
Time shall show.
With Iran situation obscurity prevail.
Let's see: Russia's friends are Iran, Syria, um.....Iran's friends are Russin, Syria, Chile....China's friends are North Korea, Myamary, Iran....China has no interest in Russina anymore...I don't think Cuba even cares about Russia anymore...Syria's friends are Iran and Russia....I guess when they have their annual Evil Empire convention, there won't be too many guests...