Alliance
of
Civilization
Can't Act on
Ruin of Syrian
Religious
Sites Until
It's Over
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
14 -- When
Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser was
President of
the General
Assembly last
year, and
Qatar's
Ambassador
before that,
he was
strongly and
openly
critical of
Syria's
government,
overriding
General
Assembly rules
and turning
off UNTV
cameras.
Now
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon has
named him UN
High-Representative
for the
Alliance of
Civilizations.
On Thursday
Inner City
Press asked
Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser
about Syria's
recent letter
to Ban and to
the Security
Council
alleging
targeting of
mosques, a
cathedral and
synagogue by
the Syrian
armed
opposition,
including the
Al Nusra
Front. The
letter is now
S/2013/138.
What can or
will AoC do? Video
here, from
Minute 25:42.
Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser said
the “situation
in Syria is
very
complicated.
Our mission,
it will come
as soon as we
end this
conflict... we
have first to
bring the
situation
under
control.”
But
how? Qatar
supports the
armed
opposition. Is
the idea that
until they
win
militarily,
the Alliance
of
Civilization
will do
nothing?
Inner
City Press
asked Syrian's
Ambassador
Bashar
Ja'afari about
this later
on Thursday in
front of the
Security
Council. He
re-named the
AoC the
“Alliance
Against
Civilization”
and recounted
how a looted
valuable
statue was
recently sold
“in Lebanon
for fifty
dollars,
not even
enough for an
AK-47.”
In
his AoC press
conference
Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser did
not express
hope for a
non-military
solution. He
said, “I don't
know how
successful the
UN through the
sub-region or
Arab League or
Security
Council or P5
can do in this
moment... It
is very
difficult
today to
even help the
Syrian from
the
humanitarian
side.”
He
then again
said, when the
fighting is
over, perhaps
the AoC can
help.
One wondered
the
whereabouts of
the very able
"slayer
of Ruperez" --
click here
for that Inner
City Press
story.
Afterward
some
wondered if
Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser
receives a
salary from
the Alliance
of
Civilizations,
if he need it,
or Qatar picks
it up.
At a recent
press
conference
sponsored by
UNCA, known as
the UN
Censorship
Alliance, AoC
repeatedly
promoted the
German car
company
BMW. Are they
paying?
UNCA
at Thursday's
press
conference
made much of
getting the
first
question --
president
Pamela Falk of
CBS asked
about the new
Pope,
then wanted to
get a second
question
before others
even got a
first.
But Nassir
Abdulaziz
Al-Nasser's
spokeswoman
Nihal Saad at
least
finished a
first round
before calling
again on Falk,
to ask again
about the
Vatican.
Inner
City Press,
when called
on, spoke for
the new Free
UN Coalition
for
Access
then asked
about the
Syrian
opposition's
alleged
destruction
of religious
sites. This is
an issue one
might expect
an Alliance of
Civilizations
to work on --
but in what
way? On which
side? Watch
this site.
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