Ken Stone, Dec 19, 2015
Good news at long last, thanks to the massive Russian military and diplomatic offensive in Syria! The Russian dual offensive was the game-changer in Syria that brought the USA to the table. Of course, this diplomatic step forward is also due to the steadfast support that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah have provided to keep the legitimate government of President Assad in power. Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah all know that, if the Syrian government falls, not only will Libyan-style chaos rule in Syria, but also that the foreign terrorist mercenaries, supported by NATO countries and absolute Arab monarchs, would soon be at the gates of Beirut, Baghdad, Tehran, and Moscow.
The unanimous UN resolution is just the beginning of a long process of finding a political, rather than a military solution, to the humanitarian tragedy wrought, in violation of international law, by the neo-colonial powers of the West on the people of Syria. And, in the end, it must be the people of Syria, not Obama or Trudeau or Cameron or Hollande or King Salman, that decide who will be their leader and their government. In between these two steps, the devil will be in the details: who constitutes the legitimate Syrian opposition and therefore gets to sit at the negotiating table; achieving consensus that President Assad has a legitimate role to play in the negotiations; maintaining a ceasefire with armed groups who were created by the West for regime change in Syria and whose very existence and income (through pay, pillage, and power over the hapless Syrians whose lands they occupy) depend on the continuation of war.
Some credit for this positive step forward in resolving the Syrian crisis, which produced 4 million external refugees and 7 million internally-displaced Syrians, must go to the peacemakers: the anti-war movements in the West who consistently resisted the US State Dept. line that Assad must go and pressured their governments to stop bombing Syria and Iraq and funding the foreign terrorists in Syria, the National Reconciliation Movement in Syria led by Mother Agnes-Mariam and supported by Nobel-laureate Mairead Maguire, and the majority of working people in western countries who do not support the aggressive and warlike policies of their leaders.
Nonetheless, there may now be light at the end of the tunnel. The problem is that the tunnel might be quite long…