Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Meshal

The leaders of the Palestinian rival factions Hamas and Fatah on Monday announced that they have formed an interim unity government, which is to be led at first by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.

The move comes at the end of talks the leader of the Palestinian Authority had with the political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshal, in the capital of Qatar, Doha. The agreement to build an unity government was transmitted from Doha live across the region, being considered a significant step toward reconciliation.

Reports say that before they agreed to cooperate in a unity government, Hamas and Fatah replaced incumbent Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the man that represented a guarantee for Israel to continue to fund the Palestinian Authority. It was not clear whether Fayyad would be member in the new government.

Hamas and Fatah had a tense relation in the past, after the Islamist movement won elections in the Gaza Strip and chased out the Fatah presence from it, restricting Abbas’s authority to the West Bank alone.

Attempts to create a unity government existed in the past, but were met with misgiving, and distrust until the situation in the region began to change radically, leaving Hamas without a political support from Syria. The headquarters from Damascus have been evacuated and the leaders of Hamas returned to the territories.

When the two sides agreed in Cairo to form a unity government last year, and to participate in general elections as a single force, Israel declared that it was a terrible day for democracy, and a victory of the terrorism.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza following the elections that brought Hamas to power, and said that the blockade would continue until Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization, is removed from power.

Hamas does not recognize the right of the state of Israel to exist and does not favor the idea of a political understanding with the Israelis. For that reason, Israel has declared that it would not cooperate with any unity government of the Palestinians unless Hamas recognizes the right of Israel to exist.

The move comes as the Palestinian Authority and Israel ended a five-round negotiation in Jordan with a stalemate, after Israel proposed as borders with the Palestinian state-to-be the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank, with East Jerusalem and the settlements in the West Bank in the new territory of Israel.

Mahmoud Abbas said that the proposition made by Israel was in fact the recognition of the Israeli occupation, and therefore was unacceptable.

United Nations Security Council

Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a new resolution on Syria, which had been proposed by the Arab League and was endorsed by the European states and the United States. On Sunday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that the veto his country cast on the resolution was to be blamed on the Western partners, which, in his words, refused to accept the amendments proposed by Russia.

Russia had warned it would not vote a resolution which does not take into account its own amendments, which referred to refraining from imposing sanctions on Syria and to making sure that the wording of the resolution text does not open the path for an international intervention.

Russia has expressed its support for Syria, and, while condemning the killings that take place in this country, opposes any international intervention the way the one in Libya was made last Spring.

On Saturday, the Western leaders were confident that Russia would not veto the resolution after the massacre in Homs, a restive city at the border with Lebanon, which the Syrian military is said to have shelled, causing at least 200 to die.

On Monday, China explained its own vote by the timing of the resolution, as the Chinese said the resolution came before the differences were discussed and agreed upon. Beijing said that the resolution puts too much emphasis on pressing the government and creates no conditions for the consultations.

In a press conference, the Chinese foreign minister Liu Weimin rejected criticism that his country was supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which is said to have caused 5,400 to die during 11 months of crackdown.

The foreign minister said that the resolution came before all positions were harmonized, and warned that such rush could undermine the authority of the Security Council in the world.

The Chinese FM did not confirm that China would send an envoy to Damascus, as Russia is about to do. On Saturday, Sergei Lavrov announced hours before the vote that he would go to Damascus on Tuesday along with the Foreign Intelligence Service Director Mikhail Fradkov.

In a statement of the Russian Foreign Minister it says that the mission is an attempt to press Assad to make compromises. The statement specifies that Russia is looking for the “swiftest stabilization” in Syria.

Russia is expected to use its influence in order to implement a “controlled demolition” of Assad’s regime, so that Russia may retain its only platform in the Middle East.

Analysts in Moscow believe that the move Russia made was motivated more by domestic politics rather than concern for the faith of Assad’s regime. Vladimir Putin, who is to be voted in the presidential office within a month, is believed to have wanted to show the people in Russia that he can defy the Western powers, thus asserting Russia as a superpower.

Russia may attempt the demolition of the regime and the rebuilding of a political structure around other members of the Assad dynasty. Russia may however have a problem with the Syrian opposition, after two resolutions vetoed.

It is believed that Assad would be inclined to listen to the Russians, who are taking him seriously, and to step down, than to listen to the Western powers, which have ceaselessly criticizing him.

The European countries, the Arab states and the United States have expressed outrage in the aftermath of the veto at the Security Council. The U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton said the veto was a “travesty,” while the American ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said she was “disgusted” by the veto.

British foreign minister William Hague said that by the veto Russia and China turn their back on the Arab world, while French foreign minister said that Russia and China took an immense responsibility in the eyes of the world and the Syrian people.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the veto was a continuation of the Cold War logic, and that the two countries did not vote based on realities but on a reflex to oppose the West.

U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton said that a “Friends of Syria” group would be realized, and that it would gather the countries that want to help Syria. The proposition was made by French president Nicolas Sarkozy soon after the veto.

The Arab proposition intended to determine the Assad regime to hand over power to a deputy, to withdraw the army from the streets of major towns and cities and to engage in discussions in order to establish a unity government that would call for snap elections.

The European countries and the United States accepted it, while Syria considered it an attack on its sovereignty. Russia and China have opposed another resolution on Syria last October.

Rally in Moscow

Tens of thousands of Russians are reported by Fox News to have rallied on Saturday in the streets of Moscow in protests against Putin’s regime, defying the temperatures that have dropped below zero Celsius degrees. The organizers estimate that some 120,000 attended the rally, which is the third massive protest since the parliamentary elections in December 2011, which brought people in the streets protesting against tempering with the outcome of the elections.

Putin’s party won then almost half of the seats in the parliament, but the victory was considered more of a defeat, considering that in 2007 the party scored more than 60 percent in the elections.

The people are now protesting the authoritarian regime Putin has been exercising for the past 12 years, and the protests brought liberals, socialists and nationalists together in protests that call for a “Russia without Putin.”

In Sankt Petersburg 5,000 people rallied against the leader that was born in that northern city, while dozens of protests were organized in smaller cities of the federation. Some 20,000 people attended a separate rally in Moscow, in support of the premier, Fox News reporting that most of them were people working in the state sector, who had been brought in buses by their employers.

