On
Eve
of Return to
NY at 81,
Brahimi's
Jordan &
Anti-Election
Links
Eyed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee, 1
in a series
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 22 --
With Lakhdar
Brahimi on his
way to the UN
in
New York,
already some
bad-mouthing
of him has
started. The
opposition's
critique is
not only of his
statement that
it's too
early for him
to say that
Assad must go,
but is more
fundamental.
"Wasn't
he
part of
annulling the
Islamists'
electoral
victory in
Algeria?"
one source
pointedly
asked.
Another
pointed
out Brahimi's
connection by
daughter's
marriage high
into Jordan's
royal family.
Inner
City Press,
which has
pointed out
that contrary
to wire
and then
other
reports Brahimi
is NOT a
"Nobel Peace
laureate"
was
itself
corrected, for
having said
Brahimi is 78.
"He's 81,"
a source said,
noting that in
2004 Brahimi
presented
himself in
Iran
as being 73
years old.
Once this is
confirmed, as
the Nobel
Foundation
confirmed
to Inner City
Press that Brahimi
is NOT a Nobel
Peace laureate,
we will have
more.
So
why did
Brahimi take
the job? One
source said,
"These guys
just
can't stand to
give up power,
even if it is
only the UN
kind of
power."
It was
predicted
Brahimi will
try for a
smaller team
than Annan,
perhaps
keeping on
Ahmad Fawzi
and trying to
place three
or four people
in Damascus.
That, like
after his
meeting with
Francois
Hollande, he
will now
present
himself as in
the "listening
mode."
And
that it is
late, too
late, for a
mediated
solution.
"This will
be decided," a
well placed UN
source said,
"on the
ground."
The
problem is
that there are
many, many
armed groups
in the
opposition,
he said.
There's an Al
Qaeda-like
movement;
there's the
Muslim
Brotherhood,
supported by
Egypt and
Qatar. And
then there are
200
groups, who
control areas
here and there
and will not
bow down to
any
Syrian
outside. So
even if a deal
is cut, "these
guys won't
stop."
"This
will be a
failure for
the UN," the
UN source
concluded. "It
will be seen
as weak and
ineffectual.
Ban Ki-moon is
trying to
avoid
the fall-out
by appointing
one high
profile envoy
after another,
and
letting them
take the
heat." The
source paused
and then
marveled,
"It's
actually
pretty smart."
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views; there
are others.
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site.
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