SYRIA’S REDLINES AND GREYLINES By Ghassan Kadi 11 June 2017

SYRIA’S REDLINES AND GREYLINES:
By Ghassan Kadi
11 June 2017

When President Assad and the gallant Syrian Army decided that Syria was to stand up against the multi-national conspiracy against her, fought against all odds, certain of victory but preferred to risk to go down standing rather than surrendering long before she earned the respect and support of friends who eventually came to her aid, she had nothing up her sleeve other than her redlines.

Those redlines were and still are underpinned by her sovereignty and integrity, and her laws that reflect those principles.

Like all other nations and states, it is up to Syria and Syria alone to decide what her redlines are, and in times of crisis, when friends come to one’s aid, Syria is not alone in expecting her friends and supporters to know and understand what her redlines are; otherwise, how on earth can those friends and supporters discern where the defence lines would be drawn and what to uphold?

Not even Syria’s President would cross those redlines, and the very reason why he received so much popular support, why the overwhelming majority of Syrians stood by him and regarded him as the voice, the embodiment of all of what is good in Syria, why the Syrian Army remained defiant against all odds, and why Syria won her war, was because President Assad has set the precedent, the perfect example as he cherished and symbolized Syria’s unwavering principles, redlines, and the laws that define those principles and redlines.

It is therefore most unacceptable for patriotic Syrians to see supposed supporters trying to impose what their own redlines are; not only on other people who are meant to be supporters, but on the nation as a whole.

Until the laws of Syria change, if they change by the natural course of the democratic process that is in place, those laws need to be respected and adhered to, just like the laws of any other nation. And if and when those laws change, they will change in accordance with the will of the people; not in accordance with the fantasies and agendas of couch activists, personal profile builders, fund-thirsty opportunists, gate-keepers, propagandists and religious freaks and zealots of different descriptions.

And when any of such suspicious characters are not Syrian, if they have any integrity at all, they must understand that there is a bigger onus on them to stay away from the law-making process of Syria; because this is a matter for Syrians and not for them. And if they truly support Syria, they should be demanding to stay out of imposing their own vision, but do they?

The true friends of Syria do, and they are highly appreciated for their unconditional support, but those who pretend to be friends are in a totally different paradigm.

Some alleged supporters of Syria, alleged Syrian patriots or otherwise, think that they have a mandate to decide how to stretch the laws of Syria and put themselves in a position to decide what laws can be stretched and broken. Among other things, they believe that they have the right to decide what constitutes a breach of Syrian laws even when it comes to matters relating to national security; including matters that relate to the steadfast position of Syria against Israel.

What is more ironic and most audacious is that those same people accuse anyone, including genuine Syrian patriots, who question their self-given mandate to break Syrian law as enemies of Syria. Inadvertently and perhaps subconsciously, they are referring to those patriots as personal enemies, only and simply because they feel challenged by them as they expose their agendas.

But redlines can only be seen by people of colour vision and those who are able to discern red from black. But those with colour blindness are only able to see a reflection of their own shades of grey and confusion.

It is not within the power or mandate of anyone to make claims about what Syria should accept, who to allow on her soil, what should be deemed acceptable and not acceptable by Syria; outside what is stipulated within Syrian law.

To those who believe they are above Syria’s law, we say: Hands off Syria.