In one of his recent essays Sergei Lavrov has invoked German historian Oswald Spengler’s idea of decay. Spengler lamented that the Western community at the beginning of the 20th century was losing its moral stance and its desire to defend the human set of values. There is no doubt whose decay Lavrov has in mind today. He has openly specified that he meant the decay of the contemporary Western civilization that has run its lifespan!
Usually I do not find Lavrov convincing. But this time he may be right. Syria is the stark example that demonstrates how the Western community, including the “ideological” states” (the states that declare themselves to be the defenders and proponents of the normative values), attempt to find the way to forget about their self-proclaimed mission. Assad by using the chemical toxins against his population has helped the West to channel the global attention from his predatory regime, that is from the reasons of the Syrian tragedy, to its implications, the ways by which this regime tries to survive. Instead of dealing with civilizational and political issues, the West prefers to deal with the security problem or even with the credibility problem which is actually an image issue.
“We can’t prevent Assad from his killing his own people,” the advocates of this “image” approach would respond. “Just Google ‘Iraq’ and see what happens if the West tries to intervene,” they advise. Today Western leaders should be grateful to George W. Bush for giving them never-failing, always-ready justification for doing nothing about the human slaughter and for saving their own reputation.
Meanwhile, the next chapter in the manual “How to Justify Sitting on the Fence” should be devoted to Vladimir Putin. He deserves a special place in contemporary history for helping the Western leaders to save their faces. For two years, Putin has torpedoed the Security Council resolutions on the joint actions to stop Assad. Now Putin has offered the West and personally Obama—who got caught in the trap that could ruin his presidency—another salvation, the idea to put Assad’s toxins under international control. Everybody understands that this is a technically unfeasible solution. But everybody is happy. Putin’s initiative saves the key reputations in the Western capitals.
Who would imagine that Putin, a leader who uses anti-Western sentiments in his own country, would become the Peace Guarantor who would save the West from disgrace! Obama should definitely give him his own Nobel Prize!
Does anybody think about how many Syrians will be killed while international inspectors are searching for Assad’s chemical weapons of mass destruction? Does anybody think about how the current inability of the West to defend the values it declares will undermine them globally?
Well, Lavrov in the end may be right turning to Spengler. Viva Putin who has saved the West!