Syrian Civil War and the UN - Term Paper Example

8th December Syrian Civil War and the UN The Syrian civil war started from a small place called Dara. The initial protest started with demonstration for political and economic reforms. It has now taken the shape of a raging civil war between President Basher Al-Assad and the opposition forces led by Muslim Brotherhood. The role played by UN has been limited and the fallacies of UN have been exposed in this war. Although UN claims to be a world body; it reduces to the status of a lame duck organization if there are differing opinions from even 1 of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council. In the case of Syria; both Russia and China have been using their veto powers to support Assad even if that mean that fighting continues for a long time. We will analyze the reasons why there is a lack of consensus and the way forward for UN. Syria is being used as a background for 2 proxy wars. One is between Russia-China and the US. Russia is trying to regain its lost influence in the Mediterranean. Russia also has a number of economic interests in Syria which includes arms sale and infrastructure projects. Libya is a real thorn for Russia and China-they believe that they were tricked in supporting a UN resolution which was then used as a cover for airstrikes against Gaddafi. Due to this mistrust; Russia and china started off by blocking a resolution which asked Assad to hand over power to his deputy .In October 2011 they vetoed another resolution condemning Assad. In February 2012, Russia and China blocked another draft security council resolution and agreed to the Kofi Anan sponsored non-binding peace plan only when the tougher draft is modified. Thus UN Security Council has been effectively unable to function due to this proxy war. In the absence of Security Council resolution, a UN General Assembly resolution is passed in August 2012 condemning Assad and asking him to resign. (Saad) The second proxy war is against Iran. It is intriguing that the US lifted ban on military aid to Uzbekistan dictator and turned a blind eye to crushing of popular demonstrations by Bahrain at the same time it wanted Assad to resign. The US is so deeply interested in Syria because of Iran; not because it is a champion of freedom and democracy. Israel and USA would like nothing better than changing the regime in Iran. However that seems far-fetched now; so they are contended with breaking the Tehran-Damascus axis. (Tehri) The proxy wars are being fuelled further by the bogey of chemical weapons being raised in the western media these days. It sounds familiar; doesn’t it? First the media will shout over the top that Assad like Saddam is about to launch weapons of mass destruction any day now. (Hart) Then a concerned President will warn Basher Al Assad of severe consequences. The charade will go on for a few days till the media along with the government convinces its own people that they need to act and intervene in some way in Syria-either through direct military intervention or through military support to rebels. They can anyway later apologize or blame the CIA if no chemical weapons are found like they did in Iraq. I really do not think that Assad will be so naive and foolish to use chemical weapons even if he has them. It will ensure that Russia and China which are blocking USA in the Security Council will no longer be able to do so. The talk of chemical weapons brings us to another discussion-the role of media in the conflict. A free media is supposed to bring news to us as it happens; it is not supposed to filter the news and bring only the government’s version. (George)We cannot blame the Syrian media of being biased; the media is state controlled since 1961 and independent journalists are either murdered in Syria or disappear. (George) Thus the Syria media paints the rebels as terrorists and praises the’ humane’ Assad. The surprising thing is that the US media; which is critical of the government on domestic matter becomes it’s ally in foreign affairs. The western media has made an implicit assumption that majority of Syrian people want the ouster of President Assad; so it supports this view and any other news such as 89% turnover in referendum is rejected as false and concoction. (MEHRPOUYA) It has propagated views of people who are against Assad and want a regime change (surprisingly most of them are in exile in London) but never ever do we hear anyone speaking in favor of him. Thus reporting of media has been completely biased on both sides of the divide but the failure of American media is more glaring as it is supposedly ‘free’. Thus a solution to the Syrian problem is not possible in UN Security Council due to the above mentioned proxy wars being fought by the permanent members. So can UN sponsor a regional peace plan? Can the Arab League be used to broker peace? Arab League has already come up with an Arab Peace Plan and has even suspended Syria and imposed sanctions on it for its failure to implement it. (Ankur)But it seems that this peace plan is also not free from vested interest. Apart from the above mentioned 2 proxy wars, there also seems to be regional conflict which is raging in the name of Syrian civil war. Practically every country in the region is now involved in the conflict. Add to this the Shia-Sunni conflict and we have a war in which no one sees reason. (Greenfield)UAE and Qatar are openly supporting rebels and providing them with arms as they are Sunnis and these 2 countries would definitely want a Sunni government in Damascus. (Gonzalez) Lebanon is bearing the brunt of Syrian refugees; Lebanon based Hezbollah is also openly supporting Assad. Iran and Iraq are the only Shia states in the region and are thus opposing the rebels who are Sunnis. They would prefer the alawites rule of Assad rather than a Sunni rule. (Rosen) Iran is the main supplier and Iraq is the conduit for supply of arms, ammunitions and oil for the Assad regime. Turkey is a country on the side of the rebels. It hosts the rebel leaders and is proving to be the transit route for rebels. As far as Israel is concerned, nothing will please it more than to break the friendship between Iran and Syria. This is not possible unless the Assad regime is replaced by a more friendly government. Thus a lot is riding on the Syrian conflict both regionally and internationally. Everyone has taken sides. The west is busy propping up the rebels whereas Russia and China want Assad regime to continue. In the present framework of United Nations; this will ensure that a prolonged deadlock remains in place. This means years of fighting and the loss of innocent lives. Any hope of a regional solution to the problem also appears bleak as the regional powers to have their own axe to grind as discussed earlier. Thus it looks that the Syrian problem cannot be solved by the UN. We will only see more bloodshed and loss of innocent lives in these power games between the permanent members of the Security Council. Works Cited Ankur. Syrian Liberation : All Roads lead through Damascus. 08 12 2012. 08 12 2012 . Gonzalez, Amy Goodman and Juan. Foreign Intervention In Syria? 6 February 2012. 8 12 2012 . Greenfield, Daniel. Turkey's Islamist PM admits Syria is Sunni-Shiite Holy War. 09 2012. 08 12 2012 . Rosen, Nir. Assad's Alawites : The Guardians of the throne. 10 10 2011. 08 12 2012 . Saad, Sebnem Arsu and Hwaida. turkey Faults UN Inaction over Syria. 13 10 2012. 08 12 2012 . Tehri, Amir. "The Tehran-Demascus Axis." The Wall Street Journal (2011): . Read More