Russia and China were the only permanent Security Council members opposing the UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria, reminding others that it was not their place to intervene in the domestic affairs of another country. Russia’s permanent envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin earlier said any proposals including an arms embargo or a demand for Assad’s resignation would be vetoed. Diplomatic insiders say there had been two draft resolutions on the table in the UNSC.
A version put forth by Morocco, the only Arab state on the Security Council, was opposed by Russia and China over provisions for foreign intervention in what both Moscow and Beijing call a ‘domestic’ affair.
The two states had previously vetoed a similar resolution, fearing its passage would cause a repeat of the Libyan scenario with another NATO military incursion. In turn, some UNSC members said Russia’s draft proposal was far too soft to have any effect on the conflict in Syria. To these claims, Churkin stressed the hope for a consensus on the matter, but noted that it was still too early to talk about a vote. It is not in America’s plans to push for a resolution demanding foreign intervention in Syria, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland announced on Thursday. She added that America wants a peaceful solution to the conflict in the country, saying that the situation in Syria is different from that of Libya. Nuland stressed, however, that the US is calling on other countries to back the toughest possible resolution on Syria.
Michel Chossudovsky, the Director at the Center for Research on Globalization, believes that instead of revising the current draft resolution, the Security Council should scrap it and work out a new one, based on the results of the Arab League’s report. “I think that resolution should be scrapped,” he told RT.
“What they should do is throw out that draft resolution and have another one which actually focuses on the foreign forces – including Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia – which are supporting an insurgency in a sovereign country namely Syria.” Chossudovsky believes that the Security Council paid too little attention to the Arab League observer mission’s “extremely explicit” report, which should be taken very seriously. “The report should be made public,” he said. “This observer mission is made up of people who are not necessarily politically inclined. They are independent observers and they are saying the truth.” (see video interview below)
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