Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Russian and Hezbollah in consultations

A Hizbullah delegation visited on Monday Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin in the Embassy headquarters, and delivered greetings on behalf of Hizbullah's leadership for the presidential victory of Vladimir Putin.  The Hizbullah delegation was led by Head of Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc member Mohammad Raad, and included MP Nawwar Saheli and Hizbullah International Relations Official Ammar Moussawi.  After the meeting, MP Raad indicated that "this visit is appropriate to praise the balanced political role played by Russia in this time period, especially regarding the crises storming across the region".  Moreover, Raad lauded Russia's role which "restores the principles of the UN, enables balance in the UN Security Council, and opens a window of hope for the nations so their just causes would achieve victory".  Regarding the common points discussed during talks between the Hizbullah and Russian officials on the Syrian file, MP Raad asserted, "Russia's stance stems from the root that achieving stability in Syria should be based on a political solution [that is gained] through dialogue between the regime and opposition".
This is all very good news.  In the current political context, it is essential that Russia, China, Iran and Hezbollah closely coordinate their efforts to avoid a US/NATO invasion of Iran and/or Syria on behalf of Israel.

While it is rather obvious that Russia and Hezbollah have had contacts in the past (everybody talks to Hezbollah, whether they deny it or not), it is interesting that this latest meeting was rather public, with even an official photo opportunity (see above).

In the meantime, Press TV is reporting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has declared that an attack on Iran would be a "huge mistake" and a "catastrophe".

Lastly, Russia declared that it supported a yet to be officially released peace proposal by Kofi Annan provided that two conditions are met:
“The first that Kofi Annan’s proposals be made public and second, that the Security Council approves them not as an ultimatum but, approves them -- taking into account ongoing work -- as a basis for continuing efforts by Kofi Annan with the goal of reaching agreement among all Syrians, the government and the opposition groups, on all urgent issues, access for humanitarian organizations in Syria, an end to violence on all sides and the start of political dialogue and access for the mass media, and so on.” 
In other words, no invasion and no regime change.   In all likelihood, this will be unacceptable to the insurgency unless it is really weakened militarily.  Remember the war in Libya?  The "democratic opposition" categorically rejected all of the many peace plans offered to them by Gaddafi, the OAS and all other mediators.  Likewise, I do not expect the Syrian insurgency (or, rather, their Zionist bosses) to accept any kind of political settlement at this point unless, as I just said, the military balance on the ground shifts in the regime's favor.

The events in Syria, tragic as they are, are still only a side-show to the real thing: the upcoming attack on Iran and I believe that both Russia and China see the Syrian civil war primarily in this bigger context.

The Saker