The latest exclusive by Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin is entitled “Inside the quiet effort to plan for a post-Assad Syria.” Two days ago, the reliable conduit for all the latest “democracy promotion” news blogged on The Cable: For the last six months, 40 senior representatives of various Syrian opposition groups have been meeting quietly in Germany under the tutelage of the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) to plan for how to set up a post-Assad Syrian government. The project, which has not directly involved U.S. government officials but was partially funded by the State Department, is gaining increased relevance this month as the violence in Syria spirals out of control and hopes for a peaceful transition of power fade away. The leader of the project, USIP’s Steven Heydemann, an academic expert on Syria, has briefed administration officials on the plan, as well as foreign officials, including on the sidelines of the Friends of Syria meeting in Istanbul last month. The project is called “The day after: Supporting a democratic transition in Syria.” Heydemann spoke about the project in depth for the first time in an interview with The Cable. He described USIP’s efforts as “working in a support role with a large group of opposition groups to define a transition process for a post-Assad Syria.”
Category: Mid-East
The Former chief of Egypt’s Intelligence Service, Omar Suleiman, has died on Thursday morning at the age of 76 in Cleveland, USA, while taking part in a series of medical tests. Reuters quoted Suleiman´s aide,…
Syria has been in turmoil since March 2011. Western countries have intervened in Syria in a high-profile manner since the beginning of the turmoil, first imposing unilateral sanctions on the Bashar al-Assad government, then presenting…
There has been a ridiculous notion amongst numerous left groups and those opposed to the Syrian government, that the Israeli regime does not want to see Assad fall. As self-professed “anti-zionists”, many in these groups…
The Russian government has finally caught on that its political opposition is being financed by the US taxpayer-funded National Endowment for Democracy and other CIA/State Department fronts in an attempt to subvert the Russian government and install an American puppet state in the geographically largest country on earth, the one country with a nuclear arsenal sufficient to deter Washington’s aggression. Just as earlier this year Egypt expelled hundreds of people associated with foreign-funded “non-governmental organizations” (NGOs) for “instilling dissent and meddling in domestic policies,” the Russian Duma (parliament) has just passed a law that Putin is expected to sign that requires political organizations that receive foreign funding to register as foreign agents.
…the Islamic Republic has a strong case which could prevent war This observer’s best ever (and shortest) job involved “ sort of” representing Iran before The Hague based International Court of Justice back in the ancient…
[anyplayer:url=http://www.rt.com/files/news/syria-damascus-shooting-finoshina-367/i0ac2bd96900d1cf53cb32f754adc54e1_damascus-helicopters.flv] Heavy gunfire continues in the Syrian capital despite official reports that Damascus was fully cleared from armed militants on Tuesday morning. RT’s Maria Finoshina says that blasts can be heard close to the city…
At a Tokyo Afghan donor’s conference, Clinton barely stopped short of declaring war. Time is running out to save Syria, she told reporters. Kofi Annan’s admission about peace failing is a “wake-up call for everyone.” “The…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says his country will never support a British proposal to enact United Nations sanctions as a solution to the Syrian crisis. Lavrov made the remarks on Monday in comments to journalists at the Foreign Ministry before a meeting with Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab League special envoy on Syria. He characterized Western foreign policy in Syria as naïve and dangerous and said it failed to take into account the vulnerability of Christian and Muslim religious minorities and the presence of terrorists among the armed opposition.
The Arab League has announced plans to open talks with the Syrian opposition and cut all diplomatic ties with the Syrian government, aligning itself with the US-led effort to wage war against Damascus. Press TV has interviewed Don De Bar, prominent anti-war activist in New York, about how a covert attack and efforts to force regime change in Syria fits in with American geopolitical aims that has the US ultimately targeting Russian and Chinese military alliances and trade partners. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview. Press TV: Many different countries seem to be involved in the Syria situation. The Saudi Foreign Minister has said and I quote, “How long will we stay on as onlookers to what is happening to our brotherly Syrian people and how
much longer will we grant the Syrian regime one period after another so it can commit more massacres against its people?”