Consequences Yet To Be Announced....

Those in high echelon elite positions of respect and power are jealous of their legacies.  Kofi Annan's legacy as United Nations chief was somewhat besmirched when it was revealed that his son gained illegal and immoral riches through the Iraq-imposed "oil for food" scandal that proved to be immensely embarrassing to the United Nations.

Mr. Annan has been given a new opportunity to leave another kind of legacy; that of fulfilling an imperative set down by the United Nations in appointing him chief negotiator representing the UN and the Arab League as envoy to sue for a solution to the bloody uprising taking place in Syria that has cost an estimated 17,000 lives over a 16-month period.

Mr. Annan has been busy offering his peace plan to both the tyrant of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad, and the regime's opposition.  President al-Assad is quick to assent to putting a halt to his military's assaults on civilian populated towns and cities, but in practise nothing could be further from reality.  Not only is the Syrian Alawite regime's military engaged in terrifying, wounding, arresting, torturing and murdering Syrian civilians, but their Shahiba intimates are also engaged in stealth brutality slaughtering Syrians.

President al-Assad is quick as always to sign on, to give his word that he is prepared to co-operate with Kofi Annan's amended transitional plan to bring an end of hostilities.  He is prepared, he claims, to share governance of the country with his opponents.  "He did offer a name and I indicated that I wanted to know a bit more about that individual.  So we are at that stage."  'That stage' representing proffering an individual to act on behalf of the regime in negotiations.

Russia and China remain the sticking-point.  Although the Kremlin has indicated it will no longer supply the regime with advanced weaponry and the jets that Syria has wanted to acquire, its plan is still on track for its warships to arrive at the port of Tartus.  To face off against the U.S. fleet in the Gulf.  The 300-strong unarmed observer mission meant to oversee the switch from state-violence on its people to a position of calm, were recalled because calm refused to visit the country, it was too busy making its presence known elsewhere, but not in the Middle East.

Government troops reportedly attacked Tremseh with tanks and helicopters

Russia insists that any political transition must be with the "mutual consent" of both the government and the opposition.  That will be a long wait, since the opposition is clear on one thing; they have no intention whatever of either sitting down with any government representatives, nor to agree to a transitional, co-operative sharing of government duties.  Adding to their quiver of vehemence is the latest report of yet another slaughter in Tremseh, Hama province where residents report they were attacked by helicopter gunships and tanks.

And then, the usual formula ensued, the mop-up detail of Shabiha militias arrived on foot to proceed with their infamous execution-style slaughter.  On the other hand, Syrian state media is now on record as insisting that "terrorist groups" were responsible for carrying out the massacre of at least 200 civilians in the town of Tremseh.  This has become a predictable pattern.

To add to the drama, demonstrations of disaffection take their toll on the regime; protests over the Tremseh slaughter have already taken place in Damascus, Idlib and Hama.  The Revolution Leadership Council of Hama informed Reuters that most of the 200 who perished in Tremseh were civilians.  Add that to a defection of Syria's ambassador to Iraq, when Nawaf Fares announced his separation from the regime, in Qatar.
The potential for a truce is just as remote as it ever has been, save for the first several months of the insurrection which saw peaceful protests and when President al-Assad could have reached out and not only promised, but acted upon a real plan to bring his regime into a working accord with the majority Sunni Syrians who were fed up with their inferior status in their country.