By Vestnik Kavkaza
The U.S. is ready to postpone a military operation against Syria if the country hands its chemical weapons over to international control, Barack Obama told yesterday.
“Russian diplomacy is helping Obama. Russian diplomacy is helping a non-military settlement of the problem,” the head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, Alexander Pushkov, commented on the situation. “But it helps Obama to make a choice between the worst option and an awful option, it helps Obama to avoid a defeat in Congress, to avoid military activity which will lead to unpredictable results, and helps him to avoid being George Bush-2, which would be bad for Obama.”
According to Pushkov, Obama “made it clear that this issue was discussed during the meeting with Putin at the G20 summit as one probable scenario. But I admit that after the summit the idea stopped being an abstract project, but a real project. The agreement of the government of Syria was crucial. The Syrian government agreed to the Russian proposal, not to an abstract idea which was initiated by someone somewhere.”
According to Pushkov, this is a crucial moment: “When our Western colleagues ask: “What is your influence on Damascus?”, this is it. Damascus is ready to agree to proposals which Russia makes. The U.S. administration presents things as if it was alright, the U.S was watching developments in Syria from a distance, and a chemical weapon was suddenly used there. And our indignant American colleagues suddenly said: “It shouldn’t be so! It is unacceptable!”
However, according to Pushkov, the situation was different: “For two years the U.S. has been preparing to overthrow the government of Assad in Syria. The Americans supported the opposition, established the coalition “Friends of Syria” and supported Saudi Arabia and Qatar when they financed and still finance the militants. Qatar spent $3 billion on militants – data from Financial Times. They paid $50 thousand to militants and their families for participation in military campaigns and extra sums for murders. Today Saudi Arabia plays the role of the main sponsor. And the U.S. stood behind this politically. American instructors trained militants in Jordan (I think they continue doing it), they distribute arms, weapon flows near the Turkish borders. Of course Assad’s government resists any American initiatives, because it is a hostile country which for two years has been preparing to overthrow the Syrian regime, while Russia has a different position. And it plays the key role. A proposal which Assad would have rejected if it was made by the Americans, was accepted by Damascus, because Russia made it.”
