The Red Line Is About Time

Most people I speak to about the news (and most politicians that I see on the news) tend to be rather tentative about getting involved in the ongoing Syrian civil war. This mainly stems from the unnecessary war with Iraq, but I think there is a significant difference between the conflicts. Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Hans Blix and his U.N. weapons inspectors were doing a good job, albeit a little slowly; they would have eventually determined that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and rendered him militarily impotent. I know that it wouldn’t have been particularly moral to leave a previously brutal dictator like Hussein in power, but further political measures would hopefully have been deployed (e.g. harsh economic sanctions) that may have forced a new Iraqi dawn – as in Egypt and Tunisia – without having to resort to warfare. But Syria is different: it is the U.N. Security Council that has been rendered impotent this time with Russia / China and Britain / America / France in a seemingly permanent stalemate that prevents political implementations. So now that today it has been revealed that President Barack Obama’s ‘red line’ has been crossed (proof has been shown that Bashar al-Assad has been using chemical weapons), I’m pleased that the U.S. government has taken the decision to arm Syrian rebels; in fact, it’s about time. Just because Russia and China have their own immoral agendas to keep Assad in power, doesn’t mean that the rest of the world should sit idly by while tens of thousands of people are massacred, many of them innocent civilians. As much as it may be reasonable to avoid sending in the soldiers (so that we don’t get dragged into another Afghanistan) we still have a moral duty to intervene somehow. We were able to get rid of Colonel Gaddafi by helping rebels in Libya (though that was with more political consensus), and that country is certainly better off without him. So I hope that Obama is strong in his decision-making, and forces Assad to back down from genocide.

Let 'em fight!

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to dominate the news. Is it really necessary to deluge us with this unnecessary feud? I can't help feeling that both the Israelis and the Palestinians forgot a long, long time ago exactly what this war was about. Forget the territorial disputes (and that's what it was originally, purely territorial), the two countries simply desire - or indeed enjoy - vengeance, retaliation, and all out victorious demonstrations of power! The UN has been rendered redundant by the United States' unwillingness to condemn Israel because there is a large Jewish community in America. (The UN's veto system is another matter entirely!) But blame has to be apportioned equally between the two rival countries because neither of them has any moral high ground other than "they bombed us so we're bombing them"! It seems that no politicians have any recognition of an idealistic conflict of principles anymore. So, as far as I'm concerned, just let them fight it out amongst themselves. If Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, or any other Middle Eastern country wants to get involved, then let them. The morality disappeared long ago. Until these countries are able to realise the simple principle that killing is wrong, there is little hope left for any of them. Sorry if that sounds a little bleak, but perhaps we should focus a bit more on our own social morality.