Guardian Editorial: The Guardian view on the battle for Aleppo: a rebuke to America and the world
After intensive bombing, and while the world looks on, Syria’s largest city is on the verge of becoming a humanitarian catastrophe on a par with the siege of Sarajevo 20 years ago
John Kerry does not give up easily. On Thursday in Munich the US secretary of state will promote a fresh diplomatic effort on Syrian peace talks. Yet for all his determination, events on the ground are not only working against a breakthrough, but raising increasingly profound doubts about the coherence of US and western strategy. For more than a week, the rebel-held city of Aleppo, once Syria’s largest, has been pounded by Russia’s air force, acting in support of Iranian-backed militias and Syrian government troops. If this annihilation strategy continues, the balance of forces in Syria’s civil war will change fundamentally. Mr Kerry’s proposed negotiated solution will be null and void, for there will be no Syrian opposition force left to be represented at any negotiating table.
Read more ....
Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- February 10, 2016
Under Russian fire, Syrian rebels blame West for abandoning their fight -- Dominique Soguel, CSM
Syrian war: It took time, but Russia was game-changer for Assad -- Nicholas Blanford, CSM
Death in Aleppo, victory in Russia, havoc in Europe -- Roula Khalaf, Financial Times
Drawbacks to the Saudi Offer to Send Troops to Syria to Fight ISIS -- Aaron David Miller, WSJ
Turkey's Syria strategy lies in ruins as rebel-held Aleppo teeters -- Gönül Tol, CNN
John Kerry’s desperate push on Syria -- Daivd Ignatius, Washington Post
14 hard truths on Syria no one wants to admit -- Max Fisher, VOX
After North Korea's Launch, Who's M.A.D Now? -- Daniel McGroarty, Real Clear World
Who's Afraid of a Falling Yuan? -- Christopher Balding, Bloomberg
China's Yuan Won't Topple the Dollar After All -- Milton Ezrati, National Interest
The new Big Short: China may soon rock the global financial system -- Paul Sheehan, Sydney Morning Herald
Nigeria Is Comiong Apart At The Seams -- Max Siollun, Foreign Policy
The Exploitation Fueling Madagascar’s Sapphire Trade -- Sébastien Hervieu, World Crunch
Closing the Balkan Route: Will Greece Become a Refugee Bottleneck? -- Giorgos Christides, Juliane von Mittelstaedt, Peter Müller and Maximilian Popp, Spiegel Online
Peace at Last in Colombia Cocaine Country—Unless We, er, Blow It -- Virginia M. Bouvier, Daily Beast
WNU Editor,
ReplyDeleteRemember when the Guardian was an anti-war paper?
"On 5 July of that year an armed convoy - the Brigade of Tawheed, an Islamist group that has previously praised Nusra - rolled into ancient Aleppo. It dispersed, burnt down police stations, set up road blocks.
Within a few weeks, the rebel brigades had taken over most of the city. “At first we thought they were Syrians,” said Shehabi. “But after a few weeks we got reports about foreigners. Fighters from Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Saudi, Iraq, Eqypt.”
“This was not regime change, it was invasion. And why was it taking a religious theme? Why does it have a beard? We are not ready to replace a secular society with a religious one.”
The newcomers established religious courts. Women were confined to their home and made to cover up. Alcohol and smoking were banned. “I’m a Sunni, yet they consider me an infidel,” Shehabi said.
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/essays/journey-aleppo-how-war-ripped-syrias-biggest-city-apart-1376989223#.dpuf"
Jay. I always try my best to put links from sources that disagree with each other, and the Guardian was always my source for anti-war, liberal, labour party, etc. links. Now .... they sometimes make the Daily Mail look liberal.
ReplyDeleteThe anti-Syria forces comprised of Islamic radicals from many countries are "rebels" according to Guardian.
ReplyDeleteIt's "the rebel-held city of Aleppo" and "The rebels whom the US and its allies have claimed to support all along are, in Aleppo, in need of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry, yet there is no indication they will be supplied with it."
So the "a rebuke to America and the world" of the Guardian is really Russia's rebuke to terrorists, as Putin has told us. The Guardian should get its story straight. (But that would hurt the US-UK story line.)