Paving a new silk road
Executive Magazine
February 15, 2013
Increasing trade between Syria and Iran vastly favors Tehran
Increasing trade between Syria and Iran vastly favors Tehran
Today, the Syrians are fighting a security-dominated and suppressive regime that resembles all fascist dictatorships. However, it cannot be labeled sectarian, as Maliki says, because Sunni and Christian pockets are fighting alongside Assad because they share the same interests or fears.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Gennady Gatilov, expressed his country’s support to holding a ‘Geneva 2’ meeting for solving the crisis in Syria to discuss specific implementation of Geneva Statement items.
Obama’s logic is frightening, and his understanding of the region terrifying and in doubt, particularly as he is the man who saw a revolution in Bahrain and pushed Mubarak to step down while today he is saying that he is working hard to assess the situation in Syria!
In light of the absence of any signs pointing to an imminent military settlement or political solution, the opposition has no choice but to go back to the Syrian domestic scene and rely on its political and military powers to even out the balance of powers and impose the solution wanted by the Syrians.
The President of the Syrian coalition Mouaz al-Khatib said that Ambassador Robert Ford and King Abdullah II together with Iran and Russia want to break the Syrian people’s will.
The US failure to intervene in Syria has ruined everything that has been achieved—with great difficulty—in the war on extremist ideology and terrorist groups
Assad’s ouster is inevitable, but how will it be achieved? What price will be paid by Syria and the entire region? This is the fundamental question and the crux of the matter. If the intention is to let the Syrian people topple Assad by themselves, this represents a real danger for a variety of reasons.
Female volunteers are joining the so-called the National Defense Forces, which gather together existing popular committees of pro-regime civilian fighters under a new, better-trained and armed hierarchy.
Syria denied media reports that it intended to print SYP 2,000 banknotes, branding them ”part of the conspiracy against Syria which aims to undermine the Syrian economy, spread concerns and discredit the Syrian currency.”
Syria and Iran agree on $1 billion credit facility focusing on energy and electricity.
Ahmadinejad meets Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi in Tehran and says the Syrian people will overcome the difficult conditions adding “Syria will cross the crisis it encounters into the land of safety.”
Because Syria is a country of paramount importance, the issue there is not just about toppling the regime, while retaining the same inherited and historical structure, including the ideology, of the regime itself. Indeed, we are dealing here with a smaller version of countries like Germany and Japan after the Second World War, in that they were countries whose internal circumstances led them to destabilise their regions and subsequently the world.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expressed his country’s support to President Bashar al-Assad’s initiative to resolve the crisis in Syria.
President Bashar al-Assad gave a speech on Saturday that created a lot of reactions by local and international actors. Below is the text of the speech as translated by the Syrian official news agency (SANA).
Iran is a difficult puzzle to resolve. After losing Syria, as well as losing half of its oil revenue as a result of Western sanctions, Tehran may be obliged to agree to a truce and the freezing of its nuclear program. Even if this were to happen, Gulf States are still facing numerous threats, particularly with the al-Maliki government in Iraq explicitly falling under Iran’s sway.
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces reminds the international community of its moral and humanitarian obligations, as this new massacre came just before the visit of the international envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi to Damascus, and amidst the talk about new initiatives. The massacre also came after the world’s powers knew of the regime’s use of Scud missiles and their failure to react towards such serious violations by taking any serious actions necessitated by international laws and humanitarian obligations.
The Syrian National Coalition rejected a newly launched Iranian initiative to solve the crisis in Syria, branding it as ‘overdue’ warning Iran that Assad’s regime will fall and the Syrian people will remain.
In a response to remarks made recently by Haytham al-Maleh, a senior member of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces regarding targeting civilian Russian and Iranian citizens, the NC issued a statement Wednesday condemning these remarks and confirming that they do not represent the Coalition.
The damage done by playing for time has extended to areas outside Syria in the last two months. The members of the alliance supporting Assad, from Russia and Iran to Lebanon, have found the opportunity to play off the regional situation; they have taken steps, whose importance varies one country to another.
