Middle East

Just when the situation in the Middle East was reaching boiling point and waiting to explode in the form of an expected US-led attack on Syria, a piece of smart and shrewd diplomacy by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin undid it all for the US.  Putin’s op-ed in the New York Times, while questioning the US plan of attacking Syria, without seeking UN approval, saw this as an attack not just on Syria but on the relevance, existence and future of UN itself, the organisation formed for achieving lasting world peace. Putin’s op-ed concluded with an astounding jolt to the global community and especially to the US, when he compared the fate of UN with the League of Nations, a precursor of UN in the post First World War era. This op-ed was the single most important factor that put the US on the defensive and brought it to the negotiations table with Russia on the issues concerning the situation in Syria and more particularly on the use of chemical weapons there.