The Syrian crisis is no longer a purely Syrian affair. Its wider dimension was highlighted 4 February 4 when Russia and China cast their veto at the UN Security Council, thereby aborting a western-backed Arab Resolution, which had called on President Bashar Al Assad to step down.
At a stroke, the debate was no longer simply about Syria’s internal power struggle. Instead, with their vetoes, Moscow and Beijing were saying that they too had interests in the Middle East, which they were determined to protect. The region was no longer an exclusive western preserve under the hegemony of the US and its allies.
Russia has decades-old interests in the Middle East, in Syria in particular. As a major customer of Iranian oil, China does not approve of western sanctions against Tehran. Nor does it take kindly to US attempts to contain its influence in the Asia-Pacific region. There is a hint in the air of a revived cold war...
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/syrian-crisis-and-the-familiar-rumblings-of-a-cold-war-1.978411