Syria and the dictatorship

Syria and the Dictatorship Current Event: In Derra, a town in Southern Syria, resorted to a peaceful yet fuming demonstration against the dictatorial rule of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but was suppressed through force. This ignited a civil war gulping the entire country. Iran and Russia supported Assad and Britain, France, USA, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the European Union supported the rebels. Help for both sides came in terms of funds and arms. Assad blamed the rebels are aided by al-Qaeda and indeed gradually many foreign jihadist joined the rebels. The rebels want to get rid of Assad’s life and throne. The west wants to level of the rebels with Assad regarding military power along with changing their military culture to more humanitarian. The Syrian civilians are caught between this conflict, and their causality is increasing over days. They are against Assad yet concerned about their future after if the rebels take control (Bowen, 2013). Background: Assad got the throne from his doctorial father Hafez al-Assad who was a strict autocrat and demolished all the oppositions through brutal force. His cruelty knew no limits “ in 1982,…he crushed an uprising in the northern city of Hamra, pounding it with artillery for three merciless weeks and slaughtering thousands of civilians” (Peranio et al., 2005). Unlike his father, Bashar al-Assad’s approach to the politics and to the throne seemed much more humble. Once he took oath as Syrian President, it seemed some sort of democracy along with expectations that many much waited reforms both in political and economic spheres will now embrace Syria. His approach towards the Atassi Forum that was formed by protesters and human rights activists was much softer than his father in his initial days of ruling. But that soon changed, and many supporters of that forum were either imprisoned or killed or disappeared after being taken away from their home by security men. The people realized this, and so did the international commune as it appeared that this is just another autocrat dictator full with lies and false promises. At this background a mass uprising against Assad might be the only way left to unshackle Syria from sustained autocratic exploitation (Peranio et al., 2005). The Impact Social: Though Syria in terms of population is a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, yet it is secular. But Assad has already devastated the Sunni prone areas as the rebels majorly are Sunnis. Though no retaliatory action has been taken by the Sunni rebels on other religious groups, the scenario is changing, and the war is becoming religious in nature (“ The Country Formerly Known as Syria,” 2013). Further atrocity by the Government might unleash retaliatory action by the rebels on the other religious groups. Once the rebels come to power, a national level massacre might corner people belonging to other religions. If Assad remains in power, Sunnis might become insecure in Syria. Middle East is religiously sensitive whoever the winner at Syria will be; if such religious catastrophe outbreaks, in no time religious conflicts among different sects of Islam and between the Muslims and other religions will spread over the region. This will eventually stretch globally, and common Muslims living in other countries as minority around the globe might become a subject of state oppression and public hatred similar to what happened after 9/11 (Bah, 2011). Economic: The regions under rebel control have already suffered devastation by the government force and incurred economic loss (Syria, 2013). Till the war goes on, economic growth and development would be stalled in those regions. At the national level, no holistic approach can be taken for the same. Funding war on the both sides involves unnecessary expenditure with no benefit but casualty. Restructuring after the war also involves a cost. Syrian oil fields have already become a source of conflict between the government and the rebel forces though the oil infrastructure remains unharmed by the rebels (Wood, 2013). If Assad or the rebels who ever be on the losing side choose to destroy the oil fields by setting them into fire similar to the Iraqi force in Kuwait (“ UK: Iraq torches seven oil wells,” 2003), then it will result in huge economic loss for those oil prone regions and the same for Syria. The economy of the Middle East runs on oil export having no other alternatives. If Syrian oil fields get destroyed, the pressure on other countries of that region will rise to meet the demand- supple gap. Stock of petroleum will deplete at a faster rate collapsing the economy of the region. The global economy might face another oil crisis similar to what happened after Iraq-Kuwait war (Shojai, 1995, pp. 112-114). Political: A change through democratic process ushers political maturity, and an up rise through bloodshed often replaces one dictatorship with another. Again considering the fragmented nature of the revolt different localities might frame their own distinct political ideologies. This will eventually lead to political fragmentation of the nation might even divisions of Syria. If Assad emerges victorious that might prompt military leaders of other countries of Middle East for coup and dismantle democracy. Many of the rebels are Islamic extremists and jihadists; if they are victorious, they might try to extend their grip on other Middle East countries. Other nations under dictatorship and one party rule also undermine the freedom of their people and often indulge in practices that are detrimental to the world peace. Rise of such possibility is harmful for a global level democratic political exchange on peaceful resolution of an issue. Environmental: News of using chemical weapons by the government is floating all over (Rudoren and Sanger, 2013). The localities subject to these weapons will incur immense environmental damage. However, even use of ordinary shelling and bombing leaves mark on the local environment. Water contamination following the Syrian crisis has also been reported (Syria, 2013). Some environmental damages often do not restrain within geographical boundaries. They spread from locality to the entire nation and then contaminate the region before spreading to the entire world. If Assad resort to methods applied by Saddam in Kuwait and what he was expected to follow in Iraq (Chilcote, 2003), then an environmental catastrophe will break loose spreading from locality to nation then to region and eventually affecting the global community. References Bah, A. (2011). After 9/11: ‘You no longer have rights’. The Guardian, available at: http://www. guardian. co. uk/world/2011/sep/02/after-9-11-muslim-arab-american-stories (accessed on April 23, 2013) Bowen, J. (2013). Neither side is backing down. BBC News, Retrieved on April 23, 2013 from: http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/world-middle-east-21810015 Chilcote, R. (2003). Kuwait still recovering from Gulf War fires. CNN, available at: http://www. cnn. com/2003/WORLD/meast/01/03/sproject. irq. kuwait. oil. fires/ (accessed on April 24, 2013) Peranio, K. et al. (2005). Syria’s Odd Man OUT. Newsweek, 145(23), retrieved on April 23, 2013 from: http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? sid= e2041cdc-fe67-452d-8ee2-bcbbce0a4231%40sessionmgr4&vid= 1&hid= 10&bdata= JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db= aph&AN= 17177005 Rudoren, D. E. and J. Sanger. (2013). Israel Says It Has Proof That Syria Has Used Chemical Weapons. The New York Times, available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2013/04/24/world/middleeast/israel-says-syria-has-used-chemical-weapons. html? src= un&feedurl= http%3A%2F%2Fjson8. nytimes. com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Findex. jsonp (accessed on April 24, 2013) Shojai, S. (1995). The New Global Oil Market. Westport: Greenwood Publishing. Syria. (2013). USAID, available at: http://www. usaid. gov/what-we-do/working-crises-and-conflict/responding-times-crisis/where-we-work/syria (accessed on April 24, 2013) “ The country formerly known as Syria.” (2013). The Economist, available at: http://www. economist. com/news/briefing/21572198-sectarian-divisions-deepen-war-changing-country-beyond-recognition-country (accessed on April 23, 2013) “ UK: Iraq torches seven oil wells.” (2013). CNN, available at: http://edition. cnn. com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/21/sprj. irq. oil. wells/ (accessed on April 24, 2013) Wood, J. (2013). Syria’s Oil Resources Are a Source of Contention for Competing Groups. The New York Times, available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2013/03/21/world/middleeast/syrias-oil-a-source-of-contention-for-competing-groups. html? pagewanted= all (accessed on April 23, 2013)