Putin is said to have ignored the protests of the people and their demands, including the one to repeat the elections for the parliament. He made promises about liberal reforms, promised that the security forces will be more understanding with the people expressing their freedom of expression, and attempted to disqualify the protest leaders as lackeys of the Western countries, which were sent in to weaken the country.

He is expected to win from a first round, since his popularity is somewhere near 50 percent, but if he does not win in the first round, runoffs will be organized three weeks later and he would probably meet Communist candidate Gennady Zyuganov.

Putin was accused by his contenders and by the people protesting in the streets that he was using his position as prime minister to influence the campaign. The Communist leader Zyuganov asked him to resign his commission for the duration of the campaign, something he has refused.

He said he would not meet the contenders in debates, motivating that there is much to be done in the country and that talking does not help. He did however admit the possibility of sending someone to represent him in those debates.

On Friday, Putin lashed at NATO and the United States over the anti-missile shield in East Europe, thus focusing the campaign on a theme that can interest many Russians: national security and the preservation of sovereignty and might while dealing with the Western countries.

As he reminded that Russia will not allow anyone to invade Syria the way Libya was invaded, he stroke another note that may please many Russians: the reminder that the Russian Federation is a superpower of the world, a force not to be ignored in any political arrangement in the world. Syria is the perfect pretext for Putin to affirm that.

On Friday, as he was speaking of the nuclear powers and the anti-missile shield, the prime minister took the time to place Russia in the exclusive company of the United States even among the nuclear powers, when he reminded that the two world powers are the only two in the world to have the “nuclear triad,” that is the ground, air and navy forces equipped with nuclear weapons.

While his economic promises seem to the analysts rather vague, as they refer to the stability of the economy in the turmoil that has engulfed the rest of the world, or the liberal reforms, his campaign seems focused on national symbolic matters, such as the reconstruction of the Russian empire on other grounds.

Putin proposed last year the creation of a Euroasian Union, which would be built on the Customs Union, already existing between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. As the project is under way, it is estimated that it will be completed by 2015.

Vladimir Putin executed two terms in office as president between 2000-2008, and, according to the Russian constitution, was forced to sit one term out, after which he is entitled to other two terms.

The protesters said that they would stage another rally a week before the election. The protest on Saturday ended with the demand: “Not A Single Vote for Putin.”

Gazprom Building in Skt. Petersburg

Russian gas monopoly OAO Gazprom on Saturday announced that it would “do its best” to meet the increasing demand of gas from the European countries, as a freezing winter has swept many of the eastern European countries, with temperatures reaching 30 Celsius degrees minus and many people dying because of it.

Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy are the countries whose supplies had been reduced and need Russian gas to go through the rest of the winter, the European Commission spokeswoman told reporters on Saturday.

Russia is doing its best to supply, and its system work all in spite of the freezing cold, Sergey Komlev, head of pricing at Gazprom said. He said that the company was honoring its contracts, and that European customers “have a too much appetite.”

Komlev said that the Europeans are demanding more gas than they are forced to deliver by the contract but made no reference to the possibility of stopping the extra delivery because of the domestic consume.

On Friday, Russian Gazprom accused Ukrainian counterpart NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy of having taken more gas then agreed. The Ukrainians have dismissed the accusation, saying that they only took as it was in contract.

The European Union relies for a quarter of its gas supplies on Russian imports, 80 percent of which cross Ukraine. The tensions between Russian and Ukrainian gas companies has been disrupted the supply for Europe twice since 2006. Earlier this winter the two companies had a bickering as Gazprom attempted to renegotiate prices.

250 people died in Eastern Europe, and the most severe temperature was reached in Kazakhstan, where it hit 50 Celsius degrees minus. In the United Kingdom gas prices reached a highest level in three years.

People in Syria Protesting

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov warned with a “scandal” if the Arab League resolution draft gets voted on Saturday, Russian Itar-Tass news agency announced. Lavrov said that his country has formulated amendments to the proposed draft, and that they were presented to Hillary Clinton and the Western participants in the Security Council meeting.

By “scandal” Lavrov is thought to have meant another veto on the Russian part unless the amendments are not taken into account. In an interview to the Russian media on Saturday morning, the foreign minister said that if the Western powers wanted a scandal in the Security Council, then Russia couldn’t stop them.

He said that the amendments brought by Russia are objective and well-known, and that any vote on the draft by Russia depends on whether they are observed or not. Russia made it clear that it wants the resolution to include no references to any sort of sanction against the regime in Damascus, and wants the wording of the document to be as precise as to eliminate all possibility of any interpretation that would make it possible to attack Syria the way Libya was.

Sergey Lavrov expressed hope that a prejudiced view does not prevail over the reasonability and objectivity of the Russian arguments, and that the resolution would not come to vote before the amendments are considered.

The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote on the resolution on Saturday morning, at 10 a.m., with the Western diplomats confident that after the massacre in Homs yesterday not even Russia can refrain from voting it.

Sergey Lavrov and Hillary Clinton are reported to have been speaking on the phone on Friday about Russian objections to the resolution draft. They are expected to meet in Munich on Saturday, and it is likely that the US State Secretary puts pressure on the Russian counterpart to accept the resolution’s terms.

217 are said to have been killed by the security forces on Friday in Homs, as the army shelled the city, causing hundreds to be wounded and buildings to be damaged.

Tens of thousands to take to the streets in cities of the restive countries marking the 30th anniversary of the bloodshed in Hama, when the troops of Hafez al-Assad, the father of the incumbent president, killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people.

Video posted on the Internet shows marches in Homs and Damascus and in the Idlib region. 300 people were killed this week, many of them in the attempt made by the Free Syrian Army to take the capital of the country, Damascus, an attempt thwarted at the gates of the city by the security forces.

The news about the bloodshed in Homs caused people, mostly Syrians, to storm the Syrian embassies in many countries, like the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Kuwait, and Egypt.
The Arab resolution draft was approved by the Arab League meeting in Cairo a week ago and mainly demands of the president to end violence, release the prisoners, hand power over to the deputy and appoint a caretaker government entrusted with organizing snap elections.

The Qatari foreign minister said that Assad himself had promised last year to hand power over to a deputy, so the idea was his. The Syrian authorities accused the Arab League of interfering in the internal affairs of the country.

Syria has been engulfed in violence for about 11 months and the death toll is about 5,400 people killed, many more wounded and tens of thousands detained as political prisoners.

