...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
by the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
Security Council.
Government front man Steffen Seibert said at a regular briefing that Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
had lost all "legitimacy" and that a political solution was "unthinkable."
"Two weeks after the massacre in Houla, it appears a similar massacre in the town of al-Kubeir near Hama was committed," Seibert said, adding that dozens of civilians had been "savagely killed."
"The position taken by the U.N. Security Council will be decisive for further developments and Russia, as Chancellor (Angela) Merkel stressed last week during the visit of President Vladimir Putin
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile..., has a particular responsibility here."
Seibert said Germany called on Assad to step aside.
"Leadership that allows such actions has lost all legitimacy," he said of Assad's regime in light of the latest bloodshed.
"It is actually unthinkable that a political solution, an end to the conflict, could be brought about with Mr. Assad at the helm. That is why the German government again urges him to clear the way for a peaceful transformation in Syria."