Things are getting very complicated in Syria, and the crisis seems to be insolvable in the short term. The Assad regime used to have chemical weapons that helped him negotiate, especially after the failure of forming a national Syrian opposition alliance before radical Islamists flocked to Syria.

In 2012, Assad managed to impose himself as a main player that could be spared on grounds that keeping chemical weapons under his control would ensure the international community's observation, while deposing him might lead to a vacuum and those weapons might end up in the hands of uncontrollable and unobservable radical militias, especially since those groups have so far exceeded 100 according to Syrian affairs expert Charles Lister. What even helped Assad maintain his position is that he got rid of over 90 percent of these chemical weapons over the past four years, although he did retain some in secret.

With all such complications, and in the absence of a national civilian opposition that melted and faded away into foreign radical elements, it is becoming futile to consider toppling Assad, especially since the countries demanding this are incapable of imposing their vision on the international community, namely on the Russians, whose influence covers such a large part of the world that Germany and entire Europe are incapable of confronting the Russian bear in Ukraine, because Germany gets 30 percent of its natural gas from Russia. Russian-Syrian relations are historical and go back to when the former Russian president Yuri Andropov said Syria is a 'red line"!

In view of the magnitude of the Syrian tragedy, demands to expel the Russian ambassador in Kuwait made by some citizens sympathizing with the Syrians are reckless and irresponsible. Unfortunately, those demands were made by lawmakers who are supposed to wisely assess the problem and realize the impact of such demands on Kuwait that could not bear with Saddam Hussein's regime's aggression and will not tolerate possible Russian and Iranian ravages at a time when US foreign policy is retreating.

Therefore, any activity against Russia ought to be part of an international movement, especially since regional and international parliamentarian organizations are accessible to these lawmakers, and thus they have a greater chance to play a major role rather than playing that of a sympathizer with impulsive public opinion. - Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida

By Hamad Al-Derbas