EU threatens new sanctions on Syria

[maddezmom]

BEIRUT (AP) – The European Union will impose harsher sanctions on Syria, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as Russia tried to broker talks between the vice president and the opposition to calm violence. Activists reported at least 50 killed in the regime's siege of the restive city of Homs.

Russia, a close ally of Syria, and the West are pushing down starkly different paths in trying to deal with Syria's nearly 11 months of bloodshed. After blocking a Western and Arab attempt to bring U.N. pressure on President Bashar Assad to step down, Russia has launched a bid to show it can resolve the turmoil.

Moscow is calling for a combination of reforms by the regime and negotiations, without calling for Assad to go. Its provisions are so far finding no traction with the opposition, which dismisses promises of reform as empty gestures, refuses any negotiations while violence continues and says Assad's removal is the only option in the crisis.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said outside forces should let Syrians settle their conflict "independently."

more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-02-06/syria-un-secretary-violence/52992064/1

[David__77]

1. SNC refuses any negotiation...

...they might change their tune soon enough.

[Fool Count]

2. More precisely, the West and Gulf Arabs refuse any negotiations. SNC is just a proxy body

filled with paid traitors and mercenaries which represents those foreign interests. If their Qatari masters
told them to negotiate SNC would be negotiating ten minutes later. That's the Qataris who Assad needs to
wear down for any peaceful negotiating solution to become possible. Qataris don't care about suffering
of Syrian people and they have virtually unlimited cash reserves to draw upon, but they are still rational
and may balk if the cost becomes hard to justify. But the hardest to take cost Assad could impose on them
would be in lives of their military personnel operating in Syria. Assad forces need to kill enough Qataris
to make the Emir rethink his approach to Syria. Either that or Russia could wipe Qatar off the map and
restore peace in this part of the world.

[David__77]

3. I think that's a bit too strong.

They're are traitors on both sides, in the sense that there are those willing to sell the country. It is not so much Qatar as Sunni chauvinism from various quarters, bolstered and emboldened by aggressive Western forces seeking a "new Middle East" without national sovereignty.

Right now, in Qatar, in Turkey, and in Paris, people are very nervous because the situation is grim for them. There is much hysteria and disinformation because two weeks from now, there won't be a "Benghazi," or even the "Benghazi"-lite we've seen in Homs. They want to restart the monitoring mission or do anything possible to allow an opening for more arms and fighters to infiltrate the country.

[SayIt]

4. Totalitarian Syria

Last backbone of Iran.