U.S. Seeks ‘Plan B’ to End Syrian Violence After UN Fails to Act
The U.S. and allies are seeking ways to increase pressure on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad after diplomatic efforts at the United Nations Security Council to support a political transition were blocked by Russian and Chinese vetoes.
“We’re going to have to take measures outside the UN to strengthen and deepen and broaden the international community pressure on Assad,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said yesterday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will work with allies to create an international support group for Assad’s opposition and to tighten sanctions against Syria, Nuland said. Other steps include pushing Syria’s trade partners to drop business with the regime and halt weapons shipments in particular, she said. Further action at the UN is also on the table, according to UN diplomats who weren’t authorized to comment publicly.
“There will be a ‘Plan B,’” Aaron David Miller of the Wilson Center, a Washington policy group, said in a telephone interview. “The question is whether it will work and how effective the strategy will be.”
more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/u-s-seeks-plan-b-to-end-syrian-violence-after-un-fails-to-act.html
Syria peace prospects look poor as U.S. closes embassy
The Obama administration provided no details of other measures it is considering to further isolate the Assad regime isolation and choke off its access to money to pay its forces and replenish its military stocks. Carney declined to say whether the United States would arm the Syrian opposition.
"Assad is running out of money," Carney said. "And we will work to make sure that he is unable to finance his continued crackdown."
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Assad is receiving support from Iran - reportedly including advisers from the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - and arms from Russia, which maintains its only foreign military base in Syria's port of Tartus.
Moving to halt Russian arms sales could worsen U.S. relations with the Kremlin, whose cooperation is vital to U.S. efforts to stop Iran's suspected nuclear arms program. Relations already have been strained by Moscow's U.N. veto Saturday, which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said was as a "travesty."
Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2012/02/06/3080848/syria-peace-prospects-look-poor.html#storylink=cpy
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