Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
to hand power to his deputy.
The text also stresses there will be no foreign military intervention in a conflict that the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
says has killed more than 5,400 people in the past 10 months.
It demands that "the Syrian government immediately puts an end to all human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal
liberty...
violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association".
It calls on Assad to delegate his "full authority to his deputy" and then to form a national unity government leading to "transparent and free elections under Arab and international supervision".
The text insists it does not compel states "to resort to the use of force, or the threat of force", which a diplomat said was a statement aimed at answering the concerns of Russia and China.
Russia, a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member, has exasperated the West by insisting it will not back a resolution calling on Assad to step down.
China and Russia used their veto powers as permanent members of the council to block a previous resolution on Syria.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as
For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillaryand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Elihu Root...
, the head of the 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...
and the foreign ministers of Britannia and La Belle France were gathering in New York on Tuesday to push forward the U.N. resolution and persuade Russia to drop its opposition.