Russia Vs US in G-8: New world order in offing

Yuba Nath Lamsal

 The leaders of the eight Western industrialized countries, which are also called as the group eight or G-8, met recently in the idyllic surroundings of a secluded lakeside resort in Enniskillen of Northern Ireland to purportedly seek a way to discuss the global economy and prevent it from further sliding. However, they devoted most of the time to Syria issue in which the Western leaders and more particularly the United States tried to adopt a uniformed approach on their strategy of regime change and also seek wider international support to achieve this goal. The major agenda for which the Summit had been convened was pushed to background.

In the end, the leaders of the western world, as usual, concluded with issuing an agreed statement temporarily brushing aside some of their key differences just to send a message of unity. It was their time-honored tradition of diplomacy to hide the truth under a thick blanket of mistrust and come out with apparent statement of artificial unity and solidarity. The inside truth was that they gossiped much but came out with nothing concrete achievement. It was more than evident and visible in the recently held G-8 Summit.

The countries of G-8 group, which includes the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Italy and Japan, have sharp differences on many regional and international issues that were just as great as they were in the beginning. This was particularly the case over the thorny question of Syria, the issue that dominated the entire talks.

They were supposed to be finding a solution to the world economic crisis, but in the event the meeting was largely dominated by the civil war in Syria, which may, if no solution sought in time, flare up to become a wider regional war that can drag the whole Middle East to larger conflict. But the solution each individual member of G-8 is seeking contrasts with the ‘super boss’ of the group— the United States, which led the summit to near collapse as no concrete and consensus decision was taken on any of the subjects that were raised and discussed in the conclave.

While the United States and some of its staunch allies pushed for giving military and all other required support to the Sunni-dominated rightist Syrian rebels with the objective of removing Basar al Assad’s authoritarian regime in Damascus, Russia and China are skeptical on the motive of Western countries. More particularly, Vladimir Putin of Russia is vocally critical of the role and response of the United States in Syria and has declared his support to Syrian regime. While rebels have received military, moral and material support from the West especially the United States, Russia has announced to sell military weapons and hardware to what Moscow describes as legitimate Syrian regime, which has concerned the Western world more than anything else. China considers Syrian issues as a purely internal affair and wants the external powers to refrain from meddling in Syria. In fact, the current Syrian regime and the rightist Sunni-dominated rebels are no different in nature and Syrian movement is not a genuine people’s democratic movement. It is a mission to replace Assad’s authoritarian regime by another rightist theocratic people. Genuine people’s democratic movement is yet to evolve in Syria. The West is desperate to install a friendly regime in Damascus for which the United States in particular has used every international forum and opportunity. Recently, a US-sponsored conference of the so-called ‘ Friends of Syria’ was held in Qatar’s capital Doha, in which all groups opposed to Syria’s current regime had been invited. And this was to boost the morale of the rebels in their fight against Assad’s regime.

The world including Russia and China is closely watching these recent events unfolding in the Middle East. Moscow and Beijing are deeply concerned with the expansion of Western interest in the Middle in general and Syria and Iran in particular and consider the Western adventure as a move purely guided by the controlling the oil-rich Middle East.

Against this background, some of the leaders of the G-8 countries have made their desperate attempts to patch up between Washington and Moscow. But these efforts, too, failed to yield any positive result. In the end, the scene of the G-8 meeting was virtually seen as Russia versus the rest of the countries on issue concerning Syria. Despite mounting pressure and persuasion, Putin refused to give in but bluntly declared that his country would continue to pursue with the avowed policy of resisting any kind of external interference in Syria. Finally, a communiqué was issued avoiding any mention of the most contentious matters that divide the member countries.

Immediately after the summit, the White House issued a statement stating and applauding the outcome of the G-8 meeting. In the statement, Washington expressed its satisfaction and happiness over “the international consensus reached on Syria issue.” This was, in fact, quite ridiculous as nothing had been achieved and no consensus reached on Syrian affairs. Instead the Syrian issue had divided the G-8 countries.

The United States and its allies raised and vehemently opposed what they called the ‘use of chemical weapons’ by Syrian Regime of Basar al Assad. The United States, France and Britain claimed that they had “hard evidence” for the lethal use of such weapons by Syria. But the United Nations observers have, so far, found no such proof. This is yet another propaganda that these countries have unleashed against a sovereign country. But one thing is sure that Basar al Assad is a dictator, who is running the country with iron fist denying Syrian people with their civil and democratic rights. But this is purely internal affairs of Syria and only Syrian people have the right to choose the political system and leaders on their own. No outsider has any right to interfere in Syria’s internal political matter.

What has been agreed is the holding of peace conference to be solely devoted for the purpose of seeking peaceful solution in Syria. The conference is to be held under the aegis of the United Nations probably in Geneva and all stakeholders are to be invited to the meeting.  The result of any peace settlement between the Syrian regime and the rebels will not be determined by words but deeds, which will practically decide Syria’s fate. But the West-backed rebels do not seem much enthusiastic for settlement of the problem through negotiation in the conference but want to continue with war and determine Syria’s fate from the battleground. This speaks the agenda and motive of not only the rebels but also of their Western mentors and masters.

The Western countries have backed the Syrian rebels and provided military weapons and other needed supports because, firstly, they may achieve the goal of ouster of their critical regime in Damascus and install their own puppet regime. This would help the West to control Syria’s resources. Secondly, US-friendly regime in Damascus may help in bringing political and military balance in the Middle East into the favor of Western countries while creating an adverse situation to Russia who is trying to make strong presence in the Middle East with the objective of reviving Moscow’s Cold War era’s ‘glory’.

The European Union’s embargo on sale and supply of arms to Syria was a major hurdle for the Western countries to openly give weapons to Syrian rebels. David Cameron of Great Britain backed by French President Francois Hollande was one of those who had been exerting pressure on the European Union to abandon its embargo on arms for Syria, in which he has been finally successful.  Under duress from their own powerful members, the European Union reluctantly revoked the ban on the supply of arms to Syria and agreed to allow its member states to follow their own conscience on this matter.

Whatever was stated in the statement that was released at the end of the summit, the G-8 conclave was a serious blow to the Western countries. While it was a triumph to Vladimir Putin, who consistently and firmly resisted the Western pressure and he finally prevailed, it was big shock to the US-led Western countries. This is a testament of the fact that Russia is slowly but steadily emerging as a power not to be ignored and asserting its role in the international arena. This gives yet another message that the uni-polar world is soon going to be over and multi-polar world is emerging sooner than later. With the end of the 20^th century and beginning of the 21^st century, a new phenomenon in the world is emerging with the emergence of different power equation in the international politics. While the clout of individual country or collective power of Europe is slowly waning, this is being replaced by Russia. And China has already grown as an international super power with its strong economy and military. This could be seen in the G-8 meeting as Russia stood firmly against the rest of the G-8 members including the United States.  This is a clear example of the fact that the new world order is slowly emerging and Asia is becoming the epicenter of the international politics and power.