16-May-13: Abstaining on the Syrian carnage

This is how the Syrian atrocities look when you're a diplomat
at the UN General Assembly [Image Source: UN]

Earlier today, we referred in a post to the nervousness of Israeli defence forces and of ordinary Israelis in the north living within range of the Syrians. Given the presence of berserk shooters, armed-to-the-teeth armies and terror groups, and chemical weaponry, you might be nervous too. It's understandable.

Considerably harder to understand is the passivity of outsiders, the so-called world community.

The UN General Assembly voted on a resolution yesterday

"condemning the Syrian government for human rights violations and call for a transitional government. The measure was approved by a vote of 107 to 12, with 59 member states abstaining. That was a tighter margin than in August of last year, when 133 states voted to approve a similar resolution. Russia fiercely opposed the resolution as a potential obstacle to peace talks... The vote came just after an announcement by Vuk Jeremic, the General Assembly president, that the death toll from Syria's two-year civil war is at least 80,000, an increase of about 20,000 since the start of the year." [Al Jazeera]

It's non-binding, it has no legal effect, it comes with zero sanctions. Yet despite its utter toothlessness, look at how many countries abstained: fifty nine of them. (The roll call is here, but only in map form). They're not sure they want the killing to stop? They didn't like the wording? They don't feel they should mix in?

Several more failed to vote at all or were not present. Those voting against the condemnation of the Syrian government include Assad's major sponsors and protectors Russia and Iran. Also China, North Korea, Belarus, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador as well (of course) as Syria itself.

For the record, most of those killed in the past two years in the Syrian bloodbath are civilians. And while 80,000 lost lives is a tragedy on an epic scale, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Tuesday it believes least 94,000 people have been killed, and that the death toll is likely to be as high as 120,000.