USA PRESSURING RUSSIA INTO PASSING UN RESOLUTION ON SYRIA ALLOWING MILITARY FORCE

Photo NY Times

CLOSE RESEMBLANCE TO THE LIBYAN UN RESOLUTION "TRAP", RUSSIA AND CHINA STEPPED IN WHEN APPROVING THE RAID ON LIBYA BY US COALITION FORCES 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVES ON SYRIA. Via RT

The US is pushing RUSSIA into approving a UN resolution that would allow for military intervention in SYRIA, in exchange for AMERICAN support of SYRIA’S accession to OPCW, RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

“Our AMERICAN partners are starting to blackmail us: ‘If RUSSIA does not support a resolution under Chapter 7, then we will withdraw our support for SYRIA’S entry into the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This is a complete departure from what I agreed with Secretary of State John Kerry',” RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Channel 1's Sunday Time program. 

Chapter 7 of the UN charter would allow for potential military intervention in SYRIA. 

WESTERN COUNTRIES BLINDED BY 'ASSAD MUST GO' ATTITUDE 

The head of RUSSIA’S Foreign Ministry went on to say he was surprised by the West’s “negligent” approach to the conflict.

“Our partners are blinded by an ideological mission for regime change,” said Lavrov. “They cannot admit they have made another mistake.”

Slamming the West’s intervention in LIBYA and IRAQ, the foreign minister stated that military intervention could only lead to a catastrophe in the region. Moreover, he stressed that if the West really was interested in a peaceful solution to the conflict that has raged for over two years, they would now be pushing for SYRIA’S entry into the OPCW in the first place, not for the ouster of President Bashar Assad. 

Background Information:

RUSSIA AND CHINA LEFT OUT OF THE LIBYAN EQUATION

http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/09/libya-doomed-from-day-one.html

“I am convinced that the WEST is doing this to demonstrate that they call the shots in the MIDDLE EAST. This is a totally politicized approach,” said Lavrov.  

IF MILITANTS COME TO POWER, SYRIA WILL NO LONGER BE A SECULAR STATE

The RUSSIAN foreign minister pointed out that in the case of a military scenario, militants would come to power and SYRIA would no longer be a secular state. Up to three quarters “of these guys are Jihadists,” including the most radical groups such as Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of IRAQ and LEVANT, who want to create an Islamic Caliphate in SYRIA and in neighboring territories, Lavrov said. 

 “If our western partners think at least two steps ahead, they cannot but understand it,” Lavrov noted.

As to why the West would want that, Moscow has so far received no clear answer, but hears “mantras” on the necessity to promote democracy and protect human rights, said the minister. That is important, but “responsible politicians should be guided not only by that. Not to care about stability in a key world region is absolutely irresponsible,” he added. 

According to Lavrov, some experts alleged that “someone is attempting to create a guided chaos” in the region for their own benefits. However, the foreign minister said he personally sees no possible advantages that Western countries would gain if they were behind moves to stir up instability.

“There’s only an attempt to grasp a straw, and turn a blind eye to the fact that the world is changing and becoming multipolar,” Lavrov concluded. 

'A REPEAT OF GENEVA 2012' 

Lavrov harked back to last year’s Geneva accord which was agreed upon by the international community, including RUSSIA and the US. However, when the resolution went to the Security Council the US demanded that Chapter 7 be included.

“History is repeating itself. Once again in Geneva an agreement has been reached which does not contain any mention of Chapter 7. But the Security Council wants to redo the document in their own way to include it.”

He called on the West to observe international law and stop writing resolutions motivated by their “geopolitical ambitions.”

 

‘BOTH SIDES MUST HAND OVER CHEMICAL WEAPONS’ 

Sergey Lavrov has also insisted that opposition forces take part in the decommissioning of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles.

“The solutions currently being worked out at the OPCW suggest that all stocks of SYRIAN chemical weapons must be brought under control and ultimately destroyed.”

Lavrov further charged that the West was “not telling the whole story” by asserting that chemical weapons are only possessed by the regime, and not the opposition.

He added that the available information provided by the ISRAELIS confirmed that on at least two occasions, the rebels had seized areas in which chemical weapons were stored and those arms might have fallen into their hands. 

"According to our estimates, there is a strong probability, that in addition to home-grown labs in which militants are trying to cook up harmful and deadly concoctions, the data provided by the ISRAELIS is true,” the Russian FM said. 

“Preparatory work for OPCW inspectors to assume control of chemical weapons storage sites requires that those who fund and sponsor opposition groups –  including extremists –  demand that they hand over the [arms] which have been seized so that they can be destroyed, pursuant to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.”

 

Lavrov added that RUSSIA was not a guarantor for the disarmament of SYRIA’S chemical weapons, as SYRIA’S commitments fell under the auspices of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which is internationally administered by the OPCW. 

Lavrov said RUSSIA and the US were working out a draft resolution to be submitted to the OPCW, although several points were yet to be agreed upon.

Earlier in September, Moscow said it would submit data to the UNSC proving that the chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb were used by the rebels.  These “purely technical” documents were handed over to RUSSIA by the Bashar Assad government and are being examined by RUSSIAN specialists. This data “is an addition to what we already know and to what is known to…independent experts who give their assessments and confirm that the opposition regularly resort to provocations, attempting to accuse the regime of using chemical weapons” and this way get foreign military support, Lavrov said.  

BRITAIN AND FRANCE QUICK TO JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON 

The UN expert team, who investigated the August 21 attack in SYRIA, presented a report on their findings, in which they described the ammunition and substances they discovered on the scene, but made no conclusions regarding who was behind the incident.

However, the US, along with BRITAIN and FRANCE, moved quickly to repeat their accusations against the SYRIAN government.  “Such an approach is neither scientific, nor professional but rather politicized and ideology-driven,” the RUSSIAN foreign minister stressed. 

According to Lavrov, it was no secret that they did not need any report. Long before the document was prepared, they stated that they already knew everything from their intelligence findings – which have never been presented to the public in full, the RUSSIAN minister noted.

“What they did show to us does not convince that the [SYRIAN] regime is linked to the episode with the use of chemical weapons,” Lavrov said.