Sanctions that work... for the sanctioned
Sanctions against Iran are working, if you're looking to buy bread or milk. But
if you're looking to buy weapons, well, that's a different story, according to a UN panel of experts that prepared a report for the Security Council.
The report, which the expert panel has submitted to the Security Council's Iran sanctions committee, said there were three seizures of large shipments of Iranian weapons investigated by the panel over the past year.
"Two of these cases involved the Syrian Arab Republic, as were the majority of cases inspected by the Panel during its previous mandate, underscoring that Syria continues to be the central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers," it said.
"The Panel recommends the designation (blacklisting) of two entities related to these interdictions," it said. "The report also takes note of information concerning arms shipments by Iran to other destinations."
...
Diplomats told Reuters that the panel's draft report may be changed by the Security Council's Iran sanctions committee before it is submitted to the council itself for consideration. Last year's expert panel report on Iran was never made public because Russia blocked its publication.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Iran sanctions regime, Syrian sanctions
Britain cannot ban Asma al-Assad
BBC Foreign Editor Jon Williams tweets that Britain cannot ban Syrian dictator's wife, Asma al-Assad,
because she is still a British citizen. However, Williams confirms in another tweet that
Assad's assets in the European Union can be frozen.
Somehow I doubt she will starve as a result.
Labels: Asma al-Assad, Syrian sanctions, Syrian uprising
Turkey ignoring arms shipments to Syria
Turkey has abandoned its former Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad, in disgust over his slaughter of Syrian civilians. Or has Turkey abandoned Assad?
Turkey may still have some sympathies for Assad after all (Hat Tip:
Joshua I). And while they supply Syria with weapons, they are supplying weapons to the Hezbullah terror organization as well.
According to the report, three Turkish companies are selling equipment to a Syrian government research institute that makes vehicle armor and ammunition for the police and the army.
At the heart of the operation is the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) in Syria, currently subject to US and EU sanctions.
“Some of the weapons produced by SSRC are supplied to the Syrian military, while others end up in the hands of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon,” the newspaper's source noted.
Claims that the Turkish Government Scientific and Technological Research Council, TÜBITAK, is assisting SSRC with research have also been raised, but TÜBITAK refused comment.
...
SSRC has been subject to US economic sanctions since 2005 for co-operating with Iran and North Korea and for providing arms to Hezbollah. It is also listed under the EU's sanctions "black list" imposed in December last year.
According to The Times' intelligence source, the SSRC disguises its procurement of weapons-related material by making false declarations to export authorities and using brokers and cover companies in different countries.
The Turks are playing both sides of the game, and those who are capable of stopping them - the US and the Russians - aren't willing to act to do so.
Labels: arms sales, Syria, Syrian sanctions, Turkey
Royal Dutch Shell pulls out of Syria
Shavua tov v'Chodesh tov, a good week and a good month to everyone.
Responding to the imposition of sanctions by the European Union, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell announced on Friday that it is
suspending all operations in Syria.
Royal Dutch Shell said it would shutting down in Syria to heed a batch of EU sanctions slapped on Syria's economically vital oil and financial sectors the day before.
A Shell spokesman said: "Our main priority is the safety of our employees ... We hope the situation improves quickly for all Syrians."
The EU on Friday extended sanctions to three Syrian oil concerns, including the state-owned General Petroleum Corporation (GPC) and Syria Trading Oil (Sytrol), to crank up the financial pressure on the Assad government.
The three oil concerns were among 11 entities and 12 Syrian leadership figures added to an EU blacklist now aimed in part at bringing the Syrian ventures of oil giants to a halt. Royal Dutch Shell was the first to bow out.
And where's the US on Syria? This isn't just leading from behind - it's outright embarrassing.
US Vice-President Joe Biden, on a visit to Ankara, praised Turkey for being "a real leader" on the Syrian crisis.
"We also welcome the government's giving space in Turkey to the political opposition," he told Hurriyet newspaper. "The United States' position on Syria is clear. The Syrian regime must end its brutality against its own people and President Assad must step down so a peaceful transition that respects the will of the people can take place," Biden said.
