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.
shubhdachaudhary 