Tag: Syria

Saturday Sound-off, World Affairs1 Comment

Saturday Sound Off: Double Standards in Foreign Affairs

franklparker

Am I alone in being cynical about the reaction throughout the West to the chemical attack in Syria earlier this week? In the context of six years of atrocities, of tens of thousands of deaths and many more mutilations, of millions driven from their homes, what makes is this particular act more reprehensible than a thousand others? We – the Western powers, the ‘good guys’ – maintain an arsenal of nuclear weapons which we are prepared to use if threatened. We permit certain other nations to do the same whilst imposing sanctions intended to prevent their acquisition by nations we … Continue reading Saturday Sound Off: Double Standards in Foreign Affairs

World Affairs1 Comment

Nightmare revisited

franklparker

A few days ago I wrote a piece under N (for nightmare) in the atoz challenge. I tried to imagine what it must be like to experience what Syrian, and other refugees, have experienced, and continue to experience. I wish I had expressed it as well as this lady does. The link should take you to a Facebook post. https://www.facebook.com/notes/amanda-buessecker/why-its-not-cool-that-my-new-next-door-neighbours-are-syrian-refugees/10154105544404668 Continue reading Nightmare revisited

World Affairs3 Comments

Nightmare: #atozchallenge

franklparker

Warning: this is a rant. Some readers may be offended. I’m talking living nightmares here, not bad dreams. I watch, nightly, scenes of ravaged cities that, a few years ago were bustling, modern metropolises teeming with people going about their business and tourists photographing historic buildings. I watch, too, over-loaded boats ferrying people, men, women and frightened children, across the Mediterranean or Aegean seas. And my television also shows me lines of similar people trekking across country or, more often these days, camping in unbelievably squalid conditions beside hastily erected fences. Many of these dispossessed people are the former citizens … Continue reading Nightmare: #atozchallenge