Teach-In on Syria

On Thursday, September 19th Shepherd University's Political Science Department hosted a teach-in on Syria.

 Prior to the teach-in I had not taken the time to study or listen to the news on Syria. I wanted to learn the facts but I did not want any bias twist. The teachers in the Political Science Department presented the information beautifully.

Dr. Stephanie Slocum-Shaffer lead the discussion. First, she presented the current news. She explained that Obama asked congress to use force in Syria. Syria, as most people have heard, attacked using chemical weapons. Congress needs to pass a resolution in order for Obama to send ground troops. Once a resolution is purposed it goes through the same process as a bill. Once it is passed, it has force of law. If I understood correctly, a resolution has not been passed because the government is waiting to understand Russia's role in this situation.

After the current events, Dr. David Stump explained U.S. Policy and a chronological list of important interactions between the United States and the Middle East since Truman's turn. He also made it a point to specifically mention the relationships between Egypt, the Soviet Union, Iran, Syria, and the United States.

Dr. Aart Holtslag explained why the U.S. started acting against Syria's use of chemical weapons. He explained that the use of the chemical weapons was in violation of the chemical weapons convention. However, Syria was not a part of the convention. Conversely, Syria did sign an agreement for gasses in 1968 and in 2000 Syria signed a National Statute of Criminal Report that made an agreement against chemical weapons. In order for the United States to act and honor their position in the U.N., the U.N. Security Council would need to approve a declaration based on the resolution that the U.S. congress would need to pass. The U.N. Security Council will not approve a resolution for the U.S. to have ground troops in Syria unless it has been proven that there has been a breach of peace against the U.S. or that there is a need for self-defense. An additional concern is that if a resolution is passed there will have to be a reinforcer to hold the U.S. to its word.

Dr. Joseph Robbins explained Russia's role in this situation. Dr. Robbins mentioned Vladimir Putin's article in the New York Times. He presented the information from a factual stand-point. Dr. Robbins explained that the article appears that Putin has America's interest at heart, that Russia is concerned for international law, that Putin felt Syria had the right to use chemical weapons as an act of defense and finally, that Putin was concerned about unintended negative side effects. Although Dr. Robbins did not put his personal opinion into the discussion he did mention that the sincerity of the article has been put into question.

Early in the teach-in Dr. Stump mentioned that Syria and Russia were allies, but in closing, Dr. Robbins explained a few more reasons why Russia would be so concerned with Syria's foreign affairs. Economically Russia needs Syria. Russia has given billions of dollars toward Libyan and Iranian sanctions. Additionally, the last Russian base not on post Soviet Union ground is in Syria. Finally, oil is an issue. Iran and Russia want to run an oil-line from Syria to their countries.

There are, of course, a few outstanding issues as well.

• Russia thinks the U.S is hypocritical and that the country is not the golden democracy it appears to be.  
• Also, if there was a political fall-out, Russia is not interested in being overthrown by radical Muslims.
• Finally. Russia is looking to be pragmatic. 

Minus the Q&A portion of the teach-in, the professors only spoke for about an hour on Syria. I was extremely pleased to have attended the event. I do not feel as though I walked out of the teach-in with any kind of revolutionary conclusion. However, I feel far more informed than when I first walked in. 

Furthermore, there are aspects of the teach-in that I might have misunderstood. Although the information might be helpful in guiding someone's understanding on Syria, I would not quote the information above as fact without doing further research.