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The world seems to go from one drama to another. Right now the drama is Syria and the civil war that is going on there. The situation there has managed to eclipse the drama enfolding in Egypt - something that dominated the media for weeks.
It is two years since the trouble in Syria started. In that reasonably short space of time over 100,000 people have been killed and many more badly wounded. In addition, several million are now refugees and living under difficult conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Now, during the past week or two we have been told that some 1,429 people including 426 children were killed as a result of the use of chemical weapons. That being the case, the word "genocide" comes clearly to the forefront of my mind. The affects of this civil war have spread beyond the borders of Syria. Jordan is a small country and it is a struggle for the economy there to support this huge influx of refugees. Western countries say they send aid, but when you see the figures it is far short of the amount required to feed and clothe such a huge number of people who have nothing.
I don't like war - I have seen a lot of it and seen first hand the cruelties that take place during wars as well as the after effects. None of it is pretty. Somehow it has to stop and if the powers-that-be really put their heads together, I truly believe peace can be found - so long as they think of the interests of people, and not just the interests of big business and power. I am not in favour of air strikes on Syria or an invasion - look what happened in Iraq. I applaud the British Parliament refusing to get involved in air strikes and also the Germans for saying they would not be a part of it either. I understand from today's news that Australia stated likewise. There has to be another way although I am fairly certain that Mr. Obama will go ahead and do something dramatic anyway even though CNN reported today that 64% of the American people were against a strike.
Alright - now why do I headline this piece with "SAME, SAME AGAIN!"? Because it is just that and strike or no strike, the world - especially those who call themselves leaders, be they American, Russian, Chinese, British, French or whatever - have got to ensure there is not another "same, same again" situation cropping up in another few years.
Let me explain, if I can. During the Vietnam war, America with what has been referred to as the Kissinger/Nixon secret bombing programme dropped more bombs on this small Kingdom of Cambodia (which wasn't even in the war) than they dropped during the whole of World War II. Towns, villages and people as well as swathes of jungle were eradicated. At the time, Cambodia was not important to western thinking. That thinking continued unto the 1970's and when the Khmer Rouge came to power the western powers knew about their plans and promptly withdrew all their people from the country leaving it to the mercy of the Khmer Rouge who managed to kill off almost 2-million people before they were defeated in 1979. Genocide at its worst. The French went even further. Some dozen or so member of the Cambodian Royal Family as well as other people also went to the French Embassy here in Phnom Penh for asylum and protection. Although the Ambassador and Embassy staff were well aware what would happen to them if they were not pretected, they just handed them over to the Khmer Rouge withut a thought. None of those unfortunate people were ever heard of again. The West knew what was happening, but just sat and watched. When I think of it I find it embarrassing to be a westerner. Genocide was rampant, but no one intervened.
Remember the civil war in Rwanda? Almost a million members of the Tutsi tribe were massacred by the Hutus within a space of not years - but just weeks. Genocide at its worst again. The West knew what was happening but just stood by and watched. Rwanda was not a very important little country. Remember in the 90's the war in the Baltics and the horrific massacre of hundreds of young men in Serbia? Admittedly eventually Nato stepped in and bombed thus ending the war, but the West knew what was happening and did nothing until thousands of innocent people had died. Serbia was not an important little country. These things must not happen again. If there is an air strike in Syria, let us hope it is just one and there is not another.
This whole Syrian situation should make the powers-that-be stop acting like they own the world and are better than anyone else. Situations like this should be acted upon right at the beginning before they get out of hand.
It is time we realized that the world is just one big family. I have lived in many countries and I have been to every continent except Antarctica and everywhere I have gone I have found friendship and kindness and have never felt "out of it" in the sense of being a stranger. If I needed help I found it. So why don't we treat the world as a family? Are we afraid one member will become more powerful than us - how childish. In our own families, if one member has something wrong - gets ill or has a problem, other members normally come at once and help and sort it out before it gets too bad.
There will be dramas in the future in other countries to be sure, but it is the duty of the rest of the world to immediately get together and vigoriously solve the problem before it gets to the state of where Syria now finds itself. The countries of the world and their leaders have a duty towards one another and not just to their own interests.
