Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Russophobia pp 229–253Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Humanitarian Interventionism: The Road Towards Regime Change in Syria

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 683 Accesses

Abstract

Russia’s intervention in Syria marked an end to a string of Western regime-change wars, making the Syrian war one of the main conflicts between the West and Russia. Wars have historically been sold as being in the service of justice and virtue, which evidently makes the concept of humanitarian interventionism vulnerable to propaganda. While the West has promoted regime change as a means towards a humanitarian objective, the evidence suggests that humanitarian propaganda has been the means towards regime change as a geostrategic objective.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Amnesty International. (2019, April 1). War in Raqqa: Rhetoric versus reality. Amnesty International.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC. (2013, September 7). Syria: ‘This is our Munich moment’, says John Kerry. BBC.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC. (2018, April 18). Admiral Lord West casts doubt on Syria attack. BBC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaumont, P., Vulliamy, E., & Beaver, P. (2001, March 11). CIA’s bastard army ran riot in Balkans’ backed extremists. The Guardian.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellamy, A. J., & Williams, P. D. (2011). The new politics of protection? Côte d’Ivoire, Libya and the responsibility to protect. International Affairs, 87(4), 825–850.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumenthal, M. (2019). The management of savagery. Verso Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohm, M. (2012, June 7). Putin has a responsibility to protect Syrians. The Moscow Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd-Barrett, O. (2021). Conflict propaganda in Syria: Narrative battles. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, D. (2020, May 13). U.S. Syria representative says his job is to make the war a ‘Quagmire’ for Russia. Newsweek.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulos, N., Hennigan, W. J., & Bennett, B. (2016, March 27). In Syria, militias armed by the Pentagon fight those armed by the CIA. Los Angeles Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, A. (1999). Communications lessons for NATO, the military and media. The RUSI Journal, 144(4), 1–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chacko, B. (2019, November 11). White Helmets founder James Le Mesurier found dead in Istanbul. Morning Star.

    Google Scholar 

  • CNN. (2005, October 12). Al-Assad: ‘Syria has nothing to do with this crime’. CNN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, W. (2007, March 2). Interview with General Wesley Clark. Democracy Now.

