On
Eve
of Syria Vote,
Arab Spring's
Gone Dry at
Egypt Day,
Rwanda &
Bolton
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
News Muse
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 18 -- The
Arab Spring
has gone dry.
This at least
was
the news from
the Egyptian
national day
reception at
that country's
mission on
44th Street
Wednesday
night.
Previous
events at that
mission have
been raucous,
and featured
alcohol.
But as one
attendee put
it, with the
Muslim
Brotherhood in
control,
expect no more
such
receptions.
On
the
eve
of the
re-scheduled
vote on the
Syria
resolution,
there were
few optimists
in or around
the UN. Many
predicted a
double veto on
Thursday at 10
am. Others
suggested that
the vote might
be further
delayed, to
late Friday
when the
UNSMIS
mission's
mandate will
run
out.
Analogies
were made
to Rwanda,
where a UN
mission under
Chapter Six of
the Charter
cut
and ran before
the genocide
began.
Another,
asking to
not be
credited,
suggested a
solution was
still
possible, a la
John
Bolton,
invoking
Article 41 but
not Chapter
Seven. But P3
Permanent
Representatives
emerging
Wednesday at 6
did not
recognize the
gambit.
So might
Russia play
it?
To
recap
with (a bit)
more
substance: the
issue as
several
non-Western
Security
Council
members put it
to Inner City
Press is that
the
bomb-killing
of Syria's
Defense
Minister
changes
things. One
cynic
asked, "So
this bombing
was done by
defenseless
people?"
Li
Baodong
of China told
the Press the
bombing was
terrorist.
Another
Council source
opined to
Inner City
Press, until
now the Obama
administration
was just
trying to fend
off the
Republicans
until the
election in
November. Now
it might not
last until
then. Then the
Free
Syrian Army
won't own
anything to
the US, only
to Saudi and
Qatar.
Still
another,
referring to
Inner City
Press' story
about plans to
split
Syria into
three with
Alawites
taking the
coast and
Kurds another
zone, said
that scenario
is getting
closer.
Wednesday
evening to
the Security
Council's
credit it
still
continued
working. It
was 7:20
pm when the
Deputy
Permanent
Representatives
of, among
others, the UK
and China
emerged from
the Security
Council. Some
in their group
told
Inner City
Press the
meeting was
about UNAMID,
the mission in
Darfur.
The
General
Assembly
entrance had
been locked
for the night
and they had
to exit
through the
garage then a
hallway
without
lights, with
water
from the rain
and hail
storm. It was
a dark and
storm night --
dry
too -- with a
double veto on
the horizon.
Watch this
site.
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