Israel Matzav

Obama not doing enough on Syria

Bashar al-Assad has to be quite pleased with US treatment of his regime to date. The Obama administration has said a few nasty words but has done nothing else to bring down Assad's regime. No matter how many Syrians Assad murders, all Obama, Clinton and Co. do is talk. That's not enough.

Syria has long presented a serious quandary for the Middle East, US foreign policy and for Israel. With its mix of competing religious and ethnic groups, radical ideologies and political repression - it is a 72,000-square-mile time bomb waiting to go off.

This reality has become increasingly self-evident since Bashar Assad took over in 2000. With no real political aspirations, Bashar was not groomed to be the next leader. It was only after the death of his brother, Basil, in a car accident that Bashar was called back to Syria in 1994 from his studies in London, in order to continue the Assad blood line. He was put on the fast track to the Syrian throne while learning the art of dictatorship, which in turn became his playbook for governing.

Syria’s radicalism is unique as it grows out of the regime’s necessity to validate its own existence. It is a minority dictatorship of a small non-Muslim minority that offers neither freedoms nor material benefits. It requires demagoguery, scapegoating of the US and Israel, looting from Lebanon and an Iraq influx - all of which serving to make up the regime’s raison d'être.

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In the final analysis, Syria under Bashar Assad represents a greater threat to regional instability than it did under Hafez Assad, specifically because it is so unpredictable. This should indicate to Washington that just saying it’s time for Bashar Assad to step down will hardly be enough.

And hiding behind Russia's Security Council veto is no excuse for inaction.

Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Syrian uprising

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:57 AM