Syria intervention of the right sort

When Syria downed a Turkish jet last Friday, who came out in support of Turkey? That club of democracies called NATO. The Syrians' cry for freedom demands a strong response by nations already free.

|
AP Photo
Turkish coast guard searches for the Turkish warplane which was downed by Syria on Friday in the eastern Mediterranean.

Syrian forces shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet over international waters last Friday – and then shot at a second plane searching for the first one. It was a startling escalation of what has mostly been an internal conflict in Syria sparked 16 months ago by peaceful pro-democracy protests.

So how did Turkey, a democracy ruled by an Islamic party, respond to this provocative act?

On Tuesday, it sought support from the 28 nations of NATO and the 15 nations of the United Nations Security Council. And guess which body spoke out strongly in support of Turkey?

It was NATO – that club of democracies, formally called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Its secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, called Syria’s action “unacceptable.” All of NATO joined in saying the episode was “another example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life.”

Meanwhile, the Security Council, where antidemocracy Russia and China hold veto power, was silent. In fact, the Council’s representative, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was left on his own to try to plot the next move on Syria. He plans to convene the Council’s big powers and a few Middle East nations in Geneva this weekend for yet another push at compromise with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Despite the messy mix of fighters and dissidents in Syria, one stark fact still influences this struggle. Enough Syrians want liberty and democracy enough to be killed by Assad forces in their homes, on the streets, or in armed rebellion. An estimated 10,000 have so far been killed, about the same number of Allied troops killed in the 1944 invasion of Normandy.

Turkey’s military might and its 550-mile border with Syria make it a key player to any solution. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried hard to persuade Mr. Assad to allow political reform, only to have Assad break his promises. Now Turkey is letting its territory be used to shelter some 33,000 Syrian refugees and as a launching ground for Syrian rebels.

As the Arab Spring sputters along, democracies like Turkey are being forced to clearly take sides and join together, often outside the UN. NATO is one convenient forum, especially when one of its members is attacked.

But other democratic nations can also unite in making sure this struggle isn’t one of all countries simply seeking their “national interests,” but that it remain a universal cause for freedom.

Is Russia coming around to this point? A Moscow consultancy with ties to the military, the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, issued a report this week suggesting that Russia has few essential interests in Syria.

The world need only remind itself of the scenes of crowds in Egypt and Tunisia after their recent free elections to be reminded of what’s at stake in Syria. The dark contrast to those joyous images are the regular reports of women and children massacred in Syria.

The current Annan plan is aimed at easing Assad out of power before a full civil war erupts. That has become more difficult since the Annan-brokered cease-fire in April has brought more violence, not less, and the Syrian Air Force has downed the jet of a nearby democracy.

In the end, the real power in Syria won’t be either diplomacy or violence. It will be the firm affirmation of the need for liberty, not just by Syrians but by those countries that are already free.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Syria intervention of the right sort
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2012/0627/Syria-intervention-of-the-right-sort
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe