William Hague: action on Syria possible without support of Russia and China

Telegraph (UK) ^ | Thursday, July 05, 2012 | Rosa Prince

[SunkenCiv]

In a live Twitter chat with members of the public, Mr Hague admitted that the peace mission led by Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary General, had "failed so far."

And while he still wanted the plan, which has the backing of the UN Security Council including Russia and China, to succeed, Britain was prepared to take alternative measures if this proved impossible.

Moscow and Beijing have proved reluctant to agree to severe sanctions or military measures against Syria over the course of the 16 month conflict.

Russia in particular is a long-time ally of the Assad regime, and both nations are reluctant to agree to formal action after complaining that they felt duped by the passing of a UN Resolution which ultimately resulted in the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, last year.

Mr Hague suggested that unless the bloodshed in Syria ceased, the Government would seek a new UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) even without the backing of Russia and China.

He said: "Our strong preference is to work with Russia & China but if Annan plan fails no option is ruled out.

"We're working with them. We support stronger action by Friends of Syria. If no progress made will seek strong UNSCR."

[SunkenCiv]

Assad blames Turkey for escalating crisis in Syria
by Graeme Smith
Globe and Mail
w/reports from AP, AFP, Reuters
Thursday, Jun. 28 2012

As Turkish military vehicles roll toward the Syrian border and an explosion rocked a landmark building in downtown Damascus, a defiant Bashar al-Assad blamed his neighbour for the rising violence. In an interview broadcast on Thursday, the Syrian President did not apologize for recently shooting down a Turkish fighter jet and he made little effort to back out of the growing confrontation with his former allies in Ankara, whom he accuses of helping rebels.

[SunkenCiv]

NATO chief warns Syria to avoid escalation with Turkey
(AFP)
Thursday, July 05, 2012

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Syria Thursday to find a political solution to the country's crisis and warned against any new incidents with Turkey after a plane was shot down... A Turkish F-4 Phantom was shot down on June 22 by Syrian fire but the two countries disagree on whether the incident took place in international or Syrian airspace. After the incident, Turkey requested consultations under Article 4 of NATO's founding treaty, enabling any of the allies to call for talks should they consider their territorial integrity, political independence or security to be under threat. "We all agree that there is no military solution to the crisis in Syria, we need a political solution," Rasmussen also said during his one-day visit to Slovenia.

[bravo whiskey]

as was stated elsewhere, just put a fence around syria and let them kill each other.