THE statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that a Sunni regime will emerge in Syria if the government of Bashar Al-Assad falls shows Russia's ignorance of the situation in the Middle East and raises a big question mark over its policy in the region. However, Moscow's hazy understanding of the Middle East situation cannot justify its veto of the UN Security Council resolution calling for the Al-Assad regime to step down so that violence would stop and the Syrian people could form a democratic government. The Russian statement also displayed the Kremlin's ignorance of the sectarian structure in the Syrian regime itself and the relationship between the ruling party and the different sectarian factions in the country. The relationship among the various factions in the Syrian government is based on mutual respect. It had been so before the falling out between the Al-Assad regime and the Syrian people. Against this backdrop, Moscow's fear is baseless. It is a naive attempt to justify its unreasonable veto of the UN Security Council resolution and to sway European nations to support its vulgar maneuvers to allow Al-Assad to stay in power at the expense of the Syrian people. Russia is grasping at straws and is now trying to play a sectarian card in a desperate hope that other countries will feel sympathy for the Syrian regime. Having burned its hand, along with China, Russia is now trying to mend fences so that its interests in the Middle East will not be jeopardized. Obviously realizing that its efforts to prop up the sagging Al-Assad regime have backfired, it seems that it now wants to show pity for Christians, Kurds, Alawis and the Druze with its claim that Sunnis will take over if the fascist Al-Assad regime is overthrown. This false pretense of showing sympathy rings hollow because its veto of the Security Council resolution that could have ended the genocide in Syria has proven that the Kremlin has no feelings for the suffering of people. It should stop its charade and act reasonably to help end the bloodshed in Syria, where more than 8,000 have already died at the hands of the merciless Al-Assad regime. The only way for Russia — as well as China - to gain the confidence and trust of the world is to be true to its words and actions. The world will always see through any mask of pretense. __
