Today Russia and China vetoed a Western and Arab sponsored UN resolution that condemned Syria's use of violence against anti-government protestors.
Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has been using violence to counter a ten-month uprising against government protestors. Many say that Syria is the latest country in the Arab Spring movement, and the European Union, United States, and the Arab League are all trying to get al-Assad to step down from power so that a path for free elections and a democracy can be paved.
Russia is the only country left on the UN Security council that stands behind Syria. The remaining members want Syria to open itself to foreign investigation, so that UN human rights investigators and foreign journalists may gain access to the country.
Russia's representative on the Security Council claimed that the West is promoting revolution and an armed and violent regime change. Russia claimed that passing the resolution would sponsor more extremist groups to take control of the government if a coup were to take place, and also that passing the resolution wouldn't make Syrian troops withdraw from cities any faster.
The U.S. countered by saying that by vetoing the resolution, Russia is claiming moral responsibility for the violence and bloodshed that has, and will continue, to take place. France and Germany agreed with this statement.
I think that Russia should have gone along and passed the resolution. Although the Russian representative on the Security Council did have a point, I feel as if it doesn't hurt to pass the resolution. Although it might not save every persecuted Syrian's life, I feel as if it could save at the very least one. It's true that a resolution can't force al-Assad to step down, and that democratization isn't a fast process (just look at Egypt), but the people of Syria need a government that won't deliberately harm its people.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/russia-china-veto-un-resolution-on-syria/2012/02/04/gIQAxvVhpQ_story.html
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