Russia is a "Bastion" of Syrian support

Nicholas A. Heras: A good friend, Levantine scholar, and best dude ever to crash around the Middle East with, just wrote a fine piece on Syria . . . and how the Russian regime is it's biggest "bastion" of support. Give it a read. He makes a convincing argument.

Russia: A ‘Bastion’ of Support for the Beleaguered Al-Assad Government

The current Syrian government is facing severe international criticism and diplomatic isolation. One ally of Syria, however, the Russian Federation, stands firmly in support of the legitimacy of the Al-Assad government.

Russia’s December 1^st announcement — that it has completed delivery of advanced “Yakhont” surface-to-sea missiles to Syria — comes at time when the international community is applying intense pressure to isolate the Syrian government. The delivery of the missiles, which completes a 2007 arms agreement between the two countries, is part of a larger “Bastion” coastal defense system delivered by the Russians to the Syrians. Not to be limited to just the sale of weapons, on November 31, the Russian news agency Pravda reported that a Russian naval exercise including a Russian aircraft carrier and its supporting flotilla, planned in 2010, would continue from a Russian resupply base in the Syrian coastal city of Tartus.

This “business as usual” approach to relations with the Al-Assad government is putting the Russian government in a controversial position and possible diplomatic confrontation with the USA, its middle eastern allies’ (mainly Saudi Arabia), and the international community, as it poses a challenge to the latter’s policy aspirations vis-à-vis Syria.

Click here to read the rest at Siyese.com