
Source: 
China Daily
Boris Dolgov
Russia vetoed the United Nations 
Security Council resolution, which sought to blame President Bashar 
al-Assad for the violence against civilians in 
Syria
 and urged him to step down, because it did not correspond to the real 
situation in Syria, where the majority of Syrian people, 60 percent, 
support his government.
I saw for myself demonstrations by tens 
of thousands of people who support President al-Assad when I visited 
Syria in August 2011 and in January 2012. Many of the international 
media, such as CNN, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, are waging an information
 war against Syria. They portray al-Assad's regime as suppressing the 
people and shooting peaceful protestors. This is not true. The real 
cause of the violence in Syria is the terrorist activities of some 
anti-government groups, which are armed and financed from abroad. This 
has already resulted in the deaths of 3,000 civilians and 2,000 soldiers
 and policemen.
If passed, the UN Security Council 
resolution would have given the leaders of NATO countries the excuse to 
begin military intervention in Syria. The consequences of such 
intervention, as was shown by NATO's military intervention in Libya, 
would be the deaths of thousands of Syrian civilians, and the 
opportunity for radical Islamic groups to increase their influence in 
the country. This would likely lead to civil war or the disintegration 
of Syria into five or more small states divided on religious and 
national lines. It would also result in the seizure of the Syrian 
arsenal by radical Islamic groups, who could then use them against the 
countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and against Russia.
The United States, the United Kingdom, 
France and Israel, as well as Turkey and the Arabic monarchies of the 
Persian Gulf, which now play a leading role in the League of Arab 
States, pursue a policy of pressuring the Syrian leadership to stand 
down and support the external Syrian National Council and armed 
opposition groups in Syria with the aim of overthrowing the al-Assad 
regime.