UK minister defends 2013 vote against Syria military action

An image of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad covers the facade of a provincial government office in Hama. UK politicians are debating whether the West should have acted against Assad in 2013. (AP)
An image of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad covers the facade of a provincial government office in Hama. UK politicians are debating whether the West should have acted against Assad in 2013. (AP)
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Updated 13 December 2024
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UK minister defends 2013 vote against Syria military action

UK minister defends 2013 vote against Syria military action
  • Downfall of Bashar Assad reawakens debate over Western inaction
  • Britain’s decision not to intervene derailed Obama’s chemical weapons ‘red line’ response

LONDON: The former leader of the UK’s Labour Party has defended his 2013 decision not to support the government in taking military action against Bashar Assad in Syria.

The British Parliament voted against attacking Syrian government targets after it used chemical weapons against a rebel-held Damascus suburb.

Labour were in opposition at the time and its MPs were directed by Ed Miliband not to support Prime Minister David Cameron’s motion in favor of striking Assad.

The UK vote derailed the US military’s response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria — something President Barack Obama had declared a “red line.”

Without the support of its main Western ally, Washington held back. Many observers believe the decision emboldened Assad and opened the way for Russia to enter the conflict in support of his government.

The downfall of Assad last weekend has reawakened the debate over whether the UK should have taken action, with Labour cabinet ministers openly disagreeing over the course taken more than 10 years ago.

On Thursday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who was not an MP at the time, told a BBC politics TV show that “if the West had acted faster, Assad would have been gone.”

He added: “The hesitation of this country and the US created a vacuum that Russia moved into and kept Assad in power for much longer.”

Miliband, who is now energy secretary, said on Friday that his cabinet colleague was wrong.

Miliband said the decision not to support military strikes against Assad was grounded in the lessons learned from the 2003 Iraq invasion.

“The decision I was confronted with in 2013 was whether we did a bombing of President Assad without any clear plan for British military engagement, where it would lead and what it would mean,” Miliband told Times Radio.

“And I believe then, and I do now, that one of the most important lessons of the Iraq War is we shouldn’t go into military intervention without a clear plan, including an exit strategy.”

Miliband said that when President Donald Trump ordered bombing raids on Syria in 2017 in response to another chemical weapons attack, it did not lead to the downfall of Assad.

“So when people say that somehow if we bombed President Assad in 2013 he would have toppled over, frankly, it’s just wrong,” he said.

The fall of the Assad government after a lightning offensive by opposition militants has further revealed the extent of the suffering in Syria under his rule, leading to soul-searching in capitals around the world.

The Syrian War, which started in 2011 as anti-government protests, killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million.


Russia blasts US reinstatement of Cuba on terror list

Updated 3 sec ago
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Russia blasts US reinstatement of Cuba on terror list

Russia blasts US reinstatement of Cuba on terror list
Trump on Monday reversed his predecessor Joe Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism
The move is unjustified because Cuba is an active participant in “international cooperation on counter-terrorism,” Zakharova said

MOSCOW: Russia on Tuesday slammed US President Donald Trump for reinstating its ally Cuba on a list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying the measure was aimed at destabilising the island and prompting regime change.
Trump on Monday reversed his predecessor Joe Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the newly-inaugurated Trump’s order was undoubtedly “aimed at further tightening financial and economic restrictions in the hopes of destabilising the situation and changing power in Cuba.”
The move is unjustified because Cuba is an active participant in “international cooperation on counterterrorism,” Zakharova said.
The US must realize such measures “have an extremely negative influence on the quality of life of the island’s population,” she added, suggesting it was aiming to provoke “social discontent.”
Russia will continue to provide “necessary support to Cuba” to back its demands for an “immediate and complete end” to the “illegal and inhumane” US blockade of the island, Zakharova said.
Russia and Cuba have strengthened ties since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive in 2022 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visiting last year.

Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland

Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland
Updated 21 January 2025
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Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland

Denmark says no country can ‘just help themselves’ to Greenland
  • “Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security,” Trump said
  • Lokke said he was “satisfied” that Trump had not cited Greenland as a priority in his speech

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s foreign minister said Tuesday that no country should be able to simply help themselves to another country, following US President Donald Trump’s renewed remarks about taking control of Greenland.
Trump, who took office on Monday, set off alarm bells in early January by refusing to rule out military intervention to bring the Panama Canal and Greenland — which is an autonomous Danish territory — under US control.
“Of course we can’t have a world order where countries, if they’re big enough, no matter what they’re called, can just help themselves to what they want,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters Tuesday.
While he didn’t mention Greenland in his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump was asked about it by reporters in the Oval Office afterwards.
“Greenland is a wonderful place, we need it for international security,” Trump responded.
“I’m sure that Denmark will come along — it’s costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it,” he added.
Lokke said he was “satisfied” that Trump had not cited Greenland as a priority in his speech, but added that the “rhetoric” was the same.
“It doesn’t make me call off any crisis, because he said other things about expanding the American territory,” Lokke told Danish media.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede has insisted “that Greenland is not for sale” but that the territory was open to doing business with the US.
Among Danes, the omission of Greenland in the inauguration speech led to some relief.
“He didn’t mention Greenland or Denmark in his speech last night, so I think there’s room for diplomacy,” 68-year-old actor Donald Andersen told AFP.
On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a post to Instagram that Europe would need to “navigate a new reality.”
While noting the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination, the head of government also stressed the need for Denmark to maintain its alliance with the US — which she described as Denmark’s most important since World War II.
A number of Danish party leaders were called to the prime minister’s office on Tuesday to be briefed on the situation.
“We have to recognize that the next four years will be difficult years,” Pia Olsen Dyhr, leader of the Green Left, told reporters after meeting with Frederiksen.


Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting

Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting
Updated 21 January 2025
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Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting

Zelensky says Ukraine working to set up Trump meeting
  • “The teams have been working on a meeting, they are currently in the process,” Zelensky said
  • Trump has said he will stop the war in Ukraine swiftly without saying how

DAVOS: Ukraine is working to set up a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump, Zelensky said on Tuesday.
“The teams have been working on a meeting, they are currently in the process,” Zelensky said of efforts to arrange a meeting with Trump.
He was speaking in an interview panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump, who took office on Monday, has said he will stop the war in Ukraine swiftly without saying how.
Zelensky said Ukraine would not agree to Russian demands that it drastically reduce the size of its military, predicting that Russian President Vladimir Putin would demand Ukraine cut its military to a fifth its size.
“This is what he wants. We will not allow this to happen,” Zelensky said.
In his speech, Zelensky suggested Europe had less influence over Washington because the United States viewed its allies’ contribution to security as lacking.
“Does anyone in the United States worry that Europe might abandon them someday – might stop being their ally? The answer is no,” Zelensky said.


Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos

Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos
Updated 21 January 2025
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Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos

Zelensky urges ‘united’ European defense policy at Davos
  • Zelensky said Europe needed to be ready to stand on its own feet and must work to remain relevant as a “strong global” player
  • “Europe must be able to guarantee peace and security for itself“

DAVOS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Europe should develop a joint defense policy and be willing to increase spending to guarantee its own security from emerging threats.
His comments to the World Economic Forum in Davos came a day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has demanded NATO members raise their defense spending and boasted he can end the war in Ukraine, without offering a clear roadmap.
Zelensky said Europe needed to be ready to stand on its own feet and must work to remain relevant as a “strong global” player and “indispensable” on the global stage.
“We need a united European security and defense policy, and all European countries must be willing to spend as much on security as is truly needed,” Zelensky argued in his address to the WEF.
“Europe must be able to guarantee peace and security for itself,” he added.
He evoked the Kremlin’s deployment of North Korean troops to western Russia to illustrate what he said were growing threats to European security.
“European leaders should remember this — battles involving North Korean soldiers are now happening in places geographically closer to Davos than to Pyongyang,” he said.
And he pointed to a recent pact between Russia and Iran boosting their economic and military cooperation, saying the accord was an example of a changing landscape that was a threat to Europe.
“Whom do they make such deals against? Against you, against all of us,” he said. “Such threats can only be countered together,” he added.
Zelensky also questioned whether Trump was committed to NATO and European security, claiming that Washington has openly indicated their security priorities lie in the Middle East and in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Will President Trump even notice Europe? Does he see NATO as necessary? And will he respect EU institutions?” Zelensky asked.


‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau

‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau
Updated 21 January 2025
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‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau

‘Canada will respond’ if US imposes tariffs: Trudeau
  • “Canada will respond and everything is on the table,” Trudeau told a news conference

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday vowed a strong response if Donald Trump slaps 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, which the US president signaled could come as early as February.
“Canada will respond and everything is on the table,” Trudeau told a news conference, adding that Ottawa’s reaction would be “robust and rapid and measured,” but also match dollar for dollar the US tariffs.