The Syrian Conundrum

Syria was a very peaceful country with a lively population a decade ago. Damascus, the capital city used to be one of the oldest cities in the world. In fact Syria had one of the World Heritage Sites at Palmyra with well preserved historical artifacts. All of a sudden this peaceful and lively country was thrown into a never ending confusion with some citizens calling for the stepping down of the President, Bashir Al-Assad. These protests started six years ago which later turned into a full blown civil war which has been raging on ever since. More than half a million people have lost their lives in this never ending conflict. At first all seemed to be going well for the so called moderate rebels who were being sponsored by their western friends through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman with military hardware and money. Since Russia saw it as very strategic to support Assad due to her interests, the Syrian government started gaining the upper hand with the help of the Russian military and air support.

The Assad regime had to deal with rebel factions and ISIS on several fronts and this stretched his army thin, so Russian support was so welcoming and this helped the Syrian government to push the so called moderate rebels out of their controlled territory. Russia also joined the fight against ISIS in Syria and used her military base at Latakia in Syria as a launch pad for airstrikes against the terrorist organization. In 2013 the Syrian government was accused of allegedly using chemical weapons on its citizens, but Assad’s regime denied this accusation. Russia and the US then called for a destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. These two powers had representatives on the ground to supervise and ensure that Syria’s chemical weapons were destroyed.

Fast forward to April, 2017, the Syrian government is suspected to have launched a chemical attack in Khan Shekoun in the Idlib Province killing many children. The Syrian government comes out to deny this accusation and they accept the fact that they launched an airstrike against a rebel warehouse with no knowledge of chemical weapons in it. The western biased media decide to blame the Assad government for the deaths. In the early hours of 7^th April, 2017, the US launches a barrage of cruise missiles, more than 50 missiles against a Syrian airbase near Homs. Before they did that they contacted the Russians to make sure no Russian was caught in the strike. Several questions need to be answered.

Why will Assad gas his own people? Knowing very well that the international community will never forgive him for such an act, why will he do that? Is it true that the sarin gas that was the cause of the deaths of these innocent children was shipped from Libya to the Syrian rebels with the tacit approval of a former US Secretary of State? Why will the UN Security Council allow the US to take a unilateral decision to launch strikes on Syria? Is it not a breach of international law? Why was the US and her allies quick to blame Assad for the gas attack hours after it happened? Why didn’t they allow independent investigators to do their work?

The world must tread cautiously in relation to the Syrian civil war, because the exit of Assad will burn the Middle East. Isis and the various factions in the Syrian conflict will resort to fighting each other once Assad is kicked out and another Iraq and Libya will rear its ugly head in the region. The Syrian people should be allowed to choose their own leaders. There should be no meddling from any other foreign power. Syria needs peace and a political solution should be found as soon as possible to end the suffering of the Syrian people.

Tribute to Brother Moamar Gaddafi.

...Col, Gadhafi and Libya...
1.There was no electricity bill in Libya; electricity was free for all its citizens
2. There was no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law
3. Houses considered a human right in Libya –Gaddafi vowed that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died while him, his wife and his mother are still living in a tent
4. All newly weds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family
5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%
6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms –all for free
7. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance
8. In Libya, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price
9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 (N22) per litre
10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally
11. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.
12. A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens
13. A mother who gives birth to a child receives US$5,000
14. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country
So What's the Problem with Libyans?

Where will the Libyans get money to fund the reconstruction of the once peaceful country. I am still surprised as to the way all the African leaders have decided not to comment on Gaddafi's death. It is a shame he had to die this way. Was he not liable to a fair trial as specified in the UN Convention? Most of the Western leaders have made statements commending the NTC Forces and NATO for ensuring the death of Gaddafi. Did i hear US President, Barack Hussein Obama say that the world will now be a safe and peaceful place with the killing of Gaddafi? Thats just the beginning of more terror attacks  and kidnappings and chaos all over the world. For the African Union, in my opinion, this bogus organization should be disbanded. Now that their chief financier is no more, where is the AU going to get funds to organize their meetings and conferences. May Brother Colonel Moamar Gaddafi rest in peace. Mother Africa has once again lost a visionary.

· · · 2 hours ago

The Scramble for Libya's Oil.

Some dreams could be very terrifying to the extent that you wake up and you still feel scared after having such a nightmare. This nightmare of mine was about the Libya's oil. In my dream i saw a large barrel of oil with the inscription Libyan Oil written on it, with about five giants with big tubes ready to siphon the oil to a nearby ship anchored on the coast. Overheard was a bird which was singing "The deal has been done, the deal has been done, we have finally sacked the oldman from his country, give us our share of the oil to offset the debts incurred during the war". These five giants were salivating upon seeing the big barrel of oil and each was eager to put his hose into the barrel first and siphon the oil. I asked myself why this dream? I then realised that the previous day, there was a top American government official visiting Libya just to shake the hands of the leaders of the NTC who had overthrown Moamar Gaddafi. He was followed by the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the French President Nicolas Sakorzy. This was the beginning of the scramble for Libya's oil. Turkey  also joined suit when one of their top government officials paid a visit to Tripoli. Now the western powers are jostling for the lucrative oil contracts in Libya. Will the Russians and the Chinese who criticised NATO's military action in Libya be allowed to get some of the contracts, since they were left out in the contracts in Iraq after opposing the Americans and British in the invasion of Iraq? They also learnt a big lesson so these two powers have also recognised the NTC of Libya just to get into the good books of NATO and its allies. I knew that these western powers were in for Libya's oil the moment NATO started their bombing campaign in Libya. Just as the western powers scrambled for the African continent, the same is being done to scramble for our resources, and we must bear in mind that Libya was not the first and will also not be the last, God bless the African continent.