SANA said Syria had suspended a free trade zone pact with Turkey in retaliation for Ankara's actions. Turkey, formerly a staunch ally of Assad, has also suspended financial credit dealings with Syria and frozen Syrian government assets, joining the Arab and Western campaign to isolate Assad.
Like in Egypt, no one is planning for the day after Assad. They're just trying to get Assad out. If Assad leaves now,
guess who takes over.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Syrian sanctions, Syrian uprising
Assad threatens to attack Tel Aviv
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is
threatening to attack Tel Aviv in the event of a NATO attack on his government. On Tuesday night, Russia and China vetoed a Security Council condemnation of Assad for murdering his own people.
During a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu Assad allegedly threatened: "If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than 6 hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv."
According to the report, Assad also reiterated that Damascus will call on Hezbollah to launch such an intensive rocket and missile attack on Israel.
"All these events will happen in three hours, and in the following three hours, Iran will attack the US warships in the Persian Gulf and the US and European interests will be targeted simultaneously," Assad said, according to FARS.
Assad's comments came as Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he would set out his country's plans for sanctions against Syria after he visits a Syrian refugee camp near the border in the coming days.
The move heralds a further deterioration in previously friendly relations between Ankara and Damascus since the start of Assad's crackdown on protesters.
"Regarding sanctions, we will make an assessment and announce our road map after the visit to Hatay, setting out the steps," Erdogan told reporters, adding he expected to visit the region at the weekend or the start of next week.
Erdogan said last month that Assad would be ousted by his people "sooner or later" and warned that Syria could slide into a sectarian civil war between Alawites and Sunnis.
Two thoughts on this: Assuming that the United States does not restrain Israel in order to keep Arab countries in a coalition against Syria (recall the First Gulf War), how many hours do you think it would take the IAF to wipe out Assad's regime? And second, aren't you glad we didn't listen to all those morons who wanted us to give the Golan Heights to Assad for the sake of 'peace'? Imagine if he was making that threat from the shores of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) instead of from 25 miles inland.
Meanwhile, Russia and China
used their vetoes in the Security Council on Tuesday night to prevent a condemnation of Syria.
European members of the Security Council tried to avoid a veto by watering down the language on sanctions three times, but they failed.
The vote was 9-2 with four abstentions - India, South Africa, Brazil and Lebanon.
The resolution demanded that Syria immediately end all violence and ensure human rights. It also called for "an inclusive Syrian-led political process."
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council after the vote that his country did not support Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime or the violence but opposed the resolution because it was "based on a philosophy of confrontation," contained "an ultimatum of sanctions," and was against a peaceful settlement of a crisis.
China's Ambassador Li Bandong said his country is concerned about the ongoing violence and wants to see speedy reforms but opposed the resolution because "sanctions, or threat of sanctions, do not help the sitiuation in Syria but rather complicates the situation."
France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud denounced the veto, saying it "goes against the sense of history that is under way in the region."
"I would like to commend all of those who fight against the bloodthirsty crackdown in Syria," he said.
JPost reports that US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has finally found something about which to be '
outraged':
US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the US is “outraged” that the Security Council “utterly failed to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat to regional peace and security.”
Rice said that several of the body’s members had “sought for weeks to weaken and strip bare any text that would have defended the lives of innocent civilians from Assad’s brutality,” and that the veto was exercised on a “vastly watered-down text” that did not even mention sanctions.
The US has repeatedly advocated sanctions as well as an arms embargo on the Assad regime.
In damning, pointed language, Rice said that “the courageous people of Syria can now clearly see who on this Council supports their yearning for liberty and universal human rights-and who does not.”
...
“And during this season of change, the people of the Middle East can now see clearly which nations have chosen to ignore their calls for democracy and instead prop up desperate, cruel dictators,” Rice said.
“Those who oppose this resolution and give cover to a brutal regime will have to answer to the Syrian people-and, indeed, to people across the region who are pursuing the same universal aspirations.”
Rice bitterly noted that the Security Council “has not yet passed even a hortatory resolution to counter the Assad regime's brutal oppression.”
“Let there be no doubt: this is not about military intervention,” Rice said. “This is not about Libya. That is a cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.”
Rice said that the “crisis in Syria will stay before the Security Council, and we will not rest until this Council rises to meet its responsibilities.”
