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“What is Aleppo?” asked US Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson when questioned by CNN about his stand on the Syrian city. His honest question could have easily been asked by most Americans and Canadians alike.
Aleppo, of course, is the Syrian city currently at the epicenter of today’s middle-east conflicts. From daily news accounts of the violence, the streams of refugees pouring out into Europe and now to North America, and of the growing polarization over immigration policies, the West is faced with a crisis that few Western leaders seem to comprehend. As a consequence, many Western leaders end up making matters even worse.
With America and Russia at odds over the Assad regime, many have good reason to fear that a conflict much larger than the one in Syria may erupt. Syria’s problems have become the world’s problems, and the world’s problems may well be soon revisited upon Syria.
Just as many might justifiably stumble over the question “What is Aleppo?”, so too most would not be able to answer another key question that bears on events much closer to home: “Who is America’s best presidential candidate for peace?”
Answer: Donald Trump. Indeed, America’s direct involvement in Syria could be a thing of the past if U.S. president Donald Trump has his way.
So says Western University’s Associate Professor of Political Science, Salim Mansur. As today’s guest on Just Right, Salim takes us on a journey through some basic Middle East history, without which, any rational approach to the area on the part of the West cannot be possibly understood.
Syria’s theater of many conflicts is confusing and difficult to understand, and with good reason. Inside Syria, there are not just two sides in the conflicts, but at least five. But from the global view, there are really only two sides: Russia and America.
Over the past few decades, America’s actions in the Middle East have created more conflicts than those it originally sought to end. And as bad as things already are in Syria, it appears they could still get a lot worse – both inside and outside that country.
From the theater of military conflict in Syria to the theater of political conflict in the United States, both, suggests Salim, are examples of revolutions in process.
Unfortunately, given all the distractions away from what everyone needs to know, most of the real issues have been obscured from view by a media that does not want the public to understand what is truly at stake. Before any viable solutions to the violent revolutions in Syria can be worked out, first there will have to be a peaceful revolution in the United States. Only then, can there be a prospect for peace – in Syria and in much of the Middle East.
With Trump at the helm of U.S. foreign policy, suggests Salim, things could work out Just Right for all involved – a revolutionary idea indeed.
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