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| From top, Red Square, Tiananmen and Umayyad squares |
The Syria crisis sprung many surprises in the 17
months since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution.
What looked like one more of the Arab Spring waves of
democratization originating in North Africa turned out to be much more turbulent,
according to veteran Lebanese political analyst Jihad el-Zein.
True, he
writes for the independent Beirut daily an-Nahar, the waves of Arab
revolutions represented per se a new phase of dramatic political and
ideological change across the region. The change calls to mind (Francis
Fukuyama’s essay) “The End
of History” and the ascendency of democratic thought in Eastern Europe
after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet
Union.
These were preceded by the wave of democratization in
Latin America in the seventies and early eighties, Zein notes.
All this is true. But the interplay and aggravation
of past and present events in Syria precipitated confrontational twists and
turns in international relations – so much so that the new world order’s image
will be shaped by the outcome of the struggle over Syria.
The said twists and turns, according to Zein, brought
about a series of seven major surprises:
1. The
first underscored not so much Iran’s all-important status and role in the
region’s future, but Russia’s part in reordering international relations.
2. The
other was Beijing choosing to side with Damascus – a sort of discordant Middle
East diplomacy outside the bounds of the Far East and Southeast Asia – amidst
mounting political strains in China’s immediate milieu, which is becoming the
hub of global economic vitality.
With both
Russia and China on board, Syria sees its borders stretching from the Caucasus
to Central Asia. And with the United States preaching “soft power,” Damascus’ Umayyad
Square now adjoins Red Square in Moscow and Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The common
peril of liberal democracy is binding the three regimes’ together.
3. The
third was Turkey’s rush to come nearer the Arab Spring waves when unprepared.
The hurried move to drastically change premises set by Kemal Atatürk
in 1923 and turn around to the Muslim East will consequently determine the
future in power of the ruling Justice
and Development Party (AKP).
4. The AKP’s
passionate Syria approach triggered a fourth surprise. It exposed the affinity
between Turkey’s Alevis and Syria’s ruling Alawites. In other words, the Syria
saga unmasked a sectarian divide in Turkey.
5. Not
counting paramilitary forces, Syria’s 200,000-strong, heavily armed and highly mechanized
army is startlingly still capable of handling the threats it is dealing with.
6. Perhaps
the most spectacular surprise is the level of destruction in Syria. The devastation
exceeds that seen in Iraq or the one suffered by Lebanon in the course of 15
years of infighting.
7. Lastly,
Christian support of the Syrian regime, subtly by the Catholic clergy and
vociferously by the Russian Orthodox Church, which is openly aligned with the
Kremlin.
