Madina Newspaper Where did the Syrian regime get the nerve to crush its own people? Where did the Syrian people get the strength to die as martyrs while resisting and defending themselves against the regime's military might? How did the Arab League come up with its policy to protect Syrians from the suppressive regime when it had not taken such a step before? Several questions have arisen as a result of the Arab Spring but these questions have not been answered. To try to answer some of the questions, let's agree first on this: Key transformations happen as a result of major events. What has been going on in Syria and other countries is undoubtedly a major event whose ramifications are difficult to predict. Let us also agree on this: The region is going through major changes, the seeds of which were planted more than a century ago when most Arab countries moved from the era of the Ottoman Caliphate to the era of European occupation, when the first seeds of nationalism were planted in the region. However, many of the people in the region were not ready for major transformation, thus nationalism was just ink on the paper on which constitutions were written. Elections were held without electors and there were parliaments with members who had no powers and monitoring committees that monitored other monitoring committees. As a result, government officials became corrupt, students lazy and more dependent upon tutors outside schools, and public hospitals became a place where doctors advised patients to go to their private clinics for treatment. To sum it up, a shadow state emerged due to the absence of a genuine state. Naturally, people eventually had to search for a genuine state. The result is the Arab Spring. The Syrian revolution was staged because Syrians were searching for a real state, a state that does not discriminate against people on the basis of race or religion, a state which allows people to participate in their government. The labor that gave birth to the Arab Spring started decades ago when people in region saw the premature births of revolutions which died because their incubators failed to sustain their lives. There were aborted revolts due to the fault of the people who led the revolutions or due to some international circumstances. The nature of the political system in the Arab region and the institutions, including the Arab League, obstructed the natural development of a modern state. I remember having asked Amr Moussa, when he was the Secretary-General of the Arab League, for his opinion on whether Iraq would fall if the Arabs held Saddam Hussein accountable for the Halabja massacre. He tried to avoid answering the question, but when I insisted, he agreed to answer it provided that I would not publish the answer. He said no Arab country or organization could have dared to hold Saddam accountable for the Halabja massacre or any other massacre because the late Iraqi strongman could have told them: “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” The birth of a more cohesive Arab political system started after the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty was signed in March 1979 when the member states of the Arab League suspended Egypt from its membership. The League then moved its headquarters from Egypt to Tunisia. One of the biggest changes in the Arab region started when the Wall of Berlin collapsed and during the Gulf War in 1990 when the Arab League member states agreed to use the help of international and Arab forces to liberate Kuwait from Iraq's invading forces. However, the most dangerous transformation began when the Libyan people revolted against their leader Muammar Gaddafi. The Arab League decided to call on the United Nations Security Council to take measures to protect the Libyan people from Gaddafi's regime. It is obvious that the winds of change brought about by the Arab Spring have influenced the Arab League. The problem with the Syrian situation is that Bashar Al-Assad has seen what happened to the former presidents of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. He is afraid that he will end up standing trial in a cage like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak or being killed like Gaddafi. As a result, he refuses to relinquish authority, step down or flee the country. Al-Assad depends on his alliance with Tehran and ties with Moscow for his stay in power. But he seems to have forgotten that Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic's strong ties with Moscow did not save him. Al-Assad has also forgotten that Tehran will certainly sacrifice him when push comes to shove in order to please the West and find a way out of its own crisis. The Syrian people deserve strong international support and commitment to face a regime which has lost the chance to choose between death or fleeing. It has chosen to stay in power until it collapses or the Syrian people are defeated. __
