2 Mar 2017

United Nations Global Compact Winter Internship 2017 – USA

Application Deadline: Summer 2017 (July to December 2017): 7th April 2017
Eligible Countries: All
To be taken at (country): New York, USA
Eligible Field of Study: Not specified
About the Award: The United Nations Global Compact pursues two complementary objectives: (1) making the UN Global Compact and its principles part of business strategy and operations everywhere; and (2) facilitating cooperation among key stakeholders by promoting partnerships and other collective action in support of UN goals.
Depending on their level of experience and training, UN Global Compact interns will:
  • conduct research relating to the topic of corporate citizenship, especially on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption;
  • draft and edit publications, papers and other documents;
  • liaise with Global Compact stakeholders on key corporate citizenship topics;
  • support the organization of meetings and events;
  • assist with outreach activities;
  • handle email and other inquiries;
  • assist in the implementation of the Global Compact’s integrity measures;
  • perform administrative tasks as assigned.
Type: Internship
Eligibility: 
  • Applicants must be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree programme (bachelors or second university degree, or higher) at the time of application and during the internship; or
  • Under some circumstances, applicants may have graduated within less than one year to commence a UN internship.
Value of Internship: Internships at UN Headquarters are unpaid. Interns must therefore be able to cover their costs of travel, accommodation, as well as living expenses during the internship period.
Duration of Internship: Internships with the UN Global Compact are available for a duration of three to six months. The timing of internships is flexible. We encourage candidates to apply for the following sessions:
  • Summer / Fall: August to November (with a possible extension to December)
  • Winter / Spring: January to May (with a possible extension to June)
How to Apply: Those interested in pursuing an internship with the United Nations Global Compact must submit an online application at the UN Careers website.
Scroll down to the bottom of the homepage to the “Search Job Openings” section and select “Internship” under the Category field, and “New York” under the Duty Station field. Click on the Search button. This will lead you to a list of various internship openings. You will need to search for the UN Global Compact internship by Job Opening ID Number.
For Winter 2017, the Global Compact Internship Job Opening Number is 66635. Candidates are strongly recommended to pay attention to the job opening number to make sure that their applications reach the UN Global Compact Office.
Award Provider: United Nations Global Compact
Important Notes: Due to the large number of applications received, only accepted interns will be notified a few weeks before the beginning of the session or within 4 weeks after each session’s application deadline.
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Government of Turkey Undergraduate Scholarships (Türkiye Burslari) for International Students 2017/2018

Application Deadline: 31st March 2017
Offered annually? Yes
Eligible Countries: All
To be taken at (country): Turkey
About the Award: 2017 Türkiye Scholarships applications for undergraduate level begin on March 1st. Applications to Türkiye Scholarships, which has provided scholarships to 5 thousand students from over 150 countries in 2016, will be taken between 1 – 31 March 2017.
Type: Undergraduate
Eligibility: Applications are exclusively for all candidates from all countries who wish to study at undergraduate level.
Number of Awardees: Not specified
Value of Scholarship: The scholarship will consist of a monthly stipend, tuition fee, travel costs and health insurance.
Duration of Scholarship: The scholarship award is normally tenable for the minimum period required to obtain the specific degree which is four years.
How to Apply: Applications will only be made at www.turkiyeburslari.gov.tr. Candidates are required to submit/upload their applications and/or documents requested from them into the applications system.
Applications delivered by hand or post will not be accepted.
Award Provider: Government of Turkey
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Orange Social Venture Prize for Entrepreneurs in Africa and the Middle East 2017

Application Deadline:  6th June 2017
Offered annually? Yes
Eligible Countries: Countries in Africa or the Middle East
About the Award: The Orange Social Venture Prize rewards entrepreneurs developing products or services that use ICT in an innovative way to meet the needs of people in Africa or the Middle East in fields such as health, agriculture, education, energy, industry or trade.
Over the past five years, the thousands of projects which have been submitted for the Orange Social Venture Prize display the dynamism of entrepreneurs and the potential of the telecommunications sector in the region.
Once again this year, internet users can vote online for their favourite project on Entrepreneur Club, the entrepreneurship section of StarAfrica, the Orange portal. The project thus elected as the “favourite project” will be introduced to the jury along with ten others shortlisted by the experts, and will therefore maximise its odds of receiving one of the monetary grants.
Offered Since: 2011
Type: Entrepreneurship Contest
Eligibility: Any entrepreneur (aged 21 or over) or legal entity that has been in existence for fewer than three years at the time of the competition may participate at no cost and with no restriction on nationality. Submitted projects must be designed to be deployed in at least one of the African or Middle Eastern countries in which Orange operates (as listed in the rules) and must use information and communications technology in an innovative way to help improve the living conditions of the populations in these countries.
Number of Awardees: 3
Value of Contest: 
  • 1st Grand Prize: €25,000
  • 2nd Grand Prize: €15,000
  • 3rd Grand Prize: €10,000
Orange experts provide the winners with customised digital mentoring and advice. These international awards complete the various prizes delivered locally to national winners.
Award Provider: Orange
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University of Turku Postdoctoral Research in Science and Medicine 2017/2018 – Finland

