Freedom Not Terrorism

I could have sworn that just a few weeks ago I watched the Syrian President - Bashar al-Assad - give a TV interview in which he said words to the effect - 'that it would be crazy for a government - any government - to attack its own people'. 

So unless I was hearing things - or unless heavy weapons have fallen into mysterious hands - the only forces that can be attacking Syrian civilians in Homs is the Syrian Army - which is of course under the control of the Syrian government and the country's President.

In which case the only reasonable conclusion to draw is the well-educated, western educated Assad - is lying through his teeth.

What seems to have emboldened President Assad is the support for his regime shown by Russia and China - in vetoing a cease fire resolution at the United Nations security council - which was not inspired by the west but by Arab League.

So all of this is highly ironic and politically significant - because only a few years ago there was international outcry at the level of retaliation used by Israel in response to rocket attacks - emanating mainly from the Lebanon.

But the Israeli army did not just respond with force - which it was clearly entitled to do in defence of its people - but responded with overwhelming force and blew much of the Lebanon to bits.

And that is what is happening now in Homs and other Syrian towns and cities - though the difference this time around is that the Syrian forces are firing heavy weapons against their own people.

Yet without the fig leaf of being able to say that they are doing so in retaliation - in response to attacks on their own forces.

The cynical attitude of Russia and China is motivated by their vested interests - their desire to preserve good relations with the present Syrian regime embodied by President Assad.

As opposed to what is actually in the wider interests of the Syrian people.

So maybe the Russians and Chinese will pay a price for their pursuit of narrow, short-term interests - I hope so.

But then again that is precisely what has undermined the prospects of peace in the middle east for so many years.