US vs Russia: a Messy Situation over Syria

• 10.10.2016, 18:12
•  EEU,  America,  Near East,  World

globalresearch.ca

The situation over Syria continues to be quite tense. Russia vetoed the UN resolution drafted by France, which demanded an immediate end to the bombing campaign being carried out by Russia in rebel-held districts of Aleppo. At the same time a resolution drafted by Russia calling for a ceasefire in Syria, but not mentioning a halt to the airstrikes, did not pass, as it failed to get nine votes from the 15-member council, The Independent reports. During the five years of war in Syria, this was the fifth time Russia used its right to veto a UN resolution on the Syrian issue.

"Today's vote is a stark reminder of the urgent need for permanent members of the Security Council to shelve the veto in situations of mass atrocities, an idea supported by a vast majority of countries around the world," Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch said criticizing Russia’s veto, CBC reports. 

In its turn the British ambassador to the United Nations, Matthew Rycroft, accused Russia of abusing its veto power, saying "In the end, no resolution of this Security Council can end this war. The only thing that can end this war is a change of policy in Moscow," CNN writes.

Such accusations and condemnations were quite expected due to the recent developments, particularly after the US declared it is suspending talks with Russia on the Syrian issue. "Together, the Syrian regime and Russia, seem to have rejected diplomacy in furtherance of trying to pursue a military victory over the broken bodies, the bombed-out hospitals, the traumatized children of a long-suffering land," the US State Secretary John Kerry said in a statement, CNN reports.

In line with mutual accusations, one of the most interesting announcements after the two draft resolutions was that of Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin’s. He declared that the UN members were engaging in “one of the strangest spectacles” in the Security Council, because they were meeting knowing that neither resolution would be adopted. “This waste of time is inadmissible,” he said, The Intelligencer reports.

In such a messy situation, of course, it is quite difficult to say whether it is the US or Russia that is right. On the one hand the airstrikes cannot be stopped, as it will “encourage” the actions of the IS terrorists, on the other hand, because of these strikes, lots of innocent people, among them also children, are being killed. At this moment 125,000 people are living under siege in Aleppo and facing heavy bombings. No doubt, there should be an end to this situation and this can only be done if the US and Russia cooperate. The international community should at last understand its responsibility on the situation created in Syria.