Application Deadline: 15th March 2017
Eligible Countries: All
To be taken at (country): Finland
About the Award: The University of Turku is a world-class multidisciplinary research university which offers interesting challenges and a unique vantage point to national and international research and education. Research at the University of Turku is diverse and international. Our strongest fields of research form the basis for new and interdisciplinary projects. Numerous high positions in worldwide university rankings tell about the high quality of the university. Our research is profiled through the following thematic collaborations:
  • Biofuture
  • Digital futures
  • Cultural memory and social change
  • Children, young people and learning
  • Drug development and diagnostics
  • Sea and maritime studies
The aim of the Turku Collegium for Science and Medicine (TCSM) is to establish a multidisciplinary, interactive research platform for young dynamic scientists in Science and Medicine. This includes studies in the mathematics, informatics, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, biology, geology, geography, medicine, biomedicine, dentistry and their equivalents.
Type: Postdoctorate, Research
Eligibility: Candidates will be considered from any area within Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Medicine with outstanding potential and established excellence in research. The person to be appointed to the postdoctoral researcher position is required to hold a doctoral degree, which may not have been completed more than five years ago at the time of accepting the position. In this context, the 5 years refer to a net period of time, which does not include maternity leaves, parental leaves, or military service, etc.  A doctoral degree must be completed by the end of the application period and applicants are also expected to have attained other academic achievements.
Selection Criteria: Turku Collegium for Science and Medicine selects its researchers through an international competition, which is open to all researchers in the respective fields. The Board for TCSM selects the new researchers on the basis of their applications. In the selection process, particular attention will be paid to the candidate’s international research experience. The successful candidate should have a linkage with the research activities of the University of Turku and should as a rule be able to join an existing research group or to work under the supervision of a senior researcher at the University of Turku. In the selection process attention is also paid how the research of the applicant relates to the thematic collaborations of the university.
Number of Awardees: 5
Value of Program:  The salary is determined in accordance with the university salary system for teaching and research personnel.  The salary for Postdoctoral Researcher positions correspond to a requirement level 5 and personal performance level 4 euro-denominated salary   (3 326, 61 €/ month).  Progress in the researcher’s personal performance can be taken into account when determining the salary during the employment.
Duration of Program: 5 years
How to Apply:  Applications must be submitted on March 15, 2017 at the latest(23.59.59) Finnish time (GMT +2) via the electronic application form of the University of Turku. The link to the electronic application system is found at the beginning of this announcement (Apply for the job). Please include CV, degree certificates, a list of publications and a personal statement/motivation letter where the applicant is asked to describe his/her scientific background and research interests and how they relate to the research activities at the University of Turku.
Apply for the job at www.utu.fi/careers
Award Provider: University of Turku
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Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) Fully-funded PhD Scholarships for International Students 2017

