Thomas Friedman had a very good commentary on the Syria mess and more importantly the general mess in the Middle East, which the US and other Western nations have certainly had a primary hand in creating. His remarks are part of the reason why I am still leaning away from doing anything about Syria at this point -- it is not our problem...and we caused much of the original problem anyway.
Part of Mr. Friedman's comments in particular are worth quoting verbatim:
"I still believe our response to Assad’s poison gas attack should be “arm and shame,” as I wrote on Wednesday. But, please do spare me the lecture that America’s credibility is at stake here. Really? Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting since the 7th century over who is the rightful heir to the Prophet Muhammad’s spiritual and political leadership, and our credibility is on the line? Really? Their civilization has missed every big modern global trend — the religious Reformation, democratization, feminism and entrepreneurial and innovative capitalism — and our credibility is on the line? I don’t think so."
The entire article is available here.
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