Massacre in Homs

The world was outraged by the massacre of anti-government protesters in the city of Homs. Over 200 people are dead according to activists. This latest, bitter twist in Syria comes just days before the UN Security Council meets and decides on whether to demand Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, to step down due to the continued violence in his country and the cruel crackdown on protesters. Despite thousands of deaths, huge amounts of people still come out on the streets and protest against Assad’s rule, but nonetheless he stays in power even though support is declining internally and internationally. The EU and America have placed sanctions on Syria, but as long as this does not get the backing of China, Russia and, to a lesser extent, Iran the sanctions will not be effective enough to drive Assad from power. There is growing demand in the Arab world for the resignation of Assad too, in Tunisia the government expelled Syria’s ambassador and said it no longer recognised Assad’s right to rule due to the massacre and on-going crackdown on protesters.

Yet Russia still maintains that if the UN Security Council were to vote to demand Assad’s resignation, it would cause a civil war, this claim is of course preposterous. If Assad were to go it would significantly help to restore order to Syria. The French foreign minister, Alain Juppe called the attacks a crime against humanity and that “those who block the adoption of such a resolution are taking a grave historical responsibility”. The statement is a clear swipe against Russia and its stance.

The question a lot of people are asking is why is Russia backing Syria? What does it get? Something I would point to would be the result of the Libyan conflict, firstly the West got exactly what it wanted and this made Russia look stupid, especially when the conflict ended so well for the West and their Libyan allies. The second point is that many in Russia believe that NATO overstepped the mark in Libya and Russia believes that NATO was not defending civilians, but rather it was attempting to overthrow Gaddafi. Although this is probably true, the West should make no apology for what they did in Libya in defence of democracy and human rights.

Russia is currently playing politics with the lives of innocent civilians and I hope they do what is right, before it is too late. 

A Syrian Protester demanding UN action