Application Deadline: for January 2018 intake is 1st June 2017
Offered annually? Yes
Eligible Countries: International Students
To be taken at (country): National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore
Eligible Field of Study: PhD in Science, Engineering and Research
About Scholarship: The Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA) is a collaboration between the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to offer PhD training to be carried out in English at your chosen lab at A*STAR Research Institutes, NUS or NTU. Students will be supervised by distinguished and world-renowned researchers in these labs. Upon successful completion, students will be conferred a PhD degree by either NUS or NTU.
Type: Full time PhD Research Scholarship
Eligibility and Selection Criteria
  • The scholarship is open to all international students
  • Excellent academic results to be in the top 20% of your cohort
  • Graduate with a passion for research and excellent academic results
  • Good skills in written and spoken English
  • Good reports from two academic referees
Number of Scholarships: up to 240
Value of Scholarship
  • Attractive monthly stipend over 4 years of PhD studies, which can support you comfortably. The stipend amount is SGD 24,000 annually, to be increased to SGD 30,000 after passing Qualifying Examination.
  • Full support for tuition fees for 4 years of PhD studies.
  • One-time SGD 1,000 Settling-in Allowance
  • One-time Airfare Grant of SGD 1,500
Duration of Scholarship: For the duration of the programme
How to Apply: Hard copies of the following supporting documents must be submitted to the SINGA Office:
Compulsory:
  • A copy of your Identity Card or Passport
  • Certified true copies of university transcript(s), one in English translation and the other in the original language
  • Certified true copies of degree scroll(s) or a letter or certification from the university on your candidature if your degree scroll has not yet been conferred.
  • Two Academic Referees’ Recommendation
  • Two recent passport-sized photographs
Not compulsory but good to include (if any):
  • A certified true copy of TOEFL / IELTS results
  • A certified true copy of SAT I & II / GRE / GATE results
  • Certified true copies of awards / prizes and certificates
  • List of publications
  • List of patents filed
If you need more Information about this scholarship, kindly visit the Scholarship Webpage
Sponsors: Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
Important Notes: Only short-listed candidates will be notified within 10 weeks from the application closing date.
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Carl Duisberg Scholarships for Students in Human Medicine and Veterinary Medicine 2017

Application Deadline: Applications must be submitted between June 1 and July 18, 2017.
Offered annually? Yes
Eligible Countries: International
To be taken at (country): Germany
Brief description: The Bayer Fellowship Program targets students and apprentices in scientific and medical disciplines. Its goal is to support the next generation of researchers and teachers as they engage in “Science for a Better Life”.
Eligible Fields of Studies: Students and young professionals with up to 2 years of experience from the following fields:
  • biology and molecular biology
  • biotechnology and bioinformatics
  • chemistry and biochemistry
  • pharmacy and drug discovery
About the Award: The Carl Duisberg scholarships offer individual support to committed students and young professionals with 1 to 2 years of experience in the disciplines of human and veterinary medicine, medical science, health technology, public health and health economics.
The scholarship funds students of these subjects (until completion of the doctoral degree) and young professionals who have completed their degrees no longer than 2 years before, wishing to realise a particular project in Germany: a scientific project, a specific course, a medical traineeship, a clinical internship year or simply on-the-job training.
Candidates are required to have an excellent academic record and must submit a clearly defined project including a research proposal and a cost schedule as well as a confirmation by the host organisation that facilities are available. The level of support varies depending on the project. It is, however, generally sufficient to cover the living-, travel- and project costs.
Offered Since: Not known
Type: Postgraduate Degree
Eligibility: 
  • All applicants should have a high level of commitment, dedication and an innovative project plan.
  • Applications are invited from
    • students and young professionals from Germany who wish to pursue a project abroad or
    • students and young professionals from abroad who wish to pursue a project in Germany.
Number of Awardees: about 15 to 20 scholarships each year
Value of Scholarship: The financing generally covers the cost of living, travel expenses and project costs. Each applicant is asked to set up an individual cost schedule to be approved by the Foundation Council.
Duration of Scholarship: Duration of course
How to Apply: The following application documents are required for the Carl Duisberg scholarship:
  • Confirmation letter from host institute/university
  • A description of the project (duration of 2-12 months) with financial plan within the timeline of September 2016 to August 2017. The project can consist of
    special study courses, laboratory assignments, research projects, summer classes, internships, Master’s or PhD programs.
  • Most recent transcripts
  • Any additional documents that would enhance the application
  • Photo (passport or job application photo)
Award Provider: The Bayer Fellowship Program
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Ghana, Kenya & Nigeria – University of Stirling International Masters Awards 2017/2018 – Scotland