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was “disappointed” by Russia and China’s decision to veto the resolution.
“This will be seen in the region as a decision to side with a brutal regime rather than with the people of Syria, and will be a bitter blow to all those Syrians who have implored the international community to take a stand.”
Calling the resolution as drafted “entirely reasonable,” Hague said that it stressed the rejection of violence and that a political transition ought to be led by the Syrians.
The draft resolution, Hague made clear, was explicit that Security Council consideration of sanctions against Syria should not include military action.
“Those who blocked it,” Hague said of the resolution, “will have this action on their conscience.”
I'm not convinced that anyone in the ruling
juntas in Russia or China has a conscience. But how about Rice? I didn't think she had it in her to get emotional about anything except Israel and partying.
Labels: Chinese veto, Russian veto, Syrian sanctions, United Nations Security Council
US slaps sanctions on Syria, Assad laughs
As Bashar al-Assad's army killed 15 more Syrians on Wednesday, the United States sanctioned the Syrian dictator, which probably gave him
a good laugh.
Syrian forces killed 15 civilians in the city of Homs on Wednesday, an activists' group said, despite international calls for President Bashar Assad to end a bloody crackdown on protests against his rule.
The United States said the world was watching Syria "in horror" and slapped sanctions on a Syrian bank and mobile phone company. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who sent his foreign minister to Damascus on Tuesday to urge an end to the bloodshed, said Syria "is pointing guns at its own people".
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The White House said US President Barack Obama believes Syria would be better off without Assad and the United States plans to keep pressure on the Syrian government.
"We are all watching with horror at what he is doing to his own people," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Earlier the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions which it said were aimed at the financial infrastructure helping to hold up Assad's government.
It said it was designating the Commercial Bank of Syria, a Syrian state-owned financial institution, and its Lebanon-based subsidiary, Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, under a presidential executive order that targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their supporters.
It also designated Syriatel, Syria's largest mobile phone operator, under an executive order targeting Syrian officials and others responsible for human rights abuses in the country.
I'm sure that will get Assad to stop killing his own people - after there are no rebels left.
What would be effective is the kind of sanctions proposed by Congress for Iran (before they were watered down to avoid a Presidential veto), but of course Obama will never agree to that unless the UN does, and the UN will never agree to that because Russia and China will veto it.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Syrian sanctions, Syrian uprising
How to stop Assad
Writing in the New York Daily News, Benny Weinthal has a plan for
how to stop Bashar al-Assad.
Sadly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay's recent comment that the "world is watching" sums up the failure of the international community to stop Assad's lethal assaults against Syrian protesters.
Just watching is not enough. A mix of potent sanctions, robust diplomatic action and a joint appeal by Western leaders to Syrian protesters could push Assad's teetering regime over the edge.
Last week, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced the Syria Sanctions Act, which would require the President to impose tougher sanctions on Syria until it stops supporting terrorists, ceases its nuclear program and missile technology and WMD trade - and begins transitioning into a true democracy.
The bill would permit the President to target individuals or entities that make investments in Syria's energy sector at $5 million or more at one time or a combination of $20 million in one year. It would ban shipments of urgently needed refinery technologies and upgrades and could lead to penalties against non-U.S. companies that trade with Syria. [Does it require or permit? Given this President, there's a huge difference? CiJ]
Skepticism toward sanctions is understandable, given our inability to change Iran's behavior so far. But they can disrupt Damascus' ability to fuel its tanks and transport its death squads, which have spent the past four months crisscrossing the country and gunning down demonstrators. Syria sells 148,000 barrels of crude oil each day, and its revenues account for $4 billion of the regime's $17.8 billion annual budget. In short, the rank and file of the Syrian armed forces depends on energy profits for its livelihood.
A second and arguably more important economic pressure point is a concerted European Union effort to slash consumption of Syrian oil, along with legislation dramatically curtailing the activities of European energy companies in Syria. Take the example of the British-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell. According to the the British environmental group Platform, which monitors international energy companies, approximately 17% of Syrian tanks run on fuel derived from Shell's stocks, and 4% to 8% of Syrian tanks used to repress the population are "financed through revenue from crude extracted by Shell and its partners."