The regime in Syria claims to be victim to an international conspiracy, and says that 2,000 troops were killed in this conspiracy. Bashar al-Assad, the embattled president of Syria, said no order was given to troops to shoot at civilians.

A resolution was blocked in October by Russia and China, Russia because it is a business partner and military ally of the Syrian regime, and China because it has a policy of not interfering in domestic affairs of sovereign states.

Leon Panetta

International press reports that Leon Panetta, the US Defense Secretary, expressed fear that Israel would hit Iran before summer, that is in April, May or June, before the Islamic country enters a “zone of immunity,” where it can produce its nuclear weapon undisturbed.

British Telegraph reports that the Washington Post was the first to report this kind of fear and that CNN later confirmed it by citing a senior official of the Obama administration.

In a column for the Washington Post David Ignatius said that Israel fears that soon Iran will have enough enriched uranium to build a bomb, and that the only one to be able to stop the militarily will be the United States.

Neither Panetta nor the Pentagon commented on the post of the columnist, who was reporting from Brussels, where a NATO meeting was held.

Iran has always denied that its nuclear program had a military component, arguing that it was for energy production only. Latest reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency however show that Tehran had some military simulations in computers and that it built some uranium enrichment facilities deep inside mountains.

Israel reacted very promptly last year, when IAEA issued the report about the computer simulations, and threatened with a military attack. The United States chose to go on economic sanctions, thus imposing sanctions on the national bank in hopes that it would collapse the economy, thus rendering the nuclear ambitious impossible to fulfil.

The European Union and Japan imposed an oil embargo on Tehran, leaving one of the most important oil supplier of the world without possibility to make money out of it. In response, Iran threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large part of the world oil flows, and to impose a permanent ban on oil sales to Europe.

Vladimir Putin

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the United States and its NATO allies of aiming their defense missiles at Russian territory, in spite of the assurances that they wouldn’t do that. Speaking for a program called The Cold Politics, Vladimir Putin said that the partners of his country had pledged to keep rogue states away from attacking Russia but that they “undoubtedly” aim at neutralizing the nuclear capacity of Russia.

He added that the antimissile in eastern Europe, in Romania and Poland, can cover the Russian territory to the Ural Mountains, where the “our ground nuclear forces” are. Iran and North Korea pose no threat to Europe or the United States, Putin added, reminding that NATO offered no written or otherwise guarantees that they would not use their missiles against Russia.

Putin spoke of the United States plan to create an anti-missile shield in East Europe and reminded that the United States was the only country in history to have used the nuclear weapons at the end of WWII, when it attacked Japan.

After affirming that Russia would always respond to threats directed against it, the prime minister, who is credited to win presidential elections in March in the first round, reminded that Russia and the United States are the only countries in the world to possess the “nuclear triad,” that is ground, sea and air nuclear forces.

NATO has called on Russia two years ago to participate in a program of defending Europe, a call which Russia responded to coldly, with little interest. It did however reacted angrily when the American anti-missile shield was negotiated to be put in place in Romania and Poland, which is very close to the Russian borders.

Russia demanded on that occasion written assurances that the anti-missile shield was not aimed at its territory, but was never answered.

In his interview, Putin accused the partners in the UN Security Council for claiming to possess information about weapons of mass destructions that allegedly are in possession of different countries, which then they invade in order to change their regime. He expressed doubt that those allegations were even real.

His words on this theme come at a time when Russia has opposed that a resolution on Syria contain sanctions against the restive country, where the government has been battling its own people for 11 months, with estimated death toll of 5,400 people.

Russia is one of Syria’s trade partners, and has a serious commitment to the regime in Damascus, considering that it is on Syrian ground that it maintains the only military base outside its territory. Besides, Syria is a very serious partner in weapon trade.

Putin is speaking of these international matters as part of his presidential campaign, reminding the Russians that their country under him had and could resume its international stance of world power.

The prime minister promised not to engage his contenders during the campaign through television debates, arguing that he was entrenched in solving the problems that the country is being confronted with.

Opposition however accused him of using his office as means of propaganda and demanded that he step down for the duration of the campaign.

Incident on Stadium in Port Said

At least 73 people died and 1,000 were injured on Wednesday in a stampede on a soccer stadium in Egypt, in what is by far the most tragic sports event in the history of Egypt, as people rushed into the pitch at the end of a soccer game.

The tragedy occurred in the city of Port Said, at the end of the match between local team Al-Masry and the leading Egyptian team Al-Ahly. Al-Masry supporters hurled sticks and stones at the players and the supporters of the rival team after a match their team won by 3 to 1, in an unexpected victory.

Footage shows players of Al-Ahly running towards the locker rooms as fist fights broke out all over the pitch invaded by supporters. A manager of the losing team was saved as he was being beaten. Police seemed to be overwhelmed.

Egyptian state prosecutor ordered an investigation into the incident, while the Egyptian Football Association declared that the championship is suspended indefinitely. The Egyptian parliament, recently established after the first free elections in the north African country, announced that an emergency session would be held.

The incident is the most brutal in the history of soccer since October 16, 1996, when a stampede caused 78 people to die and 180 to be injured on a Guatemala City stadium before a qualifying match between Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The causes of this event seem to have been related to tension accumulated even before the match started, as a supporter of the visiting team raised a banner that was containing an insulting message to the home team.

The visiting players were taken to the locker rooms, where they told the press that the atmosphere of the game was one of “terrorism.”

Health Ministry officials reported that most of the deaths were caused by concussions, deep cuts and suffocation provoked by the stampede.

UN Security Council

Russia on Tuesday warned the European, Arab countries and the United States not to cross the “red line” toward Syria, stressing out that it was not the United Nations’ job to determine who comes and who goes out of office in the restive country.

The Russian position was expressed on the occasion of the debate on a new resolution Morocco has drafted and the European countries and the United States have endorsed at the UN Security Council.

The resolution was demanding Bashar al-Assad to hand power to a deputy, and have a unity government established, so that free elections may be called. It also required that the violence be stopped, the prisoners freed, and negotiations be engaged between power and opposition in two months, in order to bring the country to a normal way of life.

The American State Secretary, the European and the Arab countries have urged the Security Council to adhere to this draft and adopt the resolution that would ask Assad to end violence, step down and engage in discussions with the opposition.

