U.S. struggling to counter Syrians’ anger
BEIRUT – The U.S. is struggling to counter anger among the Syrian opposition, where many believe that the air campaign against extremists in the country is only helping President Bashar Assad and that Washington is coordinating with Damascus, despite American insistence it backs the rebel cause.
Since the U.S.-led campaign of air raids and missile strikes in Syria began Tuesday, American officials – many of them Arabic-speaking – have been making appearances on Arab TV stations, explaining U.S. goals. They have repeatedly denied any cooperation with the Syrian government and say Washington still seeks Assad’s removal.
But the messaging seems to be making little headway. The anger among the opposition over the air campaign points to a central difficulty in the U.S. strategy: The main aim of the international coalition it has assembled is to defeat the Islamic State group – which has taken over much of Syria and neighboring Iraq – but in Syria it is Assad’s government that is best placed to benefit from blows to the extremists.
Iran-6 power talks continue in name
UNITED NATIONS – First there were three nations negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear program. Then six. And now, mostly one – the United States.
Washington insists that the Iran-six power negotiations are alive and well. But with a deadline to a deal only eight weeks away, the U.S. is increasingly reshaping the talks it joined five years ago into a series of bilateral meetings with Iran as the two nations with the greatest stakes race to seal a deal – and strengthen ties broken more than three decades ago.
The shift began in 2009 when the U.S. thawed its 30-year freeze on talking to Tehran – in place since the Iranian revolution and siege of the American Embassy – and joined other nations at the nuclear negotiating table.
It gathered steam with a series of secret U.S.-Iran nuclear meetings starting in 2012, and culminated with a 15-minute telephone conversation last year between the President Barack Obama and Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s newly elected president.
Hong Kong ‘occupy’ protest kicks off
HONG KONG – Hong Kong activists kicked off a long-threatened mass civil disobedience protest early today to challenge Beijing over restrictions on voting reforms, a surprise move that further escalates the battle for democracy in the former British colony after police arrested dozens of student demonstrators.
Organizers of “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” said they were starting their protest by continuing the “current occupation” of the streets outside government headquarters begun earlier by a separate group of student demonstrators that drew tens of thousands of people at its peak around midnight Saturday.
Associated Press
