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Russia Draws the Line on Syria
2 November 2011
A top-level Russian deployment to a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) this week, has resulted in a very public drawing of the lines against the British Empire’s war drive against Syria. Speaking on Nov. 1, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared that Russia supported the efforts of the Arab League to resolve the Syria crisis, but then clearly took aim at the war-mongering from the British-French-U.S. crew which ran the operation in Libya. "We advocate an approach which, among others, is applied in Yemen," Lavrov said. "There was an initative of the Cooperation council for the Arab State of the Gulf. And everyone, be it the Council itself, the Arab League, the EU, US, Russia or China, acted responsibly, without setting artificial deadlines, waiting for months until the goal was achieved." "Isolation is not our approach," Lavrov continued. "If something goes wrong in Syria, many countries of the region will feel a negative impact. We can’t support isolation because of the lesson we drew from Libya." Russia is participating in a strategic dialogue with the GCC for the first time, and, according to reports from the UAE government press, will be discussing cooperation in major regional projects, including rail, and nuclear and other electric power projects. In the run-up to the meeting, Dr. Vladimir Titorenko, the Russian ambassador in Qatar, also addressed the situation with Syria. Titorenko clarified that Russia condemned the use of force by the Assad government against the demonstrators, but also criticized the refusal of some opposition groups to negotiate. He noted that Russia has been working with some opposition groups. But, Titorenko alleged that some outside elements appear to be arming the demonstrators, who have begun to shoot at the army and police. President Bashar Assad, in an Oct. 31 interview with Russian TV, referred to the Titorenko charge, and said that his government was working to unmask external plots against Syria. |