Time for the West to take off the blinkers in Syria By Tristan Dunning Published in Daily Sabah (Turkey) on October 28, 2015 Available at http://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2015/10/28/time-for- the-west-to-take-off-the-blinkers-in-syria Western squealing regarding direct Russian intervention in the Syrian civil war has once again thrown the hypocrisy of Western foreign policies into sharp relief. Indeed, the West has long been engaged in the very same activities that Russia has recently commenced in Syria. Moreover, the West is doing so with only a fraction of the legitimacy of Russian actions. With this in mind, let's have a look at Russian actions in Syria through the lens of realpolitik rather than the sanctimonious posturing of Western powers invoking long discredited notions of spreading democracy and human rights. Cozy relations with beheading, Wahhabism-spreading Saudi Arabia and coup leader, crowd-massacring President AbdulFattah el-Sissi in Egypt, among others, have ensured that Middle Eastern populations are in no doubt of the (in)sincerity of Western powers when it comes to spreading democracy and human rights in the region. To begin, let's be clear. Russia is not responsible for the present pandemonium engulfing Syria and Iraq. A short roll call of those complicit and/or responsible might include the United States and its Western allies, the Shiite-dominated government in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, Turkey and, of course, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. It is true that Iran and Russia have been complicit in sustaining the civil war by arming and supporting Assad, but let's remember that Syria is a long-time strategic ally of both of these countries. In this light, Iran and Russia are merely walking the walk in demonstrating their