Vitaly Churkin, the Russian Ambassador to the U.N., said that the Arab countries were now in the driver’s sea, and that pressing the acceleration too hard could lead to a ditch. He said that the end of violence in Syria is not only a possibility, but also a necessity, but the language of the resolution, he added, was not acceptable, because it offered the possibility of imposing sanctions on Syria, and Russia fears that the Libyan scenario could come to pass again.

It vetoed a resolution in October, when it opposed along with China a resolution that was drafted by the European countries, and was condemning the crackdown in Syria. In December Russia refused to have the Syrian president being held accountable for what happened.

More than that, Russia proposed a resolution in which the blame for the loss of life in Syria be ascribed to both government and the rebels. Above all, Russia refuses to accept any sanctions on the restive country, where it has the last military base outside the former Soviet Union territory. Syria is one of the most serious clients of the Russian commerce with weapons.

UK foreign secretary William Hague said that consultations with Russia would be held for the next 24 hours in hopes that the resolution would pass and the regime in Damascus would receive a very serious signal that their ways are wrong and must stop.

Arab League chief Nabil el-Araby made his case along with the Qatari foreign minister before the UN Security Council attempting to reassure Russia that no sanctions were involved in the AL’s plan.

El-Araby said that the idea of placing the power into the hands of the deputy was inspired by Assad himself, who pledged last July to hand power over to Farouk al-Sharaa.

US State Secretary Hillary Clinton said that it was time the differences were put behind and that the countries agreed on Syria, so that the regime be stopped. The alternative, Clinton charged, is to abandon the Syrian people, to give Assad the message that the coast is clear for him, and to shake the credibility of the international institutions.

The Syrian ambassador to the UN conveyed the message of his regime, saying that any resolution on his country would be a flagrant infringement of the national sovereignty. The situation in Syria becomes more and more complicated as the rebels of the Free Syrian Army have been trying to get hold of the capital and to chase the president, and were pushed back of the outskirts of the capital by the loyalist troops.

French Parliament

Over 70 French lawmakers demanded that the anti-genocide law which was punishing the denial of the Armenian genocide at the end of the WWI be declared by the highest court in France unconstitutional. They appealed on Tuesday the court in an attempt to overturn de vote in the Senate, which made the law pass in spite of the hard pressure applied by Turkey, which threatened with sanctions France, if the law was passed.

The National Assembly voted on it in December, while the Senate voted on it last week. The law was approved by both chambers, and is awaiting for the president of France to sign it into law within 15 days since the vote in the Senate.

The law passed on January 31, and stipulates that whoever denied that the Armenian genocide happened at the end of the WWI is to be punished with up to 5 years in prison and a 45,000 euros fine.

Turkey reacted in anger to the provision of this law, calling it racist and undemocratic, and adding that France has no right to pass laws about the history of Turkey. Furthermore, it stopped all economic, political, military contacts with France, announcing a retaliation that would take into account a step by step strategy.

Even though the passing of the law met with the approval of both UMP party and the Socialists, thus cancel each other out for the electoral benefit from it, 70 senators and 50 lawmakers in the National Assembly had a change of heart and appealed by the Constitutional Council to declare it unconstitutional.

In order for the court to do so, it is necessary that at least 60 lawmakers appeal it. The decision is expected to be passed within a month. If found unconstitutional, the legislation is to be rejected.

The Armenians, backed by many historians, claim that 1.5 million people have been killed by the Ottoman Empire at the end of the WWI. The Turkish authorities have always rejected the idea, saying that the Ottoman had not prepared such a genocide, and that the death are merely the result of clashes between Armenian people and Ottoman troops.

20 nations have already accepted the fact that a genocide occurred in Turkey at the end of the WWI, and the latest debate is being held in Israel, former friendly state to Turkey, which is now debating the opportunity to observe a day in memory of the Armenians killed by the Turks.

Turkish authorities have charged that presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy is using the Armenian matter to score political capital in hopes to win a second term in office. There are some 500,000 Armenians living in France.

Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy

French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday said that Greece is the only one to handle and implement its austerity measures, rejecting the idea that the government of the country that lives on bailouts needs more oversight. The allegation of the French leader comes after a German proposal was circulated last week among finance ministers from the eurozone, which demanded that Greek economy cede some of its economic prerogatives related to budget to Europe in exchange for a second bailout.

In the press conference following the meeting of the EU leaders, Sarkozy said that no country could be placed in trusteeship, because that would not be “reasonable, democratic and efficient.”

In an interview for Wall Street Journal, the German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that Greece ma nor receive a new bailout, and would be let to go into default, unless it proves its capacity to overcome its economic problems.

French president himself admitted that a step-by-step oversight is normal for Greece, but that a separate commissioner should not be appointed for that purpose. Sarkozy added that this view was shared by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel explained that the supervision is necessary only in cases when a country shows no desire to meet the requirements it had agreed to. She explained that it was not needed in Portugal or Ireland, but Greece was a special case and therefore supervision should be very serious.

Nicolas Sarkozy said that the negotiations with Greece are moving into the normal direction, and that he was confident that the country would strike a deal with private lenders as soon as possible.

Sarkozy’s bid for a new term in office as president of France is enjoying the support of the German Chancellor, which is why he has put the European matters at the heart of his campaign.

Merkel is worried about a change in Paris that would bring a change in the European politics, and wants, according to Reuters, to gain momentum over the tackling of the debts crisis, one of the most serious challenges the European leaders had to face in many years.

With the Socialist candidate for president Francois Hollande leading the polls, the German Christian Democrats announced their support for Sarkozy’s UMP party on Saturday, when the number two figure in the CDU spoke in Paris and said that if elected, Hollande’s policies would weaken Europe.

Hermann Groehe told Reuters that the election of Sarkozy is not important only for France but for the entire success of the European challenges. As a lawmaker of the UMP party said that it was normal for the chancellor to support the French president after three years of working together. A spokesperson for the Socialist party warned Germany not to “hijack” the relations between the two states for the sake of the elections.

Reuters says that the move to bring Merkel into the team of the president Sarkozy was Sarkozy’s idea, since polls show that Merkel is the most trusted official to have an answer for the crisis that engulfed Europe.

From that perspective, Sarkozy wants to project in France the image of a man that is indispensable for the solution of the European crisis, the man who is to see France out of this turmoil.

It is considered that Merkel could lend Sarkozy some of her image as politician that manages the country well and has a very positive approach on the European matters. She is expected to please the conservative public, but it may also backfire, if her involvement is seen as an interference in French business.

