As the US mainstream media obsessed last week about Russia's supposed "hacking"
of the US elections and President Obama's final round of Russia sanctions in
response, something very important was taking place under the media radar.
As a result of a meeting between foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey
last month, a ceasefire in Syria has been worked out and is being implemented.
So far it appears to be holding, and after nearly six years of horrible warfare
the people of Syria are finally facing the possibility of rebuilding their
lives.
What is so important about this particular ceasefire? It was planned, agreed
to, and implemented without the participation of the United States Government.
In fact it was frustration with Washington's refusal to separate its "moderates"
from terrorist groups and its continued insistence on regime change for the
Syrian government that led the three countries to pursue a solution on their
own for Syria. They also included the Syrian government and much of the opposition
in the agreement, which the US government has been unwilling to do.
We have been told all along by the neocons and "humanitarian interventionists"
that the United States must take a central role in every world crisis or nothing
will ever be solved. We are the "indispensable nation," they say, and without
our involvement the world will collapse. Our credibility is on the line,
they claim, and if we don't step up no one will. All this is untrue, as we
have seen last week.
The fact is, it is often US involvement in "solving" these crises that actually
perpetuates them. Consider the 60-plus year state of war between North and
South Korea. Has US intervention done anything to solve the problem? How about
our decades of meddling in the Israel-Palestine dispute? Are we any closer
to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians despite the billions we have
spent bribing and interfering?
Non-intervention in the affairs of others does not damage US credibility overseas.
It is US meddling, bombing, droning, and regime-changing that damages our credibility
overseas. US obstruction in Syria kept the war going. As the Syrians and Russians
were liberating east Aleppo from its four year siege by al-Qaeda, the Obama
Administration was demanding a ceasefire. As Syrians began to move back into
their homes in east Aleppo, the State Department continued to tell us that
the Russians and Syrian government were slaughtering civilians for the fun
of it.
So why all the media attention on unproven accusations of Russian hacking
and President Obama's predictable, yet meaningless response? The mainstream
media does the bidding of Washington's interventionists and they are desperate
to divert attention from what may prove to be the beginning of the end of Syria's
long nightmare. They don't want Americans to know that the rest of the world
can solve its own problems without the US global policemen in the center of
the action. When it is finally understood that we don't need to be involved
for crises to be solved overseas, the neocons will lose. Let's hope that happens
soon!
