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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Second thoughts

By: Editorial

Posted: 02/15/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Having vetoed any United Nations intervention in Syria, both China and Russia find themselves out on a diplomatic limb these days.

Beijing doesn't care much. Its economy is so large and its market so huge that it doesn't really matter what anybody thinks.

Russia, however, is a different case. It matters to Moscow what other nations think of it. This was once the world's second superpower. Today, its major ally is Syria, an Arab tinpot tyranny in the Middle East whose only claim to distinction is its strategic location and the fact that it is Russia's last client state in the Middle East, or anywhere else.

Meanwhile, the slaughter of civilians continues in Syria by a military armed by Russia and acting on the orders of a government propped up by Russia.

International outrage over this is mounting. United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay on Monday described the situation: "The Syrian army has shelled densely populated areas of (the city of) Homs in what appears to be an indiscriminate attack on civilian areas."

Thousands of people have died -- hundreds just since Russia cast its veto this month. Syrian President Bashar Assad has taken that veto as a licence for mass murder, but now even Moscow appears to be having second thoughts.

Those second thoughts may be the pressure point by which Mr. Assad can be persuaded to leave office. An extended and intense ostracizing of Russia by the international community -- Moscow is already sensitive to this -- might be the lever that could move the Kremlin to give the Syrian president a nudge, the boot that he so badly needs.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 15, 2012 A10

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