Posts
| September 3, 2013 |
Top of the Agenda: Syrian Refugees Top Two Million Mark
Over two million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries and more than four million are internally displaced, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (AFP) announced on Tuesday.
As a potential U.S. strike on Syria over the alleged use of chemical
weapons near Damascus raises tensions, Russia said it detected two
ballistic "objects" in the Mediterranean Sea (Reuters),
which Israel later said was a joint missile test conducted with the
United States. In Washington, Obama administration officials are
lobbying members of Congress to grant the president authorization to use
force in Syria, but Secretary of State John Kerry said the president
had the right to take military action even if Congress rejects such measures (Guardian).
Analysis
"The
real interests at stake in Syria include stopping a humanitarian
nightmare that has claimed more than 100,000 lives; frustrating the
designs of Iran and its partners; reinforcing the norm that chemical weapons cannot be used with impunity;
and demonstrating that what the US says is to be taken to the bank by
friend and foe alike," CFR President Richard Haass writes in the Financial Times.
"The
American government has concluded 'with high confidence' that some
1,429 Syrians, including at least 426 children, were killed by toxic
chemicals. What is the threshold for action?
NATO should be part of an international effort to sharply punish the
Assad regime, which poses a clear and present danger to the alliance —
and the United States should lead NATO in doing so," writes retired
admiral James G. Stavridis in the New York Times.
"[The
Israeli leadership] is profoundly concerned that the president has set a
precedent, in seeking an authorization from Congress that he had no
legal requirement to seek—and that Congress was not loudly
demanding—that may complicate, delay or even rule out credible action to thwart a challenge that dwarfs Assad's chemical weapons capability: Iran's drive to nuclear weapons," writes David Horovitz in the Times of Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment