“No Solidarity with the West!”
Russia and the War in Syria
Efraim Karsh, Mark N. Katz, Margarete Klein, Fedor Luk’janov, Marie Mendras, Georgij Mirskij
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Russia plays a key role in the Syrian conflict. For decades, it has supported Syria militarily, economically, and politically. But this alone does not explain why Moscow has so resolutely stood by the Assad regime. Observers disagree as to the motives. For some, Russia has a legitimate interest in security and stability on its southern border. This includes the fight against Islamism. Other observers see in the Syrian conflict only a stage that the Kremlin cynically plays. For Moscow, this is not about ending the suffering of people and arresting those responsible for the murder and the use of poison gas; it is about stopping the United States and satisfying its own status consciousness. The character of the civil war, the rationality of Russian behaviour, the importance of the chemical weapons initiative, and Moscow’s influence on Teheran are analysed here by: Efraim Karsh (Great Britain), Mark Katz (United States), Margarete Klein (Germany), Fedor Luk’ianov (Russia), Marie Mendras (France), and Georgy Mirsky (Russia).
(Osteuropa 9/2013, pp. 45–56)