1)Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday told Bashar Assad military operations against civilians must end immediately and unconditionally, warning the Syrian president that these were Ankara's "final words". "If these operations do not stop there will be nothing left to say about the steps that would be taken," he said, without elaborating. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109274,00.html
2)Galrahn Raymond Pritchett (Information Dissemination blog) So is the UN staff withdrawal from Syria a response to the warnings by the Turkish FM? Is Turkey signaling military action? 13 minutes ago http://twitter.com/?_twitter_noscript=1
3)Turkey secretly passed a message to Damascus last week that if it does not implement major democratic reforms, NATO may attack Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, according to Egyptian security officials speaking to WND. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=333897#ixzz1VIZfaeSQ
4)#Syria RT @blakehounshell: hearing now that the withdrawal of UN staff was in the works even before Lattakia events. 40 minutes ago http://twitter.com/?_twitter_noscript=1
5)Turkey will discuss radical changes to its Syrian policy when its top security council meets Thursday amid Damascus’ continued refusal to heed Ankara’s demands for reform. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-mulls-radical-changes-in-syria-2011-08-16
ping
And people wonder why, like Mogadishu; there are no time shares in Syria?
Jack.
Does the UN have another type of staff I don’t know about?
Non-essential, so does that mean everyone from the U.N. is leaving Syria?
Why this, why Turkey, why now?
I have no qualms about the principle of deposing an oppressive dictatorship (and variations on that theme), but am curious about the circumstances and logistics. (Ditto Libya: no problem taking Gadfly out, but taking the initiative is ... France? and the Obama? what, am I on the Square Bizarro World or something?) What interest does Turkey have in Syria’s brutal suppression of rebellion beyond mere moral outrage? Why would they want to irritate Iran [more]? Assuming an efficient disposal of the regime, who fills the power vacuum? And, oil aside, who cares?
The Turks have the second largest army in NATO. The Syrians realize this and that if they decide to intervene that they’ll get steamrolled. Question is how Iran’s going to take it, and whether or not Turkey is willing to fight them as well.
Does the UN have anything other than “non-essential” staff?
Can we get the UN to withdraw from the US as well?
This is a brilliant gambit to setback Iran.
By eliminating the Syrian Surrogate, Turkey (and others backing the move) also eliminate the Hezbollah and Hamas surrogates.
This meets with my approval