Syrians are upset with Russia because it has funded and armed the regime with all kinds of weapons to ruin the country. It has also suppressed the revolution so that the regime prevails, even if it rules over ruins. It is now trying to solve the Syrian crisis; it is the worst political manoeuvre.
Syrians won’t forget Russia’s ambassador to the UN Security Council vetoing several times any international move to put an end to the calamity that has stricken their homeland. They won’t forget the vetoes with American connivance that have allowed the regime to continue its barbarity. This has led to the migration of almost half of Syria’s citizens and ruined the country.
Now that Russia has found out that its efforts to prop up the regime are futile, it is striving to solve the crisis while also preserving the moribund regime. This move from Russia has come after it realised that Assad’s army had been annihilated and Syria’s economic and political situation would not allow it to protect its ally in the Middle East.
Russia can offer an acceptable solution to Syria’s disaster, but the Syrians have no faith in its intentions. Moscow certainly knows that Assad’s fall will be tantamount to the loss of one of its valuable allies in the region. This is because the regime has agreed to let it plunder Syria’s wealth, including gas and oil for a quarter of the next decade, in exchange for munitions so that it prevails at the expense of ruining the whole country.
The destruction of Syria’s towns was carried out the way it was done in Chechnya. The technique used to ruin the city of Homs was the same that Putin used to destroy the capital of Chechnya.
We can summarise the way Russia is dealing with the Syrian opposition as follows:
This is the story of Russia’s mediation to solve Syria’s crisis. They need to make fun of some of the opposition groups and imagine that they represent Syrian citizens whereas they only represent themselves and their military power is running out. Then Russia goes to the UN to declare to the world that the Syrian opposition has agreed to solve the crisis. Therefore, anyone who challenges the regime is deemed a terrorist. Everyone who backs these terrorists will be incriminated under Article 7 of the international resolutions.
Russia’s mediation between the regime and the opposition is similar to America’s mediation between Palestine and Israel. Has America ever been fair in its mediation between its ally Israel and Palestine? Of course not. Palestine is still facing hostility and humiliation. Moscow’s relationship with Assad is no different from Washington’s with Netanyahu.
The Syrians should ask themselves: What have the Palestinians gained from accepting America’s mediation between them and Israel? Nothing, but that they have become a laughing stock.
The author is a columnist and presenter on Al Jazeera TV channel
