Ok folks, this seems to be something cropping up a bit in the news lately… Once again some other country has some problems and we’re (US) debating whether to do something about it or not.
If you haven’t heard, Syria has been accused and “found” to have used chemical weapons against the rebels trying to overthrow the current government. The US has been siding with the rebels, but only offering humanitarian aid as well as with some European countries. Russia has been backing the operating government for some time as well. So that’s what makes this a sticky situation. Both sides have been reluctant to offer anyone in Syria weapons, though now that the “line has been crossed” with the chemical weapons thing, we might be handing out those too. (that’s another comic for another time)
While we here like to poke fun at current events, this has been a particularly terrible encounter for everyone in that country. Which all comes down to one big question… Should we get involved?
Well, historically, America has been pretty isolationist. Even George Washington (prez#1) said in his 1796 farewell address that getting involved in other peoples’ drama was just asking for trouble. (paraphrased) But on the other side of that, we were overly reluctant to engage in the first 2 world wars, which by the second in retrospect, we should have jumped into the fray much sooner.
I guess the point is, sometimes you can’t be too hesitant to stick your nose in. But then again, we’re not the global police force and there’s real concern that the conflict will spread to the backers of the civil war… which… nothing good will come of.
Anyways… I’m pretty split on this. Sure, we need to help folks and stand behind the underdog if it’s for a good cause, but also be mindful about our intentions and how things effect the world stage.
What we need to do is stop sticking our nose into situations that aren’t our problems. Every time we’ve gotten involved in another country’s business, we’ve ended up with muslim hardliners in charge. In Syria we are for the most part supporting the people we “supposedly have been at war with since 09/11/2001, if anything we ought to be helping Assad.
yeah… it’s all a mess. I think there are certain times when there’s a clear evil we need to vanquish, like Hitler, but more often than not, it’s not so cut and dry.
If only the states went back to its roots as the country founded on being the worlds shopping mall and nothing else, instead of helping corporations make the rest of the world wholly owned subsidiaries to meet their needs.
Really the states should be helping and encouraging Russia to stay out of it and help prevent the spill over into surrounding countries.
Vietnam = Afghanistan = Bad policy gone worse.
It is in everyone’s best interest if the fatheads of state took Machiavelli as the sarcasm it was meant to be instead of a blueprint to power. Same goes for 1984 and Brazil.
ever see that one movie, I think it was called the network or something… anyways, there’s a big famous speech about how there are no longer any more nations, only corporations, and their policy dictates the laws of the countries of the world.
also along your point, many of the world’s biggest mistakes is not just going into a country and bombing the heck out of it, but leaving the mess for someone else to clean up. many unsavory characters are more than willing to lend a hand and that leads to even worse uprisings. long story short, if we do decide to go in and tear up somebody’s backyard, we must be willing to stay and fix it all back up. Afghanistan is going to be the perfect case in point with this in the near future.
Any intelligent person knows that a country should look out for itself. Dept and social problems abound in even the greatest countries, yet it is never enough.
But as a human being, I evoke the spirit of Kirk in saying that as a person with a soul that the notion of NOT trying to help other countries/peoples in need is against everything America, Humanity, and decency stand for.
and that’s the rub isn’t it? there’s many bad things happening around the world that we’d like to help out with but can’t because of policy and whatnot. granted, I have mixed feelings when it comes to official US involvement, but there are many situations I see that need help of some kind (trade embargos maybe?)…
mainly when it comes to the treatment of women worldwide… personally, I don’t condone the new regime in Egypt for it’s misogynistic abuse and same with the entire Middle East / Indian area (among MANY other countries). it is beyond all comprehension how the world lets this happen. we will jump into the fray with people squabbling over a tiny strip of unarable desert while being BFFs with people who openly abuse women. something is very wrong here.
If major factions within the rebels weren’t terrorists or going around purging Christians, I would support aiding them militarily. The strong have a duty to aid the pure who fight a just cause against evil. That being said, this is not a just cause being fought by the pure, it is an attempt to replace a murderous dictator with a genocidal, radical Islamic government that would without a doubt become a state sponsor of terror as is the current government. As such, we have a duty to not support either side as both are evil, and as neither can be said to be a meaningfully lesser evil. The only morally acceptable military actions are to do nothing or invade to destroy both parties. Since I can see no good end to an invasion (as there is no meaningful faction within Syria that is both powerful enough that it could potentially hold power after we left and good enough that it would be morally acceptable to support them), the only moral and reasonable option that remains is to do nothing while verbally condemning everyone involved from Assad to Russia to Iran to the EU.
it’s probably a good reason why we’ve been so reluctant to hand over any kind of major arms to them… since in just a few years, those weapons will no undoubtedly be turned on us.
unfortunately, it’s going to really take a new guard to invoke that change, DE. we’ve kind of gotten a good name for being a trigger happy nation. we could really do with a strong isolationist president or two for a few decades to clear up the air. not going to happen, but it’s worth a shot to put us in a position to be able to “denounce” without feeling overly hypocritical.
Where is Zombie Coolidge to be elected President again when you need him…