Russia on UN Troops for Syria: No Peace to Keep

Western Calls for UN Monitors Shot Down as Fighting Continues

Western calls to install a “UN peacekeeping force” in Syria have been shot down by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which noted that there is no peace for them to keep in the middle of a civil war.

Calls for UN action have been common enough, but other than a brief period when UN monitors were deployed to monitor a ceasefire, only to be withdrawn when rebels disavowed the ceasefire, the UN has not deployed into the country.

The idea that the UN could impose an end to fighting is implausible, as Western estimates for their own occupations have suggested it would take an enormous number of troops to conquer Syria, let alone do so while fighting both regime and rebels. The UN simply doesn’t have the troops.

Russian officials say that the effort to approve some sort of UN force is simply an effort to get something through the UN that NATO can use as justification for their own invasion. This has meant most UN Security Council resolutions have been vetoed by Russia as too vague, or vetoed by NATO members for being not vague enough.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.