Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011
THEN
On September 3, 1783, in Paris, France, representatives from the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and France sign the Paris Peace Treaty of 1783, officially ending the American Revolutionary War and solidifying the 13 colonies of the United States as an independent nation. The signing of the Treaty comes seven years after the Second Continental Congress of the United States declared independence from Great Britain, and two years after British General Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the American and French forces at Yorktown, Virginia.
NOW
Last Thursday, on the sidelines of an international summit in Paris, on issues related to a post-revolution transitional government in Libya, representatives from the United States and Britain urged the international community to escalate pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to an anonymous British official, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with British counterpart William Hague and others to discuss more intense economic sanctions imposed on the al-Assad regime. The following day, the EU swiftly approved an embargo on Syrian oil imports.
