My opinion on the Syria Crisis

The crisis in Syria has escalated to a level where even the former UN secretary general, Annan quits his “impossible” peace role. With the crisis lasting for more than a year now, the bloodshed has not stopped because of the Syrian government’s intransigence.

First of all I feel that with the current situation, immediate action needs to be taken. Further prolonging the issue will only lead to more factors being involved and more time for the crisis to escalate. Second,  from the very first day of the uprising of Arab Spring, the Syrian Government’s goal was to deter non-violent protests but rather encourage its militarization. As crazy as it sounds, by encouraging protesters militarization, the regime could legitimize its use of violence. Furthermore the regime would be sure to win as its soldiers are better trained and better equipped. As a result, in no way should our resolution incorporate militarization and intervention for two reasons. One being that several countries, such as Iran, have vowed to attack foreign forces in Syria; another being that the mandate of the UN body has no saying in military intervention. Thus it would be wise for the committee to incorporate peaceful negotiations. However realizing that these have already been previously tried, I would like to introduce a new viewpoint on to issue. The fight between regime and the Arab Spring can only happen based on resources, or supporters. The regime’s constituencies mainly include the soldiers themselves which the regime has created a despotic administration according to their loyalty. Thus, the only possible peaceful way of ending such a violent battle, would be to bring the battle to another frontier. However, this does not mean another physical battle, rather a battle for the political “brand”. We need to show the regime constituencies that our brand is better, which consists of negotiations and the transfer of power peacefully from Assad. The way we can win such a philosophical battle is through dialogue and communication. Only when there have been substantive information and “advertisement” has been given to the constituencies can they sway to our “brand”. By transferring the battle into another medium is the only way we can ever hope to solve the ongoing bloodshed in Syria.