Skip to main content

Fiddling while Syria burns

The West attacked Libya.     It also went into Iraq and Afghanistan.    All, allegedly, for sound reasons and in a good and worthwhile cause.     And what of Syria?     Here is what appears to be the daily slaughter of Syrians by the Assad regime and people fleeing the country.    The rest of the world tut-tuts and leaves it at that.    

The latest plight affecting the Syrian citizenry:

"More than 100,000 Syrians fled their country last month, a sharp acceleration of the exodus prompted by 18 months of conflict, the United Nations said Tuesday, adding renewed urgency to the mission of a new peace envoy given dim prospects for success.

The refugee flood coincided with a marked increase in the carnage in Syria, as President Bashar al-Assad’s government unleashed its air force against towns and neighborhoods across the country where his opponents have found support. The resulting surge of displaced people, mainly in the last two weeks of August, accounted for more than 40 percent of the 234,000 refugees who have registered for United Nations support since the fighting began.

Tens of thousands more who fled into the four neighboring countries have not registered. In addition, about 2.5 million Syrians need aid inside the country, with more than 1.2 million displaced domestically, according to the United Nations."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

Isn't there something radically wrong here?    Israel, a non-signatory to the NPT has, evidently, been the cause for those countries that are Treaty members, notably Canada, the US and the UK, after 4 weeks of negotiation, effectively blocking off any meaningful progress in ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.    IPS reports ..... "After nearly four weeks of negotiations, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference ended in a predictable outcome: a text overwhelmingly reflecting the views and interests of the nuclear-armed states and some of their nuclear-dependent allies. “The process to develop the draft Review Conference outcome document was anti-democratic and nontransparent,” Ray Acheson, director, Reaching Critical Will, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), told IPS. “This Review Conference has demonstrated beyond any doubt that continuing to rely on the nuclear-armed states or their nuclear-de...
Post a Comment
Read more

#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas  stopped  him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed  behind his back  into their patrol car, where they say he  shot himself  in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story,  says in an interview  that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?
Post a Comment
Read more