Gwynne Dyer: Kofi Annan can't make peace in Syria

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      Kofi Annan does the best he can. At least he’s back in harness, doing what he does best: trying to make peace where there is no hope of peace. The rest of them do the best they can, too, give or take the odd Russian. Well, not exactly the best they can, but at least they do enough to make it look like they’re trying. And you can’t really blame them for faking it, because they all know that it can’t work.

      On Saturday Kofi Annan, ex–United Nations secretary general and now special UN envoy for Syria, announced that a special “action group” meeting in Geneva had come up with a plan to stop the carnage in Syria. Or at least a faint hope. Or not, as the case may be.

      The five permanent members of the UN Security Council were there, plus some of the biggest regional players (but not Iran, which backs the Syrian regime, or Saudi Arabia, which supports the rebels). They condemned “the continued escalating killing” and agreed that there must be a “transitional government body with full executive powers”. Then they all went outside and spat into the wind, just to show how determined they were.

      I made up the last bit, but they might as well have done that. The final communiqué said that the transitional government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent”. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed victory, saying it clearly signalled to President Bashar al-Assad that he must step down. But it didn’t, actually.

      An early draft of the communiqué said that “those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transitional government”—Bashar al-Assad, in other words—should be excluded, but that wording was gone from the final document. So Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said he was delighted with the outcome, since “no foreign solution” was being imposed on Syria.

      Meanwhile, the Syrian National Council, the most coherent opposition group, said it would reject any plan that did not include the unconditional departure of Assad, his family, and his close associates. Assad himself told Iranian television that no amount of foreign pressure would make his government change its policy. And on Friday, the day before the Geneva meeting, an estimated 190 people were killed in Syria, most of them by the government.

      Assad’s regime has now killed around as many people—16,000, by last count—as his father did in suppressing the last revolt against the regime in 1982. He must take hope from the fact that his father, in the end, terrorized all opposition into silence, and ruled on until his death in 2000. Bashar might win, too—and besides, what choice has he, at this point, but to fight until the last ditch?

      So many people have already been slaughtered by Assad’s troops and their Alawite militia allies that there is no forgiveness left among the opposition. There is so little trust that a negotiated hand-over of power could not succeed even if Assad wanted that. His only remaining options are victory, exile, or death.

      It bears repeating that this is not how the Arab Spring ended up. It’s just how Syria has ended up, after eight months of non-violent demonstrations in the face of extreme regime violence gave way to armed resistance. The other Arab revolutions have not been drowned in blood (with the exception of Bahrain), and some of them, like Tunisia’s and Egypt’s, have already wrought huge changes. There’s even another one starting up in Sudan right now.

      Two things make Syria different. One is its extreme religious and ethnic complexity, which makes it hard for protesters to maintain a united front against a regime that is adept at playing on inter-group fears and resentments. The other is that Assad heads the Syrian Baath Party, an utterly ruthless machine for seizing and holding power that copied much of its organization and discipline from the Communists.

      Why, then, would we expect it to behave any better than its former twin, the Iraqi Baath Party that was led by Saddam Hussein? Even the party’s role as the political vehicle for a religious minority was the same: Alawites in Syria, Sunni Muslims in Iraq. So if you were wondering how Saddam Hussein would have responded to the Arab Spring, now you know: just like Bashar al-Assad is responding.

      (At this point in the argument, the American neo-cons will be getting ready to claim that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a blessing for Iraq after all. Not so fast, boys. Iraq is still not a very democratic place, and at least 10 times as many Iraqis as Syrians have already been killed in the process.)

      How long will the killing in Syria last? Until the rebels win, or until they are crushed. Are they going to win? Nobody knows. Will the neighbouring countries get dragged into the fighting? Probably not, although Lebanon is seriously at risk. Can Kofi Annan, the United Nations, or the great powers do anything about this? Not a thing.

      Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.

      Comments

      5 Comments

      John Holland

      Jul 2, 2012 at 11:01pm

      The situation in Syria is onr of simplicity, we need to adopt the same principals that we would adopt in the US and UK.
      We support the Syrian police, disarm the rioters/rebels/ terrorists and block arms suppliers to same. If they do not possess weapons there is no need for the army and no violence.
      Would the US or UK ever consider power sharing with demonstrators or rioters, its rediculous.
      Had we not theatened military intervention to put the terrorists in power they would not have had air defences in position and mayhap the Turkish aircraft would still exist.
      Its time the children in our governments learnt from their mistakes in Egypt and Libya now ahainst the west due to their double standards and aggression.

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      Ed Bear

      Jul 3, 2012 at 12:15am

      The spirit of Chamberlain, Quisling, and Lord Haw Haw clearly lives on in Mr. Holland's comments. It is stunning, but not surprising, that he is willing to condemn millions to slavery in order to maintain his perceived moral purity.

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      Philip Reid

      Jul 3, 2012 at 8:39am

      Western forces are manipulating events in Syria to further their geopolitical objectives.

      Protests in Egypt and Tunisia were homegrown movements but the Libyan and Syrian protests were manipulated from the outside.

      The Arab spring was the perfect opportunity to fund and arm opposition groups to bring down these regimes.

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      Issac Chandler

      Jul 4, 2012 at 6:44am

      >"Iraq is still not a very democratic place, and at least 10 times as many Iraqis as Syrians have already been killed in the process"

      This number (10) is a little low. Half a million Iraqi infants died in the 1990s as a result of our embargo:

      http://www.johnpilger.com/articles/the-world-war-on-democracy

      "his father did in suppressing the last revolt against the regime in 1982. "
      Or CIA-backed coup attempt. Ralph McGehee, a former CIA agent described how
      The US had conducted at least seven attempts to overturn the government of Syria:
      http://www.serendipity.li/cia/cia_oz/cia_oz1.htm

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      delia ruhe

      Jul 11, 2012 at 8:09am

      "It’s just how Syria has ended up, after eight months of non-violent demonstrations in the face of extreme regime violence gave way to armed resistance."

      I don't believe for a minute that the demonstrators' violence was not initially provoked by someone (let's say, in Washington or Tel Aviv) who lusts after regime change -- someone who doesn't wish to be seen as being involved.

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