You don't need more
than a pair of eyes to see that what is happening in Syria is nothing
less than a modern day tragedy and that something needs to be done to
put an end the the slaughter of innocent civilians.
What started as a
negligible conflict with odd mentions in the forgettable pages of
newspapers has grown on to the front page of every newspaper and the
subject of discussion around dinner tables across the world. Syria in
now in a state of civil war and someone needs to go in and put an end
to it before more innocent lives are lost. But not the West.
For centuries now, the
Western world, the US and UK in particular, has charged around the
rest of the world with the purpose of correcting all its ills. With a
swagger and bravisimo that can only be likened to that of a rapper or
an arrogant public school boy, it has gone across continents and
people, flattening everything in its way and executing its own
version of justice on evil dictators for no apparent reward but the
sight of children with decayed teeth chasing cameras and army vans
down dusty roads.
While we in the West,
often cushioned from reality by our form of civilisation and the
illusion of choice, smile to ourselves and discuss how gracious we
are for stepping in to help the helpless who would have otherwise
been trodden by their oppressor, we often forget that the normalcy
that we leave with them can be also be as strange to them as the
chaos we went in to fix was to us.
Syria, like the rest of
the Middle East, is a unique tapestry of long standing issues and
conflicts. The knowledge of the intricacies of these issues and how
best to deal with them is only available to those who have grown up
in and around it. Interference from the likes of the US and UK in
these sort of conflicts will do nothing less than add another layer
of conflict that leaves everyone involved even more uncomfortable.
Also, if history tells
us anything about the West charging across the world to solves
problems, it's that the West gets it horribly wrong more often than
not. Think Iraq 1991. Think Iraq 2003. Think Afghanistan 1979. Think
Afghanistan today
If the true intention
of the West is the solve the crisis so that the people of Syria will
live in peace, then it has to get the Arab League involved. If by
some miracle this current crisis is solved by blowing up some
strategic targets or arming the rebels, it is only a matter of time
before conflict starts in another country in the region. What then?
The West needs to put its ego aside and the lack of respect for the
way of life in the Middle East and hand over the initiative. Otherwise, this could be the beginning of an even uglier series of events.
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