Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-putin-meets-syrias-assad-moscow-2021-09-14/
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad met with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday, September 13. The presidents met at The Kremlin in Russia, where they discussed the ongoing conflict in Syria between Assad’s regime and Insurgent groups. Assad thanked Putin for aiding him in the conflict, with Russia having deployed its air force in Syria since 2015, as well as providing humanitarian aid to Syrian citizens. Putin praised Assad for controlling “90 percent,” of the territory, a statistic which runs contrary to the U.N.’s estimated 70 percent. One of the main topics of discussion was the U.S. and Turkish forces occupying Syria. Putin stated that the occupation of Syria by these armies “contradicts international law,” and that it undermines the Syrian government’s ability to recover from the decade-long war. Assad agreed with Putin, alluding to the U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria as “anti-human.”
The opinions and discourse between Assad and Putin here comes as no surprise to anyone that has followed these leaders. The Syrian and Russian governments have been allies since World War II, and both Assad and Putin have been explicitly against the U.S. and Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war. From the Syrian government’s perspective, the U.S. is their enemy since they are backing the Kurds, and the Turks have been fighting Syria since the beginning of the war. The war also allows Russia to display it’s military power, thus boosting the arms sales from the country.
The article relates to our class through the idea of global actors. Both Putin and Assad are the heads of state in their respective countries and could be considered the heads of government with the power they have. Both countries would also be considered examples of anocracies; the elections in Russia and Syria are widely considered to not be free and fair. Other examples of global actors are the insurgents in the Syrian civil war like IS and Al-Qaeda, who would be considered non-state actors. There are also the autonomous regions in Syria such as AANES, which could be considered stateless nations.