For the Love of God, Please Be Serious About Syria

More than 150 children have been killed in Syria in the last 10 days. The barbarism of this crime is unparalleled. Our media is asleep. Blood of Innocents is being spilled like water. It is becoming an ocean of blood. We must not let humanity drown in this ocean of atrocities.

As I was scrolling through memes on Facebook, I came across an extremely inhumane one that demeaned humanity. Making jokes about a massacre be it on any pretext is in no way laughable! It was a dig on the absurdity of Muslims killing Muslims to avenge the dead Muslims. As a compassionate human I was infuriated at this highly cold hearted display of hate against vulnerable fellow human beings. It is very easy for us to not think about these dead and dying Syrian kids.

What is happening in Iraq and Syria today is the fruit of the seeds that were sown during the Invasion of Iraq. The cause of the invasion, subtly eclipsed under the name of an external intervention was the fear of WMDs being present in Iraq. The peace in Iraq under Saddam was undoubtedly concrete than what it is today. Achieving peace in pieces is actually violence. It has been seen in many cases that the removal of dictators has done nothing but good but good to the people especially in the case of Saddam and Gaddafi. It is not that autocracy is best for an allegedly “war loving” middle east but it is the aftermath of such move that determines the moral correctness of such hastiness. The applicability of democratic principles in a war torn country is difficult and debatable. It must be achieved in a sequential manner. The aftermath of a drastic step must remain in mind before an action.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and the USA have different goals to tackle terror. It's a war of ideologies, interests and supremacy. The powers have failed in keeping their obligation to the people. The job of the sane and informed is not to talk to the powers. The powers know what wrong they're doing to the people. Our job is to inform the people. The islamophobic west and a USA phobic middle east can not come on the same side of the coin. The anti peace forces are United on all fronts but the lack of unity amongst the key players in the Middle East due to ideological reservations is worrisome.

As people who live thousands of kilometers away from the war in Syria we tend to forget that the smoke of the war knows no borders. The ones who lose their families in these airstrikes lose the hope in humanity. They are easily indoctrinated by non state actors and used as agents to escalate terrorism.

The west must understand that its war on terror has miserably failed to achieve ground breaking consequences. In the war torn middle east flourishes an acute hatred towards the action of the west in general and the US in particular. The ideological inclination of the Salafi Wahabi Saudi regime towards the IS and other rebel groups operating in a Shiite Iraq remains another thorn in the path to bring peace. The war in Syria and most middle east is an ideological war that is continuing altercation ever since the demise of the prophet. Not only is the war on terror a hollow sham for striking political goals but also it undermines actual peace building measures.

There there cannot be an effective peacemaking program without confidence building. For building confidence dialogue is quintessential and there can be no effective dialogue without transparency in operation. The powers of the world and the middle East have to come on the same page to address the present crisis.

Our attitude towards the refugees should change. The myth that refugees will take over stands null and void in today's scenario. We have to understand that this world can no longer be a space dominated by the fortunate few. The world needs to be the India of the 70s where thousands took to the streets with chants of "Mera naam Tera naam hum sabka naam Vietnam" ( My name, your name our name is Vietnam). It was done to protest against the war of Vietnam. India gave shelter to Dalai Lama at a time when it's relations was at best with China. The refugees of war need love and warmth. We need to bring them back into the mainstream for ethical causes and pragmatic consequences.

Until the current skewed method of sheer indifference is deserted in favor of rationalism, the war on terror will not end and terrorist attacks in the West and elsewhere will continue.

Until the current skewed image of radical nationalism is changed and the gates of humanity are opened to humans on the brink of an imminent death, the children of Syria will keep dying and the smoke of the war will continue to spread. Empathy is the sole need of the hour in this indifferent world.