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jakeawright · 8 years ago

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The Syrian Crisis, are the Russian to blame?

A few days ago, I wrote an article talking about the growing tensions between North Korea and the US. In that article I spoke about the crisis between the two nations as being President Trumps most complex foreign policy issue. However, since writing that article the US has bombarded a Syrian military airbase. This was in response to a suspected chemical attack by the Syrian government on its civilians. Since Trump becoming President politics has started moving faster than ever. Every other day different news involving Washington is coming to light.

So, is this response to the Syrian crisis a true portrayal of Trumps foreign policy? Or is this Trump being opportunistic, by attacking the Assad regime, under the pretext of defending the Syrian civilian population? It’s difficult to find a definite answer to those questions at this point. The US has already stated they are willing to use military action against North Korea so why not Syria also?

This was a situation no one really expected to happen. Trump in his Presidential campaign said he would cut back foreign intervention and aid. He supposedly favoured an ‘America first’ agenda, by solving the issues in his own country before attempting so solve those elsewhere. The military response here however shows otherwise. The only time he has mentioned Syria is about destroying ISIS and terrorism. This was something he spoke to President Putin about last week about the St. Petersburg terrorist attack.

Syria is one of Russia’s most important allies. Syria is the largest buyer of Russian weapons, which brings in billions of dollars in revenue to Moscow. Syria also holds Russia’s only military naval base that has access to the Mediterranean. Previously Russia has intervened when the Nato and US were pushing for military intervention in Syria, stopping further escalation in the process. These points show that Russia is willing to defend its ally, which of course is a worry.

One of the key points that separated Trump from Clinton was his foreign policy agenda. Many had become sick and tired of the US interfering around the world for their own personal gain. Look at Iraq and Libya for example, two countries on the verge of collapse due to the US’ failed foreign interventionist policies. Trump with his promise of closer ties with Russia was a breath of fresh air. It showed promise for the geopolitical world. This promise of the two superpowers of the world coming together in an attempt to destroy terrorism showed a promising future. In one night and with one attack he has risked any chance of improving relations with Russia.

Syria does have history of using chemical weapons; they used them against their civilians in 2013. However this time there is mixed reports of how the attack happened and who by. It’s not a case of whether it happened or not as there is video evidence of it. Instead now we have the West claiming the attack was by Assad, and we have Russia claiming it was an air strike by the government on a rebel chemical base causing a spillage. The majority of evidence does point towards it being an attack coordinated by the Syrian government.

However where we go from here is unclear. The US has ordered two naval warships to Syria and Russia has responded by sending a number of their own warships to Syria also. Both Russia and Iran have both said they will respond with force if the US ‘cross a red line’ essentially saying if they continue to attack Syria. Rex Tillerson, the American Secretary of State is heading to Moscow for talks. Syria will most definitely be on the agenda and it is thought that Tillerson will try and pressure Russia into softening ties with Syria. This may be a lot harder than the US might think; Syria is Russia’s main ally in the Middle East. Further evidence of this also is the rhetoric coming from Moscow, they said they are “ready to tolerate bring seen as the common enemy of the West”. This shows a hard stance from Russia and shows no indication of them wanting to step away from Syria. Tillerson may also try and threaten Russia with further sanctions if they don’t comply with the US’ wishes. This would be a very bad decision if so as history most certainly proves that Russia does not react well to threats.

I find it baffling that Russia seems to be taking the forefront of western criticism over the attack that Syria itself committed. There is no evidence that Russia knew of the attack or that they supplied the chemicals themselves. Why should they take the blame for an act that their ally committed? It’s preposterous, we don’t take the blame for our allies’ actions, such as Saudi Arabia who behead citizens in the middle of the street. It is also widely known that Saudi Arabia are bombing Yemeni civilians, using bombs brought from the United Kingdom. Do we ever take any blame for such actions? Instead we ignore the situation and deny and wrongdoing. The prospect of sanctions being placed on us for having Saudi Arabia as an ally is ridiculous and would never happen. So why is it not the same for Russia?

Even more baffling appears to be the agenda of our foreign secretary Boris Johnson who this week called off a visit to Moscow because of the chemical attack. How can any situation be resolved without conversation? This refusal to even attend shows a return to cold war relations, something than no one surely wants. Even more baffling was the attempt by Johnson at the G7 summit to place sanctions on Russia. Johnsons actions maybe self determined or perhaps the decision came from higher up however either way it has made the UK look like President Trumps lapdog.

An interesting and unexpected part of all of this comes from Liberals all over the West-supporting Trump. The day after the attack on Syria there was a large approval in the UK, most claiming that Syria deserved it. Trump claimed he was acting to preserve the US’ national interests and said it was in defence of Syrian civilians. But this is coming from a President that wants to refuse entry to Syrian refugees so how can he be acting to defend these people? The same liberals now supporting Trump for these actions are the same ones who have ridiculed him for his immigration policy. How can you praise someone for pushing the prospect of war even closer? Trump should have waited for further evidence into the chemical attack before acting. Now it is Russia, Iran and China asking for a UN investigation into the Chemical attack. This indicates that Russia wasn’t aware of chemical weapons in Syria and if proven to be true it would make the US and the UK look stupid.

Trumps foreign policy is extremely confusing; he has pledged for closer ties with Russia but has risked it all by attacking Syria. It seems as though the US has used the chemical attack as a reason to attack Syria. I do not believe for one second that Trump is acting upon the best interests of the Syrian civilians, how can he be when his own immigration policy is so against them? The West has failed to look into the alternative to Al Assad, if he does lose power then who would take over. Terrorist groups Isis and Al-Nusra are both prominent figures in Syria and hold territory in the country, what happens if these groups come to power? Russia will not allow Assad lose power, Russia gains too much from him being in power and would lose all influence in the region if he were to fall. No one wants further escalation in Syria, we have seen in Iraq and Libya what can happen when the US intervenes. It is never a positive effect. Instead of placing sanctions on Russia, the West should instead try and sit down with Russia and try and sort out a solution in Syria. Russia holds the power to negotiating in Syria, without them on side then the only option would be war with Syria, which inevitably would involve Russia and Iran also. That isn’t a guaranteed victory for the US by any means. Maybe Trump should return to his America First rhetoric and try and implement some of his campaign promises, something of which he has yet to achieve. The Syrian crisis if extremely complex, far more complex than a few tomahawk missiles and sadly more missiles will not solve the problem.

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