Post date: Sep 12, 2013 2:21:50 PM
Russian President Vladimir Putin takes the unusual step of appealing to U.S. public opinion through the medium of the New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES WEBSITE (SEPTEMBER 11, 2013) (NEW YORK TIMES WEBSITE) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (September 11) warned against a U.S. strike on Syria, saying such action risked escalating the conflict beyond that country and unleashing terrorist attacks.
Writing in the New York Times, Putin said there were "few champions of democracy" in the 2-1/2-year-old civil war in Syria, "but there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all types battling the government."
He repeated assertions by his government and Damascus that an August chemical weapons attack that the United States blames on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government was likely the work of opposition forces seeking to provoke foreign intervention.U.S. President Barack Obama wants to hold Assad accountable for the suspected attack in aDamascus neighbourhood on Aug. 21 that U.S. officials say killed about 1,400 people, including 400 children.
Obama said in a speech on Tuesday (September 10) that he had asked the U.S. Congress to put off a vote on his request to authorise military action in Syria to let diplomacy play out around a Russian proposal to put Syrian chemical weapons under international control, although he said the threat was still needed to ensure Syria complies.
Putin cautioned against taking military action without U.N. Security Council authorization, saying, "We must stop using the language of force."
"The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders," Putin wrote.
"A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism," he added. "It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance."
Putin said it was alarming that intervening militarily in foreign countries' internal conflicts had become "commonplace" for the United States.
"Is it in America's long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy, but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan 'you're either with us or against us.'"
Putin also rejected Obama's assertions of "American exceptionalism," saying: "It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional."
Russia has been Assad's most powerful backer during the civil war, which has killed more than 100,000 people since 2011, delivering arms and - with China - blocking three U.N. resolutions meant to pressure Assad.
On Tuesday, Syria accepted the Russian proposal to surrender its chemical weapons to international control to try to win a possible reprieve from a U.S. military strike.
The plan was due to be discussed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov in Geneva, Switzerland, in talks set to begin on Thursday (September 12).
Putin said he had briefly discussed the idea of control over Syria's chemical weapons at a meeting with Obama on the sidelines of the recent summit meeting of G20 leaders in St. Petersburg in Russia.