Assad's atrocities were well known (Amnesty international reports here). So few are mourning his overthrow. But is this replacing the devil you know with the devil you don't know? And maybe worse (sort of like replacing the Shah of Iran with an Islamic state because the Shah jailed or exiled or killed the moderate opposition).
So those taking over promised they would let everyone live in peace. And they wouldn't lie, would they?
Uh, maybe... a lot of us suspect the ISIS which is a Sunni radical faction that will take over and decide to have an Islamicist state government that puts ladies in veils, and chases out the moderate Sunnis, the Shiites the Alawites, the Christians, the Kurds, and the Yazidis...
The turmoil in the middle east is blamed on Bush II invading Iraq, but folks forget that there were a lot of atrocities in that country in the past three thousand years or so.
The Syrian civil war was an actual genocide. How many dead are we talking about?
Wikipedia says half a million dead, half of which are civilians, and 6 million refugees who fled to safer areas in Syria and another 6 million who fled the country.
Sigh
Trumpieboy says stay out of it, and I sort of agree, because these atrocities have been going on for centuries. and well known by those who pay attention to it. But the news tends to be reported mainly in human rights sites or religious news sites...so that I suspect few Yanks, especially the self righteous who are pushing Jewish hatred over Gaza are upset with the slow ethnic cleansing and massacres to local religious minorities, including the Christians. ... but now of course both sides have access to the internet it's not like relying on CNN who ignored Sadam's atrocities for years, and one can get both sides of the story to counter the present day Hamas propaganda machine that spews out stories against Israel that leaves out vital details like the bombs hidden in mosques and hospitals and exaggerates the casualties.
But today's battles have both ethnic and religious roots that go back 3000 years but made worse in the last 1000 years by a strain in Islam that has been there for centuries and pops up on and off when those wanting power decide to weaponize those portions of the Koran to inspire their followers to kill their enemies.
No I don't know a lot about this. But let me relate a podcast that horrified me.
the other day, I was listening to discussions by Tom Holland, who has a podcast that I follow on Youtube.
His latest book is about Roman and Christian influences on Western culture, but in one discussion he discusses the atrocities against the Yazidi by ISIS in Northern Iraq.
This is an excerpt from the Socrates and the City podcast: Fast forward to five minutes:
Sigh.
He is not exaggerating:
start by reading the UN report on the Yazidi massacres from ten years ago.
But it's not just Yazidis: The ethnic cleansing of the Iraqi Christian community and diaspora of the Christian Arabs never quite made the news, but is covered by Church news reports.
This report is from last year:
The local Christian community is worried of persecution and ethnic cleansing similar to what happened in Iraq after the fall of Saddam...
...
One hint on how dangerous war zones are is checking if the Filipino workers are fleeing...So far the Philippines is not evacuating the OFW from Syria, but merely says stay in safe areas.
But now the plans are to send home Syrian refugees from Europe ( 1 million in Germany alone) and Turkey (3 mlllion refuges) are making plans to return the Syrian refugees back to their homes, despite warnings that this move might be premature.
but there have been peace initiatives that might help stop the repeat cycles of violence: The Abraham accords by Trumpieboy and the initiatives of Pope Francis, both of which stress the commonality of the Abrahamic religions.
In my prayers...
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