Love Survives
A friend sent me this pic just now, captioned by: “Puppeteers in Syria. When everything else fails, love survives.”
As long as war remains our go-to tactic for settling international disputes, we’re causing the mass suffering of millions of innocent children. And now, of course, we’ve taken all this misery and amplified it, by betraying our allies and helping despotic governments expand their control in the Middle East.
Craig,
For the first time in generations an elected US President has enough savvy to disengage the US military from interceding in pointless wars, they neither understand or resolve.
In 1956 Syria signed a pact with the USSR, that ally status was transferred to Russia upon the breakup of the old USSR. Since 1989, Syria has been aligned with Russia.
Like most hastily decolonized nations, modern Syria was a creation of the victorious Western powers at the end of WWI , with little regard for history or the ethnic mix of the people inhabiting the new nation. Prior to that, Syria had been part of the the Ottoman Empire since 1516.
Between WWI and WW2 Syria was controlled by France until the defeat of the Vichy French government by Anglo-Australian forces in 1941. The British expelled the last French administration in 1946.
Since 1970, Syrian politics have been dominated by the Ba’ath Syrian Party of Hafez al-Assad, and upon his death, his son Dr Bashar al-Assad.
Syria, like Iraq, is not an homogeneous society, In modern times the nation has simply been a collection of different tribes, peoples, languages and religious sects, continually at each others throats. Only the strong rule bay the Ba’athists has kept the country together.
What business has the US intervening in this quagmire? How can such intervention serve US interests?
In this conflict there is no side with similar values to the US. The US can serve no useful purpose, it’s just one more US intervention without any exist strategy.
The President is right! Withdrawing US troops is the right, and only strategy. The President is also right to “call it, as it is”. Candidly and openly.
For the democrats who only 2 months ago were calling for withdrawal, to now claim the President is wrong, is just hypocrisy and pathetic political opportunism.
All wars result in tragedies and suffering, even more so in the modern era where the line between civilians and combatants is often indistinguishable.
Sadly, the only lasting resolution to most civil wars requires such horrifying losses and a complete crushing victory by one side, all the parties lose the desire to recommence hostilities.
President Trump knows US power is best exerted economically, with military power being retained as a last resort.