European states remain key to influencing a change in Syria. Germany, England, France and Italy - the continent's primary economic and political powerhouses - should follow the lead of the bipartisan congressional bill, and pressure Assad's regime in Europe.
A third means of influencing the behavior of the Syrian regime is an organized withdrawal of all Western ambassadors in Damascus and the ejection of all Syrian ambassadors in the West.
So far, the only European country to withdraw its ambassador is Italy. The US ambassador is still sitting there. Kuwait and Bahrain have joined Saudi Arabia and have withdrawn their ambassadors. But I have not heard of any country expelling any Syrian diplomats.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Syrian sanctions, Syrian uprising
Report: Kidnapped Estonians were held in Syria
Israel Radio reports that seven Estonian bicyclists, who were
kidnapped in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley as they crossed the border from Syria nearly four months ago, and who were
set free on Thursday in Lebanon, had been held in Syria. The report is based on a report by the Lebanese television station
al-Mustaqbal.
Moreover, the negotiations for their release did not make any progress until Estonia denounced the European sanctions imposed on the Assad regime.
Of course, there will be no consequences to Syria for this. Russia and China will continue to protect Syria in the Security Council, and the United States will continue to pretend that Assad has an interest in 'reforming.'
Who will be the next victims? What could go wrong?
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, China, cyclists, Estonia, Lebanon, Russia, Syrian sanctions, Syrian uprising
Syria involved in UNIFIL bombing?
Earlier, I reported on a
roadside bomb that wounded six Italian UNIFIL troops in Lebanon. Now it turns out that
Syria may have been involved in that bombing.
Diplomatic sources on Saturday suggested Syria was involved in the roadside bomb Friday that blew up a UN vehicle on a highway leading to the southern Lebanese port city of Sidon, Lebanese daily An Nahar reported.
The sources told An Nahar and other Lebanese media that the the blast came after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem threatened the European Union that it would regret sanctions imposed on President Bashar Assad and other top Syrian officials.
"I say this measure, just as it will harm Syria's interests, it will harm Europe's interest. And Syria won't remain silent about this measure," Muallem declared last week.
The diplomats hinted that messages communicated to Europe through Muallem's comments and the attack on the UN peacekeepers would only increase.
According to An Nahar, they did not exclude attempts by the Syrian government to create "distractions elsewhere" if it feels threatened.
But why would Assad do that? After all, he's a reformer!
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, European Union, Syrian sanctions, UNIFIL
US sanctions Assad and six others
The United States has finally decided to
sanction Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and six of his top aides (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
The sanctions freeze any assets that Mr. Assad and the others have in American financial institutions, and prohibit trade with them. Similar sanctions against Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, led to the seizure of more than $30 billion in assets, though it is believed that Mr. Assad has far fewer vulnerable assets. In addition to him, the sanctions affect the vice president, the prime minister, the interior and defense ministers, and the directors of military intelligence and political security.
The sanctions come amid growing signs that the government feels emboldened after staggering in the face of an unprecedented challenge to 40 years of rule by the Assad family. Officials have said they believe they have the upper hand and talk in weeks, not months, about putting an end to protests that erupted across the breadth of the country, from the southern steppe and Mediterranean coast to the outskirts of Damascus.
In an interview published Wednesday with a privately owned Syrian newspaper, aligned with the government, Mr. Assad declared that the tumult was coming to a close and acknowledged that his security forces had made mistakes in a crackdown so broad that hundreds of detainees were being held in schools and soccer fields.
Human rights activists have said at least 700 people were killed and 10,000 people arrested, as the military laid siege to at least four towns and cities.
“President Assad gave assurances that Syria had overcome the crisis it went through and that events were coming to an end,” the daily quoted him as saying.
The president also told the delegation that 4,000 police officers were undergoing what it called training to “prevent these excesses,” without giving further details.
Sounds like too little, too late to have an effect.
More from the Washington Post
here.
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Syrian sanctions, Syrian uprising
Sanctions against Iran are working, if you're looking to buy bread or milk. But if you're looking to buy weapons, well, that's a different story, according to a UN panel of experts that prepared a report for the Security Council. 
