When it comes to Syria, there will be a Plan Z after A, B, C and D and the alphabet is exhausted. Kofi Annan was assigned by the United Nations to try to solve the Syrian problem. The man went forth and back, Syria, Jordan, the US; met the Russians and came up with plan after plan. Unfortunately, none of his plans are working. I am afraid we will reach Plan Z and there won’t be any solution. Syria needs a miracle but the age of miracles is over.

The Syrian issue is a very complicated one because it is rooted to 40 years of Baath rule and the dictatorship and massacres which Assad’s father committed in the 80s when thousands died in Hama. He used the air force against his own nation. The whole world kept quiet back then and nobody questioned Assad for the massacre of his own people. It was underplayed in the world’s media. Forget the Arab media – it was not mentioned at all because they are cowards and all Arab leaders had excellent relations with Hafez Al-Assad. I heard about the massacre on the BBC in those days when I was in London.

Bashar is not as bad and as ruthless a dictator as his father. Before the opposition started their uprising, Bashar did not take extreme measures. Of course, he is still a dictator but he opened the country up a little bit. There were communication channels open in the country but the regime was not considered a democracy by any measure. He supplied enough food to his country. People were not hungry but that was not enough. The nation needed to participate in the rule of his country which he did not allow except for Al-Baath. He did not take democracy seriously in his country. He woke up too late to promise reforms and this made things worse.

Now the problem is so complicated because the opposition has got armed. It is not a secret that the West, Turkey and few Arab countries helped arm and finance the opposition. The West also miscalculated things. They thought the Syrian problem could be similar to Libya – opposition starts, NATO comes in and Bashar is out. Russia and China, however, blocked the initial plans.

The Syrian problem has now become an enigma where you have a highly-armed opposition and a dictator president with quite a strong army. No Annan’s plans A or Z can solve the conundrum. There will be a lot of bloodshed in Syria but in the end, what might work is if every outside country involved let the Syrians themselves solve their problem. I don’t think Russia and China and the US are very worried about the status of Syrian men on the streets or how many people are killed and massacred every day. Everyone has their own interests. As for the Arabs, I am not bothered by what they do because look what they are doing in Libya, Iraq and elsewhere. They do not have a say. Leave the Syrians alone, please!

By Badrya Darwish
badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net
http://twitter.com/badryad