Arab Spring: EU Threatens New Sanctions Against Syria

[IndependntLogic]

From "France 24"

European Union leaders are ready to slap more sanctions on Syria failing a halt in the regime's violence against dissenters, EU president Herman Van Rompuy said at the close of a summit Sunday.

EU leaders "expressed grave concern over continued brutality against the population in Syria," Van Rompuy said, adding that if the violence did not stop the bloc "will impose restrictive measures against the regime."

The EU earlier this month expressed support to Syria's opposition grouping while stopping short of official recognition.

It has issued several rounds of sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, extending sanctions against allies of Assad to banks and the oil sector.

EU threatens to impose fresh sanctions on Syria - SYRIA - FRANCE 24

Interesting days in the ME...

 

[JoeB131]

That's not the word I would use.

In other news, Islamists scored very well in the Tunsinian Elections.

Libya's new government has imposed radical Islamic law

Egyptian Islamists are committing violence against Coptic Christians.

Has it occurred to anyone that our meddling is making things worse?

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says, "Yea, go ahead an' bomb the schlitz outta Assad just like Qaddafi - den when Iran intervenes, bomb the schlitz outta dem too...

U.S. Sen. John McCain: Could it be time to intervene in Syria?
October 23, 2011 | -- With NATO bombing of Libya set to end, U.S. Sen. John McCain on Sunday raised the possibility of some kind of military attack on Syria, where the government of Bashar Assad has been accused of brutally cracking down on protesters.

“Now that military operations in Libya are ending, there will be renewed focus on what partial military operations might be considered to protect civilian lives in Syria,” McCain (R-Ariz.) said at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Jordan. “The Assad regime should not consider that it can get away with mass murder. Kadafi made that mistake and it cost him everything.” There was no immediate response from the Assad government, which has blamed “armed groups” for the violence that has swept the nation since mid-March. The United Nations has said the death toll is at 3,000 and warned that the nation could be spiraling towards civil war.

Unlike rebels in Libya, dissidents in Syria have generally not called for Western-led airstrikes on their government. Some have backed some more limited action, such as the introduction of civilian observers. Still, there is a school of thought that an impasse has been reached seven months into the protest movement and some kind of foreign intervention may be the only way to force Assad out. But the topic is an extremely divisive one, even among the anti-Assad faction.

The Syrian government regularly rails against what it calls a “foreign agenda,” an apparent reference to Washington, a long-time adversary, and its allies in the region. Assad has reportedly pledged to aim hundreds of rockets and missiles at neighboring Israel if his nation is attacked. Many observers believe that a Libya-style North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led air assault on Syria is extremely unlikely. This month, Russia and China vetoed a United Nations resolution condemning Assad’s crackdown on protesters. The two superpowers feared the resolution could be used as a pretext for an attack on their Syrian ally.

U.S. Sen. John McCain: Could it be time to intervene in Syria? - latimes.com

 

[waltky]

Neighboring Turkey down on Assad's case, says stop the bloodshed...

World must 'hear screams' from Syria
17 Nov 2011 - The world must urgently 'hear the screams" from Syria and do something to stop the bloodshed, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister has said.

Turkey said it was seeking new transport routes to the Middle East that would bypass the increasingly politically isolated country. Mr Erdogan said measures must be taken for the safety of energy supplies as well as global peace. Mr Erdogan, speaking at an international energy conference in Istanbul, did not specify any possible actions over Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal repression of the country's 8-month-old uprising. However, he called on the international community to be sensitive to the plight of Syrian people as much as they were to the uprising in oil-rich Libya, saying "the lack of reaction to massacres in Syria was causing irreparable wounds in the conscience of humanity."

"No doubt, the problems both in Syria and in the Middle East in general are global problems," he said. "Therefore, we have to see the tragedy in the area, hear the screams and urgently take measures to stop the bloodshed for the safety of energy supplies as much as global peace and calm." He added: "Syria may not be attracting attention as much as Libya because it has not enough oil." "But I want to stress that those killed in Syria are as human as those killed in Libya," Erdogan said.

Earlier, Russia called for all sides in Syria’s growing civil war to lay down their arms as they compared the situation a "civil war". Residents claimed 20 people died in a rebel attack on an air force intelligence base on the outskirts of Damascus. “This is already completely similar to real civil war,” Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said. He urged “all states” to demand that not only the government but also the opposition to halt the violence and begin talks. Russia, along with China, has vetoed further international sanctions against their long-term strategic ally at the United Nations. But both are growing increasingly alarmed that in the absence of any foreign intervention the situation is spiralling out of control anyway. In a seemingly co-ordinated move, the Chinese foreign ministry issed a statement calling on “all relevant parties” to implement the peace deal worked out between the Syrian government and the Arab League three weeks ago.

However, the Arab League last weekend declared that Syria had failed to withdraw its troops as promised and voted to suspend the country’s membership, a dramatic act only implemented in recent decades against Libya earlier this year. At a summit on Wednesday night in the Moroccan capital Rabat, the League gave Syria three days to put the peace deal in place or have the suspension, and possibly further sanctions, put in place. The attack on the intelligence complex, along with three raids on security checkoints around the capital, was claimed by the Turkish-based Free Syrian Army. It threatened it could strike “anywhere and anytime” after it co-ordinated actions exposed the vulnerability of the regime’s security apparatus.

MORE

 

[Old Rocks]

That's not the word I would use.

In other news, Islamists scored very well in the Tunsinian Elections.

Libya's new government has imposed radical Islamic law

Egyptian Islamists are committing violence against Coptic Christians.

Has it occurred to anyone that our meddling is making things worse?

With, or without us, this is going to occur. But these nations are predominately made up of young people. They will soon tire of the 'holy' laws.

 

[The T]

That's not the word I would use.

In other news, Islamists scored very well in the Tunsinian Elections.

Libya's new government has imposed radical Islamic law

Egyptian Islamists are committing violence against Coptic Christians.

Has it occurred to anyone that our meddling is making things worse?

With, or without us, this is going to occur. But these nations are predominately made up of young people. They will soon tire of the 'holy' laws.

I see denial here of Islam...perhaps those that strap bombs to thier person didn't wait to read your pontification here that they should tire?

 

[JoeB131]

That's not the word I would use.

In other news, Islamists scored very well in the Tunsinian Elections.

Libya's new government has imposed radical Islamic law

Egyptian Islamists are committing violence against Coptic Christians.

Has it occurred to anyone that our meddling is making things worse?

With, or without us, this is going to occur. But these nations are predominately made up of young people. They will soon tire of the 'holy' laws.

They said that about Iran for 30 years, but the CRazy Mullahs have as tight a grip as they always did...

And frankly, it's always young people who strap bombs to themselves to get the 76 virgins. The old guys just stay back and encourage them while hiding from Seal Team 6.