Let me state something very clearly before continuing, I of all people seek the path that utilizes diplomacy over an armed response. I prefer to maintain a level of peace and leave the tanks and troops for self defense, however there comes a time when people need to understand that the peace currently being exhibited is no peace at all, but a spark that could easily grow into a flame.
While President Putin appears to be taking the side of peace and looking for an alternative to armed conflict, the reality behind his words is unfortunately the exact opposite. Putin is neither a hero nor enlightened by his recent letter to the American people. The New York Times might as well have labelled the letter Russian propaganda on Syria.
That is right, Putin is nothing more than a wolf dressed in sheep clothing. He is resisting any form of armed response against Syria, not because he has any care for the people being slaughtered or the orphans being created there, no, the only thing Vladimir Putin is worried about is the potential loss of a military ally and customer.
You have to understand that Putin is a character like Obama playing the game of politics. On the one hand, you have the Americans standing by their policy of pre-emptive strikes in the face of danger, while you have Putin keeping his allies in check, but also guaranteeing a customer remains to buy his weaponry. If Bashaar Al-Assad is killed by the rebels, Syria becomes a vaccuum state and Russia loses the guarantee of a buyer.
Why would the Syrian rebels even consider buying Russian goods, when Russia has done everything possible outside sending it's own forces in to wipe the rebels out for good?
The very possibility of losing a buyer is important, but what is worse for Putin is the possibility that a victory in Syria will prompt more actions in Chechnya and thus create a terrible distraction in the upcoming Olympic games. God forbid the rebel movement across the Middle East gains momentum and creates a further push for Democracy. In a world of social media, the events occurring in Syria and it's outcome will spread rapidly to other groups and ultimately provide a confidence boost to other movements seeking similar ends.
It is actually quite funny, because during the Cold War, many countries experienced rebel uprisings from Socialists and Communists, while today...we see similar actions occurring, but for Democracy instead. Democracy has become the new system of equality in the world. The taste of freedom and education for people has created an unquenchable thirst and drives the movement overall.
I understand that if you do not really know much about Putin, it would be easy to accept his ideas as legitimate via pure ignorance. However, knowing how he treats different groups within his own country and more importantly how his own political track record has been marred by corruption and a dictatorship image itself, the ability to shake your head in agreement with Vladimir Putin becomes impossible. Just look at the Pussy Riot situation as an example of how Putin treats anyone outside the majority. Instead of dealing with the situation in a peaceful manner, the rock group was thrown into prison and left there. Not to mention, that being a homosexual in Russia is practically a death sentence.
If anything, the chemical weapons used in Syria may have even been provided by Putin, however the media has been shy on shedding light on this subject. How does a country like Syria even get its hands on chemical weapons, how did the rebels get their hands on the very same weapons?
Syria is a very complicated situation, as it has characteristics of a civil war as well as a political genocide, which makes the decision to act that much more difficult.
Unfortunately, Putin has taken advantage of gaining some international brownie points with his most recent letter and did so by taking a few shots at President Obama.
I would really appreciate hearing from you and getting an idea of how you feel about this recent letter and its importance regarding the Syrian conflict?
In closing, the Putin letter as I will term it is nothing more than a jab against Democracy from one dictator in defense of another. Syria needs assistance from the international community and taking the advice the letter provides may stop another armed conflict, but does nothing to resolve the situation and save Syrian lives. The assassin phrase is: "kill one man, save a thousand". Vladimir Putin's phrase is basically: Lets call it a civil war and do nothing for the people there, because in the end the rebels represent something different and that usually ends up being bad news.
Until Next Time!
No comments:
Post a Comment