Published: December 30, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Crossfire War - France Suspends Diplomatic Relations with Syria over Lebanon
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - Rapid Fire News=Tehran - Beirut - Damascus Watch - West Asia - North - Northeast Africa Theatre: Tehran - Riyadh - Tripoli - Khartoum - Amman - Baghdad - Ramallah - Gaza - Damascus - Beirut/Paris - Rome - London - Washington - Jerusalem - Cairo; France Suspends Diplomatic Relations with Syria over Lebanon Presidential Impasse - Israel Has Plans to Assassinate Hamas Premier Ismail Haniya Next Month
Night Watch: DAMASCUS - Just before the tenth weekly postponement of the Parliamentary session in Beirut, for the purpose of electing a new President, France President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered Syria President Bashar al-Assad to "use all the means of your influence to allow the realization of the election. Now I see that I have reached the end of this logic. I will no longer make do with talk." Lebanon Today/Reuters reported Sarkozy was indicating his patience with Damascus had reached its limit as he and the West accuse only Damascus as being the main obstacle to a Lebanese President acceptable to the West.
To continue to ignore Tehran as the real behind-the-scenes influence in the region is completely illogical and unrealistic, but such is the state of mind of the West's leadership and it is driven by fear, as it sees its influence in the region diminishing. And this is a dispute over a country the French created in 1920, which is why Syria never accepted it. Schemes in Paris used to dictate events in Lebanon and Syria, including the starting of the 1975-90 civil war, which the French unknowingly allowed Iran to enter through Hezbollah, but instead of confronting Tehran directly Sarkozy and the West just rant and rail against Damascus. [LEBANONTODAY]
Cairo - I suspect leaders in the West continue to broadcast these empty statements, lost in the wind, because they like to hear themselves talk. In the meantime, as expected, Syria President al-Assad paid no attention to the directives since the stalemate has in effect established a military government in Lebanon close to Damascus-Tehran. Therefore, today, after the eleventh Parliamentary postponement of the Presidential election session on Friday, Asharq al-Awsat/AFP report Sarkozy's response, that France "will have no more contact with Syria ... until we have proof of Syrian willingness to let Lebanon appoint a President by consensus." Paris has therefore suspended diplomatic relations with Damascus, which is an admission of defeat. [ASHARQALAWSAT]
It is significant Sarkozy made this announcement from Cairo, visiting President Hosni Mubarak, the last Islamic head of state in the region that has maintained strategic relations with the West. What both leaders may not want to admit is they are confronted by spiritual-political forces the French unleashed when they enabled the Ayatollah Khomeini to overthrow the Shah of Iran in 1979. Khomeini did so from his last residence in exile, a Paris suburb. The French and the West did not realize his influence would impact the Arab world to this extent. They projected his destabilizing influence would not go beyond the Caucasus creating a limited regional crisis between Russia and Iran, which would provide Moscow with reasons to declare war and control Iran's oil. With Russia in control of Iran's resources, it would reduce the cost of its oil exported to the West.
Gaza - Press TV reports, according to the Israeli website Rotter quoting senior sources in the Security Cabinet, Defense Minster Ehud Barak has endorsed a plan to assassinate Hamas leader Premier Ismail Haniya next month after President George W. Bush's visit to Israel. If successful, that will be the third Hamas leader eliminated by Israel. The founder of Hamas Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed as was his successor Dr. Abdul Al-Rantisi. I will be extremely surprised if Bush is able to make his visit because I expect war to be going on in the region at full scale by then. The assassination, at least the attempt of it, will still take place. [PRESSTV]
Night Watch Information Service
www.crossfirewar.com
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