    Google Scholar 

  • CSIS. (2019, November 1). Syria in the Gray Zone. Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, F. (2021, May 1). Syria regime change still on Western agenda: Ex-ambassador Peter Ford. Islam Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, R. J. (2011, July 12). Clinton: Assad has ‘lost legitimacy’. Politico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farkas, E. N. (2018, February 26). Russia is abetting mass murder in Syria. The Atlantic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisk, R. (2018, April 17). The search for truth in the rubble of Douma—And one doctor’s doubts over the chemical attack. The Independent.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forte, M. C. (2012). Slouching towards Sirte: NATO’s war on Libya and Africa. Baraka Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guardian. (2013, August 31). Syria intervention plan fueled by oil interests, not chemical weapon concern. The Guardian.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadjimatheou, C. (2021, February 27). Mayday: How the White Helmets and James Le Mesurier got pulled into a deadly battle for truth. BBC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammond, P. (2000). Reporting “Humanitarian” warfare: Propaganda, moralism and NATO’s Kosovo war. Journalism Studies, 1(3), 365–386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman, E. S., & Peterson, D. (2010). The politics of genocide. New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hersh, S. (2007, March 5). The redirection. The New Yorker.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hersh, S. (2014, April 17). The red line and the rat line: Seymour M. Hersh on Obama, Erdoğan and the Syrian rebels. London Review of Books (Vol. 36, No. 8).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitchens, P. (2019, November 28). Bellingcat or guard dog for the establishment? Daily Mail.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley, A. (1937). Words and behaviour. The Olive Tree, pp. 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judah, T. (2002). Kosovo: War and revenge. Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judicial Watch. (2015, May 18). Defense, state department documents reveal Obama administration knew that al Qaeda terrorists had planned Benghazi attack 10 days in advance. Judicial Watch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, R. F. (2016, February 23). Why the Arabs don’t want us in Syria. Politico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissinger, H. (1999, June 28). Interview with Henry Kissinger. The Daily Telegraph.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klussman, U. (2008, September 8). Russia’s restless Muslim republics. Spiegel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, R., & Postol, T. A. (2014, January 14). Possible implications of faulty US technical intelligence in the Damascus nerve agent attack of August 21, 2013. MIT Science, Technology, and Global Security Working Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loveluck, L., & Sly, L. (2016, September 25). U.S. accuses Russia of ‘barbarism’ and war crimes in Syria. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maté, A. (2020, December 9). OPCW execs praised whistleblower & criticized Syria cover-up, leaks reveal. Consortium News.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matveyev, A. (1999). Washington’s claims to world leadership. International Affairs, 45(5), 53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazzetti, M., Goldman, A., & Schmidt, M. S. (2017, August 2). Behind the sudden death of a $1 billion secret C.I.A. War in Syria. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milbank, D., & Deane, C. (2003, September 6). Hussein Link to 9/11 Lingers in many minds. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milne, S. (2015, June 3). Now the truth emerges: How the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq. The Guardian.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nohrstedt, S. A., Kaitatzi-Whitlock, S., Ottosen, R., & Riegert, K. (2000). From the Persian Gulf to Kosovo—War journalism and propaganda. European Journal of Communication, 15(3), 383–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Obama, B. (2015, September 28). UN ideals point the way to solving the world’s crises, US president tells annual Assembly debate. United Nations News.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obama, B. (2018). Public papers of the presidents of the United States: Barack Obama—Book II—July 1 to December 21, 2013. United States Government Publishing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radu, M. (1999, April 1). Don’t arm the KLA. Foreign Policy Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • RAND. (2008). Unfolding the future of the long war: Motivations, prospects, and implications for the U.S. Army, RAND Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, J. (2018). Ending America’s war of choice in the Middle East. Horizons: Journal of International Relations and Sustainable Development, 11, 20–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanger, D. E. (2011, April 2). The larger game in the Middle East: Iran. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanger, D. E. (2012, October 14). Rebel arms flow is said to benefit Jihadists in Syria. The New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selk, A. (2017, April 8). MSNBC host’s conspiracy theory: What if Putin planned the Syrian chemical attack to help Trump. The Washington Post.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shupak, G. (2018, March 7). Media erase US role in Syria’s misery, call for US to inflict more misery. FAIR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siberell, J. (2016, June 2). Country reports on terrorism 2015. US State Department.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simons, G. (2016). News and Syria: Creating key media moments in the conflict. Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1), 1170583.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skelton, C. (2012, July 12). The Syrian opposition: Who’s doing the talking? The Guardian.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, J. (2019, November 15). The OPCW and Douma: Chemical weapons watchdog accused of evidence-tampering by its own inspectors. Counterpunch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, P. M. (2003). Munitions of the mind: A history of propaganda from the ancient world to the present era. Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsygankov, A. (2009). Russophobia: Anti-Russian lobby and American foreign policy. Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • US Department of State. (1999). Rambouillet Agreement: Interim Agreement for Peace and Self-Government in Kosovo. US Department of State. https://1997-2001.state.gov/www/regions/eur/ksvo_rambouillet_text.html

  • Van Wagenen, W. (2022, January 31). Creative Chaos: How U.S. planners sparked the anti-government protests of the so-called Arab Spring in Syria. The Libertarian Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viswanatha, A. (2021, September 11). FBI makes public long-secret memo on 9/11 investigation. The Wall Street Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wikileaks. (2006, December 6). Influencing the SARG in the end of 2006. Wikileaks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wikileaks. (2019, 27 December). OPCW-Douma - Release Part 4. Wikileaks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfgram, M. A. (2008). Democracy and propaganda: NATO’s war in Kosovo. European Journal of Communication, 23(2), 153–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WSJ. (2005, December 6). Syria debate exposes Iraq fault lines. The Wall Street Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zabad, I. (2017). Middle Eastern minorities: The impact of the Arab spring. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zollmann, F. (2017). Media, propaganda and the politics of intervention. Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South-Eastern Norway (USN), Vestfold, Norway

    Glenn Diesen

Authors
  1. Glenn Diesen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Glenn Diesen .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Diesen, G. (2022). Humanitarian Interventionism: The Road Towards Regime Change in Syria. In: Russophobia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1468-3_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation