Japan disappointed with Security Council failure to agree on Syria

Russia vetoed the previous day a resolution drafted by Britain, France and the United States that aimed to condemn the chemical attack believed to have killed dozens of Syrian civilians and urge Syria to cooperate with international inquiries.

That's why we need to get rid of the stupid veto in the UN. True democracy should not have a veto. As a syrian, I am dismayed that the resolution didnt pass. No one should be able to veto any resolution that has a majority vote in the UN. Not the Russians for the syrian regime, Nor the Americans for Israel. The UN has become impotent and is a joke due to the veto- which is not even distributed properly. 2 countries in Asia and Europe, and the US have the veto. It is distributed unevenly, and should not even exist. No one should be allowed to block a UN resolution if the majority of countries back it up. Nobody.

the russian spokesman did not consult specialists in chemical warfare because his narrative is rather dubious, because such an attack by bombing with conventional weapons of a dump or factory with some number of chemical agents there hardly can produce areas or cloud cover outlying civilian populated areas. You need something to be flying in the air.

Pavel Felgenhauer -RUSSIAN defence and military analyst

Sarin is not something you can prepare in a kitchen so neither al qaeda nor do I believe ISIS have it. If it has it the Russians will pretend that it came from the Americans from Mosul. It will be a long story of denial- at the end of the day it is very very difficult to believe this. Second, when you package the gas or any chemical weapon its not ready to be called weaponization. There is no tool when it is packed unless you put it in a bomb and make it explode by yourself. it won’t be turned into a weapon. So it is exactly how our colleague said from Moscow, It is very very difficult technically and impossible practically

Samir al-Taqi - former Syrian government adviser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO5GFd065rY

The resolution was doomed from the start as Russia was never going to agree to it!

Secretly, I suspect, the majority of the Security council knew this from the start and that they used it as an exercise in isolation, in the vain attempt to show Russia that the world is against it on this matter. Whether it will work in the long run, who knows but knowing Russia it will do as it likes for as long as it wants. Look at Crimea for example, Condemnation from all sides but Russia ignored them all and carried on regardless.

Aly, I agree the Veto rule needs to be scrapped but also the Security Council itself needs to be expanded as well.

The UN has become impotent and is a joke due to the veto- which is not even distributed properly. 2 countries in Asia and Europe, and the US have the veto. I

Has? The UN has been impotent from the beginning because of this veto power. This isnt something new, and this use of the veto by Russia not unexpected either. Russia should have lost it's veto when the USSR broke up anyway.

Except the analysis of a RUSSIAN defence and military analyst and a former Syrian government adviser...

Japan politicians and diplomats are in the wrong side to condemn Syrian government. Nothing clear what really happened there, and no evidence Assad govt. or his military did it or the Russian did that, could be also the rebels, or false flag, plots behind the scene, etc...Nothing can go by military force or power, unless most of us are warmongers. Diplomats serves the country for the peace not for the war, a completely wrong direction. Very disappointed Japan diplomacy. Abe will meet with Putin to discuss about the Northern Territory this year and I can imagine what will be a real spoiled mild and garbage waste those diplomatic action of this Abe administration.com jp

Aly, I agree the Veto rule needs to be scrapped but also the Security Council itself needs to be expanded as well.

Thanks brother. I don't think the security council needs to be expanded. Scapped is better. Let all countries vote equally. Why have a council overseeing everying? Keep it democratic.

The UN has been impotent from the beginning because of this veto power. This isnt something new, and this use of the veto by Russia not unexpected either. Russia should have lost it's veto when the USSR broke up anyway.

Preaching to the choir mate.

Only the truly stupid cannot see this for what it is. The Rebels are losing. This is a last ditch desperate attempt by rebels to gain support from the US against Assad. Without the US the rebels are finished and they know it. Without a UN resolution backing the US raid on sovereign Syrian soil the US openly committed an act of war against Syria and yet no one says a word. Russia is right to stand up against US global aggression.