Application Deadline: 31st August 2017
Offered annually? Yes
Eligible Countries in Africa: Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria
Other countries: Canada, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Oman, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, USA
To be taken at (country): Scotland, UK
Eligible Field of Study: Courses offered at the University
About the Award: As part of the University’s ongoing commitment to supporting academic achievement and encouraging student diversity, the University of Stirling is pleased to offer an awards scheme for international postgraduate students.
The University will not make multiple awards to an individual student. In cases where a student qualifies for more than one University scholarship or award, the award of the highest financial value will be confirmed.
Type: Masters  taught
Eligibility: 
  • Candidates who are self-funded and liable to pay tuition fees at the overseas rate.
  • Awards are available for students domiciled in, or nationals of these countries, subject to meeting country-specific academic criteria as outlined below:
    • Ghana – minimum Second Class Honours (Upper Division)
    • Nigeria – minimum Second Class Honours (Upper Division)
    • Kenya – minimum Second Class Honours (Upper Division)
Number of Awardees: Unlimited
Value of Scholarship: £3,000 reduction in the overall tuition fee payable
Duration of Scholarship: Duration of course
How to Apply: Students from eligible countries will automatically be assessed for an International Postgraduate Award as part of the admissions process; there is no separate application required for this award. Students who qualify for award will be notified by Admissions, once academic offer conditions have been met.
Award Provider: University of Stirling, UK
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The War on Marijuana is Ending. Disarm Jeff Sessions.

Thomas L. Knapp

Jeff Sessions doesn’t “think America is going to be a better place when more people of all ages and particularly young people start smoking pot.” He’s worried about the possibility of “marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store.” Because, you see, “good people don’t smoke marijuana.”
America disagrees.
A majority of US states (28) have modified their laws to recognize the medical benefits of cannabis over the last two decades. More recently voters in eight of those states, representing 25% of the population of the United States, have chosen to substantially legalize recreational use as well, and a solid majority of voters in the other states support the idea of doing likewise.
The writing is on the wall: The war on marijuana is ending, and freedom won. Sessions can’t undo that any more than the Ku Klux Klan was able to undo Appomattox.
Unfortunately, as the newly confirmed Attorney General of the United States, he does enjoy a great deal of Klan-like power to continue terrorizing the millions victimized by his side during its 80-year war on a benign and useful plant.
It’s time for Congress to take away that power.
In an ideal world, doing so would entail the repeal of all federal narcotics laws and the elimination of the Drug Enforcement Agency and Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Realistically those developments are probably decades away, but there’s a bare minimum baseline of acceptable congressional response to the will of the people and the prerogatives of the states:
First, Congress must remove marijuana from the DEA’s “scheduling” of drugs under the Controlled Substance Act.
Secondly, Congress must use its power of the purse to de-fund, prohibit, and if necessary punish, any future DEA/ONDCP enforcement or propaganda activity relating to marijuana.
And there’s no time like the president: The new president claimed on the campaign trail to respect the states’ decisions on the matter, and he’s also calling for cuts of “waste, fraud and abuse” from federal discretionary spending. The war on marijuana clearly answers to all three descriptions.
Four US Representatives — Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Don Young (R-AK), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Jared Polis (D-CO) launched a “Cannabis Caucus” in mid-February to begin the urgent task of winding down the failed federal war on marijuana. That’s four out of 435. If your alleged representative hasn’t joined the caucus yet, maybe you should call his or her district office and ask why.
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Trump’s Military Industrial Complex

