The criminal state

By Zeravan Barwari:

The United Nations was established in the aftermath of the Second World War. The main goal of this new international organization was to preserve the peace and stability of our globe but the competition between the USA and former Soviet Union – during the Cold war era of 1945-1992 – undermined its mission and vision. The great powers were the main actors who challenged global peace and stability, and even the current international order is a product of their competition.

The Arab dictatorships were supported by the great powers to serve their interests in the most strategically important location of the world, the Middle East – and look how this affected international politics among nations. National interests were always placed above human rights and the great powers played dirty games in order to protect their positions.

Today, after the Arab spring in 2011, the political map has changed in the Arab World. These have been negative changes for some powerful players, especially Russia and China. These two states are afraid about the future of the region, and how it could benefit the US and European Union to the detriment of Moscow and Beijing. They therefore need to redraw their foreign policies with the Arabs and other actors in order to remain competitive players.

Here we must ask ourselves: how has the Syrian regime survived until now? What is the best solution to protect the Syrian people from the criminal acts of Bashar’s army and war machine?

The Syrian regime could not survive without foreign support, and the main reasons for its survival are Iran, Russia and China.

Iran has its own agenda in Syria. Tehran knows very well that the collapse of the Syrian regime would be the beginning of political tragedy for the Iranian regime: the collapse of the Syrian regime would mean the collapse of Iran’s project in the Middle East.

Russia has its own concerns about the future of the Arab region. It fears that the coming era will be the era of US and EU hegemony in Middle East, and this poses a real threat to Moscow’s interests, and so it says that it needs to deal with the Syrian crisis rationally and realistically.

On the other hand, China has started its economic expansion into the Arab World, and it needs a classical alliance for the benefit of Chinese companies. This is why China supports Russia’s position, and finds common understanding with Russia for the coming stage of opposing US and EU policies in the region.

Finally, the truly realistic solution to the Syrian crisis is serious action by the UN and Arab countries to make real pressure on the Syrian regime to stop its genocide against civilians in Syria – and this cannot happen if other Arab countries behave as badly as Syria.

It should be over for Bashar Al-Assad, especially after his criminal acts against civilians in Syria. But the international community must do something. It is not enough for great powers to condemn the Syrian regime. The time is right to organize collective efforts to remove Bashar’s regime. There is no excuse anymore for the United Nations to deal with Bashar as a president of Syria: it should treat him as the head of a war-criminal state.

Zeravan Barwari has a Masters degree in Political Science. He has worked with international organizations such as UN, EU and NDI in many countries such as Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Malaysia and Indonesia. Currently he is a volunteer with NGOs and a lecturer at the University of Dohuk.