'Russian initiative' to guide Syria?

Contrary to what many people believe, the biggest pressure currently being applied on Damascus is not from the Arab League, or from the US, or Europe. It is from Russia, their main ally.

The Russians, many in Syria believe, have been mandated by the international community to find a solution to the crisis. They have been through this before and know that one-party rule and a police state cannot last forever. The Syrian state needs to be democratised from within, they claim, like what happened to them after collapse of the Soviet Union, rather than being dismantled completely, as in the case of Iraq in 2003. This, of course, is music to the ears of Syrian officialdom.

The Russians are worried that if the regime falls in Syria, more pressing than presidential elections would be fundamental issues like who is going to traffic police on the streets, who is going to collect garbage, who is going to control the borders, who is going to administer jails, and who is going to handle the economy? They happen to know the Syrian scene inside out; they know who matters in Syria, and what buttons to push to make change happen.

Russia has a clear vision for what it wants from Syria, whereas the Americans — apparently — do not. The US has asked Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad to step down, but to date; it has provided no roadmap as to how this can be done, and what the transition period would look like. Moscow, however, is seemingly more in the picture on how it wants Syria to look three, six, and 12 months from now.

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/russian-initiative-to-guide-syria-1.966843