Conclusion to The Middle East in Crisis

Last week, as I was typing up the introduction for my topic: The Middle East in Crisis, I came across a published article online, through a quick Google search of “Syria,” entitled: “Syrian Army uses human shields on tanks,” 10:30 a.m. / eastern time, February 12, 2012. Today, I have come across yet another article highlighting the latest acts of violence in the country of Syria entitled “Syria crisis: Deadly shooting at Damascus funeral,” 9:43 a.m. / eastern time, February 18, 2012, in which a funeral in the Mezzeh district of western Damascus that was initially held to bury three youths that were gunned down in the recent acts of violence last week, was interrupted by Syrian forces who shot into the funeral procession, killing one and wounding several others, all due to the recent presence of  a Chinese envoy, with Syrian TV quoting Mr. Zhai (the Chinese envoy) as saying: "The position of China is to call on the government, the opposition and the rebels to halt acts of violence immediately. We hope that the referendum on a new constitution as well as the forthcoming parliamentary elections pass off calmly." However, the opposition in Syria plans to boycott the February 26 referendum, there reason simply being that there is too much violence for the referendum to be held. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17085226

            The discussions held throughout the course of the week, mostly in regard to the countries of Syria, Iran, and Israel, for lack of a better word, surprised me. On Tuesday, we were able to identify the wrongdoings that all three countries have committed, the violence in Syria, the violence on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides, and the support of Palestinian opposition, through Iran’s unmistakable donation of weaponry and various forms of armaments. On Friday, I feel, was when everyone really brought things to perspective as we shared our thoughts and ideas across the table. Without these discussions, I feel that I would have still held this biased view that was, for the most part, unmerited. The most surprising fact that I took away from these discussions was the attitude that America has for countries in crisis, as best put by Mr. Bonamo. The United States will only really participate in human intervention whenever a crisis involving human rights violations are beneficial to them, especially when referencing our involvement in the country of Libya. Everyone was for the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s reign, and so we helped the opposition by bombing the city of Tripoli and thus giving the civilians a chance at taking their country’s future into their hands, for the sake of peace. Now although that’s all well and good, the same cannot be said for the country of Syria. The possibilities of an all-out nuclear war, as discussed previously in class, almost entirely silenced the urgency I had for the United States government to get involved. However, I feel that if a Chinese envoy has the guts to try and diffuse the 11 month crisis in the country of Syria (although Assad’s suppressing regime has been in effect for nearly fifty years and counting), although for the best interest of the government and not so much the civilians, we too can partake in intervening with the situation in that country.

            It’s a big mess in the Middle East. Whereas in Libya the opposition was clear cut and easy to perceive, the state of affairs in that region of the world, as best put by Mr. Bonamo, again, is like “little chess pieces,” meaning that it is so complex and intricate that it is hard to tell whose on whose sides to begin with, and what intentions each country truly has in regards to sovereignty and state power. I’m very grateful for everyone’s effort in discussing a topic I hold very dearly to my heart, not only for the country of Syria, but for the sake of all the other civilians living in the Middle East that are caught in the crossfires between these powerful and very influential nations. I feel that if one outsider, albeit a news reporter as a form of mass media, or even just an individual who doesn’t know much about the topic or is unaware of the crisis occurring in the Middle East region, was present in room 301 during our Tuesday and Friday discussion, would be surprised and well informed by what was brought to the table, and the beautiful ideas that everyone conjured up that both answered and questioned our presence in the country of Syria, and our involvement with other Middle Eastern countries, and the relationships we both fostered and potentially severed throughout the turn of the twenty-first century. I will end this conclusion with the gist of what most people wrote in their blogs on Wednesday night. I hope the country of Syria will end its violence on her people, that a new implemented constitution will end the rusty suppression of that regime, which has been around for over fifty years, and only surfaced through the murky waters of the Middle East just last year, and that Iran, Israel, and the Palestinians share a dialogue, and end their senseless violence regarding power, authority, sovereignty, and the Biblical old fight for land, as well.