Alan George: The Assad regime's only purpose is to stay in power
There will be much hand-wringing in the West at China and Russia's refusal yesterday to endorse a robust censure of the Syrian regime. But even if Moscow's position had been different, little would have changed. The beleaguered regime of Bashar al-Assad is simply not amenable to diplomatic pressure. It is interested only in clinging to power, at whatever cost to the Syrian people and regardless of the consequences.
Already, somewhere between 5,500 and 7,500 people have been killed, and perhaps 35,000 seriously wounded. Tens of thousands have been imprisoned and thousands have simply disappeared. Torture is rife. There are some 20,000 refugees, mainly in neighbouring Turkey and Lebanon. There's every reason to believe that it can only get worse.
Many of the Syrian protesters have been clamouring for outside intervention to protect them from their government's ruthless onslaught. But the reality is that there is little the outside world can do, short of intervening militarily. After Libya, that's not on the cards. The Arab League has tried and failed to mediate a solution. Neighbouring Turkey supports the opposition, but not to the extent of invading Syria on its behalf. Economic sanctions have had a serious effect, but not enough to bring down the regime. Bashar al-Assad and his family know that the most they have to fear from the UN – even if the Russians drop their protective veto – are toothless resolutions.
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This is a regime that has no purpose other than to stay in power. There's no real ideology: just an empty rhetoric of vacuous slogans. That the broadly based protest movement should be denounced as nothing more than "armed gangs" acting as "agents" for outside powers is entirely par for the course. It's very much a family affair, however. Bashar al-Assad rules largely as a figurehead, with the consent of a tight coterie of relatives. His younger brother Maher, who heads the Republican Guard and commands the army's 4th Mechanised Division, has been especially active in the attempts to suppress the uprising. Bashar's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, was formerly head of military intelligence and is now deputy chief of staff of the armed forces. A cousin, Hafez Makhlouf, heads the Damascus branch of the feared General Intelligence Directorate. While the President and his English-born wife Asma show no particular appetite for ostentatious consumption, other members of this mafia-like ruling family have wholeheartedly embraced the material benefits of power.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/alan-george-the-assad-regimes-only-purpose-is-to-stay-in-power-6432592.html