The veto is a relic from the Cold War when there were clear ideological blocs so was useful in preventing mass war. That age has passed so the veto should be removed as well, otherwise there is no point whatsoever in the UN

zichi, as usual, spot on mate!

If Assad dropped the chemicals, then Russia dropped them. The discussion should be about how Rusia wants to use Syria as a wedge in the future. Is Syria their base as Israel is the U.S. base? Russia is familiar with graveyards as part of their history. Syria is not a productive asset for anyone now. The rhetoric from the U.S. should be about Russia's scheme, and not Assad's. It's a healthy bulwark against anti U.S. propaganda. And it's the old fashioned cold war way.

@Alexandre T. Ishii I think it's pretty clear that chemical weapons were used on the civilians, and the usual blame game ensues.

Whoever did it, the blood is on both parties

Surely an impartial, independent investigation of the site should take place before condemning anyone in the security council, rather than just rely on hearsay from the people who are fighting against the Syrian Government.

'Asked if U.S.-Russia relations, which U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday “may be at an all-time low,” could inhibit negotiations between Japan and Russia toward concluding a long-delayed bilateral peace treaty, Suga said the relationship between Washington and Moscow has “no direct effect” on the matter.'

Children know politics better than Suga. If he thinks going against Russia will have no direct on negotiations, get ready for Russia to take more and get zero again from Japan, and Japan just bend over and take it (but say it's "regrettable").

That's why we need to get rid of the stupid veto in the UN.

Ha! So israel can FINALLY be held accountable for its apartheid level treatment of people? When pigs fly mate!!

You can watch today's proceedings in the security council here:

https://youtu.be/eZkg4XF-tjM

For a good insight into what the problem was, see the Ethiopian ambassador at 1:11:00.

To provide some context, all countries including Russia claim to want an independent investigation. The US insisted on inserting text into the draft resolution that would condemn the use of chemical attacks. This was considered controversial for two reason. First, whether it was a chemical attack is something the investigation itself would try to determine. Second, it was superfluous because other UN resolutions on Syria had already made a general condemnation of the use of chemical weapons.

The US has refused to remove or amend this controversial paragraph and tried to push it to a vote before their airstrike. Everyone knew it would end in a Russian veto and the US probably wanted this as justification for their unilateral strike. Unfortunately, the E10 members presented a compromise draft just a few hours before the US airstrike which derailed the US putting it to a vote. Nikki Haley was reported to be angry at the closed door session where this was presented. The airstrike obviously went ahead anyway, and the veto on the poison pill resolution had to wait until today.

My personal view is that the US is marching us to war, again. On pretences that may turn out not to be entirely false, but certainly haven't been confirmed in any independent investigation. If the US is determined to oust Assad unilaterally regardless of what any investigation says, simply because he is a bad guy, then go ahead and do it. But don't make a mockery of the security council by playing politics or pretend that an investigation is impossible because of the veto or that the security council has failed to do its job. We might have had an investigation if the resolution was drafted in good faith and simply called for an investigation with nothing else shoehorned into it.

I guess that means it's up to you, Japan! Japan? You there...?

@Joeintokyo

To be clear, I don't agree with it either. I just think if they are going to act unilaterally without the approval of the UN, then they should be upfront and honest about it. Not hide behind a failure in the security council that they themselves have engineered. The ambassador from Bolivia (who also voted against) explained what a waste of time it was to put forward a resolution that everyone knew would be vetoed and not even accept the input of the non-permanent members. His comments start at 1:17:32 in the link I posted above. I agree with what he says.

The concept of veto is against the spirit of democracy. Unless veto is thrown out of UN, no real peace would dawn on earth. It is shame that they are not able to fight together against terror, Terrorism and terrorists. China for its own interests block naming of terrorists and support Pakistan. But China wants peaceful border. It threatens even Japan. The super powers cannot bully other countries. The UN is paralysed by super power veto

Russia has painted itself firmly into the corner that supports terrorism and dictators that have no respect whatever for human rights, putting itself on exactly the same line as those terrorists and dictators. It should be clear that it is time the veto right for international bullies must be revoked. I am convinced the Russians are a great people but unfortunately led by treacherous thugs who are fiercely persistent in denying their crimes and their voices becoming louder in proportion to actions they accuse other nations of.

