It appeared a light, at long last, was fast appearing in the Syrian tunnel and
soon peace shall be prevailing in the war torn Arab nation with plenty of
energy resources.
It turned out
to be yet another illusion in West Asia- the target of ant-Islamic nations!
Post fragile truce
Those who thought the war being waged by top world powers, USA and Russia in
Syria would end soon after the fragile truce, are not once again disappointed
that war is taking a new twist with Syrian forces, backed by Russia and the
rebel fighters supported by USA accelerating the war in Sunni dominated Syria
after having declared a ceasefire.
The fact is USA is not keen to end wars
in Syria and ending war won't give Russia anything special. The important
figures in Pentagon have condemned the US-Russian cease-fire in Syria,
disallowing the military to kill more Muslims. They call for the overthrow of
President Bashar al-Assad, and fro which advocated a major escalation of the
US-NATO intervention in Syria—arming the Islamist opposition with
anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons. They argue ending the war without
archiving the main objective is bad for US invasion polices in future.
For USA, short of an agenda that includes a comprehensive agreement for Bashar
al-Assad to step down and allow a transition toward a non-Islamic or so-called
pluralist government, no cease-fire stands a chance in that war-torn country.
Without a balance of military forces on the ground in Syria, which would
compel the Assad regime and its Iranian backers to seek real compromise, a
genuine political settlement is not possible. In other word, what the Neocons
nuts want is a perfect regime change in Syria but to which neither Assad nor
his Russian supporter Putin is agreeable. Both seek status quo.
The Neocons criticize Obama for having
failed to militarily exploit the concocted ''poison gas'' episode of 2013 to
overthrow Assad and bring the opposition to power and say the truce should be
used to re-arm US-backed ''revolutionary'' militias fighting alongside the Al
Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front. They attacked the Obama government for lacking
the appetite for a major confrontation with Russia. In fact, the issue of
creating a balance of forces—especially by providing the Syrian opposition
with anti-aircraft missiles capable of limiting the Syrian regime's use of air
power, its main weapon of large-scale destruction—has been the principal bone
of contention on Syria within the Obama government since 2012. Their
''outrage'' forgets the US-backed Saudi bombing and blockade in Yemen, which
has killed thousands and threatens hundreds of thousands of children with
starvation.
US Neocons, including the strong Jewish contingent, are least concerned about
the sectarian massacres carried out by the US-backed Islamist opposition in
Syria, and the bloody record of US imperialism itself—whose wars in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Libya and Syria have still claimed a far greater toll than the
Kremlin's Syrian intervention. If anyone in the region had any illusion about
the democratic and humanitarian pretexts invoked by Washington in previous
wars, they have lost them completely by now.
Mischief
Unlike truce, which may mean a break from hostilities, a cessation of
hostilities provides a more formal designation which falls short of a formal
ceasefire signed by the warring parties. It is considered as the first
essential step to resolving a conflict, notably to permit the delivery of
humanitarian aid. Russian efforts and subsequent Western reactions have
emerged as a tragedy in contemporary international relations. Against this
backdrop, the reasons behind the crisis need to be identified and the unified
role of the world community should be determined.
Unfortunately, with a series of military
strikes in Syria in support of their respective parties, tensions have now
flared both at home in Syria and outside, giving an impression that the Syrian
ceasefire plan will succumb to failure.
The efforts towards the 'cessation of hostility in Syria' brokered by the USA
and Russia and backed by the UN, require a unified role by the regional and
global powers. Without global unity, ceasefire activities must fail. The irony
is that global measures to find a peaceful solution to the problem are
evident, there have been concerns over the truce violations by the great
regional and global powers.
For Russia, Bashar's government is as democratic as the Saudi government. In
other words, if the Saudi government can be supported by the democratic
America, the Syrian government should, in principle, also be supported by
them.
The US president Obama is not at all interested in ending war in Syria or
elsewhere as he is now entirely focused on an 'exit strategy'—not an exit from
the Syrian crisis or West Asia in general, though, but his own exit from
office. His main worry is to help Mrs. Clinton to win the presidency to prove
that his legacy saved the Democratic Party. He has dutifully promoted American
militarism and US imperialism.
Obama is a clever operator who often thinks several moves ahead of his
domestic, though not his foreign, adversaries. US policy paved the way for
Assad's revival, Iranian and Russian success in Syria, and the massacre of up
to half a million Syrians. In 2013, Iran told Obama that if he were to strike
the regime of Bashar Assad following the latter's chemical-weapons attack, the
Iranians would end the talks over their nuclear program. Obama duly canceled
the strike and later reassured Iran that the USA would not touch Assad.
Obama's Syria policy serves Iran's interests.
America's settled policy of standing by
while half a million Syrians have been killed, millions have become refugees,
and large swaths of their country have been reduced to rubble is not a simple
''mistake''. Rather, it is a byproduct of America's overriding desire to
clinch a nuclear deal with Iran, which was meant to allow America to
permanently remove itself from a war footing with that country and to shed its
old allies and entanglements in the Middle East, which might also draw us into
war.
