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Putin to Visit with Palestinians Following Day with Israeli Leaders
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is spending Tuesday with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah and Bethlehem following a day in Israel. Little was said to reveal the substance of private talks between Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, although following lunch together Netanyahu told reporters he listed three things that need to happen vis-à-vis Iran and its nuclear ambitions: strengthening sanctions; boosting Western demands; and action by the international community to end uranium enrichment while removing already- enriched uranium from Iran altogether. Western leaders have disagreed with Netanyahu and are seemingly satisfied with limiting the degree to which uranium is enriched – a policy the Israelis see as short-sighted and dangerous. Netanyahu said he and Putin agreed that “Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is a grave threat first and foremost to Israel but also to the region and to the world.” The Palestinians view the Putin visit as an important event in light of the perception that the US has higher priorities than the Mideast peace track and Russia wants to increase its position in the region. While the Palestinians feel the US is distinctly on Israel’s side in the conflict, Russia has been more supportive of its claims. Nevertheless, in an apparent reference to the Palestinian effort to obtain recognition of statehood and full membership at the UN, a member of Putin’s staff told an Israeli newspaper that the Russian president will counsel Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas not to “take unilateral steps.”
American UN Representative Calls Security Council “Colossal Failure” on Syria
Speaking during a UN Security Council debate on Syria on Monday, American UN Representative Susan Rice admonished the body as a “colossal failure” on the issue of protecting Syrian civilians from the ferocity of President Bashar Al-Asad’s forces. Rice said that during the year-and-a-half that the Security Council “has not been willing to protect the Syrian people from the brutal actions of their government, [the actions of the government have] grown ever more reprehensible and ever more dangerous to international peace and security.” Rice called for the imposition of more sanctions, but made no allusion to moving in the direction of military intervention against Al-Asad similar to that the Western nations undertook against the late Mu’amar Al-Qaddafi in Libya. The US is said to be collaborating with the UK and France on a new set of sanctions as the death toll moved past the 15,000 mark. Meanwhile, UN diplomats are quoted as saying the observer force is going to be cut back from its present level of 300 next month. When the force was initiated, UN officials were heard to say a force of 3,000 would be more realistic.
Erdogan Makes Request for NATO Review of Syrian Shoot-down of Jet
Calling it a “serious threat to peace and security in the region,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a formal request for a NATO review of last week’s incident in which a Turkish F-4 fighter jet was shot down by Syrian forces. Notably absent from the Erdogan letter was any demand for any specific action to be taken against the Syrians. The only other time the same article of the NATO treaty was invoked to summon a meeting on the grounds of a security threat to a member nation was also by Turkey, prior to the Iraq war. Experts say the session will be an opportunity for Erdogan to vent in a formal international setting, albeit without any apparent threat of retaliation. On Monday, Turkey accused Syria of shooting at one of its search planes that was looking for the wreckage of the downed jet. Turkey does not deny its plane strayed across the Syrian border, but because it is a normal occurrence, many observers believe the shoot-down was a well-planned message intended to alert the Western nations – and Israel -- to the current proficiency of Russian military technology.
Morsi Transition Team at Work in Cairo
Plans for Mohammed Morsi’s inauguration are being formulated and Egypt’s president-elect has already moved into his office in the Presidential Palace as the transition gets underway in Cairo. On Monday, Morsi met with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council that has ruled Egypt since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and who remains key to the nation’s stability. The council – SCAF – has taken over the process of drafting a new constitution and vows there will be no new election for the recently invalidated parliament until a new constitution is in place. The French news agency AFP reported that Morsi and his staff are reviewing names of potential cabinet appointees and intend to announce his selections as soon as possible. The make-up of the cabinet is anxiously awaited as the first tangible indicator of what Morsi means by his promise to create a broad, inclusive government despite his allegiance to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi won a close election that revealed a fairly even split between those who support the Islamists and those who fear Islamist leadership will lead to a state governed by Islamic law.
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