Global Research

Today the Russian Ambassador in Turkey was slaughtered by a terrorist at an art gallery in Ankara.  Although one man pulled the trigger, it is unlikely he would have succeeded with the assassination without a network of support.   A Turkish government official stated that the assassin was “unlikely to have acted alone.”  Who was ultimately responsible for that murder?  The atmosphere of rabid Russophobia prevailing, even at the United Nations, created a climate so conducive to violence that it would not be an exaggeration to assert that the pervasive Russophobia actually enabled the murder.  The assassin shouted:  “Don’t forget Aleppo!  Don’t forget Syria!”

On December 5, 2016, as a result of the Russian-Chinese veto, the UN Security Council failed to give authorization to inflict on Syria the pulverizing slaughter that  the Security Council had authorized against Iraq (Resolution 678) and Libya (Resolution 1973).  The former colonial powers, Britain, France, and currently the US, then sought a UN General Assembly Resolution to vilify the Syrian government’s   resistance to becoming a servile colony of the former colonial dictators of the Middle East oil spigot.  Although the resolution the Anglo-French-Americans sought was adopted as L.39 by the General Assembly, it carries no legal power of enforcement, although it serves propaganda purposes of the vengeful and hypocritical former dictators of the Middle East.

Although during the December 9, 2016 General Assembly’s adoption of L.39 the US representative stated that “every hospital in Eastern Aleppo had been attacked,” no mention was made of the “moderate rebels’” lethal attack on a Russian hospital in Aleppo, which murdered Russian medical personnel and injured numerous Russian staff.  The “moderate rebel” murderers had, obviously been provided with the coordinates of the hospital, which facilitated the direct strike.  Are Russian lives of no value?   No mention was made of the coalition’s (America, British, Australian) repeated airstrikes on September 19, 2016, which murdered at least 60 Syrian soldiers and disrupted the ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia.

The Russian Ambassador stated that “meddling in Syria’s affairs is a modern form of colonialism.”

Venezuelan Ambassador Ramirez Carreno “Welcomed a debate in the General Assembly on the origins of the war in Syria and Iraq and Palestine, as such discussions would expose those who were promoting humanitarian efforts while pushing their own agenda.”

It is instructive that even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admitted at this General Assembly meeting:

“But we have no accurate data.  Neither do we have accurate data on the number that remain in the opposition-controlled pocket of eastern Aleppo because all of the health and governance entities capable of counting the living or the dead have effectively dissolved in the chaos.”

It is difficult to identify the turning point in colossal global struggles for power:  in World War II, the turning point was probably the Soviet victory over the nazi invasion at Stalingrad;  during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812, the turning point was Russia’s fierce, indefatigable defense of their homeland at the Battle of Borodino, recognized in Tolstoy’s ”War and Peace” as the battle which led, ultimately, to the downfall of Napoleonic France.

Perhaps, one day history will identify the salvation of the dignity of the United Nations, and the beginning of the collapse of Western Neo-Imperialism in the fiercely eloquent rebuke to Anglo-Saxon  dominance contained in the historic statement delivered by the impeccably courteous and diplomatic Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi at the Security Council meeting on December 5, 2016.

The UK Ambassador’s pernicious diatribe against Russia, which shocked observers of the October 8Security Council meeting, had, by the December 5 Security Council meeting,  deteriorated into a demagogic rant, so shamelessly indulged  that finally,  long delayed and long overdue, his bullying posture was condemned, when China’s Ambassador Liu, Jeiyi , renowned for his patience and gentleness, was provoked beyond tolerance, and delivered the ultimate denunciation.  China’s historic memory of British racism and contempt for human rights no doubt includes Britain’s infamously vicious war which forced opium upon the Chinese people, inflicting the scourge of drug addiction and enslavement upon millions of Chinese citizens.  China’s struggle against Western imperialism lasted almost a century, from Sun Yat-sen through Mao Tse-tung up to Xi Jinping, and the searing memory of subjugation to Western imperialism will not soon be forgotten.

