- Changing the venue of the interrogation of the Syrian officers to Vienna
- Syria's agreement to send five rather than six officers to those interrogations
- The "suicide" of a key Lebanese witness
- Hussam Hussam's appearance
- Mehlis' rumored intention to leave the investigation
Update 1: Now it appears that the United States is pressuring Kofi Annan to keep Detliv Mehlis as head of the Investigating team
Update #2: Josh Landis has posted a rare and insightfull entry (I miss the good old days). Anyways, for better of for worse he did not author it. Rather, a guy by the name of Peter Lee attempts to explain the dramatic shift in France's foreign policy pertaining to the region.U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters, "we understand he (Mehlis) has extended his tenure once and he's in dangerous personal circumstances there," he said in reference to threats made against the prosecutor.
But Bolton said the United States had asked Annan to keep Mehlis in his post. If he does not agree, the United Nations should quickly name a successor. The best person for the job, Bolton quipped, would be "a clone of Mehlis."
In a letter to Annan on Thursday, Bolton said the United States wanted Mehlis to "continue in his current capacity."
"I am concerned that a wholesale change in the leadership of the commission would be exploited by the Syrian government to forestall their full and complete cooperation," he wrote.
Reuters
The really interesting pieces of Mr. Lee's analysis pertain to France's shift away from Arab Nationalism and towards what he refers to as the "cosmopolitan Middle East."
France has decided to align itself with the cosmopolitan Middle East: sophisticated, open, vibrant free-market societies, like the society France imagines itself to be. These include first and foremost Lebanon. France has made the strategic choice to disregard Syrian aspirations in favor of Lebanese ones, to maintain France’s position as a respected and legitimate champion of Lebanese interests.Click here to read more
2 comments:
What suspicious behavior by Kofi?? Details plz...
Raja, lebanese i'm in contact with are also mentioning the same reason on why Mehlis is resigning.They have said that Mehlis, out of his integrity, has decided to quit because he has been asked to compromise the truth for political reasons. So you're not the only one thinking like that. Its the most sensible explanation.
Vox, the key witness is the one from tripoli (the mobile phones connection) found dead in btighreen.
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