Comments on: Syria Gives a Little Ground

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 03:30:15 +0000

Fred, I missed that bit…sorry to hear we compromised so much…

By: Fred

Fred — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 02:59:03 +0000

To paraphrase HLM, no one ever lost money underestimating the ethics of the UN. According to today’s Wall Street Journal editorial “in order to obtain a unanimous result the U.S. dropped the explicit threat of economic sanctions against Syria, bowing to pressure from China and a veiled veto threat by Russia, which even now sells weapons to Syria and acts as its international patron….
The US has also made its task more difficult by sending Syria an unmistakable message that regime change is not on the U.S. agenda. ….They are likely to respond, as they usually do, with token gestures, perhaps by handing over another former Saddam crony now abetting the Iraq insurgency from Damascus….”

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:21:25 +0000

Agreed – in this case, the UN, and France, did the right thing, and even critics such as myself should acknowledge it…

By: peter

peter — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:16:00 +0000

I’m not a big supporter of the current U.N., and I certainly don’t want to be boxed into a position where I have to defend Kofi Annan, Oil for Food, wasteful spending, etc. However, I think it’s worth noting that the Security Council vote yesterday was 15-0, and the ally leading this effort along with the U.S. was France (!).