Syrian activists on Twitter are starting a campaign today with the hashtag #WakeUpUNSC. I have been invited, along with others, to create my own tweets with this tag, in an attempt to make this trend worldwide and presumably this is intended to catch the eye of those with influence enough to get the UNSC to wake up.
Now, asides from questioning whether this will actually achieve anything, there is a more important aspect to consider and those are the implications of foreign intervention. This is a sore point, especially in the Middle East, where foreign intervention has led to a reinstatement of de facto colonialism. Iraq represents an extremely valid case in point. The Washington Post estimated the true cost of the war with Iraq to have been $3 trillion, a number which seems inconceivable but when you look at what it has achieved, one can only lament at whether it was worth the human life and suffering that ensued.
Even sanctions on Iraq in the 90s, had disastrous consequences on the development of the country as John Pilger reported:
This post is simply a jumble of my own personal thoughts and reactions but I can only end on the fact that inside Syria itself, though, there has been no call for external military intervention – the people are opposed to any foreign meddling. The very thought of being showered from the sky with bombs and watching your home explode around you seems to me the darkest nightmare anyone can envisage so why are those on the outside wishing it on their brothers and sisters within?
Now, asides from questioning whether this will actually achieve anything, there is a more important aspect to consider and those are the implications of foreign intervention. This is a sore point, especially in the Middle East, where foreign intervention has led to a reinstatement of de facto colonialism. Iraq represents an extremely valid case in point. The Washington Post estimated the true cost of the war with Iraq to have been $3 trillion, a number which seems inconceivable but when you look at what it has achieved, one can only lament at whether it was worth the human life and suffering that ensued.
Even sanctions on Iraq in the 90s, had disastrous consequences on the development of the country as John Pilger reported:
"The change in 10 years is unparalleled, in my experience," Anupama Rao Singh, Unicef's senior representative in Iraq, told me. "In 1989, the literacy rate was 95%; and 93% of the population had free access to modern health facilities. Parents were fined for failing to send their children to school. The phenomenon of street children or children begging was unheard of. Iraq had reached a stage where the basic indicators we use to measure the overall well-being of human beings, including children, were some of the best in the world. Now it is among the bottom 20%. In 10 years, child mortality has gone from one of the lowest in the world, to the highest."One could argue that by effectively disabling a country in such a way, this is serving certain interests which seek to render the region completely impotent, starting with those rich in natural resources and finishing with those of strategic importance.
This post is simply a jumble of my own personal thoughts and reactions but I can only end on the fact that inside Syria itself, though, there has been no call for external military intervention – the people are opposed to any foreign meddling. The very thought of being showered from the sky with bombs and watching your home explode around you seems to me the darkest nightmare anyone can envisage so why are those on the outside wishing it on their brothers and sisters within?
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