Sunday, August 26, 2012

Annan to Brahimi; Balkan to Afghanistan


Lakhdar Brahimi taking over as UN special envoy to Syria


A summary of my note in Khorasan Daily Newspapaer in BBC Monitoring quotes from Iranian press 25 Aug 12.
BBC Monitoring International Reports | August 25, 2012 


Khorasan [conservative]: "When are Damascus, Aleppo, Homs,... Tartus and other big and small cities of Syria supposed to calm down?... Will Syrian sky take another colour with the presence of Lakhdar Brahimi?... Contrary to Brahimi, Kofi Annan had the experience of being involved in the Balkan crisis before becoming the [UN] secretary-general in 1997... The most important achievement of Annan's peace plan for Syrian opponent groups was providing them with time to wait for arms dispatched by Qatar and Saudi Arabia without being affected by the attacks of the Syrian army... However, now it is Lakhdar Brahimi's turn and he knows the language of the extremist Islamic groups and Al-Qa'idah's forces, who have been sent from Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia and Libya to Syria for jihad, better than Annan... Therefore, regardless of the differences in their experiences, both of them are men of diplomacy who do not have the main key for the representative crisis in Syria." (Commentary by Seyyed Mohammad Eslami headlined: "Annan to Brahimi; Balkan to Afghanistan")