Tibetans Protesing in America

Chinese authorities are said to have tightened the security measures in Tibet in an attempt to prevent any violence from occurring after a week in which at least three Tibetan people were killed in clashes with the security forces. Herald Tribune reports that while inspecting security around the capital of the Tibetan region, Chinese Communist Party secretary Qi Zhala warned clerics that they would be dismissed from their monasteries, if they continued to incite or participate in protests against the regime.

Tibet Daily on Tuesday quoted the party secretary to have said on Monday that the rulers of monasteries must understand the importance of preserving stability in temples and monasteries.

The leader is quoted to have said that the monastery chiefs are called to make sure that “no big incident, no medium incident, and no small incident” occurs. The police were urged to be very sharp and let no sabotage happen.

The strict measures underline the wish of the Chinese government to make sure that the protests against its rule does not spread. In Sichuan last week thousands of people protested against the action of the police, which wanted to arrest a man who had spread leaflets in the Ganzi prefecture. Another protest happened in the Aba prefecture. Security forces opened fire and killed several people, wounding dozens.

The way Chinese rulers are attempting to tone down the protests is indicative of their failure to convince the Tibetans to accept their presence by boosting economy and integrating them.

Consequently, in order to keep the protests from spreading from Sichuan into Tibet proper, the police is said by Herald Tribune to have recruited on Monday 8,000 police forces from the province of Xinjiang, which is close to Tibet, and has its own separatist rebellion of the East Turkmen people living there.

The Chinese authorities have admitted to killing two people in Sichuan, and warned that no such actions would be tolerated. The protests last week are the most important since March 2008, when 20 people died in a series of protests against the rule of China over Tibetan people.

In 2011, about 16 monks, nuns and laypeople protested by means of self-immolation, setting themselves ablaze while demanding that the spiritual leader of Tibet return to his homeland, and that the Chinese rulers stop colonizing the region with the Chinese Han people, which the Tibetans perceive as a form of ending their cultural and religious distinctiveness on their territories.

Dalai Lama is opposing the self-immolation practice, but did, nevertheless, hold a religious service in the memory of those who died during such protests, and observed a day of fasting.

Beijing catalogued at the time the action as a “support for terrorism,” and warned that no one would be allowed to endanger the unity of China. Dalai Lama has never demanded the independence of Tibet, but merely its cultural autonomy.

Tibetan prime minister in exile Lobsang Sanguy demanded last week that an international investigation be launched into what happened in Sichuan, condemning the death of the people who protested against the regime.

Dalai Lama renounced his role of political leader last year, and handed power to a government elected by the people in exile. The new government, led by Lobsang Sanguy, has its headquarters in Dharamsala, in India, where Dalai Lama settled in 1959, after leaving in exile.

It is expected that he end the multi-centennial way of recognizing the new embodiment of the Dalai Lama for fear that the Communist regime may use his demise in order to appoint a Dalai Lama that would do their bidding.

Dalai Lama said that it was within his powers to choose how the new reincarnation would occur, therefore he would leave instructions before he died. He warned that he would consult the scholars of Tibet to see if the procedure could be ended and make way for election of the new leader the way popes are elected in the Vatican or the politicians all over the world.

UN Security Council

The international community is mobilizing on Tuesday to convince the U.N. Security Council as the Arab League leaders will show the council what its mission had found in the restive country. The Arab League chief Nabil el-Araby will support a resolution drafted by Morocco, which calls on Assad to transfer power to a deputy and establish a new unity government, that would organize snap elections.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said that it was imperative that the council condemned the crackdown of the government in Syria and determined it to adhere to the commitments it had made.

The ambassador said that the draft did not contain sanctions, and no threat with the use of force, a condition Russia insisted upon before making any decision on whether to vote or oppose a sanction on Syria.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman said that the draft requires the end of violence, the withdrawal of the weaponry from the streets, the release of the prisoners, and the permission to the news reporters to operate in Syria.

The French foreign minister Alain Juppe is going to attempt to convince the U.N. Security Council to do something about the increasing level of crimes against humanity which are being committed in Syria these days.

The French minister said that everything must be done to end the spiral of violence that has been going on for more than 10 months, and said that the resolution proposed by Morocco must be endorsed.

A statement on the situation made Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, who urged the U.N. Security Council to take “steps long overdue” in order to put an end to the bloodshed in Syria.

U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton said that a message must be sent to the people in Syria and that the message must be: “We stand with you!” In a statement, she said that the United States strongly condemn the crackdown on the population of Syria.

As the world leaders are trying to bring themselves up to condemn what is happening in Syria, the state-run news agency says that the West is “targeting Syria” and is attempting to create a different image about the Syrian crisis.

Russia proposed its own version of a draft resolution, which ascribes blame equally to the government and the rebels for the violence that occurred in Syria, and imposes no sanction.

Russia and Syria agreed that the government and the opposition in the Arab nation hold talks in Moscow. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that talks in Moscow were indispensable in order to prevent confrontation and bloodshed in the Syrian society.

The Arab League suspended its mission in Syria, which had started in December 2011, and had been aimed at assessing the reality in the field. The mission was criticized by the opposition because it was led by a Sudanese general on whom there were suspicions of having participated in the genocide of Darfur, or that at least he knew about them and did nothing.

The activists also said that the AL mission was just a way of the regime in Damascus to gain credibility in the eyes of the international community. The fact that the authorities were taking the observers in areas that were quiet and had been prepared in advance was another reason for the mission to be deemed as a failure.

A Tunisian observer resigned his commission and called the entire mission a “farce,” adding that the regime was using it to prove that what is being said about Syria was not accurate. 400 people were reported killed during the mission of the Arab League.

The mission ended as the violence erupted over the weekend at the outskirts of the capital Damascus, as the Free Syrian Army, comprising the defectors from the Syrian military, was attempting to storm the capital and make way to the presidential palace.

On Monday, the rebel troops were being chased out of the suburbs of the capital, as the security forces engaged in clashes with them for three days.

Leon Panetta

The American Defense Ministry is trying to make sure that the ties between the United States and Pakistan do not deteriorate again following the comments made by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who said a few months ago in an interview broadcasted by CBS on Sunday that “someone, somewhere” in the government of Pakistan had to know about the fact that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad.