JSDF stayed for 5 years to help buildings, streets and whatever with American volunteers and solders despite of blamed that they tortured them for 20 years by its white color workers. Finally Inca decided to pull out because she is not going to be blamed for time JSDF was not there. This Trump attack, it was quick. Did Americans have time to get out? Hope Inca pulled out all JSDF members in time.

"Except the analysis of a RUSSIAN defence and military analyst and a former Syrian government adviser..." Sorry, I don't quite understand your English.

Because I'm not speaking pro Puten language, which is what you want to hear. As zichi and many military analysts and people around the world have repeatedly said the rebels do not have any fire power from the sky. These weapons were detonated in the sky. That means if it's not the Syrian government it's the Russian government take your pick they're both culpable as far as I'm concerned

That's why we need to get rid of the stupid veto in the UN. True democracy should not have a veto.

Was the UN even supposed to be democratic to begin with?

Ha! So israel can FINALLY be held accountable for its apartheid level treatment of people? When pigs fly mate!!

No. Just until the dissolution of the United Nations like the league of Nations before it. No pigs need to fly for you mate

Pbot-that's actually quite a good point

As long as Russia and China have permanent seats, the UN will never unanimously vote on anything. The UN is impotent and needs to be completely revamped.

US accused Sadam as having mass destruction weapon and end of the day, he did not have it. So we should not trust US and other countries always. But in this time, there seems evidence of using chemical weapon in Syria but it is not clear that who used it. We are always not sure who did for what

And the US never used their to benefit Israel, etc

Drop the veto for all members and who check deserves a seat, current permanent seats and rights were assigned after WWII.

Guess we should expect this with Trump claiming the news is fake and now Assad is spinning the same line.

Absolutely zichi. Right on the money.

One more thing for Joeintokyo: You quoted Theodore Postol-

The expert in question is: Theodore Postol is Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT. He did his undergraduate work in physics and his graduate work in nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Postol joined the staff of Argonne National Laboratory, where he studied the microscopic dynamics and structure of liquids and disordered solids using neutron, x-ray and light scattering, along with computer molecular dynamics techniques. Subsequently he went to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment to study methods of basing the MX Missile, and later worked as a scientific adviser to the Chief of Naval Operations. After leaving the Pentagon, Dr. Postol helped to build a program at Stanford University to train mid-career scientists to study developments in weapons technology of relevance to defense and arms control policy. In 1990 Dr. Postol was awarded the Leo Szilard Prize from the American Physical Society. In 1995 he received the Hilliard Roderick Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 2001 he received the Norbert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for uncovering numerous and important false claims about missile defenses. http://sts-program.mit.edu/people/emeriti-faculty/theodore-postol/

Well lets take a look at Mr Postol.

Postol has investigated the Ghouta chemical attack, and he has collaborated with Maram Susli (known online as 'Syrian Girl') in investigating the incident through examining YouTube footage and other sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Postol

On the surface, Ted Postol seemed like an unlikely ally for Susli. He was an influential professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology specializing in missile technology, lionized in the pages of The New York Times and lauded by his peers for his contributions as a public intellectual. But when Postol’s partner of late—Richard Lloyd, a former weapons engineer and independent military technology investigator—found @Partisangirl on Twitter, the pair liked what they saw. She was someone, Postol would later tell an interviewer, “who I knew to be a chemist because I was watching her on Twitter. I could see from her voice—I didn’t know her and still don’t know her—that she was a trained chemist.” They invited Susli to pitch in on his effort to get to the bottom of one of the most important events of the Syria civil war: the August 2013 chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, Syria.

So who is this Maram Susli? Well, lets take a look.

