With Syria's Bashar al-Assad indiscriminately annihilating any threat, real or imagined in the world's latest production of "Death of a Tyrant", its ironic the international community may have to rely on the Russians for help quelling the violence.
The Russians will have to take the lead (at least for now) in talking to Assad since the Americans have little standing with the Syrians. Because of America's love affair with the Israelis, Syrian leadership is likely half convinced their troubles are part of a US/Israeli plot. To think Assad is going to yield to the chatter out of Washington or the UN at this late stage of the party would not be rational.
As the pressures mount, he could be cracking. Not the cracking toward compromise and concessions but cracking toward crazy. If Assad is not feeling the pressure by now, then he's mad crazy and tactics will have to be adjusted to address that issue.
With Kaddafi capped and Mubarak cuffed, Assad has to know his prospects of coming out of this crisis (of his own making) unscathed are rather bleak. In his mind, he has to have reasoned, that his brutal acts have gone way beyond negotiating a graceful exit from power. Yes, its crazy killing time. These are the desperate hours. When a mindset so accustomed to absolute power is confronted with demands of anything from anyone, they respond with the back of their hand or an iron fist. Perhaps this would explain why today's despots refuse see their end coming.
The world is clearly in the process of resetting its self, but they just don't get it! When your tanks are firing indiscriminately at civilians as they cower defenselessly in their homes, we're talking keywords like: butcher, psychopath, murderer, megalomania, delusional, failed state, bloody revolution, tyrant, the hague, the hangman, the end pal. Assad has missed his window of opportunity for a clean dignified transfer of power to the people's choice. When he goes now, there will be blood.
However, the Russians may have just enough influence to talk Assad off the ledge. Bashard's option are limited: He can go out in a revolutionary blaze and take as many with when him as he can. He can wait for an assassin's bullet. He can face international justice in The Hague. These are all infinitely better than being dragged through the streets like a dog by his own people.
In the meantime, what does the Russians have to say for themselves?
"Russia and China did it out of principle. We see in Syria exactly what happened in Libya. We have a crisis artificially-created, obviously operated by some forces outside Syria. So they provoke the government, they provoke the soldiers into committing atrocities, which no one in Russia supports, and then they impose some kind of UN sanctions and then there is direct intervention. Russia is basically calling for a dialogue as the only way to settle the dispute." - Dimitry Babich, a staff writer for Russia Profile magazine
Okay, we agree this explanation is tough to swallow, but its their story and for now they're sticking to it! Al Jazeera's Inside Story, one of our "trusted" news sources adds some depth:
Issues Under Fire: Can Russians Talk Bashar al-Assad off the Ledge
Comments
Post a Comment