Since last May, when a raid of the Navy SEALs killed the number one terrorist of the world, the American authorities have voiced the suspicion that someone in the security establishment of Pakistan must have known about bin Laden living across the street from a military academy.

Leon Panetta is said to have voiced the suspicion of many American officials, which they had developed after the operation in May. On Sunday, the Pentagon Press Secretary George Little clarified what the minister had said.

Little said through the American embassy in Islamabad that the defense secretary made clear in an interview that Osama bin Laden might have had some help in Pakistan. He added that the secretary had made it very clear that he had no hard evidence that this was the case.

Since last May, Leon Panetta and the members of the U.S. government have been working to improve the ties with Pakistan, which have touched a freezing point last fall, as the Pakistani secret services were said to have cooperated with insurgents in the bombing of the American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In the same interview, Leon Panetta expressed concern over the fate of the doctor that helped the Navy SEALs establish where bin Laden was.

Shakil Afridi was under investigation in Pakistan for treason for pretending that he was promoting a vaccine only to get a blood sample from someone in the bin Laden family. The sample was checked and confirmed, and that was the way the SEALs knew where the al-Qaeda leader was.

The United States has demanded that the man be released, saying that eventually the regime in Islamabad will have no choice but to set him free.

Clashes At The Outskirts of Damascus

Syrian troops attempted on Monday to consolidate their position at the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, after the Free Syrian Army took control over them a few days ago in a bid to press toward the presidential palace. Syrian army is said to control Hamouriyeh, a cluster of districts, where they had to use armored vehicles and artillery against the rebel troops, who had come as close as eight km to the capital.

Activists said that the army of defectors, called Free Syrian Army, has been battling the troops of the government for hours, with gunfire being heard everywhere. At least 15 people were reported killed over three days of clashes in the neighborhoods at the outskirts of the capital.

The Syrian state-run agency said that a pipeline was blown up by “terrorists,” while people in the city of Deraa said that they heard gunfire being traded by the rebels and the governmental troops, while 20 people were reported dead in this southern city.

The situation prompted the Arab League to end on Saturday its mission in Syria, and announced it would discuss the crisis on February 5.

As the situation continues to worsen in Syria, the Arab League is presenting on Tuesday the United Nations with its project to end the conflict. A week ago, the Arab League demanded Assad to hand power to a deputy and to appoint a caretaker government to call for snap elections.

The government in Damascus rejected the proposition as an intrusion into domestic affairs of the country. The leader of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby, is to attempt to convince the UN Security Council that the plan must be under way.

Elaraby said he hoped to overcome the Russian and Chinese opposition to the plan. Russia is known to have defended Syria against any sanctions imposed on it by the international community.

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has been blaming the unrest that has been going on for 11 months on an international conspiracy aimed against his regime and country. He said that the conspiracy ran that deep as to encompass even the Arab League, which in his opinion was forced to suspend Syria from its ranks.

The United Nations say that 5,400 people have been killed since the unrest started, while the Syrian government thinks that some 2,000 lost their lives, most of which are security troops fighting “thugs,” as the regime puts it.

After various attempts to bring peace to the Arab nations, the option of a military intervention remains on the table, although the Western countries have expressed on many occasions their reluctance to the military option.

Russian officials have warned on several occasion that a military intervention was under way, with NATO intervening through Turkey in the conflict. Turkey has manifested its intention to become a leading force in the region, and was among the first to advocate the military option.

Iran voiced its concern about the turn of events in Syria as well, and demanded that the Assad regime be given more time to implement the reforms. Assad announced that a referendum is to be held on a new constitution, and that elections would be called.

Iran is preoccupied by the fate of the neighboring Syria, since it is their long-standing ally and has economic interests in this region. Furthermore, Iran is facing the possibility of having NATO at its borders, if the military bloc decides to take a step toward a military intervention.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution on Syria next week. The resolution has been proposed by the Arab and European states last Friday. Russia said it was against the idea of imposing any sanction on the regime in Damascus.

Libyan Militia

Forces loyal to the Libyan National Transitional Council on Saturday entered Bani Walid in an attempt to put down clashes that had erupted in the region between militias, deepening the crisis of the north African country, which proclaimed its independence in the wake of the capture and killing of former leader Muammar al-Qaddafi in October.

Carrying anti-aircraft guns and pickup trucks, militiamen from Tripoli, Benghazi, Torbruk and Bani Walid said that they had information about the fact that some 300 people, considered war criminals, were being inside the city of Bani Walid. They threatened to attack the city, which lies 110 miles of Tripoli, if the war criminals were not brought to justice.

The situation escalates as the National Transitional Council is attempting to unite the militias and prepare elections in June, the first elections in the history of this country. Vice President Abdel Hafiz Ghoga was forced to resign his office on January 22, as people stormed his office in Benghazi.

The way things evolve compelled the newly elected authorities to delay the electoral law they were making ready. A leak of the document drafted by the NTC drew the criticism of the Libyans, who demanded that the people with more than one citizenship be denied the right to occupy offices unless they renounced the non-Libyan citizenship.

Five people lost their lives in Bani Walid on January 23, and the local police said that the deaths were triggered by local disputes, not by supporters of the former regime.

Libya went through a civil war last year, at the end of which the 43-year dictatorship of colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi ends in a bloodshed, and the dictator that wanted to be the ruler of all Africa and was preparing his hometown city Sirte for the African institutions died at the outskirts of this city in clashes with the rebels.

The heir apparent of the leader, Seif al-Islam, was captured in Bani Walid, as he was attempting to make his escape after the fall of his father. Seif al-Islam is to be judged for war crimes in Libya, but under the supervision of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Tibetans Protesting

Chinese security forces have announced on Friday to have killed a second Tibetan in a second round of protests in the Sichuan province, where a large Tibetan community lives. The killing on Friday is said to have raised the death toll to at least three people.

According to Free Tibet group, the Chinese security forces have shot and killed a person as they were trying to disband a group of people who were said to have protected a man searched by the police for distributing leaflets in the Aba prefecture.

Three clashes broke up for the past few days, and the activist groups consider that several people were killed and dozens were injured. This week marks the beginning of a new stage in the protest of the Tibetan people against the Chinese rule in Tibet, after 16 self-immolations of Tibetan monks, who protested this way the attack by the Chinese authorities on their religion and culture.

