Focus Syria

Lately, there has been fairly little coverage on Israel, mainly due to the horrific events unfolding in Syria. For somebody with several years worth of experience following Norwegian media’s ME coverage, it is almost bizarre to watch the media show at home as it unfolds.

For several days in a row, media has shown us gory pictures of maimed persons, of endless funerals marred by more violence, of distraught parents and traumatized children. Dagsavisen cannot bring itself to believe that Russia and China made a mockery out of the UNSC, and had this editorial in print yesterday where they lament human loss, but appear to be uncomfortable at condemning Russia and China for their veto:

UN SIDELINED

Saturday was a dark day for the UN. In spite of a diluted resolution on Syria, China and Russia stopped it forcefully. 13 countries were in favor of it. With two veto powers opposing it, no resolution supporting the Arab leagues diplomatic work towards the Assad regime became a reality.

A UNSC resolution would not have been a magic formula to end violence in Syria. However, had Russia turned its back on Syria, this would have been a forceful signal over Assad being isolated internationally. Instead, by now he can continue his assaults on peaceful demonstrators and armed insurgents, backed by his most important ally.

The defeat in the UNSC is a partial cost of the Libyan war. Russia and China are for good reasons suspicious over other veto power’s intentions to stick to the UN’s resolutions, after the UN’s mandate was morphed to the unrecognizable in Libya. However, to Russia this is mainly a politics of power. Syria is the closest ally of Russia in this region.

It is important to put pressures upon the Russians, making clear the Assad regime’s killings and suppression is not tenable. Hopefully, Russia is serious about its alternate pathway to a solution in Syria. By tomorrow, FM Lavrov leaves for Damascus.         He carries a great responsibility upon his shoulders. Perhaps he intends to negotiate a solution like that Said Arabia arranged in Yemen, making Assad able to relinquish power, giving it to someone near him.

This will not be a solution to the conflict. But it will be progress. There is need of haste. Every day takes a toll of victims in a conflict so far proving more lethal than the other insurgencies combined.

Other editorials in major outlets reflect pretty much the same sentiment, some citing UNICEF death figures for Syrian Children, whereas others have found brave individuals who speak about the horrors they are suffering.

Quite rightly everybody is upset, commentators demand that Assad steps down, and request Norwegian action. So far, the official response can mainly be summed up in the press release from FM Støre, before the scandalous vote in the UNSC:

Important resolution on Syria in the UN

“The Government is deeply concerned about the situation in Syria. It is both dangerous and unacceptable, and is looking more and more like a civil war. This is underscored by the latest, unconfirmed reports of new attacks in Homs,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Efforts continue to get a resolution on Syria passed in the UN Security Council, and there will be new meetings today.

“It is now urgent for the international community to take a common stance on the situation in Syria. Norway supports the Arab League’s peace plan for Syria, and we hope that the members of the Security Council, particularly the permanent members, will soon endorse the plan. This plan appears to be the most realistic means of finding a political solution to the conflict,” said Mr Støre.

Foreign Minister Støre will discuss the situation in Syria with his colleagues and representatives from the other Nordic countries, Germany and Russia in the margins of the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Hamburg on 5 February.

Tellingly there have been no further postings on the grave escalation after the UNSC fracas. While the US and other  Arab and European nations either recall their ambassadors for consultation or simply decide to close their Damascus representation, but Norway’s embassy will remain open for business as usual – albeit with reduced staff – even if ambassador Rolf Willy Hansen calls the situation ‘terrible’. Norwegian opposition politicians are frustrated by this lack of coordination with other important countries, and the Conservative party is, from what I could find after a quick look through political parties’s websites, one of the very few parties that has consistently pretested Norway’s lackluster performance in Syria.

Much more serious is it that one of our most talented and interesting contributors to the public discourse, Sara Azmeh Rasmussen now questions the credibility of our FM Støre. Rasmussen, with her background from Syria and ability for independent thinking concludes an oped published in Aftenposten:

The number of casualties is approaching 8000 persons and grows daily.  Human beings, people of flesh and blood, including children, are dying while I write these lines. While  leaders and foreign ministers in the EU, the USA and other countries have  clearly stated their points and presented demands to Syria and the global society, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to show a lack of concern that smacks of hypocrisy. Some times, avoiding to take responsibility and protect a vulnerable population, is the same as to give a «licence to kill».

Sadly, I think the FM is more interested in what his paymasters at the Unions and affiliated organizations dictate. One would be fooled to look to the Norwegian People’s Aid to discover any traces of concern or solidarity for the Syrian nation. In the midst of the gruesome killings committed on the ground in many a Syrian town and hamlet, their focus is myopically on the Palestinians, or at least the tiny proportion of  Palestinians who have seized the power and refuses to let go.

However, in spite of wave of sympathy for Syrians, nobody so far have organized a peace rally in solidarity with these tested people. I would at least have thought that the Blitz crowd could have offered some sort of mobilization, if only to offer Oslo dwellers caught in the big chill a fun way of keeping warm!