Syria Uprising; Tougher Talk Towards Syria; U.S. Pushing for Embargo on Syrian Oil
FOSTER: You're back with CONNECT THE WORLD on CNN, the world's news leader. Let's get a check of the headlines for you this hour. After a week-long wild ride, U.S. markets finish on a high note. The Dow was up almost one percent at the closing bell. Despite the gains on the final day of trade, U.S. stocks were still down 1.5 percent on the week. Regulators in four European countries are trying to reduce market volatility. France, Italy, Spain, Belgium have temporarily banned short selling on financial stocks. That's a strategy allowing traders to profit from falling prices. At least four people have been killed in a train crash in central Poland. Reports say at least 30 other people were hurt when the train derailed. There's no word yet on why the train jumped the tracks. A setback for the Obama administration. A U.S. appeals court says parts of the health care reform bill passed last year are unconstitutional. The White House championed it, but 26 states filed suits against it. Human rights activists say security forces in Syria killed at least 13 people today. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the street across the country after Friday prayers. Those are the headlines this hour. U.S. officials are talking tougher these days when it comes to Syria, now saying the country would be better off without President Bashar al- Assad, and he's lost the legitimacy to lead, they say. But they can't seem to say the words many Syrian protesters want to hear most, and that's "President al-Assad must step down." We've been hearing that the Obama administration will indeed make that declaration soon, but it hasn't happened yet. On Friday, during a joint appearance with the Norwegian foreign minister, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton explained the hold up, saying the world must speak with one voice.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're trying and succeeding at putting together an international effort, so that there will not be any temptation on the part of anyone inside the Assad regime to claim that it's only the United States, or maybe it's only the West. Indeed, it's the entire world, and we're making the case to our international partners to intensify the financial and political pressure to get the Syrian government to cease its brutality against its own citizens and to make way for positive change.</s>FOSTER: Clinton also called on the international community to hit Syria where it hurts and stop buying Syrian oil and gas. Our White House correspondent Dan Lothian joins me now to talk a bit more about this. It's interesting hearing the Secretary of State, there. There's a strategy, here, isn't there? But she seems a bit frustrated by it.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There is frustration and just to carry on that point that she was making there in her last remarks, that she was calling on these international -- the international partners to get on the, as she put it, quote, "right side of history." In other words, to make sure that they stop providing any kind of weapons or buying oil from Syria in order to provide -- to produce this economic pressure that would cause Assad to step down. But you're right, there is frustration here, because there's been a lot of pressure from the U.S. already. There's been strong rhetoric and still, as the U.S. believes, a lot of the wrongs continue in Syria. And so, whether or not the president himself will come out at some point and call on Assad to step down, you're seeing top aids, Secretary Clinton, and others using very strong language, letting Assad know from afar that it's in his best interest to step down, too leave that country.</s>FOSTER: Are there particular countries she's waiting on? I presume she wants some Arab support, for example. But are you aware of any particular nation she's waiting to step in?</s>LOTHIAN: Well, we know China is one name that has been thrown out there, but right now, no more specifics in terms of who else they're waiting to get on board. The bottom line, though, is that it's clear that what has caused the administration some pause in terms of coming out with stronger language before now or either the president himself being very direct in calling for him to step down is that they want to make sure that international partners are part of whatever is done. You heard Secretary Clinton talk about how they want to, essentially, take away some ammunition, if you will, from Syria so they won't be able to say that this is just the U.S. acting alone or that this is just something that's being pushed by the West. The U.S. wants to make sure that all of these international partners are on board 100 percent in order to apply the kind of pressure that they believe will be effective.</s>FOSTER: Dan Lothian at the White House. Thank you very much, indeed. Well, a widespread embargo on Syrian oil could put a huge squeeze on the country's economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, Syria gets about a quarter of its revenues from oil and gas sales. Some of the biggest customers are in Europe. Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands all buy oil from Syria. China and India also have energy ties, and the U.S. is urging all of them to turn off the tap. Let's get more on these calls for economic pressure on the Syrian regime. We are joined by Murhaf Jouejati. He's a professor of Middle East studies at the National Defense University in Washington. He's also former advisor to Syria's delegation to Middle East peace talks. Thank you so much for joining us. It would hit them hard, isn't it, if Clinton achieved this and people weren't buying from Syria, it would hit them very hard. It's a crucial tool, isn't it?</s>MURHAF JOUEJATI, PROFESSOR OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES, NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY: Absolutely. It's, as you said, it is 25 percent to 30 percent of government revenues. So again, an embargo on the oil export of Syria would hit the pocket of the Assad regime very, very deeply, depriving him in large part to be able to pay the death squads that he has unleashed against the civilian population.</s>FOSTER: What would be the internal impact? Would it undermine the president, which is what the intention is, or would it undermine the whole system?</s>JOUEJATI: I think it would undermine the regime without necessarily hurting the people. Syria has the ability -- the indigenous ability to produce the fuel that it consumes, so if there were an embargo on oil exports, if there were sanctions against oil companies that transport oil out of Syria, that would hurt the regime, again, not necessarily the people. And the good thing about it, also, it would not affect world oil market prices at all, really, because the Syrian oil production is rather little.</s>FOSTER: It's not that small, though. I think that's probably the concern, isn't it? That it would have an impact on oil prices at sensitive time in the world economy? But also, it has to be said, those countries using this fuel need it. You can't just turn off the tap, because actually it's being used. It's not that simple, is it? It's a good political tool, but it's economically very tricky.</s>JOUEJATI: It is not as tricky as you might think. Syria produces 390,000 barrels of oil per day. That is not very much. It's a lot in terms of the revenue it generates for the Assad regime, but this is, frankly, quite easily replaceable by other exporters. So again, I do not think it's going to affect oil prices dramatically if at all.</s>FOSTER: But what you may need, I presume, maybe the Americans are working on this, perhaps speaking to another oil producer to step up their production to counteract this for countries like Italy and Germany, for example, who use Syrian oil.</s>JOUEJATI: Well, look. Since the countries of the region, namely the GCC countries, have recently also jumped into the fray in asking Assad to stop his violence against the civilian population, since Saudi Arabia has issued a stern warning. I don't think it should be too hard to Washington -- for Washington to be able to convince these countries to increase their oil exports just very slightly to meet what would be lacking as a result of an embargo against Syria.</s>FOSTER: OK, so what are we waiting on? Do you suspect that, perhaps, Secretary Clinton hasn't got the support from those European leaders, for example, that she needs? Why is it not happening?</s>JOUEJATI: You know, the prerequisite to all this, really, is a unity in the international community, and I'm talking here specifically about the Security Council. Washington and its partners and its allies in the Security Council, namely France and Britain and Germany and Portugal, should really weigh in on Moscow in order to withdraw its threat to veto any condemnation of Syria in the Security Council. It is a Security Council resolution that condemns the Assad regime that is going to be the prerequisite to all this. It is only then that we could talk about an international community acting in unison, whether in oil sanctions or other sanctions or what have you against the Assad regime. This is what is going to get the attention of Assad in understanding that Syria is not his family farm and that the Syrian people are not his cattle.</s>FOSTER: President Jouejati -- I'm sorry, Professor Jouejati, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us with that perspective on Syria.</s>JOUEJATI: Not yet.</s>FOSTER: Not yet. Now, it's a job most people wouldn't accept, working in a war zone, putting their very lives on the line. So, who are these people and why do they do it? Part four of our series straight ahead.