“The Russian, Chinese veto today is giving Bashar Assad and his regime a license to kill and is a painful blow to the Arabic-Russian relations,” Burhan Ghalioun, president of the main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council, told Al- Arabiya television.
Well, this is his opinion and his right to say so. However, one might consider a few things before agreeing.
- Any government, including those of ‘the West’ will do about anything to fight armed attacks against it. Even the least violent protests against the establishment have been harshly dealt with recently, from NY to CA (Occupy Movement). Imagine what an armed group of Rednecks (or Liberals!) marching against Washington would face!
- A veto in the UN’s SC is not a license to anything. Al-Assad is still responsible for his actions.
- What has to be done is to stop the bloodshed. A truth between the Syrian rebels and Al-Assad’s regime, however dictatorial it might be, could be a start – followed by a cool-down period and negotiations. Both sides have blood on their hands by now.
Why is Russia, with its strong influence on Al-Assad not capable of organizing something like that? Is Medvedev too busy keeping the western pressure in check and defending his own position? Can’t Obama speak with Medvedev or Wen Jiabao anymore? I wonder what is going to happen when Israel sees the messy situation as a chance to militarily strike against Iran. Europe’s leaders already speak about their fear of ‘the Israeli trap’: their supposed moral need to stand by Israel in case it will be counter-attacked.
That reminds me of the start of the first WW. This idiotic crown prince of Austria gets shot in Austria-annexed Sarajevo, and a chain-reaction, based on treaties between 2 of the major alliances (Germany-Austria, Italy and Russia-France, Great Britain) puts Europe through hell. All that was avoidable, had common sense and civility been applied.
Good luck to everyone!