Following the Russian-Chinese veto of the draft resolution S/2016/1026 submitted by Egypt, New Zealand and Spain, the Russian Ambassador stated:

“Provocations are taking place not only here in the Security Council chamber in New York, but also on the ground in Syria.  Today, fighters shelled a medical unit of the Russian field hospital in Aleppo.  A Russian nurse was killed as a result of a direct hit and a Russian pediatric doctor is fighting for his life.  These people were genuinely helping Syrians, while some false guardians of humanitarian principles have all along been destroying the country, generously sponsoring terrorists and continuing to worry about their fate at any cost in order to implement their plans in the region.  We caution once again that this policy is doomed….Secretary of State John Kerry has been working with our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, to reach a concrete result.  But whenever they near an agreement, somebody undermines it.”

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom then stated:

“Just five days ago I sat in this Chamber and asked what it would take to stop the horror in Aleppo.  Today Russia and its small number of followers have shown that they have no interests – none whatsoever – in answering that question.  Instead, for the sixth time in five years, they have chosen to block meaningful action and hold the Security Council to ransom…..China’s vote is particularly surprising.  Despite repeated pronouncements against politicization and in favour of dialogue, China has chosen to side with Russia—a party to the conflict.  Put simply, they have chosen to veto not because of a lack of consultation, but because of their long-standing, misplaced faith in a despot who has killed nearly half a million of his own people…”

Finally Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi spoke:

….”Action on the draft resolution while there were still serious differences was not conducive to the diplomatic efforts by the countries concerned, nor is it helpful for improving the situation in Syria……  Finally, I would like to ask the representative of the United Kingdom what right he has to distort the position of other countries.  The Security Council is a solemn forum; it is not a place where groundless attacks can be made against the serious positions of other countries.  Taking a responsible approach and abiding by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations are the minimum requirements for each and every Member State when participating in the Council’s work.  I would like to request that the United Kingdom representative put an end to such a practice of poisoning the atmosphere of the Security Council and abusing the solemn forum of the Council.  Today is not the first time he has done that, and I hope that such abuse will not be repeated in the future.”

The statement of China, now one of the strongest nations on earth, may signal a major turning point in history:  although the UK representative spoke of “Russia and its small number of followers,” in reality, the combined populations of Russia, China, and their allies throughout the developing world, are a huge proportion of the global population, vastly outnumbering the populations of the UK, France, the USA, and many of their European allies.  Perhaps the interests of this global majority can no longer be trampled upon with impunity.

Spain holds the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, and it is therefore no coincidence that the names of great historic Hispanic icons are frequently invoked.  Spain’s Ambassador Ramon Oyarzun mentioned Miguel de Cervantes, and his immortal fictional character, “Don Quixote,” and the Syrian Ambassador also referred to  Cervantes, creator of the doomed, yet heroic idealist, “Don Quixote.”  How ironic, therefore, is the fact that perhaps the greatest of all Hispanic leaders, the man of Spanish descent, whose genius, against impossible odds, liberated Latin America from Spanish colonial domination, remains a name unspoken, though his spirit inspires this struggle within the UN Security Council, and his noble soul is revealed in the struggle for justice and truth heralded by those Russian-Chinese vetoes, and by the words of Venezuelan Ambassador Ramirez Carreno, the inheritor of the mantle of the great liberator, Simon Bolivar.

Ambassador Ramirez summed it up:

“In Syria a terrible war has been imposed, and some countries have unflaggingly supported terrorist groups, the executioners of the Syrian people.  The perpetrators of this horror even speak out against and offend those countries in the Security Council that do not give the green light to their continued aggression against Syria.”

This struggle for the survival of the Syrian government is representative of the struggle against imperialist domination currently being waged by increasing numbers of people throughout the world.

Carla Stea is Global Research’s Correspondent at United Nations Headquarters in New York