US strike would up-end world order

US strike would up-end world order

Says Putin; holds rebels responsible for chemical attack

Afp, Washington
Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday warned that unilateral US military action could unleash chaos as the former Cold War rivals discussed a plan to neutralize Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal.
In a bid to appeal directly to US voters and policy-makers over the head of President Barack Obama, Kremlin leader Putin penned a commentary in the New York Times.
Putin welcomed Washington’s willingness to engage with the Moscow initiative, but he rebuked Obama for his previous threat to launch US military strikes to punish Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
He warned that carrying out such a move without the approval of the United Nations Security Council, where Moscow wields a veto, would destroy the credibility of the world body.
“No-one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage,” he said, referring to the United Nations’ failed inter-war predecessor.
“A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism,” Putin wrote, in a piece that emphasized that many of the rebels ranged against Assad have ties to al-Qaeda.
“It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa,” he continued.
“It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance,” he said.
Russia is a traditional ally of Assad, and Moscow has blocked any attempt to sanction his regime through the United Nations during Syria’s bloody two-and-a-half year civil war.
Despite deep skepticism about both Russia and Syria’s sincerity, Obama agreed to examine the plan.
In an address to the American people on Tuesday he postponed, but did not withdraw, the threat of military action and ordered Kerry to meet Lavrov and work on the details.
“Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action,” Putin wrote.
“I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive.”
However Putin demonstrated the gulf that exists between the United States and Russia by saying the strikes were probably carried out by Syrian rebels rather than Assad’s forces.
“No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria,” Putin wrote.
“But there is every reason to believe it was not used by the Syrian Army but by opposition forces to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons…”