The More Things Change...

For months, Russia has been obstructing UN Security Council resolutions condemning the ongoing violence in Syria.

Let me get one thing out of the way: I love Russians. I love them for Dostoevsky, for Rachmaninoff, for the seductive, sibilant whisper of their language, and for their habit of doing completely inscrutable things. For example, blocking even the most tepid UNSC resolutions on Syria.

So when, after the Russians again vetoed a Security Council resolution on Syria a few months ago, I simply threw up my hands at Al Jazeera English’s UN bureau and said, “That’s just the ____ing Russians being ___ing Russian,” my exclamation was tinged with admiration.

Luckily, Ramy, the Al Jazeera Arabic intern, had a better explanation for Russia’s diplomatic maneuvers. He sent me the information so I would stop blathering like a vaguely racist idiot in the UN’s press wing. To anyone who’s studied WWI, this is going to seem incredibly retro.

Syria provides Russia with its only warm water naval base.

Access to the Mediterranean has informed Russian policy toward the Middle East since, well, forever. Russia fought wars with the Ottoman Empire, signed secret agreements with France and England, tried to use its role as protector of Eastern Orthodox Christians, and supported Israel for naval access to this most important of seas. The Mediterranean gives Russia’s navy and merchant marine a perennial gateway to the Atlantic and the world, undercutting NATO’s dominance in Europe and opening new avenues for Russia’s trade.

To discover this familiar motive on the part of an age-old player in Middle Eastern politics in such a time of flux and dynamism was…well it was like running into a beloved friend in a new city. But it also shows that the USA is not the only country that can’t seem to escape outdated objectives in its Middle Eastern policy.

Now, as the UN Human Rights Commissioner says Syria is descending into civil war, Russia needs to adapt. One Mediterranean port isn’t going to do it much good when revolutionary governments control the Southern coast (Libya, Tunisia, Egypt) and NATO the Northern. The Cold War is over. The Great Game is over. And the world’s powers need to recognize that and act accordingly. Bashar Al Assad is one of the last remaining specimens of an endangered species – the Arab dictator. And those who help or allow him and his ilk to continue their repression of democratic protesters will find their come-uppance both in this world and the next.