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U.N. General Assembly Votes 133 to 12 to Slam Security Council
The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution Friday criticizing the Security Council's failure to act on the Syria conflict, which U.N. leader  the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said has become a "proxy war". The resolution, which condemned Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's use of "heavy weapons" in his battle against the rebellion against his rule, was passed by 133 votes with 12 countries against and 31 abstaining. Russia and China, which have vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria, were among high profile opponents of the resolution. Many diplomats said Friday's vote was a show of frustration and anger at the lack of international action on the conflict. Though the resolution is not legally binding, there was increased attention on the General Assembly action after the resignation of U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan  ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...and the mounting battle for the Syrian city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... The resolution said members deplored "the Security Council failure to agree on measures" to make the Syrian government carry out U.N. demands to end almost 18 months of fighting. It condemned "the Syrian authorities use of heavy weapons including indiscriminate shelling from tanks and helicopters" and demanded that the government refrain from using its chemical weapons. Posted by: Fred 2012-08-04 |
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