Proxy wars

Things are not always what they seem, including wars. Especially wars, which often involve the economic, social, and geopolitical interests of entire populations. Nothing is a better example than the subject of the war in Syria, whose ramifications are still unclear to most people. But as the crisis develops, the world is now seeing a country apparently torn by a proxy war.

A proxy war refers to a war where the supposedly warring parties are simply acting as pawns (or proxies) of the bigger powers who, for one reason or another, cannot entertain the possibility of fighting these wars themselves.

In the case of Syria, many have opined that it appears to be a proxy war between US-Russia, and there is a good case for it.

Officially, the reason why US and its allies are backing rebels to topple the rule of Bashar al-Assad is to stop its despotism, with Obama issuing statements to condemn Assad’s alleged acts of state repression. But critics of American foreign policy have called out the hypocrisy on US’ part, as it is generally quiet about the excesses of dictatorships in its allied countries, especially the notorious Saudi Arabian monarchy. But a closer look at the different parties involved – as well as their vested interests in this war – will make us think twice.

Fighting for or alongside US are the rebel Free Syrian Army, Israel, United Kingdom, Turkey, France and some countries in the Gulf region such as Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Russia, for its part, maintains a naval base Syria, and needs a loyal ally in that region, which the regime of Assad has proven to be. Iran and Iraq have also supported Syria, which, like them, has a predominantly Shiite population. Iran’s Hezbollah has since also deployed militias to complement Assad’s troops, in their fight against the rebels.

This topic merits our attention because if the real warring parties’ political and economic agenda are not being discussed openly, the world opinion simply becomes part of their script and no one becomes accountable for the consequences of their actions. In the meantime, many innocent lives people on the ground are becoming ruined by the war, and the ulterior motives of other parties are preventing the formation of an honest-to-goodness unified resistance to ISIS.

In the end, the civilians of Iraq, Syria, and other countries now being destroyed by ISIS deserve better help.

NOTE: This is a guest blog post by Rick Kimball. Rick is a freedom lover. He enjoys researching and writing about US history and shares them on his blog rickkimball.org. For more on him, check out his LinkedIn and Google+ profiles.