Rasmussen criticizes UN Security Council on Syria
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BRUSSELS (March 23, 2012) – On the opening day of the seventh Brussels Forum, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen reaffirmed that NATO has no plans for action in Syria and criticized the United Nations Security Council for inaction.
“I regret strongly that the international community, embodied in the UN Security Council, has not managed to reach an agreement that could send a very strong message to the leadership in Damascus" to halt attacks on civilians, he said. “I really believe that the lack of unity at the UN Security Council has sent a very unfortunate message to the leadership in Damascus, so they have concluded that they could continue their crackdowns on the civilian population.”
Rasmussen also outlined plans for the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, saying that the main theme will be strengthened transatlantic relationships. "You will see encouraging language in the communiqué reaffirming that NATO's door remains open," he said, implying that additional countries could join NATO in the future. But he went on to say that "It won't be an enlargement summit."
Rasmussen was speaking at Brussels Forum, an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics.
Major support for Brussels Forum comes from Daimler and the Federal Authorities of Belgium. Additional sponsors include BP and OCP Foundation. Further support comes from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the European Liberal Forum, the Centre for European Studies, BNP Paribas Fortis, NATO, the Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, and Intesa Sanpaolo.
The conference’s first panel focused on Europe’s role in the world in the face of the economic crisis. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that austerity measures are necessary for Europe now. “If you’re looking to fix a problem, one way is to complain about foreigners and complain about the euro,” he said. “Another way is to bite the bullet.”
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) agreed but cautioned, “I have questioned the one-size-fits-all approach to the debt crisis.” She explained that the West has to figure out how to keep economies growing while dealing with the debt.
The second panel of the day discussed Iran’s nuclear program. Isaac Herzog, a Labor Party member of the Israeli parliament, said, “In Israel, the general consensus is that military action should be the last resort.”
Other members of the panel, Ziad Asali, president and founder of the American Taskforce on Palestine, Nicholas Burns, professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Camille Grand, director of the Centre for European Reform, all agreed that while military action should be an option, it should be saved for only if negotiations fail. Burns said that the United States hasn’t fully explored diplomacy yet. “It has had no sustained conversations with Iranian leadership since Jimmy Carter,” he said.
Herzog added that removing options for dealing with Iran might be a useful strategy for diplomacy. He suggested taking Syria “out of Iran’s stack of cards” by facilitating Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s removal from power would be an effective approach.
The conference opened with a welcome address by Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders, who called on Europe and the United States to work together to safeguard their common values.
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Brussels Forum is an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, Congressional representatives, Parliamentarians, and academics. Major support for Brussels Forum comes from Daimler and the Federal Authorities of Belgium. Additional sponsors include BP and OCP Foundation. Further support comes from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the European Liberal Forum, the Centre for European Studies, BNP Paribas Fortis, NATO, the Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, and Intesa Sanpaolo.
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