Well news comes at you from all sides – all reeking with bias. I doubt that even the people in the midst of it know what is going on or who is behind what.
Syria as a country
a. Has it been stirring up terrorism or sectarianism in the region?
b. Has it been benign?
Assad
a. Is Assad a tyrannical despot who needs replacing?
b. Is Assad trying to hold the country together against insurgents, terrorists and the West?
The Syrian Regime
a. Is it repressing its own people?
b. Is it representing a section of its people and repressing another?
c. Does it reflect a sectarian divide?
d. Does it repress democracy?
e. Or is it fighting to hold the country together against all the odds?
Chemical weapons or Barrel Bombs
a. Has it been using chemical weapons and barrel bombs against its own people?
b. Is this a fabricated story to manipulate us and prepare us for war?
The Rebels
a. Are the rebels making just demands after decades of repression?
b. Are the rebels a bunch of disparate terrorists and warlords seeking power for their own ends?
c. Have the rebels been armed and instigated by the West to subvert Syria?
d. Do the rebels deserve Western backing?
The West
a. Has the West deliberately caused ferment to further its own ends in the region?
b. Is the ‘news’ about Syria manufactured in order to manipulate public opinion?
c. Does the West want Syria too occupied to contribute to regional sectarian violence?
d. Does the West have economic interest in the region (oil, arms and reconstruction) giving it a reason to promote conflict?
e. Is the West siding with the rebels in order to topple a repressive, tyrannical regime which has been heinously bombing and torturing its own people?
f. Does the West want stability in the region or is it promoting instability?
Russia
a. Is Russia involved because it wants power and is making profit?
b. Is Russia propping up Assad because the rebels are a bunch of terrorist fundamentalists and Assad is a stable ally?
c. Is Russia seeking to extend its power base?
d. Is this just part of the new Cold War?
These, and other question, form the basis of attitudes towards what is going on out there in Syria. Where do we get our information? Who do we believe?
The answer to those questions seems to me to be politically charged. I would suggest we have already made our mind up and then select the ‘news’ we choose to believe to fit the story we have bought into.
Does anybody really know?
I would suggest not. Even the participants at the top are limited in their true understanding and rely on reports from dubious sources. Only they know their real motives for what has been happening. Power corrupts. The seeking of power is a game.
Syria is the end result.