{"id":5752,"date":"2010-03-14T00:14:53","date_gmt":"2010-03-14T00:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=5752"},"modified":"2010-03-14T00:14:53","modified_gmt":"2010-03-14T00:14:53","slug":"syria-not-pursuing-nuclear-power-biden-flounders-ford-to-confirmation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/syria-not-pursuing-nuclear-power-biden-flounders-ford-to-confirmation\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria NOT Pursuing Nuclear Power, Biden Flounders, Ford to Confirmation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syria has no decision to develop peaceful nuclear energy<\/strong>
\n2010-03-13<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

DAMASCUS, Mar 13, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — The head of the Syrian Atomic Council Ibrahim Othman on Saturday told Xinhua that Syria has by far no decision to develop nuclear energy for peaceful use.<\/p>\n

Othman made the remarks on the sidelines of Syria’s National Conference of Energy, which started on Saturday at Ummayad conference palace in Damascus. The conference aimed to develop a comprehensive plan on the development of energy sector in Syria. “Developing nuclear power in Syria is quite different from developing other energy types due to considerable technical and financial obstacles,” Othman said. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad said last week at an international conference on civilian nuclear power held in Paris that his country believed it was important to consider alternative sources of energy, including nuclear power.<\/p>\n

However, Othman confirmed on Saturday that the atomic council has no decision to set up any nuclear power plant, because there are lots of barriers in finance, construction and operation, and most of all, the huge cost.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nicolas writes in the last comment section<\/a>:<\/p>\n

On the nuclear debate, Syria is NOT pursuing nuclear power. There was a recent dedicated conference in Tunisia attended by Arab nuclear power authorities. All outlined their plans for developing nuclear power generation. Only Syria clearly stated that it is NOT pursing this option; very rightly and realistically so.<\/p>\n

Syria is focusing on developing the conventional fuel-based and renewable (wind) IPPs; which is the right move, and a move that still has a lot of way to run. The nuclear option is still far from tested in the region, and the most advanced project (the Abu Dhabi project) is still in its infancy, despite the large amount of work already carried out and the press releases, it still is not a sealed deal (let along the other announcements made by the other less wealthy countries in the region). Such projects require years of groundwork preparation on the legal, political and technical angles, let alone the financing to come in support.<\/p>\n

I had noted in an earlier post, that there was talk in the market about Syria potentially joining the project in Jordan (2nd \u201cmore serious\u201d approach in the region) and obtaining a share of the power outcome via a cross-country cable against Syria investing equity and providing the much needed water requirements for a nuclear project that Jordan does not have (not sure Syria does either but still\u2026). This looks theoretically more realistic, despite the massive political uphill drive to get this through. Ideally, it would look good as part of peace incentive package with the world power\u2019s backing.<\/p>\n

The only other option would be for Iran to pass on the nuclear technology to Syria; if it were to happen, then that would be just folly as it would just drive the Syria into a position of confrontation with the entire world (maybe unjustified but this would be the case).<\/p>\n

Luckily, there seems to be a good level of common sense within the circles running the power generation projects in Syria and they seem intent on focusing on realistic targets rather than fancy unrealistic schemes.<\/p>\n

I do not see where in Mekdad\u2019s statement he says that Syria wants to develop nuclear power.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Daniel Levy has<\/span> a fine article on Biden’s visit to Israel<\/a> on the new ME Channel at Foreign Policy \u2013 the picture of Biden is worth a thousand words (Above)<\/p>\n

The Leveretts explain the significance of the Biden visit with typical precision and honesty<\/a> on their site, RFI<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

….President Obama missed a critical opportunity in his June 2009 Cairo speech to take U.S. policy on Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory back to what is was under the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations, when U.S. policy actually achieved meaningful progress towards a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict\u2014namely, a clear-cut stance the such settlements were illegal, in that the settlement of Israeli civilians in occupied territory violates the Fourth Geneva Convention….<\/p>\n

