Palmyra: The Symbolic and Actual Messages

The «musical event», that might seem secondary within the course of the ongoing escalation and destruction, and that started with a brief video-circuit address by the Russian President Vladimir Putin, has its political, militarily and human dimensions and messages that can be summed up as follows:

1 - The ceremony is a commencement of the first major victory over ISIS, ever since its emergence, a victory that has embarrassed and is still embarrassing Washington and its alliance and regional and international allies. In that sense it is an emphasis on Russia’s serious role in combating international terrorism in comparison with  the Western roles that are, at least, suspected and unclear.

2 - The symbolism in selecting Marniski orchestra leads much deeper. This is the orchestra of Leningrad, the Russian city that has «Palmyra Russia» as its second name, and that had been besieged by the Nazis for almost three years during WWII. Breaking the its siege was  a turning point at the time, followed by the victory scored by Stalingrad, leading to the ultimate victory in the year to follow, 1945. These embedded historical signals in the «musical event» indicate a clear message saying that the full defeat of Neo-Fascism, the fascism of the 21st Century, that assumes in our region the shape of ISIS, Al-Nusra Front and their allies and affiliates, and I Europe of extremist nationalistic right wing organizations, is not far away, rather it is at hand.

3 - As Russia is introducing itself as a serious terrorism combator, it is introducing itself, also, as a messenger for peace and culture, with a core of equal and fraternal relations among nations, unlike the high-nose, arrogant and exploitive approach  by the  West and the US.

4 - Holding the event in parallel with the continuous Russian insistence on Geneva-3, the Truce, and the Political Solution as a framework and a sole track for solving the Syrian crisis introduces a crystal clear differentiation and separation between to major missions:

  A - Combating Neo-Fascism, including terrorism, until defeating and finishing it up.
  B - Expanding to the maximum the range of the truce among the Syrians, a process that means continuing with separating between pro-, and anti-ISIS-Nusra militants. Worth mentioning here is the fact that hardliners from different sides are doing their best to distort this separation. On one hand, there are who try to portray and pack all militants as terrorists, in order to re-catch  and raise «Military Victory» slogan camouflaged with Combating Terrorism banner, that is using the «Political solution» platform as a tool for reviving the sheer and thorough military victory. On the other hand, there are who try to make ISIS and Al—Nusra Front survive through camouflaging their allies with «moderation» masks, making the avoid being targeted and hit, with a hope that these forces would yield in turning the «political solution» into a platform to implement their same old unrealistic plans of «regime toppling».

The two hardline trends join their desire for escalation and postponement of the actual political solution pushed forward by combating Neo-Fascism operations, and the international accord to the fact that the political solution is the only way out of the Syria crisis. The general outline and aspects of this solution are already clear now; the hardliners are obvious losers there, regardless of their alignment.