She thinks that Ebola could be an American military bioweapon. She thinks that the Defense Department’s advanced research arm is covertly intervening in the GamerGate debate about feminism and video games. She’s fond of extremist groups like Hezbollah. She believes the Illuminati are leaving secret clues in, among other places, the viral Kony 2012 video. Oh, and she also says she’s in contact with the Syrian Electronic Army, the hacker group tied to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

She made her video debut as “Syrian Girl” on the YouTube channel of 108Morris108, a conspiracy enthusiast convinced of Jewish world domination and a “Jewish goal to mix all the races.” There, she premiered the narrative and style that would gain her fame. With airy, sing-song diction, Susli video warns viewers of the perfidies of America, Israel, their many secrets manifestations and their responsibility for the unrest in Syria.

Her talking points and telegenic presence caught the attention of conspiracy theory king and InfoWars radio host Alex Jones, kicking off a string of appearances in truther venues and state propaganda channels like Iran’s PressTV and Russia’s RT.

It’s little wonder that Susli found her way into Jones’ orbit as conspiracies lie at the heart of her worldview, if her comments on social media are any indication. According to her, 9/11 was an “inside job.” al Qaeda and ISIS, by her telling, don’t exist in the form they’ve been presented to the global public. First off, they’re one in the same. Second, they’re a CIA front—hence the use of “ALCIAda,” a favorite portmanteau.

And Finally, Here is a quote by this girl who keeps company with professor Postol:

After deriding 4chan as “controlled by the Freemasons,” this post signed by Syrian Sister read, “I have been blessed to know martyrs before, and they will soon teach you who dwell in Europe and the USA regime a lesson you won’t forget.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/17/the-kardashian-look-a-like-trolling-for-assad.html

There's more on this girl. Just read up on the link.

Sorry Joeintokyo, but if your source is Professor Postol you need to come up with more credible sources. The company he keeps is just plain awful.

One MOAB costs about $16 million, and 20 have been produced, according to the military equipment site Deagel.com.

And yet, meals on wheels is becoming something of a relic. With such misplaced priorities, how can anyone expect merica to honestly deal with the quagmire in syria? Money talks at the end of the day!!

Aly - should it be 1 country, 1 vote? Or should the voting be based on GDP or population? Or for the security council votes, how many troops deployed in the aid of UN missions or how much money provided to those missions?

Aly - should it be 1 country, 1 vote? Or should the voting be based on GDP or population? Or for the security council votes, how many troops deployed in the aid of UN missions or how much money provided to those missions?

Whichever is OK. I would go for a points system in which 1 million people equals one point if you have less than 1 million people that you get half a point to a quarter of a point depending on your country's population. Or we can just have one point for one country. Whichever is fine. My main point is that we need to get rid of the Veto and the security council in general.

That's a difficult one. If you go by population, China and India pretty much always win. But if you go by one-point one-country, you end up with a situation like the electoral college in the US.

Strangerland: But if you go by one-point one-country, you end up with a situation like the electoral college in the US.

The electoral college is based on population. The bigger the population, the more electoral seats the state has. Your statement here is converse to that.

The electoral college is based on population. The bigger the population, the more electoral seats the state has.

Kind of. But it's not a direct proportion, some states with tiny populations have a disproportionate number of electoral college votes.

So you're right in that I'm partly wrong, but the point I was trying to make was that a one-country-one-vote system would give some small countries a disproportionately large say.

The electoral college is designed to prevent concentrated populations from overruling large areas with fewer people. It is meant to include places where the world moves a little slower in the decisions for a country - a wait and see - method. There is good and bad about it. Just depends on where you happen to live whether you see sharing the power as a good thing or a bad thing.

As a reminder:

five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly (with end of term date):

Bolivia (2018) Egypt (2017) Ethiopia (2018) Italy (2018) Japan (2017) Kazakhstan (2018) Senegal (2017) Sweden (2018) Ukraine (2017) Uruguay (2017)

https://www.un.org/en/sc/members/

I do notice that everyone ignored the "who's paying" suggestions. There's the funding for the UN. Japan and China are very high. Russia is not, relatively speaking. https://factly.in/united-nations-budget-contributions-by-member-countries/ Because of the data source, they show India's contribution as compared to other BRIC countries.

Must admit, I didn't expect to see the top-10 list as it was. It was helpful to see.