e-KNOW Editorial

I’ve got a sinking feeling.

More young men are going to die because ripped, torn and bitter old men cannot shed the blinders of violence and see the bigger, better world, while other old men and women sitting around a giant meeting room in New York City, with a former purpose of achieving world justice, are useless.

Much has been opined on the Syrian Civil War since August 21, when President Bashar al-Assad reportedly used chemical weapons on his enemy – his own people.

U.S. intelligence (also known as: the ‘they’ people) estimates that 1,400 people were killed in the latest bout of savagery, which has prompted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to call Bashar al-Assad a “thug and murderer.”

Earnest journalists on this side of the Atlantic are now tap-tap-tapping away, outraged by a national leader using chemical weapons on his own people.

Frankly, the outcry stems from our innate fears of the loss of our own governments’ sanities and the possibility such hideous weapons could be used on us should we demand adherence to accountability and ethical, moralistic representation.

That is why Canadians and Americans and those from the other pampered nations populated by people who’d rather be distracted by Miley Cyrus’s thrusting crotch than demanding accountability from the United Nations are now pounding their fists.

The Syrian Civil War has been raging for three years now and more than 100,000 people have been killed, with 10 times that set adrift as refugees.

You’d think the United Nations would have given a shit about this. You’d think Canadians and Americans would give a hoot. It ain’t cricket when 100k souls are taken because the power elite of a nation can’t come to terms.

But no… “oh look, Miley Cyrus is pretending to be doggy-styled. How disgusting! Where’s my note pad! Time to write a snarky letter to my senator demanding this filth be removed from my sight!”

And in other stories we’re following, 1,400 people were killed in a chemical weapons attack in Syria.

“What now? Hey, this is an action that could occur here. If I and everyone else don’t pay attention and make sure our governments remain in our control as opposed to weapons, drugs and natural resource corporations, we could lose all we have built! I demand action!”

And so it begins and here comes that sinking feeling.

When I began e-KNOW in July 2011, I somehow ended up on an email list that painstakingly detailed the daily happenings in Syria – documented by Syrians. It left me numb. Every day there would be several emails detailing the number of people killed, including many journalists.

Eventually, I had to block the emails because – well – it has nothing to do with the East Kootenay and I had to focus my incoming email better. Just like that – Syria was out of my mind.

So I am as much to blame as the rest of the free world for ignoring the Syrian situation until our own self-interests were peaked.

We are losing control of our governments as corporate sellouts continue to drill into the once grand and noble hearts of our capitol cities. Thinking and aware people in America and Canada know there is great possibility of a dismantling of our moral compasses; uprisings are going to become more and more common worldwide as the gulf between the haves and have nots widens.

Because self-interests are bubbling on the surface, America the Mighty and Often Foolish is now wagging fingers and posturing.

Shirtless and macho as a member of the Village People, Russian czar Vladimir Putin is warning the Americans to mind their own business. He’s making good coin selling weapons to Bashar al-Assad.

Barrack Obama snorts in derision and calls England to see if they have his back. England says yes and notes the French are on side too. Both world leaders then have a good laugh. After wiping away tears of laughter, Obama tells England he’s going to call Germany and Canada just to make sure they know all about this Syria business.

And before you can say, “holy farbslarber Batman, Syria is smack dab in the middle of the cradle of creation and the Moslem world” – all sorts of insanity starts to roll down the road.

That’s what happens when the United Nations fails. Syria is simply the latest example of how completely and utterly useless that pack of sold out nimrods are – and it lends to the take that our own nations are losing their way as the speed and weight of the newly emerging world overcomes us all.

Because the Americans are going to try and do the right thing now, it’s a slam-dunk that red-blooded Canadian boys and girls will be in the landing craft next to them again.

I agree something needs to be done and two years ago.

Stephen Harper and Barrack Obama should be seated at the front of the landing craft as it grumbles to shore because as leaders of our nations these past three years, they’ve known all along what is happening in Syria.

And now they give a damn. They give a damn because now they have an opening to look like the good guys, even though half the Moslem world will disagree and the Russians, desperate to shake up their flagging nation, will find some form of national pride jag and, with “no homos” painted on their tanks (in Russian), come to the aid of a butcher.

Just watch your back Putin, you smooth-chested wonder of a stud muffin, because the Chinese may be urging caution but they’re digging newfound joys such as consumerism so who do you think they will side with if you whip out the hammer and sickle?

And then India gets excited and Iran seizes the opportunity to behave badly and North Korea signs a pact with Russia.

Voila – World War Three. Nostradamus take a bow.

May my sinking feeling merely be gas.

Alas, human inaction to the suffering of humans is something the United Nations has proven good at before.

What is happening in Syria isn’t Civil War – it is genocide. When chemical weapons are trotted out, the fine line between civil and war is crossed and all bets are off.

We cannot allow our fellow world citizens to suffer so.

The Americans kicked the living snot out of Iraq, citing the need to rid them of the murderous Saddam Hussein, who used chemical weapons on Kurds in the north of the country before he plundered Kuwait. Oh yeah, and WMDs. Almost forgot about the things that would not be.

Despite the American’s past failings, they still represent the world’s best bet at some form of harmony, albeit one covered in the grease of hyper consumerism. Are they again going to have to be the good/bad guys and roll into the middle of the hornet’s nest that is the Middle East?

The United Nations has got to do the right thing and take care of this mess itself – as a united force of world nations standing together.

It is time this bloody useless farce, built on such a noble and correct dream, began functioning as a world legislative body and actively hunted down and stopped any vicious behavior, as it has done numerous times in the past 50 or so years. Some of Canada’s greatest acclaim has come from its efforts to keep peace around the world.

Yet, 800,000 dead Rwandans would disagree with me.

In 1994 a useless lack of reaction from the United Nations resulted in one of the most horrifying genocides in human history and a Canadian soldier was front and centre.

“We watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect,” wrote L/Gen. Roméo Dallaire in Shake Hands With the Devil (The failure of humanity in Rwanda), a harrowing and painfully honest accounting of his term as commander of a UN peacekeeping force that had to stand by, thanks to UN disinterest, and watch a genocide occur. It was a terrible example of what happens when a soldier is shackled by brief-case clutching ‘diplomats’ from the UN.

Rwanda did not capture our interests on this side of the Atlantic, or in Europe or anywhere else (except Belgium which lost a dozen soldiers in Rwanda). We did not see ourselves in the little footage that was shown or printed.

There was no strategic value or natural resources to preserve access to in Rwanda. It was just ‘people’ – that’s all. Sick isn’t it?

With that, we ask our government to pressure the United Nations to take the leadership role and solve the Syrian crisis before our world explodes into a global conflict.

Oh look! I just saw some boobs on the telly. I have forgotten my point. Bye.

An excellent read on Syria: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/29/9-questions-about-syria-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW 

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