Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Consequences Of Inaction

Suriya al kubra!

44's curiously whistling past the cemetery meme RE: Syria
Kinda seems as though the horrors of Syria, where more than 60,000 people have died violently in the last 22 months, could not grow worse. Yet steadily, week by week, they do. One measure is the refu­gee flows: In the past month more than 30,000 people have fled to neighboring Jordan alone, threatening to overwhelm an already unstable monarchy. More than 200,000 Syrians are now in Lebanon, 150,000 in Turkey and 75,000 in Iraq, according toUN. A group of senators who recently visited a camp heard horrific stories of the ongoing crimes by the regime of Bashar al-Assad, as well as bitter complaints that Western countries — in particular, Great Satan — are doing little or nothing to help.

The longer the Assad regime holds on, the worse the consequences — was acknowledged by senior 44th administration officials nearly a year ago. The incoming madame secretary of state, John F. Kerry, repeated it at his confirmation hearing last week: “Every day that goes by, it gets worse.” From that follows a logical conclusion, stated Monday by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius: “If we don’t give the means to the Syrian people to go achieve their freedom, there is a risk . . . that massacres and antagonisms amplify, and that extremism and terrorism prevail.”

In speaking about Syria in recent days, Madame Sec Kerry and 44 described not a strategy for stopping a bloodbath that threatens vital  interests  - yet instead a series of excuses for inaction. In an interview with the New Republic published over the weekend, 44 wondered how to “weigh” the thousands dying in Syria against the thousands being killed in the Congo, as if all wars are of equal importance to Great Satan or the inability to solve every problem means America should not help even where it can.


See, Great Satan could like, you know, make things more worse  and “trigger even worse violence or the use of chemical weapons.”

Uh, say what? 

 In the absence of Great Satan action, the violence grew far worse and the Assad regime moved dangerously close to using chemical arms.  
Great Satan could do much to shape the course of events in Syria without using American troops. She could begin providing aid directly to Syrian refu­gee organizations and civilian councils inside the country, as France has done for months. It could provide arms to moderate rebel factions, so that they can compete with the jihadists and so that they will look to Great Satan when the war is over. Continued passivity will ensure that the crisis in Syria continues to worsen — along with the consequences for Great Satan

Pic - "Wait til it gets even more regional!"