Syria
Progress Cited
But How Far
Can Support of
Arab
League Be
Downshifted?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 1 --
The day after
the UN
"Syria
Superbowl"
complete with
foreign
ministers,
Wednesday
afternoon the
regular
Permanent
Representatives
met for three
hours after
the draft
resolution.
US Ambassador
Susan Rice on
the way in --
after earlier
speaking about
Yemen to Inner
City Press,
click here for
that -- told
the media "I
don't put my
red lines on
the table."
Just
outside of
the UN as the
meeting
started,
Syrian
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari told
Inner City
Press, "There
are four red
lines,"
holding up
four fingers
before
proceeding
toward the
UN's North
Lawn
building.
But
mostly,
sources tell
Inner City
Press, the big
issue is
Operative
Paragraph
7. As Inner
City Press obtained
and published
the draft done
by the
experts on
Monday evening,
it began
"7.
[Fully
supports in
this regard
the League of
Arab States'
initiative
set out in its
22 January
2012 decision
to facilitate
a political
transition
...]including]
(b) delegation
by the
President of
Syria of
his full
authority to
his Deputy"
Earlier
on
Wednesday,
China's Li
Baodong told
Inner City
Press this was
a
"subtext
of regime
change."
Now, according
to sources,
there is
consideration
of changing
"fully
supports" the
Arab League to
"endorses" --
or, on perhaps
not well
placed Council
source said,
just "takes
note
of" (this
seems
unlikely.)
Given the
speeches given
in and around
yesterday
Syria
Superbowl, how
much of a
down-shift
could be sold
or accepted?
At stakeout on
Syria, whole
lotta filming
going on by UN
Photo
In
the middle of
the
negotiations,
groups of
three Chinese
girls in
costume ran by
the
Security
Council,
preparing for
a musical
performance at
7 pm in the
General
Assembly, on
"intangible"
cultural
heritage.
Meanwhile
a next
text was
supposed to be
finished and
circulated by
8 pm -- Inner
City
Press asked,
without
answer, with
track changes
by whom?
-- and
consultations
to resume as
early as 10 am
on Thursday,
when the
Council
members
meet to
finalize
February's
program of
work under the
new Togolese
presidency.
Only at the
UN.
, 
