Kassioun Editorial 1268: There Are Solutions, But…!

At the same time, internal crises of various kinds are deepening. It has become increasingly clear that putting all one’s eggs in the American and Western basket means breaking the eggs eventually. What the Arab Gulf states are experiencing today leaves no room for doubt that relations with the US—no matter how deep—are not sufficient to guarantee protection. Moreover, they can place those who seek and rely on such protection in a position of grave danger, sooner or later—and in the new international conditions, perhaps very soon. Speaking of the Gulf, it has also become clear that the objective possibilities of relying on it, including financially, are no longer realistically available for the foreseeable future.

What should be noted in the overall picture is that events have shown the Western propaganda about Iran’s disintegration and collapse to be misleading and far from reality. We may instead be facing the possibility of a long war of attrition with open outcomes—including the possibility of deepening American and even “Israeli” retreat, albeit accompanied by an increase in their brutality and recklessness.

International, regional, and domestic realities—including the rapidly collapsing living standards of the Syrian people, which will face even greater hardships as a result of the ongoing developments—may lead some to believe that the doors to solutions are completely closed. This may push some to retreat inward in the hope that the storm will pass. However, the storm will be long; nevertheless, attempting to retreat inward will not allow it to pass peacefully in a political or national sense. On the contrary, it will make its consequences even more dangerous for all Syrians, regardless of their positions or affiliations.

Despite the difficulty of the current phase, real solutions do exist. These are not media-based, cosmetic, or partial solutions. Rather, they are radical solutions that form part of a comprehensive strategic program to protect the country and preserve its unity—first and foremost by uniting its people, and by shaping its external relations on the basis of genuinely rising powers, foremost among them China. This must be done in opposition to “Israeli” sabotage and in cooperation with regional states that face the same dangers and that today effectively stand in one alliance—regardless of their immediate (and necessary) political positions. These include Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan, all of which are threatened by the “Greater Israel” project.

On the internal level, unifying the Syrian people is the fundamental starting point, along with benefiting from their experience and competencies and from the country’s internal capacities and resources. This should be done without relying on foreign capital that promises us rivers of milk and honey but does not arrive and will not arrive—and even if some of it does, it will be to help plunder Syrians rather than assist them.

Solutions exist, but they are practically and temporally conditional. They require bold and creative action to be pursued with the utmost urgency, starting with a genuine national unity government that includes all the main Syrian political forces as well as the country’s social forces. Such a government would function as an emergency national government to confront the various risks and possibilities facing the country, including the greater dangers that may arise in the coming days and weeks.

This should form the basis for preparing a comprehensive general national conference with full powers, which should act as a constituent assembly tasked with producing a new social contract and reaching consensus to resolve the many problems and crises that have accumulated over successive decades—and the time for which has finally come for a radical solution.

(النسخة العربية)