Syria

This blog is generally not for anything of this kind, but seeing as it is a serious issue that will eventually affect all of us directly or indirectly I thought I would share my thoughts on the subject. If you disagree, that is completely your right. If you agree, then that is also completely your right. As Noam Chomsky says: "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."

After discussing the Syrian crises with various people ranging from my father with his seemingly idealistic thoughts, to colleagues at work with absolutely no interest in the matter, I have come to the conclusion that I probably agree with the idealistic thoughts the most.

Why, if there is a proven chain of command leading all the way up to Assad can't we in this supposedly modern day and age arrest him and those responsible for the use of chemical weapons and try them in the international court at De Hague? Is this not the reason why we have a world court? I would think that surely this will be a more effective manner in which to stop the bloodshed of innocent civilians and not by bombing "specific strategical targets" to send some sort of "warning".

Surely if it is indeed the case that Assad is guilty of attacking his own people with chemical weapons, bombing Syria will not deter him from attacking others. You would have to be really naive to think that a man and his followers who kill their own people won't kill you given the chance. There is in my mind just no way that there will not be retaliation. It will just fuel the fire and create even more civilian deaths and more instability in the region. That in my very humble opinion just seems to be a concrete fact even to someone like me with reasonably limited knowledge on the subject.

The US says that they can prove chemical weapons were used and that they can trace it all the way to the top. If they have this sort of proof, a criminal case can be made in the world court. Is it not as simple as that? It really is and should be as simple as that, but we all know it is not.

Where there is smoke, there is fire. Where there is war, there is oil. It might not be that simple either, but I have a suspicion that it probably is.