Russia & US Both Back Their Strategic Partners in MENA*

Last night in the UN Security Council, Russia & China both vetoed a European-drafted UN Security Council Resolution which threatened sanctions against the government of Bashar al-Assad if it does not stop its crackdown on its civilian opponents in Syria. The vote was 9-2, with 4 abstentions - India, South Africa, Brazil & Lebanon.You can find the details in the following articles: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15181794, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hxy8J12x2Z7wmSMAkRiTS3OphFRg?docId=N0768781317806676225A
,http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-05/russia-to-resist-western-led-regime-change-after-syria-veto.html

US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said regarding the failure of the resolution: "...the courageous people of Syria can now clearly see who on this council supports their yearning for liberty and human rights - and who does not."

One of the main motives of the Russian govt. for vetoing the resolution is that it is supporting its strategic partner in the region, Syria. The Russians have a servicing point for naval vessels at the Syrian port of Tartus, their only military facility outside the former Soviet Union. This support despite the consistent & ongoing human rights' abuses of the Syrian govt., the fact that it has killed at the very least 2,700 of its own citizens in its crackdown against dissent since March this year, & injured, arrested & tortured many more.

The Russian govt. is only doing what the US govt. does as well though - supporting its strategic partners in the region. In the case of the US, in MENA these include Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Bahrain, President Saleh in Yemen, & until very recently Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. The US 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain & has its headquarters there. Human rights' abuses are nothing like on the same scale in Bahrain as in Syria, nevertheless they also take place there. For instance, the Bahraini govt. in September sentenced 20 medics to between 5 & 15 years in prison simply for treating people injured during anti-government protests in March (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15105270)

Furthermore, human rights' abuses are not incidental to the govt. of Saudi Arabia, which supported & supplied troops to the crackdown in Bahrain, in their country but systematic & intrinsic. So they were in the Egypt of Hosni Mubarak, which the US supported for 30 years.

President Obama said in the UN General Assembly on 22nd September this year that he will veto the request to the UN of the Palestinian Authority to have recognition of Palestine as a full member state if that request goes to the Security Council. This is another example of the US govt. backing a strategic partner in the region, in this case Israel. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15033357)

Russia & the US both back their strategic partners in the region. It is easy to condemn the human rights' abuses of the strategic partners of another Power.


*MENA is a useful acronym you may not be familiar with. It stands for 'the Middle East & North Africa'.