Wednesday, July 20, 2011

U.S. backs off tough rhetoric against Syria & Assad

"After sharply escalating its criticism of Syria's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the Obama administration has abruptly scaled back its condemnations, injecting fresh uncertainty about its willingness to confront President Bashar Assad's regime.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared last week that Assad's government had "lost legitimacy," diplomatic language that implied a break with Syria. Analysts said they expected the White House to demand Assad's ouster ...But Clinton backed off on Saturday, saying the administration still hopes that Assad's regime will stop the violence and work with protesters to carry out political reforms. On Monday, European Union ministers also called on Assad to implement reforms and made clear they still hope he will do so.
The change in tone reflects the continuing debate over whether Syria's longtime ruler is likely to survive the current turmoil, and how best to use the limited diplomatic tools available to pressure him..."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bashar al-Asad was never in trouble. The majority of us Syrians stand by him. If we didn't, he (and Syria) wouldn't have survived the vicious global media attack. The sectarian fighting in Homs is worrying but I doubt it will become significant. The "opposition" tried the same strategy in my hometown Latakia and they failed.

Syria is fine.

Anonymous said...

@anon July 20, 2011 3:32 AM

Thank you for putting us non Syrians straight. I am always suspicious when I see wobbly mobile graphics!