The increase of the protests leaves the Chinese leaders with two options: either they continue the crackdown on more Tibetan, which will become more radical, or meet their request to preserve their culture by not colonizing Tibet with Chinese Han population and their religion by allowing their spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, to return to Tibet, after a half-century wandering through the world, in exile.

China sees Dalai Lama as an enemy of the state, and his return as a threat against its own territorial integrity, although Dalai Lama said in more than one occasion that he was preoccupied with Tibetan cultural and religious autonomy, not independence.

It is said that non responding with understanding and concern to the protest of individual monks and nuns, the government of China set the stage for large scale protests against it, which could become more violent.

The violence this week mark the most violent week in Tibet since 2008, when the people rioted in the capital Lhasa, and their protest spread across Tibet proper and Sichuan, where many Tibetans live. The response of the Chinese then was to flood the area with security forces and seal the region off to foreigners. 22 people died in that instance, and the people continue to remember their sacrifice each year in March.

On Monday, thousands of Tibetans marched to governmental offices in the Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan, and the security forces reacted in anger, opening fire on them and killing up to three people.

ABC News reports that on Tuesday people protested in another area of Ganzi, and the police killed another two people, according to Free Tibet. On Thursday, police came to arrest a young man who had distributed leaflets.

The scandal continued, with the police saying that a police station was attacked and 14 officers had been injured. The spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said that the regime would continue to respond like this to all such actions.

The people fear that their spiritual leader will never return to Tibet, and that China will somehow manipulate the appearance in the world of the next leader. China has expressed its intention of not recognizing the new Dalai Lama, after the demise of the actual one, which compelled Dalai Lama to say that he was taking into account the idea of terminating the office that has been enduring for centuries.

Dalai Lama has renounced his official prerogatives of head of state, and entrusted the political power to an elected government, whose first minister is now Lobsang Sanguy, who, earlier in the week urged the international community to send an investigation team to China to look into the killings of the regime.

Separation Wall

Israeli negotiation team in Jordan told the Palestinian counterpart during the last round of negotiation that that the guiding principle for Israel in drawing the borders with the future Palestinian state is for the settlements in the West Bank to be part of the state of Israel, a principle the Palestinians rejected immediately.

It was the first time the government of Benyamin Netanyahu told the Palestinian Authority how it saw the resolution of this part of negotiations, the handling of the border issue. Netanyahu had exposed this vision however before the US Congress last May.

A Palestinian official, speaking under anonymity, said that the proposition Israel made was throwing away the international law and the frame within which the negotiations had been carried on for 20 years.

He compared the proposal with a dispute between the Palestinians and the Israelis on the territory of the West Bank, during which time the rest of the Israeli territory remains untouched.

A Jewish official defended the proposal, saying that the principle was stipulating that the majority of Palestinians remain on Palestinian side, while the Jews are on Israeli side. He expressed hope that the negotiations would continue, after the Palestinians asked for clarification.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority said that the negotiations were useless, because the response of Israel is not leading toward more talks. He added that the Israeli chief negotiator Yitzak Molcho, did not provide any map for the borders he proposed and did not include Jerusalem or the Jordan valley in what was discussed.

The negotiator went on to say that the Israeli proposal for borders was the wall that separates the West Bank from Israel. The proposal also said that Jerusalem was part of Israel and would remain under Israeli rule.

The Palestinian official added that this arrangement is no more than a reframing of the occupation of the territories of the Palestinians.

Even though the Palestinians seem unlikely to accept such a proposal, it is possible to mark the end of Netanyahu’s career as a fighter against Palestinian independence, especially since the abandonment of the West Bank into the hands of the Palestinians may be seen as a betrayal by those who consider it a valuable part of the Israeli history.

Netanyahu is also facing the prospect of losing his grip on the coalition that keeps him in power, since some of the parties within the coalition share the nationalist view of the right hard line.

The proposition was not confirmed by the members of the Israeli cabinet, which preferred to be discrete about it, but the deputy prime minister said that if Molcho made such a proposition, it was a great news.

It is the most detailed offer Netanyahu made the Palestinians yet, and comprises what he thinks about how much land Palestinians should get. It is highly unlikely that Mahmoud Abbas would ever accept a country without East Jerusalem as capital of it.

The Palestinian officials have told the Jewish counterparts that the only acceptable deal was one which included the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. It is considered that they may even be ready to compromise on little swaps for the settlements that are close to the border, but nothing else.

The promise made by Netanyahu is considered less than his predecessors Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert had agreed to give the Palestinians, given that the two prime ministers had agreed to the partition of Jerusalem.

Half a million Jews have settled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967, when the territories were occupied by Israel.

The wall Netanyahu proposed as border was built in 2002 as temporary security precaution, but was seen by many as a future border Israel would contend for, because it included settlements and even expending possibilities, prompting the Palestinians to call them a theft of land.

During the negotiations, Molcho is said to have spoken of the Jordan Valley as of a strategic Israeli security asset, though the wording is said not to have imply a control over the region. The Jordan Valley makes one quarter of the West Bank.

Netanyahu said that he wanted Israel to maintain a military presence in the future state of Palestine as part of any agreement between the two sides. He explained it as a buffer between the Jewish state and the neighboring states that are not friendly to Israel.

Military officials said that the military presence in the Jordan Valley may be revised in the future.

Mahmoud Abbas is under pressure from the Middle East Quartet to continue talks with Israel, even though he said that Israel did not meet the deadline for a serious proposition on borders.

After hearing what the Netanyahu cabinet had to say, he said he would consult with the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Fatah, and that next week he will also consult with the Arab League before making any decision on continuing talks.

Abbas is pursuing three ways of attaining a state for the Palestinians, none of which is progressing well. The talks with Israel are as fruitless and difficult as ever, the unity government with Hamas has its ups and downs, depending on the evolution in the countries surrounding Israel, and the statehood bid by the United Nation, which is a dead end, and was like so before it was launched.

Earlier this month a British official alluded that as the time went by the two-state solution was becoming more and more feasible. He said that in the context of criticism against the settlement policy of Israel.

The two-state solution has been the solution for the most part of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Besides this solution, a three-state solution began to gain momentum, especially in Jordan. This solution would imply the return of the West Bank to Jordan and of the Gaza Strip to Egypt, as it was before the war in 1967.

