THE MEREST hint at the possibility of sanctions against Syria was sufficient on Tuesday evening to scupper a European-sponsored UN resolution condemning the brutal regime. At the security council great power politics prevailed as the veto-wielders had their way. Russia, which has $3 billion in Syrian arms contracts and its only Mediterranean naval base there, and China cast a rare double veto together – two of their three previous joint vetos were also to prevent measures against dictatorial regimes, Zimbabwe and Burma.
At the council Brazil, India, Lebanon and South Africa abstained while the Europeans, Britain, France, Portugal, Germany, reflecting a common EU position, joined the US and four others to make up the nine majority out of 15 members to pass the resolution. It had already been diluted repeatedly, specifically to replace an explicit threat of sanctions with language that discussed their possibility, in a vain bid to win Russian backing. Other dilutions included the removal of a demand that Syria allow an inquiry team from the UN Human Rights Council to enter the country.
To no avail. Russia’s ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted the resolution would only serve to exacerbate tensions in Syria and could have been used, he argued, like in Libya, as a pretext for regime change. But the Russian vote is more cynical. Observers believe their support for an important regional ally will disappear as soon as it becomes clear President Bashar al-Assad is done for. For now they’re confident he can cling on.
To date up to 3,600 civilians have died since protests began in March, 30,000 have been detained and 13,000 are still being held, human rights groups say. Diplomatic attempts to get UN sanctions approved have been going on for months while the EU and the US have already imposed their own economic blockades, including an embargo on the country’s crude oil.
Meanwhile newly more assertive Turkey, once one of Syria’s closest allies, has said it will impose its own sanctions on its neighbour. Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announcing his intentions yesterday, also called for reform of the UN Security Council, which, he said, is not meeting the needs of the international community. Permanent memberships with their vetos, he said, should be abolished, an argument that has no doubt been fuelled as much by the US threat to veto Palestine’s statehood vote as by the Russia/China vetos. It is a case that will resonate with many others and deserves airing, though realpolitik dictates it will not happen.