"Give us what we want or we won't..." What?

 

The Syrian opposition will not attend the proposed Geneva conference on the crisis in Syria unless rebel fighters receive new supplies of arms and ammunition, the top rebel military commander said Friday.  Gen. Salim Idris during a news conference in Istanbul on Saturday said.   “If we don’t receive ammunition and weapons to change the position on the ground, to change the balance on the ground, very frankly I can say we will not go to Geneva,” Gen. Salim Idris said in a telephone interview from his headquarters in northern Syria. “There will be no Geneva.”   NY Times - Michael Gordon

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Well,  well, if the US does not act to weaken the Syrian government enough to make it agree to surrender power to the rebels, then the rebels will not attend the conference in Geneva.

Good.  pl 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/world/middleeast/syria-opposition-wont-attend-talks-unless-rebels-get-arms-commander-says.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Comments

[confusedponderer]

Well, if Israel's past conduct is any indication "Give us what we want or we won't..." appears to be an established Middle Eastern negotiating strategy, and peculiarly, one that has worked in the past.

Now I for my part have always felt that a beggar ought to be at least polite, but alas - o tempora, o mores.

[Alba Etie]

IMO the fix is in .. there will be no peace conference , & no more arms to al Nusra.And the protracted Syrian Civil War could be over sooner rather then later - especially if the West is not supporting the FSA with a no fly zone etc.

[The Twisted Genius]

Sounds like a certain scene from "Blazing Saddles."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JOGmXpe5I

If the Syrian rebels take the war to Lebanon like they promised, I wonder where the Druze and Maronites will stand?

[confusedponderer]

If the trend of weaponizing the Sunni nutters continues in Lebanon, or if the Syrian rebels wander over to Lebanon, they probably can't help themselves and antagonise the Druze and Maronites at the drop of the hat by habitual excess.

They will probably push the Druze and Maronites into the arms of Hezbollah, who are the only force in the country that can credibly promise to protect them and actually has a record of toleration.

In doubt, the Maronites can look to Aleppo and the flight of its Christian population after the 'FSA' took over.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/christians-flee-from-radical-rebels-in-syria-a-846180.html

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/siria-syria-15868/

http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-bishops-kidnapped-rebels-state-news-agency-192356296.html

I see the policies that are fuelling the displacement of millennia old Christian communities in the Middle East and I am utterly disgusted by people like McCain who have no compunction whatsoever about sacrificing them on the altar of (bumbling) geopolitics i.e. the promise of bringing down Assad, weakening Iran or some other nutty mirage.

[Bill H]

Wel, they're just following American protocol. As we said to Iran, "If you don't first shut down your nuclear program we won't meet with you to negotiate regarding eliminating your nuclear program."

[MartinJ]

If the Syrian opposition is in this much disarray now and displays this degree of ineptitude now - while there is a common, uniting goal in toppling the Assad regime - then one can only imagine the degree of conflict that will be visited upon Syria IF they were to succeed in their goal.
I view the Lebanese Salafists as too weak, similarly divided, and too poorly motivated to bring the fight to Hezbullah in Lebanon. They tried before and failed miserably. The army has been keeping the country together for years now and is dominated by Shia recruits. They will not tolerate action designed at destabilising the country

[William R. Cumming]

The Assad family seems to have long memories. If Assad wins out what will be the implications domestically and for Syria's neighbors?

[Fred]

Similarly the soon to convene NSA investigation brings to mind the Monty Python skit about the Spanish Inquisition.

[Alba Etie]

Off topic perhaps - but in the context of "bigger fish to ( or perhaps wonton )fry" vs MENA having our full undidvided attention - The PRC just sent three Taikonauts ( astronauts )to their new experimantal space lab ( They call it the "Heavenly Palace ) So how is that pivot to the Asian Pacific going anyway ?

[Alba Etie]

Must laugh to keep from crying ..

[Tyler]

So now the US is planning on taking in Syrian 'refugees'. So are these going to be the Christians and Alawites who sided with Assad, or the Salafists who thought they'd get Libya II: Electric Boogaloo and are in for a life that promises to be exciting and brief once Assad rallies?

See, if the Boston bombings taught us anything, its that the US can never learn anything from anything. More potential terrorists? Let's settle them in the heartland. That'll work out well.

[Babak Makkinejad]

USG has been settling refugees in the heartland; in Iowa and Nebraska.

In Iowa, they were refusniks.

In Lincoln, there was a first wave of Vietnamese refugees, followed by a few Afghans in 1990s and now Shia Iraqis.

How the Chechen wound up in US just amazes me.

May be they should have gone to Turkey or Saudi Arabia instead.

[Tyler]

I know a large amount of Somalis have been settled in the Great Lakes region and in Maine, bringing the usual joys of diversity and changing all that hateful homogeneous peaceful existance with their colorful antics.

How did Chechens get to America? Steve Sailer has done great work piecing together how the so called 'refugees' were actually well connected insiders to the Chechen power structure, with Tamerlane's uncle being some sort of CIA connection in Chechnya. Their visas were apparently expedited, and Mama and Daddy felt so threatened that the moved back to the region.

But hey, let's shut down our frontal cortex when someone mentions 'diversity'. Its working out really well for us.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I think that over decades and centuries these problems are resolved only through inter-marriage.

If one accepts that proposition, then the policy of refugee settlement in the heartland of any country is bound to cause problems.

Specifically, I think USG is best to settle refugees where there is a high probability of inter-marriage: Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas, Chicago, Detorit, Boston and elsewhere.