Binoy Kampmark 



“This budget will be a public safety and national security budget.”
-President Donald J. Trump, Feb 27, 2017
Humming along the road of American empire to its state of noisy exception, US President Donald J. Trump has promised more money and fuel for a military industrial complex he considers starved and depleted. (As it is, the entire complex remains unbecomingly bloated and far from accountable.) Before the National Governor’s Association on Monday, he suggested that US military spending increase by some 10 per cent, amounting to some $54 billion.
The themes of the promised budget are old and tried: when in doubt, scare the American people into apoplexy; when feeling that patriotism is waning before sagacious voices, encourage more dramatic assessments of threats. White House press secretary Sean Spicer has suggested that Trump will persuade Congress to focus on the theme of “renewal of the American spirit.”
Much of this reeks of Ronald Reagan administration’s efforts to use money and obesely inflated budgets as a cudgel to advance agendas. The difference then was that the threat seemed, at least superficially, more tangible: the apparent satanic evil of the Soviet imperium, getting away under the protective umbrella of Détente. “We were right,” said an oft misguided Vice President Dan Quayle, “to increase our defence budget.”2
“This budget,” claimed Trump, “follows through on my promise to keep Americans safe. It will include an historic increase in defence spending to rebuild the depleted military of the United States.” Display, power, project, all words deemed necessary in Making America Great Again.
There is, unsurprisingly, nothing refined in this. The object is winning, and engaging in wars that the US can win. In recent times, the US military machine has been specialising in the atrophy of counter-insurgency, open-ended conflicts where exit strategies are rebranded draw-downs, where defeat is simply rebranded as continued engagement of another sort. When a war enterprise has failed, use air strikes and send in advisors. The circle continues being re-invented.
“We have to start winning wars again – when I was young, in high school and college, people used to say we never lost a war,” intoned President. “We need to win or don’t fight it at all. It’s a mess like you have never seen before.”
Few would disagree that the Middle Eastern conflagration, characterised by botched interventions and failed visions, has been a calamity of immeasurable proportion, though this, it would seem, would require a clipping of the US military establishment. Trump, as he only knows how, wants to reward it.
This obsession is going to be funded, at least in part, by cuts to the State Department, possibly by up to 30 per cent (a war on experts, perhaps?) of their budget, and the Environmental Protection Agency, ever the enemy of Trumpland. The pointy-heads, it would seem, are being given the heave-ho in favour of the boys and girls with murderous toys. As are those in favour of the softer side of US brutishness: the humanitarian aid budget.
The central feature of such spending is a darkly humorous fiction: to prevent war, it is best to prepare for it with all the resources you have – and more besides. “We must ensure that our courageous servicemen and women have the tools they need to deter war and when called upon to fight in our name, only do one thing: win.”
The merry schizophrenic show continues to cause despair and consternation in the corridors of power. The true enemy of Trumpism remains collective alliances and arrangements that supposedly weigh down on the muscular assertion of US power. The wise counsel of friends is being mocked in favour of the belligerent counsel of the inner circle. Some European states are making a hurried dash to the party, promising an increased military budget in turn.
While Trump has amused and shocked hawks with suggestions that NATO is obsolete, passing into rickety oblivion, while also insisting that allies need to beef up their part of the security bargain, he is happy to keep the empire on its own track, resolutely distant from the fray. Where this fits in the alliance system is the befuddling feature of the enterprise.
The other aspect of the Trump military increase will also foster another delusion: that government can be “lean and accountable to the people,” while doing “much more with the money we spend” even as it seeks to aggrandise and expand the focus of the US defence complex. Many a pig has attempted to fly on this point, and failed (vide the Cold War).
The times are riddled with perverse reflections. President George W. Bush, a president hardly known for his sophisticated awareness of liberties and the US constitution, has hitched his colours to the mast of press freedom.
Hawks are becoming confusingly dovish – or at the very least hypocritically so. The aggressive shake-up from Trump continues, and will re-enact the follies of old: embracing the values of the military at the expense of the Republic.
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China in the Age of Trump and Brexit

Tom Clifford

Beijing.
The harsh winter has passed, the sky is blue, spring is in the air and the store that sells fake DVDs in Beijing is closed. The two sessions is about to start. Beijing goes political and is being spruced up (stores selling fake goods are shut down) from Friday (March 3) for the next two weeks or so as the delegates and deputies of the CPPPCC and the NPC gather for their annual meetings.
The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body drawn from delegates representing a cross-section of society, including the arts, medicine, transport, construction, and the National People’s Congress, the top legislative body, gather to discuss and pass legislation for the coming year.
The two sessions, as they are colloquially known in China, gauge the political mood of the country outside Beijing’s “Beltway” the Fourth Ring Road. This is a one-party state and decisions take place behind tightly locked closed doors. But the two sessions is where many of those decisions will be made with about 3,000 provincial administrators, top businessmen and Chinese Communist Party bigwigs set to attend.
For the duration, smartly dressed delegates and deputies from across the country will pose for photographs on Beijing’s streets.  Ultimate political authority, of course, rests with the Chinese Communist Party, whose Politburo Standing Committee, headed by President Xi Jinping, sets policy. So the NPC’s influence is limited but it has an important input into the decision-making process.
While the deputies to the Congress will sit politely, row-upon-row in the Great Hall of the People, their presence in Beijing allows for forthright discussions on the economy, anti-pollution efforts, and international affairs. In public the NPC, with its bowing heads and demure clapping, may make a rubber stamp look energized but in the tea houses, and restaurants around Tiananmen Square, the issues of the day will be debated long into the night.
Premier Li Keqiang’s “work report,” which is delivered on the opening day of the NPC, will be the headline event, especially as it will forecast China economic growth for the year, presumed to be around 6-7 percent.
China’s official economic statistics are generally considered to be less than fully accurate, but the numbers are expected to give a sense of how dramatically officials expect growth to decline from the glory days of double-digit expansion.
At the end of the session, the premier’s closing news conference sometimes reveals insights into the leadership’s thinking, either by what he says or does not say.
The backdrop to this year’s two sessions is intriguing. At the end of the year, many of the seven members of the standing committee of the politburo will be replaced as Xi starts his second five-year term and is able to place his own men (they will be men) into the top positions. The sessions could give an indication as to what the priorities of the new leadership, for the next five years, will be.
On top of this the Trump presidency, with all its uncertainties, may, the feeling in Beijing goes, provide China with opportunities, or at least more leeway. According to this viewpoint the new administration in Washington, will not pay too much heed to human rights and view relations with China in a more pragmatic vein. In other words, it will be good for business.
The same goes for Europe, already dealing with Brexit, and possibly facing a National Front victory in France that would shake it to its foundations. Beijing senses greater opportunities here.
The feeling in Beijing is that anything that weakens its rivals is bound to make China stronger. That old Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times’’ has a certain resonance these days.
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Issues At Stake In Syria’s Peace Talks

