serious and the risk of escalating into a multinational bloodbath is uncomfortably high.
The situation in Syria is more complex that Egypt and increased external meddling
will only make the situation worse. World powers taking sides simply expands
the scope of the conflict and will lead to worse fighting and a high likelihood of the
conflict spreading. The Lebanon is already directly involved.
Syria
A Tyrant (Bad) is fighting to prevent himself being kicked out of power because he is
a sectarian tyrant (Bad) whereas if he were a theocrat the west would be supporting
him. He is supported by Iran who used to be (Bad) but now have that nice moderate
president (Good) and he is also supported by Russia which is opposed to the west’s
constant overthrowing of Middle Eastern governments (Good/Bad).
Assad is opposed by rebels who include as many torturers and beheaders as
Assad’s forces but also have a cannibal (Bad) except that the cannibal is fighting to
overthrow Assad (Good) and so everyone just ignores him.
The anti Assad forces contain a strong and growing force of Jihadists and extremists
(Bad) who are fighting to overthrow Assad (Good) while murdering Christian priests
and young men who tell poor jokes which should be (Bad) but they are fighting
against Assad so the west just ignores it.
Syria is being supported by Hezbollah. A terrorist group (Bad), dedicated to the
destruction of Israel which is a democratic state that embraces many western freedoms
and is the only nation in the Middle East where freedom of religion is actually a reality
so this should be (Bad) but its Israel so most of the west just ignore it.
They were supported by and allied with Iran (Bad) but now Iran has a nice president
who the western governments and media say is a moderate (Good). However they are
now fighting alongside the Syrian army to keep Assad in power who the west
governments and media say is evil (Bad).
The anti Assad forces are reported to have enough nerve gas to kill the entire country
(Bad) which the UN are trying to confirm but the anti Assad forces don’t seem to want
to co-operate (Naughty). The rebels seem to have used nerve gas already (Bad) and
then blamed the government (Naughty) and while the UN report on the incident
says it is highly likely it was the rebels the US, Britain and France have all decided to
up the danger by providing the rebels with more supplies including weapons as a
result of the Assad government probably not using nerve gas.
Russia is against giving the rebels more weapons that they can use to kill priests
and young men who tell poor jokes and is giving Assad weapons with which to continue
fighting, the west says (Bad). This includes the promise of ground to air missiles.
The west are giving weapons to the rebels, Russia says (Bad), and the rebels are also
getting weapons from other sources which may well include ground to air missiles
taken in Libya when the west kindly toppled that Dictator and left the country in turmoil.
The West want to block the evil Russians from shipping weapons, they have no UN
mandate since Russia has a Veto meaning any attempt to stop a ship full of weapons
is technically an act of piracy (Bad). Russia wants to stop the evil west from arming
jihadists and terrorists but does not have a UN mandate since the US and the UK
can veto leaving them with only options which are technically illegal (Bad).
This may well lead to Russia and the west having a disagreement on the worlds’ oceans
or seas about acts of piracy (Bad) or either side trying to blockade Syria to prevent the
other side shipping in weapons which would lead to arguments (Bad).
Of course we also have the west talking about a no fly zone which would mean western
fighter aircraft flying over Syria to stop the Syrian airforce and to stop weapons
shipments which could mean firing on Russian ships or aircraft (Very Bad) and, of
course, Syria would defend themselves by shooting down those same western aircraft
with Russian ground to air missiles (Bad).
Russia wants a new naval port and Assad is available. China wants access to Oil and
Assad is willing.
Neither of these nations are going to want the US/UK/France/West to turn spoil this
by turning the country into another war torn hell hole ruled by jihadists and warlords.
China is trying to mediate peace, Russian is trying to support the Assad Government.
This is the 21st century cold war.
There is a name for the mess that follows this sort of thing. People call it World War Three!