Putin's piece was largely just self-congratulatory propaganda
Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2013, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)
that's fine. that's what politicians do, but it wasn't revelatory.
Yes, American exceptionalism sucks. It's a dangerous prism through which to conduct foreign policy.
The propaganda bullshit is pronounced in the claim that Russia doesn't support Assad's regime. Russia has consistently supported the Assad regime.
The claim that "Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country." is true enough now, but it started out with pro-democracy demonstrations that Assad put down with tanks and guns and missiles. Maybe it would have devolved into the largely sectarian conflict that it is today even if the regime hadn't violently put down the initial, largely peaceful demonstrations, but omitting this information as Putin does in his oped is hardly honest.
Putin focuses on the evils of the opposition forces and says nary a word about what the Assad regime has done. The atrocities taking place in Syria are conducted by forces on both sides. Yesterday, a U.N. report on atrocities in Syria, holds that of 9 incidents of mass murder they examined, the regime was responsible for 8 of them.
I won't even get into the claim that the rebels were the ones responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the Ghouta neighborhood of Damascus on August 21, except to say that that's part and parcel of Putin's support for Assad. I tend to agree with Juan Cole who explained why he believes it was the regime. He explains why on his blog.
In addition, Russia isn't quite as guilty as the U.S. when it comes to the shameful use of its power on the Security council, but it's record in that regard is pretty lousy. If we don't want the U.N. to go the way of the League of Nations, let's get rid of the permanent members of the Security Council bit.
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