9/11

This week, we remember the attacks of 9/11: the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and flight 93.

I was in my office.  A colleague came rushing in and pulled me to a television set.  The second tower was about to crumble and, to everyone’s horror and disbelief, it did crumble.  The person who had filmed the catastrophe had started filming before the attacks.  Therefore, when the video was replayed, we saw the first plane hit one of the towers and then people jumping out the windows.  Another plane hit the second tower.  Firefighters were now on the scene and many died when the second tower crumbled.

What does one do when one loses the one person who makes a difference in one’s life?

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Ironically, this year, the United States is facing another attack.  It did not take place on American soil but it is a serious violation of international law.

• One cannot use chemical weapons and citizens of a nation do not attempt to exterminate fellow citizens.  What is happening in Syria is genocide.  Those are crimes against humanity and such a matter requires the attention and intervention of a united world.

This is what I am now seeing.

• The citizens of the US oppose another war in the Near East, now called the Middle East.
• President Obama is demonstrating “ambivalence,”  with respect to a strike.  I am quoting CNN’s Gloria Borger.
• There is little the United Nations can do because of the presence in its midst of powerful nations that can veto decisions that could help the Syrians.  In other words, paradoxically, the UN may serve rather than hinder Assad’s regime.
• Despite its debt, the US remains a superpower and possesses a formidable arsenal.

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• What I know is that Syria crossed the line by using chemical weapons, i.e. weapons of mass destruction.
• I suspect that the wars waged during a previous administration may have been interpreted as provocation or “meddling” on the part of the Middle East.
• Given that Russia supports Assad’s regime, I am tempted to say that old habits die hard, but I could be wrong.

I will therefore conclude by stating that, in my opinion, the current situation is a dead end.  I cannot see just how a military engagement on the part of the US can be narrow, limited and targeted.  There has to be another resolution.

However, what do I know?  There is information a government cannot disclose without jeopardizing a “narrow” but possibly successful intervention in Syria.

May this be the moment when superpowers close shop?  What precisely did the historical Jesus of Nazareth mean when he said “turn the other cheek,” and what is the meaning of Leo Tolstoy‘s The Kingdom of God Is Within You (first published in Germany in 1894)?

In the News

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© Micheline Walker