Assad explains why Syria is sticking with Russia
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine will shape the world order, the Syrian president told RT
Syrian President Bashar Assad has told RT that Damascus is backing Russia’s military operation in Ukraine both out of loyalty and commitment to an “international equilibrium.” Assad, whose country has weathered sanctions and a US military intervention, has accused Washington of using the dollar to commit “robbery” on a global scale.
Within hours of Russia launching its offensive on Ukraine in February, President Vladimir Putin took a call from Assad, during which the Syrian leader “stressed that Syria stands with the Russian Federation, based on its conviction of the correctness of its position,” according to a readout of the call from Damascus.
“We can view Russia from two perspectives,” Assad told RT at the weekend. “The first is that of an ally: If our ally triumphs in the battle, or if their political position is strengthened… then this is a win for us as well.
“From a second perspective, Russia’s power today constitutes a restoration, albeit partial, of an international equilibrium. This rebalance that we are witnessing will impact smaller countries, including Syria,” he continued.
Assad has been a staunch ally of Putin since 2015, when Russia launched a military campaign in Syria that helped defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and the collection of militias and Western-backed terrorist groups opposing Assad’s government.
To the Syrian president, Russia’s current struggle with the West – described by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as a “war by proxy” – predates the First World War, and will continue as long as the US dollar remains the world’s reserve currency.
“If the dollar continues to govern the world economy, nothing will change, regardless of the results of the war [in Ukraine],” he explained. “Using the dollar is not blackmail, it is robbery,” he continued, claiming that the Nixon administration’s decision to decouple the dollar’s value from that of gold in the 1970s made it “a worthless piece of paper.”
“The United States still continues to trade around the world using this worthless piece of paper. This is robbery, and it applies to the whole world,” he said.
https://www.rt.com/news/556890-assad-russia-ukraine-interview/