What Aboujt All the Killing In Syria?

"It's not that simple," the apologists for evil-doing love to use as their idea of a convincing rebuttal to those who oppose their views on the basis of simple right and wrong, and that is what we see happening today in events involving Syria. The citizens of Syria have been employing one of the best forms of collective human effort -- protests -- in a bid to get rid of their ruler, a despot named Assad, who gained his post not too many years ago as the heir of his father, another Assad, who likewise did not shrink from killing many thousands of his own people, when it came to setting his power in stone.

At first and for a long time these protests were peaceful, but from the start this Assad the 2nd answered those subjects who wanted him out not by explaining himself calmly, politely, and peacefully, and if necessary stepping aside should his arguments not prevail. Instead he ordered his troops to open fire on the unarmed protestors, with live bullets, along with inflicting all the other dire injuries to life, limb, and property that always accompany such deadly means, and now more than twice as many blameless Syrians are dead at the hands of Assad's enforcers, who are supposed to be Sryrians, too, as died during the 9/11 terror attacks. Yet it's an amazing tribute to the more worthwhile side of the human spirit how the protestors kept rallying to the call, regardless of the gigantic danger.

That went on for months and months, and in fact it's still going on. The Arab League managed to get some "monitors" in there, but despite their presence the mowing down of Syrian citizens by military gunfire has kept right on going at about the same rate. So now, the U.S. is siding with other Arab nations who have come out against this renegade leader of their fellow Arab country, in trying to get the U.N. to impose strong measures against Assad, but that effort is being stymied by a small group of other countries, headed by a very determined and obstinate Russia.

It's not easy to understand why Putin & Co. should be so happy with the continued slaughter of Syrians. For public consumption they say that ousting Assad would lead to a Syrian "civil war." But that is already happening, because, in addition to the protestors, an additional force has arisen which is confronting Assad's murderous men with weapons of their own.

It turns out that the Russians have other reasons as well. They see Syria as being one of its clients, plus they have a naval base there -- very likely a big thing, since, to be the largest country by far in the world, territory-wise, oddly they have always been five beers short of a six-pack when it comes to openings to the seas, except up in the chronically ice-bound Arctic, though that could be changing as a result of climate change.

It's easy to believe, though, that their main motive is simply spite, showing once again how often the schoolyard cruelty and nonsense of children is elsewhere in time and space exactly duplicated, like electron pairs in quantum physics, in the behavior of the highest national and world leaders. And the Russians are simply miffed that, after signing on to the U.N. agreement to work to prevent more slaughter of protesting Libyans, NATO bombed Gaddafi's forces and otherwise helped the insurgents ultimately to prevail. The Russians claim they were not told that such means would be used, which must mean that if they had had their way, today Gaddafi would still be alive, and he would be smiling broadly while sitting atop a mountain of skulls, presumably the goal of Assad II as well.

To mollify the Russians, H.Clinton, the U.S. Sec of State, is saying that it is not the West's and the Arab League's intent to repeat the Libyan experience. But it's impossible to see how any other means can work, because by now it's really clear that this Assad guy's intent is to maintain his right to rule right down to the last six Syrians if necessary. It's his family legacy and obligation, you know.

GWBush set into motion an effort that resulted in the deaths of many, many times as many Iraqis, for reasons that, even if taken all together, still don't make the slightest sense, so that it's just as reasonable as anything else to suspect that it was purely because of a certain deadly attitude toward Bush's sire that Saddam Hussein was thought to harbor and that was bruited about and believed by Bush himself

Meanwhile, no one can fail to notice that, speaking of those electron pairs again, the Syrian effort is being repeated in the U.S., in the ways that authorities use to resist the Occupy Wall St. movement and its numerous offshoots, with the big and highly important difference that the U.S. police -- so often employed and so often delighted to accede in being the main agents of resisting changes for the better -- have so far, to their great credit resisted opening live fire on their fellow citizens, though only because so far not nearly enough of the protestors have been "the wrong color." And we can be sure that the Rainbows -- and everyone else who watches and observes such things -- know that.