Peace in Syria?

When I write ‘peace in Syria’ I don’t of course mean the sort of peace that the West gifted to Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Libya, or indeed anywhere we’ve interfered in the past decade or so, where we’ve left a legacy of death, terrorism, economic collapse and failed governance. Only the most reality-challenged drug-addled FCO PR person could term those conditions ‘peace’. So let’s define our terms – what must peace mean for Syria?

No Entry to Salafism – No opportunity can be given to Salafist Islamists, the West’s mortal enemies, to increase their power or influence in the region. This includes Turkey, Sunni Iraq, KSA, Kuwait, the gulf states and the various barbarian head-choppers.

Non-sectarian and tolerant society -  A future Syria must allow Shia and Sunni, Christian and Kurd, Alawite and Jew, to live in peace and freedom with no sectarian discrimination. Much as the country worked under Assad before the ‘Salafist Spring’, which saw deluded fools in Western government mistake Islamist uprisings for democratic urges. 

Russian influence preserved – Any settlement must preserve Russian influence and port / military facilities if the settlement is not to lead to wider causes of conflict

Self-determination – Allow the Syrian people to choose their own leaders and form of government – which may not be the same as Western forms of government and self-determination

Safe return for refugees – A safe place to which refugees currently in Jordan, Palestine and Turkey (as well as Europe) can safely return and rebuild. 

Now it might be that President Assad actually offers the best opportunity to meet these objectives. I don’t know. 

However, I am sure that if the US and our own blundering, inept, mistaken FCO conspire to give us yet another Salafist-dominated failed state exporting Islamist terrorism and from which millions of refugees flee, all for the sake of global corporate oil or gas pipes, that we will hang the bastards from the lamp columns in Parliament Square. They’re drinking in the Last Chance Saloon over Syria.