...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
warned that Kofi Annan's
...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...peace efforts appeared to be failing.
The EU, meanwhile, slapped fresh sanctions on Damascus,
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
while Russia said it was "absolutely clear" Al Qaeda was behind last week's twin kabooms in Damascus that killed 55 people and vowed to continue to arm the regime.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three troop carriers were destroyed in festivities that erupted at dawn on the outskirts of Rastan, a rebel-held city in restive Homs province of central Syria.
At least 23 soldiers were killed in the Rastan festivities, it said.
Four rebel fighters, among them a lieutenant who defected, also died in the fighting as well as two civilians, and regime gunfire reportedly left three civilians dead in the nearby city of Homs.
Regime forces launched an offensive on Rastan at the weekend, encountering heavy resistance from rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar al Assad's regime.
"The regime forces in the course of two hours fired 300 rockets at Rastan before launching their assault," Sami Kurdi, a front man for the rebel Free Syrian Army, told AFP from Rastan.
The Observatory also reported deadly violence elsewhere on Monday, putting the total daily toll of at least 37.
The bloodshed comes despite a month-old ceasefire brokered by UN-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 Annan as part of a plan aimed at ending violence that has swept Syria since March 2011 when a popular revolt erupted against Assad's regime.
Part of the plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of around 300 UN military observers. By Sunday, 189 observers were on the ground, the UN mission in Syria said.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister warned Monday that confidence in Annan's peace mission was fading fast because of the relentless bloodshed.
"Confidence in the efforts of the international envoy is falling rapidly because fighting and bloodshed continue," Prince Saud al-Faisal told news hounds after Riyadh hosted a summit of Arab leaders of the Gulf.