Eric Zuesse

Syria’s peace-talks are about settling a horrific six-year-long war, but this is more of an international war that’s being waged on the battlefields of Syria, than it is a civil war within Syria itself. This fact is often ignored by the press, but the peace-talks are really more between the foreign powers than between their proxies who are killing each other (and Syria’s civilians) within Syria. These peace-talks are international because the principals in this war are international. And, because the principals are international, the principles that are being fought over are, too — they are so basic that the end-result from these talks will be not only some sort of new peace, but some sort of new Constitution for Syria: really a new nation of Syria.
The main issues which are being negotiated at the Syrian Peace Talks that resumed on February 23rd in Geneva, are constitutional in nature: whether Syria is to be governed under Sharia (or Quran-based) law, or whether instead it is to be a multi-ethnic democracy. The Sharia-law side is supported by the United States, Turkey, and the Arabic royal families, who own Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman, all of which royal families are fundamentalist Sunnis. The multi-ethnic democracy side is supported by Bashar al-Assad (Syria’s current leader), Russia, and Iran.
Some proponents of the Sharia-law side are advocating that Syria be broken up into at least three separate ethnically-defined nations, which then would be Kurdish, Sunni, and Shiite, each of which would be ruled only by its majority ethnicity, just as Israel is ruled by its majority ethnicity, which in Israel’s case is Jewish. (Another prominent recent example was apartheid South Africa, except that in that particular case, it was the White minority who ruled over the Black majority. Of course, those racial laws ended when Blacks there became allowed to vote.)
In essence, the contested polarity is between whether the future of Syria will be as a religious-ethnic dictatorship, versus as a multi-ethnic (including multi-religious) democracy.
(In recent years, those findings by the main polling-firm, WIN/Gallup, can be seen here:
Syrians are the most secular nation in the entire Middle East. The effort by the U.S. and its allies to impose a jihadist government there is not popular with the Syrian people.
Agence France Presse reported, on February 12th, that (boldfaces and links here are by me):
Syria’s opposition on Sunday announced its 21-member delegation, including 10 rebel representatives, for a new round of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva scheduled for February 20 [subsequently rescheduled for the 23rd].
The delegation will be headed by Nasr al-Hariri (pictured), a member of the National Coalition, replacing Assad al-Zoabi, who led the opposition at several previous rounds of talks in Geneva last year.
The delegation’s chief negotiator was named as Mohamed Sabra, a lawyer who was part of the opposition’s technical team during negotiations in Geneva in 2014.
He replaces Mohamad Alloush, a rebel from the powerful Army of Islam faction.
Alloush served as negotiator during three rounds of peace talks in Geneva as well as negotiations in the Kazakh capital Astana in January organised by Turkey and Russia.
Neither Alloush nor the Army of Islam were listed as members of the delegation to Geneva, though it was unclear if the group was boycotting the talks or would be represented by other delegates.
No reason was given for the decision to replace either Zoabi or Alloush.
Alloush had been selected by the Saud family, and so was rejected by Russia, Iran and Syria, at the Astana conference. Turkey at that conference proposed and the others accepted Sabra, who heads the Syrian Republican Party, which was created in 2008 simply to criticize Assad, and didn’t even become active until it received major funding from Turkey and became publicly “founded” in Istanbul in 2014, by members of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party. So: now, instead of Assad negotiating with an agent of the Saud family (Alloush), as had been the case when the U.S. ran the preparations for the peace-process (the process that U.S. President Barack Obama sabotaged on 17 September 2016 and thus brought to an end), Assad is negotiating this time with an agent of the Erdogan family (Sabra), and Russia instead of the U.S. has been running the preparations for the peace-process, which is currently under way at the U.N. in Geneva.
