An excellent question….but how should the world go about saving Syria from foreign domination?
I have been slack in my posting on the Middle East and all the violence…..I have recently obtained copies of the documents that were liberated in the Osama raid and I have been studying them looking for some signs of a way around all this violence and barbarity….
Syria is a conflict that begs for an answer and some sanity…….
There are many ways of conflict resolution….but will any of them be acceptable to all parties involved?
I could spend countless hours of the subject of conflict resolution but that would be for a class I teach….there is not enough interest or enough patience for me to cover the subject here……so I will bow to one Jeffrey Sachs and his proposal…..his solution is well thought out and logical….and there is the rub……there will be very little logic applied to any solution by the people playing with the existence of Syria……
Ending the war requires adherence to six principles. First, the US should cease both overt and covert operations to overthrow Syria’s government. Second, the UN Security Council should implement the ceasefire now under negotiation, calling on all countries, including the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and Iran, to stop arming and funding military forces within Syria.
Third, all paramilitary activities should cease, including those of so-called “moderates” backed by the US. Fourth, the US and Russia – and, indeed, the UN Security Council – should hold Syria’s government strictly responsible to desist from punitive actions against regime opponents. Fifth, the political transition should take place gradually and with confidence building on all sides, rather than through an arbitrary, destabilizing rush to “free elections.”
Finally, the Gulf States, Turkey, and Iran should be pressed to negotiate face to face on a regional framework that can ensure lasting peace. Arabs, Turks, and Iranians have all lived with each other for millennia. They, not the outside powers, should lead the way to a stable order in the region.
Let’s say this peace dealy works out badly……is there a plan “B”?
The United States said it was encouraged that the Syrian cessation of hostilities appeared to be holding, with no significant violations reported in the past day, as analysts said Russia was backing the truce because it feared a quagmire and talk of a US “Plan B.”
Source: If Syria cease-fire fails, what is Plan B? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
It is humorous to some that there may be a Plan”B” for Syria…..but it is no laughing matter…..especially for the people of Syria…..
When Arab streets exploded with fury, from Tunis to Sanaa, pan-Arabism seemed, then, like a nominal notion. Neither did the so-called “Jasmine Revolution” use slogans that affirmed its Arab identity, nor did angry Egyptian youth raise the banner proclaiming Arab unity atop the high buildings adjacent to Tahrir Square. Oddly, the Arabism of the “Arab […]
Atleast the first three points suggested seem unlikely as of date.
I agree……but as long as the deal can be extended there is a chance…a remote one but at least a chance….that is more they had before the deal….chuq
hope must always live on.
True….well said….chuq
chuq,
You may have noted my absence today; from the comments here. Since you already know why, you’ll know why I broke my diet, to enjoy four fingers of Mr. John Daniels’ Old No. 7 this evening. But, just on seeing the title, I had two thoughts, & my fingers just jumped up… Just remember, JD….
First, the title: No.
Second: Syria today remains, as it has been throughout history, located in a position that is strategic as a route between other important areas of economic viability, and, large population centers. In today’s world, it serves a collateral purpose, as an area of simple manipulation for conflict, as all the people there are either severely partisan, one way or another, as religious sectarians, or nationalists, or racists, or due to ignorance because of poverty and isolation from technology, the coin of modern life.
Thus, it is ripe for war, so the arms dealing oilgarchs, in jockeying for their own dominance, create ever widening spirals of violence, stirring up the fears of the poor and uninformed into violent conflagrations that seem to have, and actually do have little connection to reality, other than the passions of the people involved, all of which are already under the control of others, who don’t care for anyone but themselves.
Hmph. Guess I got a bit grumpier than I thought… fucking bureaucrats….
gigoid, the dubious
Oh…
P.S. I’m skipping the rest of today, and will possibly disappear tomorrow, too…. Tomorrow will tell, it always does….
See ya…
g, t d
I figured you were having a bad day….Jack is always a good diversion…personally I like Old Crow….hope all is well and feel better….chuq