“Women whose men are compliant can rotate the moon with their fingers." This is what I said to myself when I read the news about America's and Russia's intention to hold an imminent summit and discuss the principles of the solution of the Syrian crisis. This Syrian saying applies to the Russian and American positions as they reiterate – yet again – their wish to find a solution to the Syrian crisis, after two years of stalling and procrastination and after Bashar al-Assad's regime killed around 65,000 innocent people. What is even more upsetting is the flimsiness of the latest statements issued by American Senator John Kerry, who will likely assume the position of secretary of state as Hillary Clinton's successor, as he assured that Al-Assad made wrong and unjustified decisions and that he must leave, while his country must change the Al-Assad calculations to pave the way for a transitional phase. What is the value of these failed statements that call for pessimism, after Al-Assad's regime burned everything on its way, slaughtered children, assassinated people and destroyed the country? As he prepares to assume his new post, Mr. Kerry was expected to voice a solid position and state that he will stress before Obama the importance of putting the Syrian file at the top of the list of his foreign priorities until it is resolved. But he will be starting his mission from square one, and thus chose to tell us – as though we did not know already – that Al-Assad's decisions were wrong and unjustified. True, some people have no shame! Washington and Moscow are still maneuvering, with one of them standing fast and the other shooting at the Arab skull. Washington has not acted seriously to help the Syrians, and can even be considered close to the Russian position, maybe to protect Israel. Why is America not allowing the provision of support to the opposition, pushing towards its arming, increasing its pressures on Moscow to force it to change its course, confronting its decisions and exposing the dispatch of Russian weapons to Al-Assad's regime to destroy Syria and kill and assassinate its people before the entire world? The Arab people are frustrated by Washington and mad at Moscow. They are also frustrated by the Arab governments and mad at them, even those that have emerged from the womb of the Arab spring, to the point of describing them as being lifeless corpses. Since the eruption of the Syrian revolution, the Arab regimes have been reiterating the same political speech which relies on condemnation and denunciation, in a way that is cheapening the pure Syrian blood. Personally, I hope to see the prosecution of all those who accepted the mission in Syria, did not do anything for the people, and helped the criminal regime gain time to liquidate the oppositionists, slaughter the children, bomb the cities and destroy homes over the heads of their inhabitants, then went back to state from their capitals that they were unable to reach a peaceful settlement. Since the beginning, United Nations-Arab Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi accepted a mission doomed to fail despite the numerous warnings. He thus headed to Damascus while knowing that the mission will not be accomplished, and that failure will prevail as long as he is negotiating with a murderous regime. Still, he insisted on seeing his name registered on the black list, without even bothering to visit the camps of the refugees and the displaced. In the meantime, all expectations surrounding the Security Council session on January 29 are still exasperating and disappointing, as it is unlikely to see Brahimi introducing any breakthrough or surprise. Obviously, there is no way to besiege the regime except by supporting the revolutionaries with weapons and funds, whether in public or in secret, and whether the West accepts this or not. On the other hand, Russia is adopting a foul policy – at the level of its taste, color and smell – by insisting on showing hostility towards and provoking all the Arabs and through its horrendous overbidding at the level of the Syrian file. It is as though it wants to retaliate against the Arabs, encouraged by the weakness and frailty of the Arab governments. There is no doubt that Kremlin's “bears" found numerous political vacuums and opportunities to maneuver and use the situation in Syria in a devious political way, in the face of the White House's compliance, or rather the weak decisions of Obama's administration, and the erosion of his country's role on the foreign scene. Hence, the Russians were able to use the veto right, while providing Al-Assad's regime with weapons and military and intelligence experts. Russia has made many enemies on the Arab street, which is extremely mad at it, and this is a strategic mistake whose price it will pay in light of the increasing Arab popular awareness. There is also no doubt that the Syrian revolution is facing internal and external obstacles, including the weak Arab decision, the fluctuating Turkish position, Iran's stand alongside the regime while supplying it with funds, weapons and Basij elements, and Hezbollah's implication in qualitative operations targeting the revolutionaries inside Syria. It is also clear that America does not want and is in no hurry to change Al-Assad's regime and stop the bloodbath, thus following in Russia's footsteps as the safest option to protect Israel. Certainly, the sides controlling the lock and key at the level of the Syrian file are foreign powers, with roles divided between Moscow, Tehran, Beijing and Washington. In the meantime, the Arabs are sitting back and watching what is happening in a complete state of defeat, thus observing the killings, the gathering of the limbs of the innocent and the burials of the dead with nothing to say but expressions of sorrow, condemnation and denunciation. Is Arabism not asleep and refusing to wake up?!
