No one can argue that what is happening within Syria is not a tragedy, but let us not deceive ourselves any further, no one is going to do anything about it. This is a pessimistic view, undoubtedly, but ultimately it appears that the plight of the Syrian people and the significance of the state of Syria simply don't matter in an election year. This is not a diatribe directed at the President of the United States, nor at the recently elected President of the Russian Federation(an unexpected outcome?) or any particular administration or political personality, but a genuine attempt at unbiased analysis of a thoroughly confusing state of affairs.
Syria has been the beneficiary of geographical serendipity given its' proximity to Israel, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey , though it may very well be a victim of this circumstance as well. Nonetheless, Syria remains a regional heavyweight at best, with negligible natural resources and comparatively slight clout on the global stage. The current regime's closest ally, Iran, is powerless to address concerns of stability under President Assad as it scrambles to maintain economic parity during a period of directed sanctions determined to undermine its plan for independent nuclear development(sanctions which this author believes will be ultimately ineffective). Despite continous protests throughout the globe in regards to the Syrian government's ruthless suppression of rebel activities, there remains a complete failure on the part of protesting governments to conceive a feasible and implementable plan to actually do any of either two scenarios:
1) Provide humanitarian aid and safety zones to Syrian populace subjected to government suppression or;
2) Employ military force to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In both East and West, the political powers that be will merely step aside and for all intents and purposes let the dice fall where they may. The West is completely overwhelmed with rising energy prices, a reemergent but still thoroughly volatile economic outlook, and an uncertain domestic political future in many cases, while the East is willing to ignore domestic political affairs in pursuit of favorable trade conditions with whoever happens to be in power. The key to this situation is stability, this is what all concerned parties truly want. If President Assad remains in power, this is a situation that all can accept as this has been the status quo, if he is overthrown than a free for all between the Free Syrian Army, Syrian ex-pats, and a series of unknowns will ensue in a situation reminiscent of Iraq, minus the American investment in blood and treasure.
Wait and see is the mantra of the hour. Unfortunately, the people of Syria have also been forced to accept this as a reality. Their suffering reduced to a mere political bellwether, the most recent of states for which we have so much compassion, but so little reason to take any consumately decisive action.
