U.S. interference in Syrian conflict will lead to chaos in Middle East – political expert

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(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 26, 2013) U.S. President Barack Obama could possibly resort to military intervention in the Syrian conflict due to pressure of his political opponents, but will try to limit it to a short-term war, head of a working group under the Russian president’s human rights council, political expert Sergei Karaganov said.

Obama will do everything possible not to interfere in the Syrian conflict, however his political opponents insist on military intervention, Karaganov told Interfax on Monday.

“I do not know whether the Obama administration will be able to withstand this pressure. Unfortunately, the situation has unfolded in such a way that military presence is gradually increasing and weapon after weapon is being hung on the wall. That is why I do not exclude the possibility that this operation will begin, regardless of the common sense of acting otherwise. At the very least, bombing the positions of the Syrian forces in cities may occur,” Karaganov said.

“If the United States intervenes, it will be a symbolic war directed not against the region, where chaos will absolutely reign after this war, but at various political groups in the world and in the West,” Karaganov said.

The purpose of this military intervenion will be to show that “the United States is ready to use force, that the United States is no longer a paper tiger losing all the time,” the political expert said. “Moreover, the Libyan conflict, in which the United States participated, clearly did not bring victory to them because Libya is now falling apart,” he said.

Russian involvement in this war is unlikely, Karaganov said. “I can hardly imagine Russia will interfere even if this war becomes international. I strongly suspect that it is senseless and impossible to supply the necessary hardware in such a situation and enough weapons have already been accumulated there. Therefore, I do not think that Russia could, nor should it, openly interfere,” he said.

It is obvious that foreign interference in the Syrian conflict will complicate the holding of the Geneva conference. “But it looks like that the development of the situation in Syria, where a comprehensive civil war is underway and where various groups do not want to negotiate, has already eliminated this possibility,” Karaganov said.

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