[Mainstream Media refused to publish this]
Insights from Syria, March 3, 2018.
Disclaimer: The following post is based on conversations with a source living in Syria, who has experienced the agony and strife of war. I have tried to keep the story free from any personal viewpoint whatsoever.
The United Kingdom’s attempt to restore some semblance of global diplomacy by calling the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conference in Geneva to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ghouta made one thing absolutely clear: the axis of power relations across the globe and the character of power in a post-truth world have radically changed. As the world’s favourite tragedy was being discussed and dissected like a news item, words like “humanitarian aid”, “cross border help” and “crisis” echoed in the air.
Apart from impassioned speeches and a joint clarion call for a 30-day period allotted to Resolution 2401 which acts like a temporary ceasefire and opens a window for civilian evacuation, a lot of diplomats were spotted texting through the conference. How does one look away from such a callous degree of indifference?
Those looking for a clearer understanding into the Syrian conflict, what constitutes “the ought to be” is precisely what one needs to question in the event of the brutalisation of the private and the public. Safe to look towards spots of time in history that have lessons to profess: post-Ludendorff Germany is a befitting example of the threat excessive foreign powers meddling inside a sovereign state poses to:
1) Its interim population by inducing hunger and unemployment and a general economy of fear with weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and warfare.
2) The underlying game of thrones at play with Turkey, Iran , Israel, Russia and the US offering humanitarian aid only for territorial expansion.
The question one needs to ask is who are these militant groups still operating after the demise of ISIS? According to an on-ground source, they call themselves counter-revolutionaries and freedom fighters, absolutely sick of the seven year internecine. The call to violence has been a direct off-shoot of foreign intervention and a complete blurring of lines between the good spirited fight for overthrowing terrorism and occupying the seat of the neo-colonial power. The two have fudged, leading to rather ugly ramifications.
World diplomacy is no morality tale, and even after imposing Resolution 2401 and expecting safe evacuation, where are the 400,000 refugees going to go? Will these countries rabble rousing the UNHCR floor with ethics open their borders?
If the world does not want the rise of another proxy dictator like Hitler who would probably shake up or take over the Assad regime, our time with the land of Syria (and its oil) must be up. Foreign intervention must end now and the country should be left to its own means for a plausible peaceful solution.
When we talk of the right to self-determination accorded to a State, the conversation we often ignore is that between the strands of dominant autocratic rule, there is a counter culture that houses the power to change a country’s political setup. Revolution, as songs of freedom in Syria interpret, must come from within and without a foreign import of what an ideal governing body must look like.
The West’s evangelical saving pursuit in Syria is the single most potent culprit for all the years of suffering, as most people who have survived the seven year war period had to say. The free flow of information from west Asia is a carefully packaged Western hegemonic lie. Eva Bartlett and the allies have been responsible for flooding the media with propaganda. Real accounts and real sources seldom reach the receiver, and in times like these, independent journalists must take the baton.
Reports on site include evidence of Russian ballistic missile tests happening on Syrian ground and its subsequent backing of the Assad regime. Russia’s treatment of Ukraine as a satellite state marks the roadmap ahead for Assad’s political win, if such a scenario were to arise. While the world had lots to say about the horrific crimes against humanity inflicted by Daesh, nobody accounts for the horrific and unheard of rapes at the hands of the military and White Helmets alike. Sources from Syria report more deaths from physical violence and a complete aversion to any kind of protest by the Western hegemons present on ground.
Death tolls calculated by the IIIM report cite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) activity or proxy militias such as Hezbollah, completely ignoring the damage to Palmyra and areas of Aleppo, Damascus and Ghouta by crossfire instigated by US-backed Israeli drones. If the matter is adjourned to the ICC for destruction of a heritage site, will the West be on trial?
For any sort of peace to prevail, the country must be given independent space to negotiate its future on its own.