The revolt or even the civil war in SYRIA has been
in our news on a daily basis for some time now. Many of us assume that the
revolt is part of a general revolt in the Middle East that has seen dictators
in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia overthrown by the citizenry for a different form of
government which is still to be determined?
In Syria Bashar al-Assad is the dictator who followed his
father into dictatorial power. Unlike the other countries that overthrew their
dictators, the Syrian dictator is actually waging war against the rebels as in
waging war against his own people?
Well maybe not.
The Syrian situation is a little different in that the
government of Assad is composed of ALAWIS who are about 12% of the population
of Syria and who also
control the armed forces in Syria .
The people termed ALAWITE profess an ISLAMIC religion but
are not seen by Sunni Muslims or Shia Muslims as Muslims at all. The little
that is known about the Alawite religion is that their religion is a mixture of
many religions, even Christianity and they don’t practice the customs of other
Muslims like requiring women to wear some form of covering like a veil or
burka.
You may say that the Alawis and the Assad government are
very, very secular and therefore very tolerant of other religions. BUT most of
the population of Syria
is Sunni Muslims; there is a sizable minority Christian presence there also.
The rebels are basically Sunni Muslims trying to take power
away from the Alawi Assad and the Alawi minority some say to turn Syria into an
Islamic state; from one dictatorship to another?
The United
States is helping the rebels defeat Assad
and our news media is painting the rebels as the good guys and Assad and the
Alawis as the bad guys but the rebels, if they win, could become our enemies by
forming a Sunni IRAN.
I suppose we are aware that a Sunni dictatorship may take
the place of an Assad Alawi dictatorship but are willing to take the chance
that the rebels will not allow another dictatorship to form after so many have
died to depose the existing dictatorship?
The Alawis in Syria
are part of a greater population of Alawis living in Turkey
and Lebanon
where they are also despised by local Muslims who consider them pagans.
So is this a religious war or an ethnic war or just a power
struggle…interesting…what do it all mean…
To me as a businessman, I could be selling a lot of my
medical products into Syria
but we are banned from doing so right now. I could be also selling to Iran but have
been banned from doing so for many years but I may have found a way under
“humanitarian medical supplies” which are allowed.
In my mind, the sooner we can do business in those
countries, the sooner they will quit fighting among themselves and get down to
normal living and the search for happiness and wealth. Look how that worked in China …
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