Former president Jimmy Carter recently announced that he is suffering from cancer. We wish him a speedy recovery. That being said, we also wish he would just for once try not to mix into current issues in world affairs, since he never seems to get anything right. A good case in point is the op-ed Carter wrote for the New York Times yesterday. Supposedly, Carter sets for a plan for peace in Syria, but not really.
Carter starts with some very strange misinformation. Some of it is so wrong that one has to wonder why Carter would even mention it. After all, he knows better. For example, Carter explains how Bashir al Assad was very proud of the pluralistic society under his rule in Syria. To hear Carter tell it, all the minorities in Syria were living in relative freedom and prosperity until the protests came along. Let's stop here for a moment. One of the minorities that Carter says lived in freedom/prosperity were the Jews of Syria. According to authoritative sources, however, the Jewish population of Syria which was nearly 200,000 a century ago is now 17. That's right, SEVENTEEN PEOPLE! Carter also says in his article that the Jewish community of Syria still supports Assad. That's really a joke.
But why would Carter falsely claim that Syria's non-existent Jews support Assad? The answer is simple; Carter wants to make it look like Assad has more support than he actually has.
Carter distorts the pre-civil war conditions in Syria. Under Assad, all significant positions of power in the country were held by Alawaites (the Shiite sect from which Assad comes.) The Alawaites comprised about 12% of the population, but they ruled overall the rest, including the 75% who are Sunni Moslems. Syria, under Assad, was the closest political equivalent to apartheid South Africa anywhere in the world. A small, privileged minority ruled over a large and unprivileged majority. But strangely, Carter does not mention that.
Even more interesting is Carter's proposed solution to the war. Carter blames the ongoing conflict on the failure of the US, Russia, Iran, Turkey and the Saudis to reach an agreed resolution for the war. My guess is that Carter doesn't quite understand the fact that none of the participants are going to give up after years of fighting and enormous numbers of dead, just because some foreign powers tell them to do so. For example, ISIS doesn't seem to care too much what others think or say.
One has to wonder how Carter can still believe in such a distorted view of reality.
Carter starts with some very strange misinformation. Some of it is so wrong that one has to wonder why Carter would even mention it. After all, he knows better. For example, Carter explains how Bashir al Assad was very proud of the pluralistic society under his rule in Syria. To hear Carter tell it, all the minorities in Syria were living in relative freedom and prosperity until the protests came along. Let's stop here for a moment. One of the minorities that Carter says lived in freedom/prosperity were the Jews of Syria. According to authoritative sources, however, the Jewish population of Syria which was nearly 200,000 a century ago is now 17. That's right, SEVENTEEN PEOPLE! Carter also says in his article that the Jewish community of Syria still supports Assad. That's really a joke.
But why would Carter falsely claim that Syria's non-existent Jews support Assad? The answer is simple; Carter wants to make it look like Assad has more support than he actually has.
Carter distorts the pre-civil war conditions in Syria. Under Assad, all significant positions of power in the country were held by Alawaites (the Shiite sect from which Assad comes.) The Alawaites comprised about 12% of the population, but they ruled overall the rest, including the 75% who are Sunni Moslems. Syria, under Assad, was the closest political equivalent to apartheid South Africa anywhere in the world. A small, privileged minority ruled over a large and unprivileged majority. But strangely, Carter does not mention that.
Even more interesting is Carter's proposed solution to the war. Carter blames the ongoing conflict on the failure of the US, Russia, Iran, Turkey and the Saudis to reach an agreed resolution for the war. My guess is that Carter doesn't quite understand the fact that none of the participants are going to give up after years of fighting and enormous numbers of dead, just because some foreign powers tell them to do so. For example, ISIS doesn't seem to care too much what others think or say.
One has to wonder how Carter can still believe in such a distorted view of reality.
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