It seems that the era we live in is the age of political hypocrisy of the world’s major powers at the expense of vulnerable people. A quick comparison between the Ukrainian and the Syrian crises as opposed to the international community’s reaction clearly shows the Russian double standard.
No sooner had the situations dramatically changed in Ukraine, the Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his military machine to invade Crimea claiming it is to protect the Russian majority in the Ukrainian peninsula.
On the other hand, the killing and oppression of hundreds of thousands of Syrian people and the displacement of millions is still not good enough for Putin to take sides with humanity in face of Bashar Assad’s brutality.
Reactions by Washington and Moscow and the accelerating developments in Ukraine, constitute another example of the international doublespeak and the contradiction between words and deeds in defense of democracy and freedom of people who choose independence and democracy.
Vladimir Putin seems to be trying to reclaim some of the political legacy of the former Soviet Union, away from the conflict of ideologies, in addition to trying to disturb its US rival in many areas, and he has been successful to some extent, as the case in Syria, Iran and some other Latin American countries.
It is very obvious that the Russian support to the Assad regime aims to ensure the Russian presence in the region, after losing most of its regional allies such as Iraq and Libya.
The fast paced events in Ukraine caused some confusion and some political embarrassment to Russia at the international level. However, it is not clear if that might have any impact on the Syrian crisis or whether it would drive the Russian government to revisit its position on Syria.
It is not over yet in Ukraine, despite Putin’s recent statements that partially defused the escalation, but the coming days will bring more developments, hopefully in the best interest of the oppressed Syrian people. However, in this dirty international political game of interests nothing is guaranteed.
In the meantime, we will continue to see more Syrian innocents die at the hands of the Syrian forces.