A no-fly zone would have
prevented much of the carnage — and presumably virtually all of carnage rained
down from the air — that has occurred. But a no-fly zone would have thwarted
Iran's ambitions. Russia's presence in the air over Syria provided Obama with
an excuse for rejecting a no-fly zone. But the White House had firmly rejected
such action for years before the Russians were anywhere near Syria. It seems
likely that Obama welcomed Russia's direct intervention since it served Iran's
interests and made it much easier for Obama to defend not taking military
action.
Indeed, Obama sees
Russia as a partner in Syria. Initially, US line was that Russia had made a
tragic mistake by becoming involved in a quagmire. Now, White House officals
argue that Russia holds all the cards in Syria and that our only option is to
work with the Kremlin.
With an
insincere USA working for peace without seriousness, Russia and Iran hold all
the cards on Syria because essentially Obama allowed them to. Obama allowed
them to because he wants Iran to prevail. One might admire the elegance of
Obama's ''strip tease,'' if not for the demise of hundreds of thousands of
Syrians and the triumph of arch-enemy in Tehran.
Syria
It's true that Syria's internal and external factors, including economic
backwardness, unemployment, inflation and corruption springing from the
dictatorship of Bashar al Asad, have been responsible for its political
instability. However, the much more dangerous challenge emanates from its
leaders' failure to construct the Syrian nationhood and consolidate its
statehood by binding the different religious factions such as Shiites, Sunnis
and Kurds into one integrated nation. Without paying attention to its
eco-historical, geopolitical and anthropological construct, extreme
dictatorship was imposed which worked as a major barrier to its national
consolidation. Thus, on the micro sub-systemic level, Syria became highly
destabilized and disorganized, while on macro systemic level, Syria remained
disintegrated and fragmented.
The ethnic Sunni Muslims form the majority of Syrian population, which has
been ruled by the minority Shiites. Syrian leaders failed in the grand task of
national homogenization of its people comprising of different religious and
ethnic groups. More dangerous than the domestic factors is the involvement of
global powers in enlivening the ongoing crisis. Global powers have
historically exercised influence and domination in the Arab world through
their Arab stooges. Dictatorial rulers in most Arab countries have turned out
to be either pro-west or pro-Russia. The USA and its western allies extend
political, economic and military assistance and cooperation to Saudi Arabia
and other gulf states, in order to expand their spheres of influence as the
Cold war strategy and similarly, Russia sides with Syria to combat the US
policy. Thus, the countervailing strategies of the erstwhile superpowers are
solely responsible for the tragic incidents developing in Syria.
USA cannot end terror wars abroad as the
Neocons continue calling for the escalation of US wars in the Middle East and
aggression against China and Russia. Obama introduced the Asia pivot for this
purpose. However, a CSIS report on nuclear war that dismissed the destruction
of India and Pakistan—that is, the slaughter of hundreds of millions of
people—as economically unimportant. More organizations are being integrated
and recruited to play major roles in imperialist politics. The organizations
and tendencies that were in the leadership of anti-war protests earlier,
especially in the late 1960s and 1970s are now shamelessly pro-war.
Convergence ahs occurred among various sections of political organization-
left and right, for instance to support fascism, Zionism, colonialism and
imperialism – resented by US led NATO.
Peace efforts, starting from the 70th General Assembly of 2015 to the present
ceasefire plan upheld by the USA and Russia with UN support, are threatened by
the contrasting policies of the two great powers. According to political
analysts, their countervailing strategies risk plunging the West and Russia
into a crisis not seen since the Cold War. Russian efforts and subsequent
Western reactions have emerged as a tragedy in contemporary international
relations. Against this backdrop, the reasons behind the crisis need to be
identified and the unified role of the world community should be determined.
In order to end the crisis, the international community, especially the US,
the EU and Russia, need to come out of this psychology of this 'power zeal'
while framing their policies regarding the war-torn country. Both Russia and
the West should find a peaceful and diplomatic way of resolving the Syrian
crisis based on mutual understanding and friendship. Any effort to use force
by Russia would only tickle the sleeping tigers of the cold war era, and lead
the world to the verge of total destruction.
Syrian war, if not stopped is likely to
turn to a complete war, involving nuclear arsenals that may even burst into a
nuclear confrontation. History has laid the giant responsibility on the United
Nations to bring all regional and global powers, especially the erstwhile
superpowers, to work together to resolve the issue. The UN as well the global
powers need to adopt sincere, transparent and pragmatic policies in order to
save the world from another global devastation. The unanimity of global powers
can resolve the Syrian conflict. If the UN fails in that, it falters in its
mission for which it came into existence.
The West should understand the reality
of Russia's concern to defend its naval base in Tartus and strategic base in
Caspian Sea from where Russian jets flew combat missions. It's little wonder
that the erstwhile superpower Russia would be adamant to protect its military
base and nuclear arsenals, and that self defense would be its bottom line.
The continuous failure of a Syrian
ceasefire has brought another significant question to the limelight: whether
the Syrian war will at all end in the foreseeable future or the suffocating
situation in the war-run country will trigger a regional cold war or a grand
global war.
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