ACTA Harms Freedom

Massive protests erupt in Poland against the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, which is seen as a form of censorship of the internet, causing the European Parliament rapporteur to resign in protest. Kader Arif resigned on Friday, saying that the ACTA bill is being accompanied by unprecedented maneuvers of the European officials. Arif criticized the process that led to the signing of the treaty: the lack of consultation of the civil society, the lack of transparency since the negotiations began, the repeated delays of the signature of the texts without any explanation, the rejection of several recommendations of the Parliament.

Poland signed the ACTA treaty on Thursday, and rallies were organized in the country for an entire week, with a climax on Friday, when tens of thousands took it to the streets in a freezing cold weather protesting what they call internet censorship.

While the ACTA is well intended, mirroring to some extent the American SOPA bills, the protesters in Poland fear that it would be used as a tool to implement police control over the internet.

The Polish concern is more motivated than the one of the American protesters, considering that the European Union has no democratic grounds, no transparency, and is led in a bureaucratic way which would make possible for a “thought police” to be establish via ACTA.

Decision-making in Europe happens away from the public eye, while the institutions that still act in a democratic way, like the parliament, have little power, as showed by European commissioner.

The Polish protests on Friday were also politically motivated, as the people held the government accountable to its promise to be pro-youth, pro-modern, and pro-internet. Reports say that the scale of the protests have gotten the authorities nervous.

In order for ACTA to become operational, the new bill must be approved by both Polish and European parliaments. On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government would not give in to the “ACTA blackmail.” He rejected the proposal of the opposition to hold a referendum on the topic.

The ACTA bill was developed by industrialized countries and was signed by the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan and several other countries such as Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Singapore.

The treaty had been in public attention since May 2008, and has been criticized ever since. On January 26, 2012, the European Union and 22 of its member states have signed the treaty. Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia are waiting for their national procedures to be observed.

Romanian public learnt that their representatives had signed the document from the media reports on the Polish protests on it, whereas Poland announced its intention of signing it on January 18, at which moment the protest began. The Polish ambassador to Tokyo signed the treaty in spite of the situation in his own country.

The project is to arrive in the European Parliament in May, and there it is about to be debated and voted. In November 2010 the Liberal group in the European Parliament co-sponsored a resolution by which they were expressing concern over the content of ACTA bill, and demanded the European Commission to present the Parliament a thorough and complete evaluation of the consequences the accord will have before the national parliaments pass it.

ACTA is accused of having been drafted without public control of it, and that the wording of its final version is not known by anybody, except for what was leaked. It is considered that the document would allow intrusion into personal computers and laptops for mere suspicions of containing pirated documents. The networks will be asked to develop way to control the users and report the piracy acts.

Websites may be erased, and the development of the internet could be blocked. Similar bills SOPA and PIPA caused the large internet companies to protest by a 24-hour blackout, which convinced some of the decision-makers to reconsider.

Free Syrian Army Leader

The Syrian regime was reported to have killed at least 120 people in two days in the central cities of Homs and Hama as the European and Arab nations demand the United Nations to ask Bashar al-Assad to step down and leave. The head of the Arab League mission in Syria, embattled general al-Dabi, said that the attacks intensified on Homs on Friday and that the protest reached for the first time Aleppo, the Syrian largest city, after it hit the outskirts of the capital earlier this week.

On Friday, Morocco presented the United Nations Security Council with a new resolution co-sponsored by the European nations such as Germany, France and Britain as well as by Arab states.

The text of the resolution demanded that the UN end the 11 months of continuous crackdown on the population of Syria, which is said to have claimed the lives of 5,400 people so far.

Russia opposed again the proposition, saying that all the “red lines” have been crosses with this resolution. Russia reiterated that it did not want any kind of sanction on Syria, nor did it support any regime change or arms embargo.

The German ambassador said that the resolution may open a new chapter in the history of Syria, and that if the resolution is agreed upon, it could mean that the United Nations throws its entire support to the Arab League’s plan presented on Monday, which was demanding Assad to hand over power to a deputy, to appoint a new caretaker government until snap elections can be called at the earliest convenience.

Syria has rejected the proposition, considering it an interference into national affairs, and blamed the international conspiracy against Syria for the fact that the Arab nations are being pressed to come up with such ideas.

Russia and China have been supporters of Syrian regime since the beginning, as they have long term relations and business opportunities. Russia delivered a $550 million contract in warplanes to Syria, a contract which Moscow explained it would not change the military balance because the warplane are merely training desks.

Russia is about to negotiate with the co-sponsors of the resolution the proposition they made that the sanctions imposed by the Arab League in November against Syria, namely the embargo on economic deals with the restive country, to become officially supported by the United Nations, but not mandatory. The negotiations are expected to get under way on Monday and are not supposed to be easy.

People protested on Friday in front of the Syrian embassy in Cairo, where the headquarters of the Arab League is. The people broke into the building, which was empty at that hour because of the Muslim weekend.

Reports from the field voiced by BBC say that the Free Syrian Army, the troops of the defectors from the governmental army, is now entrenched in the suburbs of the capital Damascus. Some say that the outburst of violence in the city which has been known as one where pro-Assad rallies were scheduled was caused by the attempt made by the Free Syrian Army to enter the capital and reach the presidential palace.

It is said that even so, convincing Assad to step down will be difficult, since he still enjoys the support of his Allawite people, of the Christian, Druze and Kurds, which could come to some 40% of the population, according to some estimates.

The Allawite support him because he is one of them, while the others because he is said to have protected minorities in the country in a way no one in the Sunni Muslim majority or the army would.

Even so, reports are saying that the Free Syrian Army is approaching the Damascus palace where the president lives, in a scenario that echoes the one in Libya, where a rebel army toppled the 43-year-long dictatorship.

As the country is slipping into what seems to be a civil war, questions are now whether the president is ready to face a coup staged by the FSA or to resist much longer to the pressure the people is applying.

Voices raise in defense of the idea of an international intervention, in spite of the promise made by Bashar al-Assad to resist any such attempt. The French foreign minister last year proposed that a humanitarian corridor be established in Syria, in order for the people of the centre cities to be attended.

Turkey has planned to create a buffer zone along the 900 km common border, and then to partake in a military operation against the regime. The Qatari foreign minister was the last one to have demanded that a no-fly zone be established over the territory of Syria, a wish the opposition in Syria had voiced a long time ago.

The Western countries do not favor a direct intervention into Syria, especially after the intervention in Libya drew so much criticism from Russia and China.