From the Los Angeles Times (Feb. 4):
Russia, China veto new U.N. resolution on Syria
...Syria rejected the Arab League blueprint as an infringement on its sovereignty, a stance backed by Russia and China, both wary of the prospect of Western-engineered leadership change just six months after Western airstrikes helped the Libyan opposition overthrow Moammar Kadafi.
The Arab League plan was freighted with geopolitical significance. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, which supported the plan, are locked in a regional power struggle with Iran, a key ally of Syria. The Arab countries view the prospect of Assad's departure as a blow against Iran in its bid to wield wider influence in the Middle East.
But Assad still has support among many Syrians, especially Christians and other minorities who view his secular administration as a bulwark against Iraq-style sectarian warfare. Assad has blamed Islamic "terrorists" for his troubles.
"Support among Christians" - why? From The Christian Post (Feb. 4):
War has made life worse for Iraq's Christians
The toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime might have brought democracy to the country, but it also unleashed sectarian violence that has been taking a toll on the country's religious minorities, experts have told The Christian post.
International observers have been unsettled by how the number of Iraqi Christians has diminished by over 600,000 since the 2003 U.S. invasion. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that up to 2 million Iraqis have fled the country since, with approximately 1.1 million settling in Syria and 450,000 in Jordan. ...
In mid-January, US Military Archbishop Timothy P Broglio, like many others, claimed the collapse of Iraq's Christian population was among the legacies of America's 2003 invasion, according to the Catholic News Agency (CNA). Broglio, especially concerned about Iraq's Catholics, claims believers suffered after the ousting of Hussein. The dictator, he told CNA, tended "to trust Catholics, and gave them positions of responsibility." And even if Catholics "weren't particularly part of the regime, they became identified with the regime," Broglio was quoted as saying.
"Before, they were a minority that was protected, but now they are a minority that is not protected," the Archbishop told CNA....
"Unless the government is able to curb extremism, religious minorities, including Christians and even moderate Muslims, will live in fear," he said.
It was not really for lack of warning, was it?
... I will simply add today, faced with the constant degeneration of the crisis in the Middle East, that the solution will never be imposed by recourse to terrorism or armed conflict, as if military victories could be the solution. And what are we to say of the threat of a war which could strike the people of Iraq, the land of the Prophets, a people already sorely tried by more than twelve years of embargo? War is never just another means that one can choose to employ for settling differences between nations. ... war cannot be decided upon, even when it is a matter of ensuring the common good, except as the very last option and in accordance with very strict conditions, without ignoring the consequences for the civilian population both during and after the military operations.
John Paul II
January 13, 2003
It seems he was only "the great" when those who now call him "the great" agreed with him... Let us pray for Christians in Syria.
