Russia’s new step in Syria’s conflict, a plan against Arab League’s sluggishness

Gennady Gatilov, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, in his tirade against ‘Friends of Syria’ in Istanbul on 1st April, discredited the entire meeting. He stated that ‘many Syrians do not consider ‘Friends of Syria’ as their friend’. Indeed, few diplomats reckon that FOS members are bought by Israel.

Until last week, the 6 point peace plan of UN Envoy Kofi Annan and Assad’s acceptance proved to be another matter to ignore. Clashes grew further worse. On one hand, Assad who calls the rebellions as foreign agents or terrorists. demanded their surrender while the rebels wanted the government’s military to halt. For sometime, it seemed like the ‘Israel-Palestine’ conflict is wearing another disguise.  I wonder what Critical Theorists and Contructivists would define this respective scenario as.

In another major development, the Arab League perhaps has not learnt from its failure in Iraq’s meeting. Now, the Arab League wants to embark on the special mission of initiating an Arab League Tribunal in Syria to impart justice to the war crimes. New York Times gladly mentions the success of such tribunals in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. But the plan will not work. Firstly, Syria is smart enough to understand that this is another conspiracy of the Arab countries. Nothing but a vindictive measure to punish Syria for its political diplomacy with Iran. Secondly, has the international community obliterated to the results of Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa which gave dismal results for the anti-apartheid struggle.

But what is much more interesting right now is the sudden invitation of Russia towards the Foreign Minister of Syria. Next Tuesday Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a diplomat who has been getting a lot of media attention lately. What interests me is that Russia asked the NCC (the National Coordination Committee) to come over to Moscow but not the SNC and the other defected opposition parties. Undoubtedly, Russia is employing a form of political containment which would ensure different results.

Arab League in Iraq, BRICS Summit in India and Kofi Annan in China: New Failures for Syria

Political diplomacy and democracy enlargement touches new boundaries with the Arab League, BRICS and UN Envoy Annan, all discussing about ‘Syria’ this week.

Recently, President Bashar al- Assad agreed to adopt the 6-point peace plan forwarded by UN -Arab League Envoy Annan. No doubt, it was an intelligent move, as the statement is not a UN resolution, it does not demand Assad’s departure and no immediate date has been mentioned when this plan should be implemented. One can witness history repeating itself when the US Senators start the chorus of arming the opposition in Syria and UN Humanitarian Chief Navi Pillay states that there is ample evidence to arrest Assad. The same happened in the case of Libya when ICC issued arrest warrants against Colonel Gadaffi while David Cockburn revealed that both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch do not have evidence. No doubt, its not a conscientious choice to support Assad. But then again, we have to realise that at present, he is the one who is actually controlling Syria. If he goes away, who will take the responsibility that Libya does not shatter into a civil war.

Arab League Summit in Iraq

As far as the Arab Summit is concerned, its more of a long awaited opportunity for Baghdad to enter the limelight again. Unfortunately, only seven out of the 22 member states are attending the meeting. Qatar and Saudi Arabia have declined to join it. In fact, the Emir of Kuwait is the sole representative from Gulf countries to be present in Iraq. Sectarian issues are predominant here. Grudges against Sunni Arab majority being dominated by the Shiite government is unacceptable to Qatar. Nothing is more evident than the fact that Iraq’s PM Nouri al-Maliki has a lot of struggle to go through. No doubt, just like the ‘Friends of Syria‘ conference that took place in Tunisia last February, this Arab Summit is also not going to yield any specific results. Syria is no longer a part of Arab league and its Foreign Ministry is not going to accept any decision marked in this conference.

BRICS Summit in New Delhi

Talking about BRICS and how all these countries should really kick off an enigmatic and prudent head start in Syria’s case, everything turns sarcastic immediately. This week, Yeshi, a Tibetian revolutionary set himself on fire in New Delhi. Tibetans have been protesting against China’s embark to India as police officials jail them in. So, on one hand, India is trying to play the role of a saint by talking the measures that should be taken to ease of the burden of Syrian opposition rebels. But look whats happening inside New Delhi itself? Its neither retributive nor restorative justice being imparted to Tibetans.

Kofi Annan in China

Turning to UN envoy Kofi Annan, it seems, quite superficially that here comes a man who can make transparent changes. This week, he was in Beijing to talk with Chinese PM Wen Jiabao. Well, China agreed to support the peace plan but is not very clear whether it means complete commitment till the very end or just a casual backing of the peace plan. Annan also visited Russia and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raise the same noble concerns. Sadly, diplomacy does not work by paying high profile visits. It concerns me why Vladimir Puntin and Kofi Annan did not meet and if they did, why no press conference has been launched for it. Russia indeed is a crafty situation. Well, Russia might be taking slow cautious steps just as Syria did in recognizing Russian Federation after the collapse of USSR.

Eventually, Syria is not Somalia where anarchy persists and the private sector adopts careful and meticulous moves to sustain the economy. The Syrian economy, or perhaps more, the common everyday livelihood of a Syrian has been effected by the US and EU imposed sanctions. Leaving the economy aside, one after another, all the foreign moves like Arab League Summit, the BRICS Summit and even Kofi Annan’s visit would not reap any results and are completely helpless. Well, perhaps this is exactly the right time to ask oneself, anyways ‘what exactly is the result we are searching for’.