On
Syria, Insider
Spins ICP on
Division Into
3, Alawites by
Coast for
Russian Port
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 11, updated
-- After a
full day of
Syria action
at the UN
Security
Council, a
non Council
member offered
a cynic's
explanation
for it to
Inner City
Press on
Wednesday
night.
"They
aim
to divide
Syria into
three," the
diplomat told
Inner City
Press, "with
the Alawites
controlling a
small strip by
the
coast, so
Russia can
have a port.
The Kurds will
get their
piece,
and of course
the Sunnis. It
will be
federalism, it
will all be
constructive
ambiguity like
in Iraq. But
it will
happen."
Inner
City
Press asked
the diplomat
if as expected
given his
position he
agreed with
Qatar arming
the
Syrian
opposition.
"Of course
not," he said,
"it's
destructive.
But who is
going to stop
them?"
The
reason,
he said, for
the West's
cautious
approach on
Syria is that
simply
removing Assad
without having
a successor
ready would
put
Israel's
border at
risk. "And no
one has
emerged," he
continued.
"The best
model is
Yemen, with
the technical
step
down of Ali
Saleh, no ICC,
and he can
return later.
That's what's
needed here."
Another
UN source
protested that
"Assad has
killed too
many," that he
must go
to the Hague.
The main
source and
cynic laughed.
"You are being
idealistic,
that's not how
these things
work. They are
arranged among
the P-5, and
they happen.
And until
World World
Three, the
Security
Council will
not be
reformed."
While
this last may
be true, Inner
City Press
pointed out
that the
cynic's theory
had a number
of problems,
not least the
massive ethnic
cleansing
required and
even in one
view underway,
with backing
from the Gulf.
But the cynic
like the
debate had
moved on.
Watch this
site.
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