Politic?

This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Honourable People

Truly, it is refreshing to see that for a change the United Nations Human Rights Commission has been diverted from its usual trumpet call of outrage against the State of Israel for purported human rights abuses, to focus on the situation in Syria. And that certainly is some situation of note in Syria. A real dogs' breakfast of principals from the Baathist Alawite regime to Hezbollah involvement, and even Hamas guerrillas alongside the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds division, advising President al-Assad on better deployment of troops firing on Syrian civilians.

Facing off against them is a hodge-podge of Sunni opponents who take exception that the minority Shia Alawite rulers have oppressed the majority population for far too long. Equally obsessed with righting that wrong, are Sunni terrorists, making their jihadist pilgrimage from Iraq and Algeria, Libya and Somalia. And now, the Sunni Free Syrian militias are even receiving arms from Bosnia and Kosovo with an al-Qaeda flavour, specifically meant for the al-Nusra terrorists.

The membership makeup of the UN HRC is fascinating, for among them can be found states like Nigeria, China, Libya, Congo, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, all laudably respectable representatives of human rights-observing countries of impeccable repute. These are those who sit in judgement, frequently, on Israel. For the time being, they have diverted what has become a traditional scapegoat for their own failings to Syria.

They have come to the conclusion, after roughly 70,000 deaths in almost two years of revolutionary fervour and regime response, that Syria's violence was not diminishing, but increasing "aggravated by increasing sectarianism", radicalized by the increasing presence of foreign jihadists. The conflict, they state, was "becoming more militarized, because of the proliferation of weapons and types of weapons used."

"The issue of accountability for those responsible for international crimes deserves to be raised in a more robust manner to counter the pervasive sense of impunity in the country", states the panel's 131-page report. And Navi Pillay, the top human rights official of the UN insists that Syria must be referred to the International Criminal Court; so all eyes now turn toward the Security Council.

"It's incredible the Security Council doesn't take a decision", fumed Ms. del Ponte, formerly chief prosecutor for international tribunals on the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. A referral must be compelled "because crimes are continuing, and the number of victims is increasing day to day. Justice must be done." Amen. The hundreds of thousands of refugees that have streamed out of Syria and continue to crowd camps in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon are anxious to see that happen.


Those who have been slaughtered have no voice in the matter. And the atrocities and the slaughter, the torture and the abductions have taken place on both sides; by the regime and by their opponents. Children as young as eight years of age are said to have been detained and tortured. Arbitrary arrests and confinements, torture and death have become a way of life leading to torment and a failed state.

There is something familiar about all of this. We have seen the reciprocal carnage that took place in Iraq after the downfall of Saddam Hussein when the dire antipathies between Sunni and Shia were unleashed there. And the atrocities continue to this day. We have seen them on a more muted scale elsewhere in the Middle East, from Bahrain to Tunisia, Egypt to Saudi Arabia. And the assaults in Somalia, Yemen, Algeria and Mali speak to the humanization of tribal sectarianism.

Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to be the site of ongoing brutal attacks, the jihadist militias seeking their revenge for whatever reason that suits their spirit of Muslim inspiration, to draw rivers of blood on those they consider their enemies and heretics because their devotion is inspired by a different version of Islamic tradition and heritage.

Still, where there is life, there is hope that sanity may prevail. The Syrian opposition, spurred on by Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, has made a proposal through its coalition president Mouaz al-Khatib, that it welcomes dialogue with some members of the Baath party, but only "honourable people", who "have not been embroiled in the crimes against the Syrian people."

"All Syrians must work within the framework of this program to resolve the crisis in the country", Syrian Parliament Speaker Jihad Laham pleaded. "All Syrians, from all sects and orientations, to confront the terrorism facing us."  Speaking from a different perspective, Syrian Prime Minikster Wael al-Halqi bemoans the difficult conditions caused by international sanctions placed on Syria which "are beyond the capacity and ability of any country to bear."

He spoke of the "negative impact" on the health sector that has resulted from the war and the European Union, U.S. and Arab states' economic blockade. One might venture to suggest that the regime's habit of firing upon Syrian civilians anxiously awaiting daily bread handouts at their local bakeries has created quite a negative impact on the health of those who have had artillery fire change their lives forever.

Rebel attacks, he insists however, had an impact of damaging 2,500 high schools, and caused serious power outages reducing electricity distribution disastrously. The regime is able to meet only 40% of the country's energy needs because of rebel attacks on oil refineries. And now, increasingly sectarian clashes have brought remote rural villages into sectarian war with one another; descending completely into civil, religious-and-tribal-based conflict.

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