“It’s no secret that the United Nations hasn’t lived up to its billing as a champion of human rights and democratic values since its establishment in 1945. All too often, the UN system has aided and abetted some of the world’s most odious regimes—and served as a political weapon for those countries against the West. Yet even by these standards, this summer has seen an unprecedented level of rot in the world’s most powerful international forum.”
“Germany has agreed to provide restitution payments to an additional 80,000 Jews, following negotiations on Monday between Claims Conference representatives and German officials in Washington. The agreement is likely to result in additional payments of approximately $300 million, most of which will go to Nazi victims in the former Soviet Union who have never received payments or compensation from previous German restitution agreements.”
“Iran, Syria, Russia and China are planning the ‘biggest-ever wargames in the Middle East,’ according to an unconfirmed report on the semi-official Iranian news site Fars News. A Syrian official denied the claims.”
“The United Nations Human Rights Council condemned Syria on Thursday for widespread violations that may amount to crimes against humanity and called for a halt to attacks against civilians, the same day as the United Kingdom pulled its diplomats from the country. The 47-member forum, holding an urgent debate, voted by 37 states in favor, three against including China and Russia, and three abstentions, to adopt a resolution brought by Gulf countries with Western backing. Also Thursday, Kuwait’s parliament said it would support the rebel Free Syria Army, and called on the Kuwaiti government to cut ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad.”
“Russia has upgraded a surveillance station it maintains in Syrian territory in order to provide Iran early warning of an Israeli attack, according to the Israeli security-related blog Debkafile.”
Pravda may be gone but Russia still has the RT English-language network…
“While it’s unsurprising that the network’s coverage of the Syrian uprising would track closely with positions staked out by the Kremlin — for example, when Russia vetoed the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the regime, an RT correspondent stressed that the resolution ‘could have sent an unbalanced signal to all sides of the conflict’ — RT hasn’t simply promoted an anti-interventionist or anti-NATO viewpoint. Instead, it has frequently parroted Assad’s narrative by providing a platform for paranoiacs and conspiracy theorists to dispute that civilians are being killed by the regime, accuse America and Israel of being behind the deaths of Syrian civilians, and argue that the government in Damascus is a beacon of tolerance in the region.”
“The two powers’ refusal to back an Arab League plan for Syria came despite the vote coming within hours of the worst single act of violence in the 11-month uprising. Days of tortuous negotiations led to a final act of brinkmanship as Russia said it could not support a resolution backing an Arab League plan for a swift transition of power and elections. It was said to have demanded a last-minute change dropping a call, already agreed by Syria in November, for tanks and artillery to be withdrawn from the streets.”
“In defiance of international efforts to topple President Bashar Assad, Russia announced on Monday it signed a $550 million deal to sell 36 combat aircraft to Syria.”
“Russia has given Iran its bear hug and warns Israel and the West that an attack on Tehran would be considered an attack on Moscow. The threat heightens the prospect of World War III in the event of a military strike on Iran.”
