The imminent missile invasion of Syria

The President of America is paving way to attack Syria without UN approval by clearing his action with Congress. In this way he hopes to have the backing of the American people if not that of the world at large. Britain the usual permanent partner of United States backed out whilst French President Hollande has staunchly stepped forward. Besides other official reasons, Mr. Hollande must have good American memory of the New York scandal of former Chairman of IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn that removed him from French Presidential election.

It is said that Israeli intelligence gathered the evidence that it was Assad Government who used chemical weapon. However, it is also not beyond the realm of possibility that Israel could also have arranged for such an incident to discredit an arch enemy.  Chemical weapon is an indiscriminate mass killer but is it a weapon of mass destruction like nuclear weapon that destroys both life and infrastructures? On the other hand the carpet bombings of Iraq carried out by United States in the past killed and destroyed indiscriminately and yet it is not considered as mass destruction. So the world does lack a standardized uniform description of what constitutes weapon of mass destruction. And therefore, it is up to the powerful nations backed by even more powerful nationally prejudiced media, to determine and define weapon of mass destruction that suit the occasion.

The Middle East conflagration is somehow or the other triggered by oil and fear of common Muslim people. The Kings and Emirs are afraid of their commoners and Israel fears the Muslim mass. And it suits American policies to capitalize on such entrenched fears and render support.

The opposition to American invasion by the world at large seems to be impacting Obama’s confidence. Whilst justifying his stand during his stop over visit to Sweden, the beleaguered USA President, for a brief moment, forgot that to the world at large he represented America. He blurted out that, “My credibility is not on the line. The credibility of the world, America and Congress is on the line”.

I delve into this precarious international issue for sake of exercising the mind and at the same time to express that war especially aggression is distasteful. It is also gratifying that the larger section of the world society is wary of waging senseless wars although one deterrent factor is the possibility of increase in crude oil prices if Syria war spreads to other Middle East countries. The President of America may still carry out air destruction of Syrian military installations as this will ensure Israel’s security no matter how the war in Syria turns out. It is heartening that during the G-20 Summit, majority of the members stood up against American goal to invade Syria. President Putin of Russia explained that if Syria is attacked then the smaller nations in the world would have to always live in fear of more powerful nations. Bhutan may never be directly affected except that prices of petroleum products would increase if the Middle East turmoil expands.