Valdai Club

We in Iran believe that nothing can be gained from remaining prisoners of the past and perpetuating the old paradigm of purchasing security, bloc formations and alliances.  

Syria is only part of the big game Beijing has pursued since the middle of this decade. It wants to make its mark as a global power responsible for the fate of the Eurasian continent. In late November, China’s Night Tigers antiterrorist squad arrived at the Russian Tartus naval base in Syria. In the same month, it was announced that the Snow Leopards unit would be sent to Syria.

Once again I am pleased to attend an event organised by Valdai Discussion Club which has proved its usefulness. It is always heartening to see interested and engaged faces which express the wish of the participants to argue in order to arrive, if not at the truth, at least at some common approaches to extremely complex problems which, of course, cannot be solved in one sitting.

Last month, Russia held its long awaited “Syrian National Congress” in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, which pursued the ambitious goal of providing an umbrella platform for a wide spectrum of Syrians – including players not currently participating in the Geneva talks. While the Congress was initially conceptualized as an event to celebrate the victory of the regime and its allies over “terrorism” in Syria, it subsequently morphed into an initiative for launching a constitutional reform exercise.

The conflict in Yemen is different from the other crises created by the notorious “Arab Spring.” If Syria, Libya and Tunisia were stable states before the beginning of “colour revolutions,” Yemen since its unification in 1990 went through a series of conflicts and internal political crises which often turned into armed clashes. At the same time, Yemen remained one of the poorest Arab states, where all these conflict situations happened in the most negative way.

Ending the war would benefit everyone. If there is no peace, chaos will begin to expand to neighboring countries, and no one will escape. Ending the war is the key demand of our people, which is necessary for the return of our life, our country, security, stability, sovereignty and a life that the Yemenis deserve.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a protracted conflict that is unfolding for more than a century. All attempts to bring a peaceful solution of the conflict failed. The so-called Arab Spring, as well as fighting terrorism have moved the Arab-Israeli conflict to the sideline of international attention both regionally and internationally. Nevertheless, the Arab-Israeli conflict remains a major source of potential violence in the Middle East.