After
Veto
on Syria,
Churkin
Counters UK on
Lavrov Stance,
Rice on Rebels
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 19 -- In
stakeouts
after the
Syria draft
tabled by the
UK was shot
down by vetoes
from Russia
and China,
Western
Ambassadors
denounced the
"Eastern Two."
Inner
City
Press asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
about the
abstentions of
Pakistan and
South Africa,
specifically
the latter's
critique that
the draft
resoultion was
one-sided and
wouldn't
effectively
threaten
sanctions on
the
opposition.
Rice
replied
that the
opposition
would be
covered by
Chapter Seven.
When
Inner City
Press asked UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant the same
question, he
said he had
offered to
discuss this
with Russia,
without
avail.
But
Russia's
Vitaly Churkin
told Inner
City Press
that these
discussions
led nowhere,
to statements
that arms
embargoes are
violated all
the
time.
He said that a
recent meeting
in Geneva
considered
harm to the
Syrian people
from US
unilateral
sanctions.
Lyall
Grant focused
on China's
explanation of
vote, about
Chapter 7 of
the UN Charter
not
being in the
Geneva
communique.
Lyall Grant
said that
Russia, whose
foreign
minister
Sergey Lavrov
in Geneva said
that Chapter
Seven is a
matter for the
Security
Council,
couldn't now
use that to
put weight
on the fact
that Chapter
Seven wasn't
agreed in
Geneva.
Inner
City
Press put this
question to
Churkin, who
said that
Lavrov's
statement of
jurisdiction
had been
correct, but
that hadn't
meant
that Russia
would agree to
Chapter Seven
in the
Security
Council.
Then
Churkin
went bigger
picture,
paraphrasing
Bill Clinton
by saying
"It's all
about Iran,
stupid" (and
striking the
last word).
He
said
that after the
US invasion of
Iraq worked
out
differently
than
the US
expected --
with an
expanded Shi'a
and Iranian
role, that is
-- now they
had to try to
contain Iran,
by way of
Syria.
Returning
to the
nitty gritty,
he confirmed
what Inner
City Press had first
reported
before any of
the stakeouts,
that the UK
has put into
blue a draft
resolution for
a "final" 30
day rollover
of the UNSMIS
mission.
Churkin
noted that
the UK had
preempted
Pakistan and
filed its
draft with the
Secretariat at
9:24 am. He
said there was
no way this
resolution
could be voted
on by 3 pm,
since the rule
provides for
24 hours after
a resolution
is put into
blue, and
"Syria is
serious."
He
called
the UK draft
contradictory
- the rollover
if "final,"
but could be
extended if
conditions are
met. One
wonders if
Pakistan
will file a
counter-resolution.
Watch this
site.
, 
