Russia, other world powers standing up to US in Syria: Analyst

The United States is no longer the only “sheriff in town,” as Russia and other military powers are beginning to challenge US policies in Syria, says a political activist and journalist in New York.

“I think the elites in Washington are learning from what’s happened in Syria… that there is not just one sheriff in town anymore, with the rest of the world starting to stand up and take note of what the United States has been doing and the effects that it’s had,” Don DeBar told Press TV on Wednesday.

DeBar made the comments after US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must step down to allow a political settlement.

In his phone call, Kerry acknowledged that there is no military solution to the years-long Syrian crisis and called for a political solution to establish peace in the Arab country.

“The idea of the United States telling Russia that Syria’s president has to step down to allow a political settlement in Syria essentially discloses the entire worldview of the United States’ elites… that they have the right -- not the people of Syria and not anyone else certainly -- to make determinations about the membership in governments around the world,” DeBar noted.

He said Kerry’s statement “rests solely on the belief that the United States can impose its will on everyone else in the world, including the leading military rival power.”

According to a report published by The New York Times on Monday, Russia is flying military equipment and personnel to a new air field in Syria.

“Russia has the absolute right as a sovereign state, as does Syria, to enter into such relationships,” DeBar said.

“The people of Syria do not want Bashar al-Assad forced from office and do not want their political order changed by the United States or anyone else,” he added.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. More than 230,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence mainly fueled by the foreign-sponsored militancy in the country.

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