Syria and the American Empire

I'm a great admirer of Gandhi and of MLK and of the notion that non-violent protest, civil disobedience, passive resistance are far better than violence. But those strategies take even greater courage and determination, and especially, patience, than facing your oppressor/murderer with your own gun.

But I can understand how men grow impatient, and then lash out violently, or seek out someone who will organize them to do so, even when their movement, or protest, has been overwhelmingly committed to non-violence. Short of another Gandhi, an almost messianic leader, it's unlikely that Syrians can avoid a more violent revolution.

We're witnessing the beginning of this transition in Syria, when it becomes clear that the murderous intent of the government seems almost limitless (kill the country to save it). Qaddaffi had the same intent, although it's possible, hallucinatory as he was, that he really believed what he said, i.e. he was defending The Libyan People.

It is sad to see people with power act so ruthlessly, and it's sad to see that the only rational response is to fight. In this case, it looks like it is (the only rational response), but unless there is international support, the opposition will get nowhere against a well-armed security force and army.

That's why they rebelled nonviolently in the first place.

So, unless other governments or private entities (like Saudi oil sheiks) support the insurgents, it's more likely that they'll all be captured or slaughtered than that they will prevail.

I am not suggesting that the US aid the insurgents, and I'm especially not suggesting that the US and/or NATO do what they just did in Libya.

What's a good thing? The Arab League just endorsed sanctions against Bashar al-Assad, without (as far as we know) any US intervention. This is the one area in which I'm in almost total agreement with the right-wing perennial Republican Presidential candidate, Ron Paul.

The US should stand back and let these regional groupings solve their own problems. Sooner or later, the neighborhood is going to have to do something about a disorderly neighbor, and outsiders should let them sort it out.

That would also be a vastly more democratic foreign policy than the US has ever had, and it would effectively dismantle the whole imperial edifice. Americans, soon, would not have to support a 3/4 of a Trillion dollar a year military, there would be no budget deficit, and debt would automatically shrink as the nation raced forward with growing civilian business and burgeoning civilian jobs (more than twice the number of defense jobs that would be lost).

But Ron Paul won't win: the imperial side will, in both parties, although Obama may not have been a part of it, at first. There's too much money to be lost by the powerful, who are now identified as the 1%. The Roman Empire got bogged down in Syria, and we could too.