President Obama\u2019s approach to the Middle East [enables] Israel to act without cost or consequence, no matter how damaging its actions might be to regional peace prospects and America\u2019s own strategic interests….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turkey needs more from Ataturk\u2019s heirs<\/a>
\nBy David Gardner, March 11 2010
\n\"\"
\nTurkey\u2019s ruling party has once again entered into conflict with the Turkish army. This is more than the latest episode in a power struggle commenced as soon as the Justice and Development party (AKP) of Recep Tayyip Erdogan first came to power in 2002.<\/p>\n

It is more, too, than a battle of wills between neo-Islamists and secularists; more even than a new and dangerous chapter in a recurring constitutional crisis. It is, above all, a clash between two rival establishments jostling for supremacy: the traditional metropolitan elites who see themselves as the guardians of the secular, republican heritage of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey; and the new AKP establishment that combines the conservative and religiously observant traditions of Anatolia with a huge constituency in Turkey\u2019s modern but Muslim middle class.<\/p>\n

One of the principal reasons for this now chronic crisis is that the first group, the Kemalists, are unelectable: after being trounced in two general elections by the AKP they appear to have no strategy except to return to power by goading the army and the judiciary into seizing back what their howlingly irrelevant parties keep losing at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

It is a commonplace, often deployed with self-serving slyness in Europe, that Turkey is engaged in a struggle to determine its real identity. Yet, the real drama of Turkey today is more banal: it lacks an effective opposition to the AKP. It will keep bobbing from crisis to crisis until it has one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Council on Foreign Relation’s <\/a>Steven Cook<\/a> explains what the Neocons got right. The CFR is perhaps the leading think tank in the US. It is interesting to see how negative Cook’s view of Syria is. He argues that Syria is one of the main subjects on which that the Neocons were right.\u00a0 He buys the line that Syria’s support for Ahmedinejad is the “real” Syria as opposed to Assad’s insistence that Syria wants peace with Israel, which he (and the neocons) view as a smokescreen to hide Syria’s true nature. Cook sums up that nature as:<\/p>\n

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regime’s is all about: violence, repression, and duplicity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This does not augur well for Syria.<\/p>\n

Israel and Syria \u2018to renew talks\u2019<\/a>
\nThomas Seibert in the National
\nUAE \/ March 10. 2010<\/p>\n

ISTANBUL \/\/ More than a year after the breakdown of indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria organised by Turkey, Ankara says it is close to bringing the two sides together again.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s move came as the United States was trying to get new peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians on track during a visit by Joe Biden, the vice president. Observers in Turkey said US pressure on Israel was vital for the relaunch of talks with Syria as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is renewed interest\u201d in a continuation of indirect talks between Israel and Syria, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey\u2019s prime minister, said during a visit to Saudi Arabia this week, according to news reports. He added that Syria was ready for new talks under Turkish mediation and that there had been positive signals from Israel as well.<\/p>\n

Mr Erdogan said his government would study the Israeli response. \u201cIf there is a positive result of this evaluation, I want us to restart this process.\u201d Israel denied that it had resolved to engage in fresh indirect talks with Damascus under Turkish mediation. \u201cNo decision has been taken,\u201d The Jerusalem Post newspaper quoted the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, as saying in a statement. But if Mr Erdogan\u2019s comments reflected \u201cTurkey\u2019s desire to strengthen its relations with Israel and to contribute to peacemaking in the region \u2013 then Israel would clearly welcome that aspiration\u201d, Mr Netanyahu\u2019s office said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Exiled from Iraq, with no hope of return<\/a>
\nDeborah Amos is a skillful writer and a perceptive analyst.
\n(By Thomas W. Lippman, The Washington Post)<\/p>\n

If I were developing a reading list for newcomers to the Middle East, it would not begin with Deborah Amos’s poignant and disturbing “Eclipse of the Sunnis.” Her book is not for beginners; it requires some knowledge of the region’s history, personalities and neuroses….<\/p>\n

Amos, a journalistic veteran of the Middle East, is not much interested here in the palace coups, rigged elections, official corruption and failed negotiations that make up standard histories. Her thesis is that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, whatever its justification, has had a catastrophic effect on the people of the region, unleashing sectarian hostilities that had been bottled up for centuries, not just in Iraq but in Lebanon and other Arab states as well.<\/p>\n

