Steven Sahiounie

While most Canadians would prefer to think of themselves as free of constraint from U.S. foreign policy, still history will show that most often Canada’s foreign policy is a mirror image of the US.

Politics are first and foremost in the international humanitarian response to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which devastated Turkey and Syria on February 6. The western humanitarian aid groups, and their partners in the western media, have lavished all the attention and aid on one small province alone in Syria: Idlib.

DamascusClose to 9 million people in Syria have been affected by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, 65 seconds in duration on February 6, that Turkish President Erdogan has compared with the power released by atomic bombs. The hardest hit areas are Latakia, Aleppo, and Idlib.

At least 780 are dead in Syria, with another 2,300 injured according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck at 4:17 am local time today.

In November 2022, Saudi Arabia formally changed its stance on Syria. Saudi Arabia is the political powerhouse of the Middle East, and often shares positions on foreign policy and international issues with the UAE, which has previously re-opened their embassy in Damascus.

Last week, the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Syria met in Moscow. This is the highest level meeting between the two countries who have been on opposite sides of the US-NATO war on Syria for regime change since 2011.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday: “We have launched a process as Russia-Turkey-Syria,” and added, “We will bring our foreign ministers together and then, depending on developments, we will come together as leaders.”

Lebanon needs up to $15 billion to rise from its present economic collapse which was decades in the making and can be blamed on the corrupt ruling elite who lined their pockets at the expense of the citizens, driving the country into financial ruin and deadly social turmoil.

The deadly attack in Paris laid open the wound of rampant racism in France. An attacker shot dead three people at a Kurdish cultural center and wounded another three persons. The attacker was arrested and had a history of immigrant attacks.

King Abdullah II of Jordan vowed on December 16 that “anyone who raises a weapon against the state will be dealt with firmly”.