Arab League – puppet of West?

Syria is becoming increasingly isolated with its neighbors turning their backs on it. Some believe that the Arab League and especially the Gulf states are doing the bidding of the West by putting more pressure on Damascus.

Following the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria’s membership of the bloc, Jordan’s King Abdullah has called on President Assad to step down, becoming the first Arab ruler to do so.“I believe, if I were in his shoes, I would step down,” he told the BBC.“I would step down and make sure whoever comes behind me has the ability to change the status quo that we're seeing,” the Jordanian monarch added.Along with other regional powers, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Jordan has been very critical of President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on the months-long uprising.Beirut-based political analyst Kamel Wazne, who spoke to RT, believes that Syria's neighbors, namely the Gulf states, are being used as puppets of the United States. He pointed out that they host US military bases and maintain US power in the region.“The western world is trying to impose its will on the Syrian people and on the Syrian government,” Wazne said. “We can see the West giving orders to the Arab League to suspend its membership and to go with the escalation against Syria.”The political analyst says the West and Arab countries should recalculate their role in the conflict and help Syrians to reconcile instead of instigating more differences among them.“The West is interested in maintaining its interest. They lost Iraq, they want to compensate for it in Syria,” he argues.“And now it’s pushing the Arabs to play their dirty role.”