She did most of her interviewing in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, where she found tens of thousands of Iraqis driven from their country by the violence that followed the ouster of Saddam Hussein. These unfortunate people, she reports, are the very citizens who would have been essential to the creation of a modern, democratic Iraq: doctors, scholars, artists and government workers, Christians and Sunni Muslims, deemed unworthy by the Shiites now running the country. It is a measure of their desperation that they found Syria, of all places, to be a refuge of cultural freedom….<\/p>\n

Amos concludes that it is no longer possible, if it ever was, to construct a tolerant, multicultural Iraq. Returning there in 2009, she found that “Iraq was effectively a different country, transformed by the sectarian civil war. The Shiites had won, the Sunnis had lost. There was no getting around that. In the current political environment there was little hope of restoring Baghdad’s historic character, a city where Iraq’s rich sectarian mix once lived side by side.” Even the non-Shiites who remain, she found, live separate lives, hunkered down behind protective walls, cut off from their former compatriots.<\/p>\n

“Eclipse of the Sunnis” is persuasive and very well written, filled with deft turns of phrase such as her description of a Lebanese imam who sympathizes with jihadists because he is pious and “the modern world was bearing down on his soul.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

800 Iraqi Christians displaced in days<\/a>
\n2010-03-10<\/p>\n

MOSUL, Iraq,\u00a0 March 10 (UPI) — The safety of the Christian minority community in northern Iraq is of utmost concern as the rate of displacement soars, U.N. agencies said. U.N. figures show the number of displaced Christians in Iraq rose by more than 800 people in a three-day period beginning March 1. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it was concerned for the minority religious community. “Protection remains an ongoing concern for the Christian community as well as other vulnerable groups remaining in Mosul,” an OCHA report said. U.N. and local authorities said they were working to provide food and other humanitarian aid to the Christians who fled their homes in Mosul, the capital city of Ninawa province. The United Nations said the Kurdistan Regional Government told local universities to open enrollment to displaced Christians after it was revealed they were afraid to attend classes in their hometowns. The Kurdish and Arab authorities are at odds over security issues in the north. A spate of attacks rocked the Christian community of Iraq in 2008, displacing nearly half of the population.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Its Arms Makers Falter, Russia Buys Abroad<\/a>
\nThe New York Times<\/p>\n

in today\u2019s Russia, the $40 billion military equipment industry is withering alongside civilian manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Once-legendary Russian weapons are suffering embarrassing quality-control problems. Algeria, for example, recently returned a shipment of MIG jets because of defects.<\/p>\n

An aircraft carrier refurbishment for India is four years late and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.<\/p>\n

In perhaps the most poignant sign of trouble, Russia\u2019s own military is now voting with its rubles: Moscow is in talks with France to buy four French amphibious assault ships. If a deal is struck, it would be Russia\u2019s most significant acquisition of foreign weapons since World War II.<\/p>\n

The purchase of Mistral-class ships would be \u201cthe most salient example of the deficiencies in the Russian defense industry,\u201d said Dmitri Trenin, a military analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, a policy research organization.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Next week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee<\/a> will convene a hearing to confirm Robert Ford as ambassador to Syria. And the hearing, though likely to confirm Ford, will be an occasion for administration critics to question the Syrian re-engagement policy.<\/p>\n

On Ambassador Ford’s Confirmation Process in Congress<\/strong> by Ziad Haydar and Joe Maceron<\/p>\n

???????? ????? ???????? ????? ???? ??????<\/a>
\n??????? ??????? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ????<\/p>\n

