Saudi Arabia acting hypocritically over Syria: Pundit

Press TV has interviewed Derek Ford, a scholar and professor in Philadelphia, about Damascus saying Saudi Arabia is not qualified to participate in efforts to resolve the four-and-a-half-year crisis gripping Syria.

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It is certainly ironic, is it not professor that we would have the likes of the Saudis trying to come up with a solution for the freedom and democracy of the Syrian people when obviously the internal situation of Saudi Arabia is quite obvious to the world?

Ford: Yes absolutely. I think that Saudi Arabia is without a doubt objectively one of the most repressive places on earth, one of the most undemocratic. The Saudi people have been suffering under years of dictatorial rule whereas in Syria there are elections. There have been elections even in the crisis of this proxy war, this terrible war. There have been elections in which opposition groups have actually gained some power and the Syrian people have also, I think it is always important to remember they voted on an entirely new constitution very early on in this conflict, one which reversed a lot of the policies that some of the people in Syria were unhappy with. And so it is absolutely hypocritical on that level for sure. It is really laughable.

Press TV: So then where does this all going to end up because as you said obviously there has been some democratic process already in Syria but then we have the likes of the Saudis, Turkey involved as well Qatar and obviously the West involved and now these talks in Vienna. Do you think that we will come to some sort of a political resolution here?  

Ford: I have to agree with the previous analyst. I think that Russia’s direct military involvement in coordination with Syria has definitely helped the legitimate Syrian government and the actual popular forces in Syria made a lot of advances and I think that the United States, it is clear that the overthrow of the government which has been predicted since so early on we would have heard countless times that Assad days are numbered and now that is actually a laughable assertion also and it is clear that the US is not going to get what it wants out of this and I think the hope is that Syrian forces in coordination with Hezbollah and Russia and Iran can get enough stability in the country so they can actually implement a long-term political solution to this.

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