It increasingly appears as if Syrian President Assad may stay in power, despite almost three years of constant fighting in Syria. Assad’s future was grim in the first year of the protests against his rule, but increased infighting among the Syrian rebels has definitely weakened the anti-Assad movement. Assad’s tactic of “divide and rule” is an old governing tactic, but in this case an effective one. The big losers, of course, are the people of Syria, almost a third of whom have become refugees or internally displaced.
The US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, has gone to the Central African Republic to survey the damage suffered by the people there in the latest outbreak of violence between Christians and Muslims. It is difficult to interpret the trip: President Obama has shown little inclination or desire to contribute substantively to the peacekeeping operations there, but Ambassador Power is well known for her forceful advocacy of humanitarian intervention. When she returns to the US, we will have a better idea of whether the US is going to become more involved in averting this tragedy.
In a bid to score favorable points from the West prior to the Sochi Winter Olympics, Russian President Putin has declared an amnesty which frees the members of the rock group, Pussy Riot, and the 30 members of Greenpeace who were arrested in a protest against Arctic oil drilling. Putin also granted clemency to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an oil baron who has spent more than 10 years in jail on essentially trumped up charges. The moves release only about 1,700 prisoners out of an estimated 700,000 in Russian jails. Apparently President Putin believes that the Russian image has suffered over the anti-gay legislation passed by the Russian Parliament and the Russian moves in Ukraine. Whether these moves are sufficient remains to be seen.
World Politics News 
Leave a comment