Western countries sabotage Syria peace plans: Analyst

US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says, if elected, he would work with the US allies to arm the insurgents fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

This comes as a group of Syrian political parties have held a forum in the country’s capital, Damascus, to discuss a peaceful solution to the unrest in the Arab state.

The participants of the meeting said political dialogue, national reconciliation and fighting terrorism are the sole means to restoring security.

The Syrian figures reiterated that their country is entangled in an international conspiracy by some Arab and Western countries, adding that the unity of the Syrians would foil any plots.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the insurgents are foreign nationals, mostly from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Michael Chossudovsky, Center for Research on Globalization, from Montreal, to further discuss the issue. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: When Romney says that Washington’s ambition is to impose American values in Syria, what do you think American values imply exactly?

Chossudovsky: Well, I’m a little bit confused as to Romney’s interpretation of Western values. For me, Western values actually come from Mesopotamia. They come from the ancient Aramaic language which is still spoken in Syria.

That is the cradle of Western civilization. That’s where Christianity was born. That’s where both the New Testament and the Old Testament were written and formulated in Aramaic. And Aramaic is still spoken in Syria.

If Romney wants to support Western values, it’s not by channeling weapons to al-Qaeda and to an opposition which is integrated by terrorists and which, ultimately, these military formations reject what I understand as Western values — which are the values of the Western world but also of the Middle East.

Press TV: We’ve earlier discussed the possibility of a full-scale military intervention by NATO in Syria, starting off with Turkey first getting involved. We’re already seeing shelling across the border.

Right now, as these countries beat the drums of war against Syria, where is the UN Arab League Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi? Where is the so-called six-point peace plan that was put forth by Kofi Annan?

Chossudovsky: Well, it would seem that the same Western countries which have put forth these peace plans are now involved in, ultimately, boycotting or undermining these peace plans.

Turkey has threatened military intervention in Syria based on very tenuous evidence that Syrian armed forces shelled a border city inside Turkish territory. The New York Times says that there’s no evidence one way or the other as to who actually committed these acts of shelling.

Turkey is already within Syrian territory, supporting the rebels, providing them with weapons and so on. I should mention that there’s a lot of opposition inside Turkey to any kind of military adventure which could lead to a full-fledged war with Syria.

Press TV: Let’s hope cooler heads prevail.