It has been about half a year now since the uprising in Tunisia started a whirlwind of protests and uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East. Two in particular have been going on for over three months and show little sign of ending any time soon. These two are Yemen and Syria. Yemen, filled with battling tribes has been relentlessly attempting to get rid of their president. The closest they have come so far is to attack his compound, injuring him and forcing him to flee to Saudi Arabia for medical attention. Even with him gone, however, the struggle continues to get him to officially step down and relinquish power. He still has armed troops that are loyal to him who are defending his compound in Sana and he still has "associates" filling in the power vacuum temporarily. And instead of offering any assistance in a transition of power or in the reform of the government currently in place, the United States is taking advantage of the power vacuum and has resumed covert air strikes against Al Qaeda operatives and renegade militants in the outlying regions of the country. Our government had taken a break for almost a year in their covert war, but currently, they claim that they have discussed their military action with the opposition leaders in Yemen and have received their OK to continue. These efforts are a main attempt to kill any Al Qaeda operatives in the region and prevent them from forming a solid group and eventually planning another attack against the United States. Maybe if we assisted in the transition of power, helped mediate discussions with both the opposition leaders and the current president, then maybe we wouldn't need to conduct these covert wars because their government would be strong enough to eradicate Al Qaeda on their own. But military force is what we know best, so that is the way we will continue to do things.
In Syria, the government is involved in continuous violent crackdowns on protesters. Every week there is a different city with reports of protesters being killed. President Assad has shown no indication that he will relinquish power any time soon or for that matter institute any meaningful reforms. His family, who has been in power for decades now has a history of violence and that is the only way they know to get what they want. Assad's father was involved in extremely violent crackdowns on protests in which almost 10,000 people were killed. Today, if things keep going the way they are, Syria's current president (if you can call him that, I prefer dirtbag) will exceed that number deaths or the protests will get tired of being killed and stop. I for one hope that Assad comes to the realization that no matter how much he tries to rid his country of dissent, that unless change happens in the government, there will always be dissent either hidden or in the public eye. At this point, people are increasingly heading for Turkey to escape the violence. Some are camping out at the border to see if the Syrian military follows them, others are not taking any chances and crossing right over for refuge. There are even signs in Damascus that the population of Sunni Muslims are now starting to take part, staging protests in upscale districts and joining the fight for reform. The Sunni population is known to not get involved normally because they are better off and have the resources to weather the storm so to speak. It seems at this point, though, that they are taking up the cause of their fellow countrymen being killed and protesting the violence and brutal rule of the Assad family.
When will all this fighting end? Your guess is as good as mine at this point. Power is a mysterious entity. I wouldn't want to be in a position of power at all. There is great responsibility when one takes a position of power and often times, the person taking that position is ill-equipped to handle all of them. Power is addictive and it makes sense that these entrenched rulers don't want to give up their positions of power. They obviously come with some great perks; money, the ability to do what you want, and the ability to control people to a certain extent. That being said, however, a position of power, especially when it comes to ruling a nation, should not be about the perks, it should be about the desire to create the best possible living conditions for that country's citizens. It seems that with ruling families, however, it is more often about how to create the best possible living conditions for themselves and then after taking care of themselves, they turn to the population and give a little back. As we see now, this current mode of ruling in the Middle East is doomed to failure. Tunisia fell, Egypt fell, Libya is a crap shoot, Yemen is on the verge, Syria is struggling to hold on, and the ultimate power broker in the region, Saudi Arabia, is buying its populations favor. It still has excess money from all the oil it sells and is using it to create a sense of happiness amongst its population. There have been some demands for change, but when they decided to pump $130 billion into their country to boost morale and lower dissent, the demands for change quieted down some. What we need to do instead of getting involved militarily is to lead by example. Unfortunately, when these kingdoms are raking in billions of dollars, why would they want to give that up for a normal life? I guess the only thing we can do at this point is wait and see what happens. Today, take a look around you, the life you live, the government you have, and maybe realize that despite all the faults our government may have, it is still a damn better place to live than anywhere in the Middle East right now.
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