Hell is closing in on the Middle East

The region known as the Middle East has been incurred more poorly made decisions and political blunders than many other areas of the world. Each day brings a new piece to the chaos as everyone blames others for the violence. How long has it been since a decade of peace in this region was a reality?

The most frustrating part is that there is not one single person with enough political power willing to stand up and call for a complete and total ban of all military weapons. If there is a region in the world which must have a weapons embargo put against them, the Middle East is tops on that list. For those that disagree with this must face reality – peace has been lost to this region and not once was a weapons embargo fully implemented. For those that say everything is being done to solve this chaos, those people are clearly without sound intelligence.

Many times this topic has been discussed, written about, worked upon and still violence occurs. How many more years are we willing to watch as innocent people die because of idiotic leaders? How many more years of blaming the other side for causing the war?

There is currently a system in place to effectively deal with the violence in the Middle East, it is called Peacekeeping. Unfortunately this system has never been used properly or to a quarter of its capacity. Decade after decade we must endure garbage leadership, blaming others, doing as little as possible and we wonder why there is no peace in this area.

What exactly are we scared of? Why are we not acting with a greater degree of courage, commitment and care? Are we waiting for a complete and total collapse of the region before a true effort is made to bring peace? If we are waiting for that, we are one more day closer to that horrendous reality.

This region is full of wonderful people and culture. The sad reality is that the leadership is destroying all of it for what? The only reason I can see is hate. If a person is to be truthful to themselves, they will see that hate is only felt when you see something in others that you wish to change in yourself.

The violence in the Middle East has gone on so long that there is no longer any sides. Each and every one of the actors involved share equal responsibility. Due to this reality everyone is on the same side and they are all fighting hate.

The wars in this region have been raging for thousands of years. Sadly it may take a few more thousand years before peace will arrive. Under the current leadership that seems to be the way life will play out in this region. More talks, more weapons, more blame, more death, more chaos. At some point you would think that people would just get tired of all the violence?

All we have to wait for is the involvement of Lebanon and Jordan and we will have a full scale regional war. The momentum is moving in that direction, do we have enough courage/intelligence to at least stop that?

Get set for the power vacuum of Syria.

As the leadership of the Syrian government secures its safe passage, the leaders of the rebel groups will intensify their infighting. This is the exact scenario that Russia and China have been voicing yet the west has denied. Syria is on the verge of looking more like Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia. The reality of a regional war is becoming more a reality than ever. The threats of war between Israel and Iran will move a few steps closer to reality.  

So what do we do now?

Before the current government is completely gone there is still time to negotiate a massive international force to enter Syria. The reason for the force is to regain peace, uphold the constitution and assist with ensuring the laws of Syria. The forces should be comprised mostly of Chinese and Russian forces. Why these two? Western countries have made a mess of the area and have no credibility for maintaining peace in the region.

Those leaders that have called for the current leadership of Syria to be ousted should be put on notice for interfering with the sovereignty of Syria. All those calls have provided support to a group of rebels that are just as brutal if not more brutal than the current leadership of Syria.

What will most likely happen?

The world leaders will bicker about what do to and who is to blame. The average people/citizens of Syria will continue to pay the ultimate price. The rebel groups will increase the fighting amongst themselves. All in all, the situation in Syria will get much worse.

The real work will begin in the small communities. Hospitals, schools, markets, shops and gathering places will be the points of peace to focus on. From these areas, peace will spring up.  For the international efforts, there will be a push for aid. All the major aid donors will flock into Syria. 

There will still be high level negotiations which will mostly be a bunch of hot air that will waste more money than produce tangible results.  However, the leadership structure must be sorted out and it is better to have negotiations than a fire fight.

The unknown?

Will Iran and Israel be stupid enough to engage in war?

Will the United Nations Security Council stop acting like five year children and actually work to ensure peace?

Will the western countries stop supplying equipment to rebels?

How long will it take for a peaceful Syria to return?

Capitalism: Has it failed?

Capitalism deals mainly with having the economy as the driving indicator of success. Basically if the economy is going well so does everything else. That theory is difficult to deny until the people are no longer willing or able to continuously consume. Constant consumption is a capitalists dream and that need to consume has also brought the current economic situation to life. One factor that we must be in complete understanding of is the fact that capitalism has always been mixed with socialism. This mix has recently been a model that many countries are looking to perfect.

Working in post conflict areas, the idea of market or economic focused society is an area of great concern. However, it is not the top concern. The need for jobs is always present in every society. More importantly is the desire to be a part of society, to indulge in the composition of what makes a society vibrant, safe, fun, and adventurous. These qualities are not born out of capitalism, they transcend every and all economic theories.

There has been a slow move towards socialism as the pursuits of capitalism have wreaked havoc. In fairness the economic situation around the globe can only be blamed on the people that are operating the system of capitalism. That exact statement about the blame being on the people that operate the system, can be made about communism in the late 1980’s. It was not communism or capitalism that failed – it is us, the people that fail.

We must stop putting blame on the differing systems and focus on the true factors of social breakdown. The only factor that counts is the people who are operating the system. For years China has operated as a communist ideology which is now the powerhouse of economics in the world. Even when we look at the model of capitalism which has been the RUSA, socialist ideology sprang up during the 1930’s with the formation of unions.

Looking at the ideology of free market capitalist economies and government regulation there is the reality that a free market is not in the best interest of society. In a free market monopolies will eventually take over. This has lead governments to mandate the creation of competition by breaking up a monopoly or allowing other actors into the market.  With such examples we can see how capitalism has been practices, to a point.

There is a great desire to blame the system or use the moniker “they”. In truth there is no they, and the system is us. We are experimenting to find the perfect balance. In that effort we employ differing methods, systems and ideology. We must keep in mind that no matter what style or composition we come up with, in the end it will always come down to the people who are tasked with its operation.