When President Obama tells us that choosing our leaders is up to us at a time when our leader is busy exterminating his opponents by all means under his disposal and with the help of Iran and Russia and with support of thousands of Shia recruits from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and even Afghanistan, and at a time when Saudi, Qatar and Turkey are engaged in a tug of war over who will get to decide the leaders of the opposition, while Al-Qaeda Jihadis are busy invading and carving up enclaves for themselves in different parts of Syria, does he know how moronic he sounds? It’s like telling a girl who is being gang raped that she should take responsibility for herself and should determine her own fate! No, no, no, no! Dealing with the situation in Syria is not the responsibility of a dysfunctional institution (UN) but of the world’s viable democracies. You can shirk the responsibility, but you will never stave off the blame, nor avoid for long the inevitable fallouts.
Tag: UN
Small Window
President Obama should actually accept the Russian proposal calling for putting Assad’s chemical stockpiles under international monitoring as a prelude to disposing of them. The proposal has already been endorsed by the Assad regime. But it should be up to the Obama Administration to provide a plan and timetable regarding the specific steps that need to be taken in this regard. This should include the following points:
Syria’s Delicate Transition: An Interview with Ammar Abdulhamid
On November 19, 2012, Sharnoff’s Global Views™ interviewed Ammar Abdulhamid. Ammar is a Syrian dissident and founder of the Tharwa Foundation. He is currently a fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
SGV: On your Website, the Syrian Revolutionary Digest, you are described as “a liberal Syrian pro-democracy activist.” How do you define liberal with respect to freedom, democracy, human rights, minority rights and women’s rights?
AA: I believe in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international conventions on human rights, such as the Convention Eliminating All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Inspired by my liberal values I started my “career” as an activist by launching the Tharwa Project in Syria as an initiative meant to facilitate the processes of democratization in the country and the wider region by addressing the issue of minority rights and improving inter-communal relations in the country.
My liberalism also includes a belief in the free market system, albeit my faith is balanced by an equal commitment to union rights and universal healthcare among other checks on the system. Continue reading “Syria’s Delicate Transition: An Interview with Ammar Abdulhamid”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 