From
Turkey,
Jarba Tweets
Himself to
Presidency,
Follows US
& UK,
Scribes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 28,
updated -- The
"Syrian
Coalition" of
Ahmad
Jarba from
Turkey cranks
out press
releases
daily, and has
now moved
further into
social media,
with a new
Twitter
account of
"President
Jarba," which
as of this
publication
has 13
followers,
while
tellingly
following 45.
From
today's press
release:
"The
Assad
regime has
announced its
willingness to
attend the
Geneva II
conference in
January 22,
2014, but
declared its
unwillingness
‘to
hand over
power to a
transitional
governing
body’.. The
regime
continues to
deny the
popular
demands of
ending its
rule of
tyranny
and injustice
and to ignore
the legitimate
aspirations of
democracy,
freedom, and
the rule of
law.
Furthermore,
the delusional
regime
claims to be
the victim of
a conspiracy,
and is still
refusing to
acknowledge
the true aim
of the Geneva
conference
which is the
transition
from a
dictatorship
toward
democracy. The
Syrian
Coalition
reiterates its
commitment to
participate in
any and all
political
processes that
might achieve
the Syrian
people's
aspirations
for
democracy."
With
these repeated
references to
democracy, it
seems strange
for Jarba to
refer to
himself as
"President of
the Syrian
Opposition."
The whole
opposition?
And
who
does Jarba
follow?
His very first
follow was UK
foreign
secretary
William Hague,
followed by
Hague's US
counterpart
John
Kerry. Then
the White
House and US
Number 10;
then the BBC,
Associated
Press, Al
Hayat and
Reuters.
This
is the
audience. When
Jarba was in
New York in
July, big Gulf
&
Western media
hosted him for
a faux
"UN briefing"
on the
third floor of
the building.
Despite
repeated
requests,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokespeople
refused to
answer Inner
City
Press'
questions
about the
legalities of
the "UN
briefing."
When
Ban met with
Jarba in
September in
Ban's
UN-provided
residence, it
was not in the
Media Alert
and only an
in-house UN
photographer
was
there, the
type of
exclusion of
independent
media that the
Free
UN
Coalition for
Access has
most recently
protested.
Strangely
missing
from Jarba's
follows?
Laurent Fabius
and Francoise
Hollande,
since it was
France which
declared Jarba
to be the sole
legitimate
representative
of the Syrian
people. France
takes over the
Security
Council for
the month of
December, and
one wonders
what will
happen
them. Look for
more follows!
Watch this
site.
Update:
after the
above was
published,
Jarba reduced
his follows
from 45 to 31,
dropping the
mentioned Gulf
and Western
media and
adding...
Laurent
Fabius.
, 
