Friday the 13th
I've been trying to figure out how to write about the attacks in Paris. And I'm not quite sure what to say. I don't have any solutions. I don't like how news events unfold on social media--I know that at least. I guess one observation I have is how I don't quite agree with either narrative. Bombing the hell out of Syria won't solve any problems. (Have we won the war on terror yet?) Nor will a more enlightened attitude of tolerance and compassion for all. I see this on more and more issues--this polarisation of issues such that no one is standing in the middle saying something I can relate to. When the conservatives come in with austerity budgets, I neither reflexively fell in with those claiming deprivation nor with those who see austerity as the only way forward.
In the past, I would join those blaming the U.S. and the U.K. for misery and violence throughout the Mideast and Afghanistan. Or more specifically Exxon, BP, Total, Royal Dutch Shell, and Eni. But now I keep thinking about Saudi Arabia and Iran and how they are like the U.S. and U.S.S.R. of the Cold War days. In every country there are those angling for power and money. If local rebels are able to attract external sponsors engaged in a global power play, proxy wars can break out everywhere. It seems to me the Sunni-Shiite divide spills blood throughout the muslim world just as the Cold War did. I saw a video online Ezra Klein did about all the players and agendas in Syria. It is so much more complicated than Bush invading Iraq, for instance.
I'm not saying the fight for control of energy sources in the middle east didn't provide the fuel for the wildfires raging today. The oil majors are largely responsible for creation of the House of Saud and deposing Mossadegh in Iran. But the conservative religious movement the Saudis funded, Salafism, was there before the kingdom was created, as were the mullahs in Iran. Had western powers not interfered in the Middle East, I doubt democratic tendencies would have flowered.
I'm out of my depth on the whole topic. Maybe that's a sign of maturity--not having any answers.
11-17