D. Minin The world tension is growing as strikes delivered by the United States
against Syria become imminent. For the first time in two and a half
years the militants, elated by promises of support coming from overseas,
attacked Maaloula – an ancient Christian site of three monasteries,
including Mar Thecla. This news evokes special concern. They killed 6
men at the check-point. There were no other forces deployed there, the
place has no military importance,
it’s a purely cultural and religious
site. Many local volunteers were killed. As village dwellers and the
nuns of Mar Thecla testify, the attacking militants fired mortars and
heavy machine guns at the heart of the populated area.
Around fifteen hundred local Christians were prepared for painful
death. That’s what has already happened with many their coreligionists
in Syria. The army command managed to make reinforcements come in time,
after heavy fighting the regular Syrian army troops made the large
jihadist formation retreat.
It did not go far taking positions at a
neighboring height where a pilgrim’s site and a Christian cemetery are
situated. The place is protected by UNSESCO being as ancient as the
monasteries. Like vultures the militants dug in among ancient graves
waiting for strikes by American «civilizers» so that they could
eradicate the traces of the very same civilization that gave birth to
their overseas allies.
On September 8 the reinforcements came and Al Qaeda captured Maaloula.
The death toll was estimated in dozens. Other ancient Christian
settlements were under the deadly threat…
Maaloula is known as one of three places where Western Neo-Aramaic is
still spoken. This is the descendant of the language which served as a
universal means of communication in the ancient Middle East. This is the
language Jesus Christ spoke and the apostils preached in…
The Church of St Mark is a place where the Aramaic language is used for
service which is conducted by those who come from Maaloula. Now the
thin line connecting the humanity with biblical times is severed.
Buildings could be restored, but the language will die forever.
They say that the truth is the first victim of any war. The death of
the truth is what is happening now as the events in and around Syria
unfold. John Kerry is a zealous Catholic. What made him lie at a
congressional hearing? A congressman asked Mr. Kerry: ‘Is al-Qaida there?’ He said: ‘No, we are telling you responsibly that they are not». This
is a brazen lie pronounced by the man who is perfectly aware of the
real state of things. Even the Voice of America reported that the
government troops defended the Christians. The local dwellers were
afraid that once out of volunteers control the Al Qaeda connected
militants would start to kill Christians.
Why the Catholics who are close to president Obama, including
State Secretary John Kerry, Vice President Joe Biden, White House Chief
of Staff Denis McDonough, former National Security Advisor Thomas
Donilon disregard so callously the tragedy of Syrian Christians?
Or
is this disrespectful attitude towards the whole Eastern Christianity
is an echo of perpetual claim to superiority of the religion’s Western
branch? Today even Pope Francis is calling on the US administration to
reject the plans to strike Syria. Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III
Laham of Antioch and All East and the spiritual leader of the Melkite
Greek Catholic Church, said the majority of countries in the world stand
for political solution of the Syrian crisis. Few want a military action
and that’s the start of the way to victory.
Speaking at a service in the al-Zaytoun Church in Damascus he commented on the Pope’s call for worldwide peace vigil for peace in Syria saying most countries supported a political solution to the crisis in the country and few wanted military action. «This is the start of the victory», he told the Damascus faithful. «No to war. Yes for peace». It’s not without reason that Italy joined the camp of staunch advocates for peace.
Speaking at a service in the al-Zaytoun Church in Damascus he commented on the Pope’s call for worldwide peace vigil for peace in Syria saying most countries supported a political solution to the crisis in the country and few wanted military action. «This is the start of the victory», he told the Damascus faithful. «No to war. Yes for peace». It’s not without reason that Italy joined the camp of staunch advocates for peace.
Why American congressmen so doggedly do their best to avoid any
opportunities to discuss Syria with their Russian counterparts? Why
President Obama, while preparing for combat actions, preferred to meet
the representatives of sexual minorities in Saint-Petersburg instead of
meeting the President of Russia, who has different information at his
disposal, so that this issue of paramount importance could be
discussed?
Polls show the people of Western countries are against the planned
intervention. Obama enjoys no majority support in the House of
Representatives. The members of his team do their best to keep away the
information that contradicts the official propaganda.
It’s evident, that a large-scale international provocation took
place in Jobar on August 21. There are leaks of information proving the
involvement of US military intelligence and US private arms traders, who collaborate with the US government, including Tech Wise from Colorado.
Other provocations planned to be used as excuses for striking Syria are
becoming public knowledge. For instance, false information about a US
destroyer attacked
in the Mediterranean (remember the Tonkin Gulf accident that started
the Vietnam war). That’s why the White House keeps away from any debates
and is hasting to push through the decision to go to war. The reputation of US administration is at stake.
Even the moderate (secular) Syrian opposition inside the country has
been recently opposing the US military action against Syria realizing
that in this case radical Islamists will gain. Hassan Abdel Azim, the
general coordinator of the Syrian opposition’s National Coordination
Committee (NCC), said in an interview with As-Safir that «any intervention in Syria will lead to a regional war» and that «the situation is different from the earlier Iraqi and Libyan scenarios», pointing out that «the
NCC rejects outside interference and considers the external
opposition’s welcoming of military action to be patriotically
questionable».
Abdel Azim emphasized the need for a political
solution, which, he said, is the only way to ensure Syria’s unity and
end the fighting. The NCC’s secretary general, Raja Nasser, said that
now is the time for «last-minute diplomacy».
This is a revolutionary political force which is allegedly to be
supported by the planned US strike. It opposes the action. So, there is
one more lie! It’s absolutely clear that the White House plans run
contrary to the interests of Syria people. This way the United States is
actually going to act as an ally of Al Qaeda terrorists, which, as
State Secretary John Kerry says, are not there. It’s all defined by the
policy, a dirty one, which is even not defined by the United States but
rather by Israel, an ally of US top establishment.
Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor
University and serves as Co-Director for the Program on Historical
Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. According
to him, if the United States and its allies strike the regime of Bashar
Assad, it will collapse bringing to power radical anti-Western forces
which will exterminate or force out of the country a few million of
Alawites and Christians. It’ll be a political, religious and
humanitarian catastrophe unparalleled since the times of genocide
against Armenians. Under a new Sunni government the plight of religious
minorities will be similar to their plight in the neighboring Iraq,
where the Christian population has gone down from 8 percent in the 1980s
to 1 percent today.
At least the Iraqi Christians had where to escape
to – Syria, for instance. Now, where will Syrian refugees go? They are
oppressed in the areas under the opposition control, the news about
murders, rapes and plundering is plentiful. Phillip Jenkins thinks it’s a
puzzle why the United States is so stubborn in its desire to eradicate
Christianity in one of its cradles?
But is it a puzzle that the incumbent United States government
implements the Syrian policy that meets the interest of another state –
Israel?
An American journalist writes from Damascus that he is
frequently asked by common people on the street: what kind of democracy
is it, that the US has invented and defends globally, when the President
turns a blind eye on the will of the majority of his own people while
planning a military action against Syria?
Gallup experts report the support among Americans against the planned
military operation against Syria is the lowest in comparison with the
support for other conflicts the US has been involved in the recent
twenty years. 82 percent of US responders supported the intervention
against Afghanistan in 2001, it was 59 percent in the case of Iraq, 43
percent in the case of Serbia. Finally, according to Reuters/Ipsos of
September 3, only 19 percent of US citizens support the action against Syria.
Where are you precipitating, America? Please, answer. No reply!
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