World
U.S. Hopes Russia Puts Pressure on Assad – State Department
Topic: Protests in Syria
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
© RIA Novosti. Sergei GuneevWASHINGTON, February 23 (RIA Novosti)
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The United States hopes that Russia has been doing its best to persuade Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop violence against protesters, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner has said.
“You know, we're hopeful that the Russians are delivering the sternest possible message to Assad and his regime and are at least using that leverage, the leverage that they have, to make him aware that the international community is increasingly speaking with one voice against what he's doing,” Toner said during a daily press briefing in Washington on Wednesday.
As the death toll from the 11-month uprising against Assad’s authoritarian rule has skyrocketed in the past two months, surpassing 5,400 according to UN estimates, the United States and its Western allies have increased pressure on Russia to drop its support for the Assad regime.
Earlier this month, Russia and China, both permanent UN Security Council members, vetoed a UN draft resolution condemning the Syrian regime and calling on Assad to step down. Protesting against what they call Western attempts in interfere in Syria’s domestic affairs, Moscow and Beijing have insisting that both the regime and armed opposition groups fighting against the government are to blame for the bloodshed.
While local human rights groups point to soaring numbers of civilian deaths as a result of Syrian army operations against protesters, the country’s authorities say more than 2,000 security and military officers have been killed by members of “armed terrorist gangs” which they say are directed from abroad.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed the situation in Syria in a telephone conversation on Wednesday. The presidents “urged the resolution of the current crisis by Syrian people using only peaceful means and without any foreign interference” and “agreed that the main goal today…is to prevent a civil war in the country, which may destabilize the situation in the whole region,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Syria earlier this month for talks with Assad. Moscow has also proposed hosting talks between the Syrian government and the opposition aimed at resolving the crisis.
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- ratnikClinton's brand of regime change04:44, 23/02/2012Did Hillary learn anything at all from Viet Nam? Take sides in a civil war without knowing who you are supporting? Sheer idiocy! Religion is the enemy in Syria, and the cure is to educate the young about the dogmatic religious view being something to avoid like the plague. Perhaps the cure is to allow the various fundamentalists their own self-governed area within the country of Syria. We do this in Canada with our many aboriginal peoples. Not a perfect answer but better than civil war!!
- mrgenieLOL08:36, 23/02/2012"agreed that the main goal today…is to prevent a civil war in the country, which may destabilize the situation in the whole region"
Hypocrites. There are 2 main countries conducting foreign intervention in Syria: Russia and Iran. They both agreed to use weapons against woman and children. Weapons made in Russia and Iran, delivered to Assad to target civilians. Foreign intervention, then these 2 countries should stop killing woman and children. Because if they continue, the Arabs will intervene. Saudi, Egypt, Turkey are already discussing military aid for the opposition. Turkey asked Russia to stop the killing of woman and children, if Russia continues to kill woman and children, Turkey and it's allies will respond of course. They must defend civilians against Russian and Iranian weapons. If Russia continues to support the killing so in Moscow friends of Mr Putin can drive big cars, we will see an escalation as Egypt, Saudis, Qatar and other gulf states are already preparing to defend woman and children against the massive slaughter by Russian and Iranian weapons. So, indeed, the hypocrites should indeed stop messing around with Syria and stop weapons deliveries. Of course the South American, African, Asian, European, North American states, that is the whole world, will support the Arabs to defend the civilians against Russian and Iranian weapons.
So if those 2 hypocrites really mean it, to avoid civil war, they should stop messing around with Syria. Sooner or later, the Arab countries and their worldwide allies will start to supply arms to the opposition. Thus far no one in the west has helped the opposition. Russia and Iran are the only countries interfering with Syria, but we can't expect the west to be sitting there for years, watching how civilians being slaughtered by the Army, backed by the Russians and Iranians.- living069at MRGENIE areal hypocrite05:41, 24/02/2012you mean like all the weapons you give to israel to kill women and kids, like all the weapons you gave the Lybian "rebels" to kill women and kids, like all the weapons you gave to Iraq to kill Iranian women and kids, history shows evil empires like the nazis will eventually be beaten, your arrogance will be your downfall.
- cheruskNo pasaran12:13, 23/02/2012We know you, depraved Arab serfs of the Empire. Kosovo has been lost to the criminal UCK funded by wahabites and US but the war in Chechnya against wahabite mercenaries has been won.
- SzabolcsTypical US cynicism and limitless hypocrisy13:21, 23/02/2012Whilst the US state department "hopes" that Russia puts pressure on President Assad "to stop violence against protesters" the very same US regime supplies arms and trains terrorists which it infiltrates over the Turkish Syrian border from the Iskandrun base.Are state department officials psychopaths, schyzophrenes that they do not know what the other institutions of that regime are doing to incite and foment resistance by armed terrorists (according to them "Peaceful demonstrators" ?!).They certainly know and continue to stoke the fire in Syria and other strategically important parts of the world and pretend to be saints.They are arsonists, lay and stoke fires and when local fireworks attempt to extinguish them they play the innocent bystanders who know of nothing and call on the international community to stop those killings---which, mind you, they started in the first place and which they fuel and all the time "call on Russia to exert influence on the respective Governments to stop the violence against demonstrators"
It is undescribable what a perfidious regime the US regime is.It is really the rubbish of the earth and it remains to be hoped that that murderous regime- which a.o. uses brutal policeforce against peacefull demonstrators in its own country (see the polica brutality against the "Occupy Wall Street" movement!)will sooner or later be toppled by an internal revolution.Down with the US regime and its zionist supporters!
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