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\n?? ???? ???? ??????? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ???????? ??????????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ?? ?? ????? ????? ???????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ?? ??? ???? ??????.
\n???? ???? ????????? ?? ???? ???????? ???????? ?? ???? ?????? ???????? ???? ?? \u00ab??????\u00bb? ?? ???? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ??? \u00ab???? ????? ???? ?????\u00bb? ??? \u00ab???? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ????\u00bb? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ????? \u00ab??? ??? ????\u00bb ?? ??? ?????? ??? \u00ab????? ?????? ???? ????? ???????? ?? ?????? ???? ??????? ????????? ??? ???????? ?? ????\u00bb.
\n???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ?? ????? ?????? ?????? ????????? ????? ?? ???????? ?? ?????????? ????? ?????? ???????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ????????.
\n???? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ???????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ????????? ??? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ???????? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ?? ??????? ?? \u00ab???\u00bb ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ????? ???? ????? ?????.
\n????? ????? ???? ???? ???????? ??? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ??????? ????????? ?? ?????. ????? \u00ab??????\u00bb ?? ???? ????? ???????? ?????? ???????? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ?? 17 ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ???.
\n??? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ??????? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ????????? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ??? ??????? ?????????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ?????????? ????????? ????? ?????? ???????? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ?? ????.
\n????? \u00ab??????\u00bb ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ?? ???? \u00ab??????? ?????? ???????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ???????\u00bb. ????? ??????? ?? ??????? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? \u00ab?????? ??????\u00bb? ???? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ???????? ??????? ???? ??????? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????.
\n?????? ???? ??????? ?? ???????? ???? ?????? ???? ???????? ???????? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ???????? ?? ???????? ??????? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???????. ?????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ???????? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ???? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ??? ?? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ??? ????. ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ??? 51 ???? ?? ??? 100.
\n??? ??? 8 ????? ???????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ?? \u00ab???????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ??? ???????? ????? ????? ??? ??? ?? ?????????? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??????. ??? ???????? ???? ????????? ??? ?????\u00bb. ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? \u00ab????? ????\u00bb? ????? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ??????. ??? ??? ???????? ??? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???????? ???????? ?? ????????? ??? ??????. ????? ?????? ???????? ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????? ??????????? ???? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ???? ?????.
\n??? ??????? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ????????? ????? ?????? ?? \u00ab??????\u00bb? ?? ??? ???? ????? ?? ???????? ??????? ????????? ???? ??? ????? ?? ??????? ????????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ??????? ?? ???????? ??????? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ??????. ?????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ?? \u00ab??????? ????????? ?? ????? ???????? ???? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ?????\u00bb. ???? ?? ????? \u00ab???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????? ????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ???????\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Foggy Bottom’s Man In Baghdad<\/a>
\nBy Michael Rubin in the Wall Street Journal
\nSaturday, Mar 13, 2010<\/p>\n

(Editor’s Note: Mr. Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, was a governance adviser in the Coalition Provisional Authority.)<\/p>\n

…..Mr. Allawi failed to break double-digits in the December 2005 election. He was bitter. “Our adversaries in Iraq are heavily supported financially by other quarters. We are not,” he later told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer as insurgency raged. He failed to mention the millions of dollars funneled to him by Saddam’s former allies in Jordan and other Arab states……<\/p>\n

….While Iraqis brave bombs and bullets to hold leaders to account and participate in democracy, a dangerous cocktail of anti-Shiite bias and dictator chic permeates Washington’s foreign-policy elite. This may make Mr. Allawi attractive in Foggy Bottom and Langley, but not to most Iraqis. Strongmen — including Saddam — drove Iraq into ruin and espoused ethnic and sectarian supremacy.<\/p>\n

Iran’s influence is pernicious, but Iraqi Shiites are not Iranian pawns. …<\/p>\n

History matters. In January, I met with one grand ayatollah and representatives of two others in Najaf. Each castigated Iran but said they could neither forgive nor forget 1991, when the elder Bush abandoned Iraq’s Shiite uprising to Saddam’s helicopter gunships. No Iraqi candidate is perfect, but it’s puzzling that the U.S. has thrown so much weight behind one with ties to the country’s Baathist past.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Enemies of the Internet: KSA, Egypt, Iran, Syria<\/a>
\n2010-03-13,Next Web (US)<\/p>\n

Middle Easterns, Rejoice! If the Axis of Evil wasn\u2019t enough, 4 of our countries have made it to the top 12 \u201cEnemies of the Internet\u201d. The list, drawn up every year by Reporters Without Borders, presents the worst violators of freedom of …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Syria has no decision to develop peaceful nuclear energy 2010-03-13 DAMASCUS, Mar 13, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — The head of the Syrian Atomic Council Ibrahim Othman on Saturday told Xinhua that Syria has by far no decision to develop nuclear energy for peaceful use. 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