Syria: Vladimir Putin Dots All I’s
Pyotr ISKENDEROV | 03.10.2015 | 00:00
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the 70th UN General Assembly session to set the tone for a broad international discussions. All international issues are closely intertwined. One mistake leads to another. That’s the essence of Russian approach. The situation in the world, including Europe, is intolerable. It’s impossible to challenge this statement made by Russian President in his UN speech.
The main thing is to find ways to put an end to Middle East conflicts and stop refugee flows to Europe, the problem that has greatly exacerbated recently.
According to Moscow, it’s imperative to urgently develop a comprehensive strategy of political stabilization, as well as social and economic recovery, of the Middle East – the region which has become the source of refugee flows, terrorism and social-economic degradation threatening to encompass entire regions.
The unilateral interventions of the United States and its allies into Iraq, Libya, Syria and other countries, which were undertaken bypassing the United Nations, sparked a destructive chain reaction to result in the refugee flows with hundreds of thousands people coming to Europe this year.
«Rather than bringing about reforms, an aggressive foreign interference has resulted in a brazen destruction of national institutions and the lifestyle itself. Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster. Nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life,» emphasized Russian President.
Thus, the Middle East is the region where we should clean out the mess. Priority should be given to creating a solid foundation based on international law. For this purpose the United Nations Security Council should adopt a corresponding resolution aimed at coordinating the actions of all the forces that confront the Islamic State and other terrorist organization. This idea was put forward by Vladimir Putin. «Then, dear friends, there would be no need for new refugee camps,» the Russian President concluded.
Will Western powers and their regional allies listen to the Russian leader? They seem to be at a loss guided by political inertia. In his UN speech US President Obama slammed Syrian President Assad calling him «a tyrant», thus adopting the rhetoric used by the Islamic State.
Leading media could not resist the temptation to compare the UN speeches delivered by Russian and US presidents. Even those who have little sympathy for Moscow had to admit that the Russian President’s position was constructive. For instance, Luke Harding, former foreign correspondent with the Guardian who was banned from Russia in 2011 for meddling into the country’s internal affairs, finds the current Russian proposals on Syria to be reasonable.
«The question for Obama is this: does he accept Putin's offer of cooperation over Syria? If the answer is no, what's the White House's alternative?» – Harding asks.
In his remarks, the Russian leader did not mention the United States and President Obama directly. As the magazine points out, it was clear that Putin did not try to curry favor with Washington. He showed his resolve and slammed the United States while touching on many issues.