The National Coalition was created on 12 November 2012 by the Saud family and their Gulf Cooperation Council of all of Arabia’s royal families, who own (other than the Sauds’ Saudi Arabia), Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman. Nasr al-Hariri, who thus represents those families, heads the delegation of ‘Syrian opposition groups’ that Turkey’s Mohamed Sabra will be negotiating on behalf of. So, actually, Assad will be negotiating against representatives of, and who are negotiating on behalf of, all of the Middle East’s leaders of Sunni-run nations.
Furthermore, “Nasr al-Hariri selected 21 opposition delegates during a meeting of the Syrian opposition in Riyadh in preparation for the talks,” and so the entire selection-process for those ’Syrian opposition’ members was done under the Sauds’ watchful eyes (and money).
Magnanimously, a representative of the National Coalition, who spoke about Russia’s allowing ‘the Syrian opposition groups’ to be selected by Turkey, the Sauds, and the other Middle-Eastern Sunni powers, “called it a ‘sacrifice’ that Russia, which backs the Syrian regime, has offered to Turkey in the hope that in return it would win concessions to make room for the so-called Moscow platform, named after the Syrian parties that are under the political influence of the Kremlin.” (Those are generally the strongest supporters of a secular democratic unified Syria.)
However, on February 24th was reported that, “Hariri repeated in his news conference that the opposition’s priority was to begin negotiations on a political transition with a transitional governing body, suggesting it would not back down on its demands that Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad step down.” The U.S.-Saudi alliance refused for the person whom all polls showed to be overwhelmingly the top choice by Syrians to lead their country — the only person who was wanted by over 50% of the Syrian public to be Syria’s leader — Bashar al-Assad, to be allowed onto the electoral ballot for Syria’s Presidency; they refused to allow democracy in Syria. So, the Sunni powers (which also includes the U.S. as their core military arm) are as steadfast as always, about overthrowing and replacing Syria’s non-sectarian government. And they all blame the main Shiite nation, Iran, for all problems: “‘Iran is the main obstacle to any kind of political deal,’ Hariri said.” To them, this is really a war to conquer Iran; it’s like Christianity’s 30 Years’ War had been in Europe, back in the 1600s. But, of course, it is also what RFK Jr. has appropriately called it — “Syria: Another Pipeline War.” It’s rooted both in religion and in economics.
On January 24th, at the close of the preparatory talks, in Astana, for the current peace talks in Geneva to end Syria’s war, was issued a “Joint Statement by Iran, Russia, Turkey” asserting that they all:
Reaffirm their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, non-sectarian and democratic State, as confirmed by the UN Security Council.
Russia was the only one of those three nations that also proposed then a specific draft Constitution for postwar Syria. Perhaps that’s because Russia is the only one of these three whose own government and Constitution is entirely secular. Thus, too, Turkey’s key agent at the current Geneva talks, Mohamed Sabra, was reported, back on 17 November 2016 (two months after the U.S. had ended its participation in Syria’s peace process) to have — as Egypt’s Al-Ahram put it — especially criticized Russia’s proposals for “trying to isolate Islamic groups that disagree with the principles of a democratic and secular state, and thus exclude them from the political process. ‘This will lead to a realignment of forces, change the essence of the military conflict in Syria, and sow the seeds of civil war in the country,’ Sabra remarked.” Assuming that Egypt’s main newspaper was accurately paraphrasing and translating what the chief negotiator for the U.S.-and-Sunni alliance actually said, Russia was being criticized there for insisting that what follows after Syria’s war must be controlled entirely by the people of Syria, and not by anyone outside the country — Sabra, the chief negotiator for the U.S.-Sunni alliance, actually was speaking publicly there, against commitment to “the principles of a democratic and secular state.” It’s actually fitting: twice in one day, the Secretary General of the U.N. had criticized the U.S. position for its opposition to democracy in Syria.
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