Till The Cup Spills Over

The Creeping Darkness
(Part of The Darkness Visible Series)

               (Lebanese Child Injured in Syrian Artillery Attacks)

Assad's regime of thugs and criminals began shelling the northern border of Lebanon overnight in attempts to stop the flow of refugees into Lebanon. Soldiers, and what is presumed to be Shabiha, patrolled the "illegal crossing" points where refugees have been fleeing to safety. The armed men opened fire on anyone they presumed to be "rebels" or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This occurred just as the Lebanese military began building up its presence along the border with Syria. Several Lebanese soldiers reported being fired upon and returning fire on the sources of the attacks. Yet none dared to cross the border to route the attackers.

Checkpoints set up by the Lebanon government were also fired upon by both armed infantry and artillery. Fortunately the failed attacks did not manage to wound or kill any Lebanese soldiers. But the attacks do constitute legitimate acts of war... acts of war that Lebanon has been to timid to call out Assad on.

Assad's regime seems to be willingly ignoring the fact that Lebanon's armed forces were attempting to stop the flow of illegal weapons and armed combatants from flowing into Syria... not out of Syria. This was the mandate set up by Beirut when it beefed up its presence on the border with its neighbor. Unlike Turkey, Lebanon is not about to use its military to stop the massacres happening just on the other side of its border.

All the while a new ally has tossed its support to Assad and his criminal recklessness. Hugo Chavez announced that his regime in Venezuela will be sending diesel and other fuels to Syria. This fuel is meant to keep the Syrian military up and running. It is meant to help keep Assad's genocide grinding along as the Syrian people suffer under the mad man's boot.

Chavez appears to know about the murdering of innocent children, the beating of women, and the butchering of Syrian men. But once again the tin hat dictator of Venezuela seems ready to support tyrants if it will gain him the attention of governments he says he hates. So it only seems appropriate that one narcissist would pat the back of another.

And all this occurs as the UN keep running around toting its "peace plan" to the West. This is a peace plan that continues to loose its teeth every time Kofi Annan opens his mouth. It was meant originally to remove Assad and help obtain the rights the rebels are fighting for. Now it has been scaled back to only address the "most violent" areas in Syria and does not fully demand Assad to step out of Syrian politics.

To add to the growing problems in and around Syria, Putin is beginning to demand that Russia be allowed to hold the "peace talks" in Syria. This flies in the face of reason when one thinks about just how much money Russia has been making by selling Syria weapons. Then to add to the tilt in the scales this arrangement would cause... Russia just sent warships to help the Syrian Navy in "patrols" along the coast of Syria. So how can Putin's regime honestly claim to be impartial when it comes to Assad and his policy of murder and mayhem?

It is time for the West to wake up... if not long past the time to do so. We can not let this creeping darkness continue to spread. We must remove Assad and make him an example for all those who would exploit the innocent. We must save Syria. 







Source Documents Used (note that not all sources used are listed)

The Daily Star Lebanon
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jul-10/180011-shells-from-syria-hit-north-lebanon-border-towns.ashx#axzz20FU2SbtH
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jul-10/180051-lebanons-hrc-halts-syrain-refugee-aid-for-lack-of-funds.ashx#axzz20FU2SbtH
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Jul-10/180056-france-condemns-syrian-shelling-in-lebanon.ashx#axzz20FU2SbtH

Khaleej Times
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/July/middleeast_July118.xml&section=middleeast

The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303292204577517041523762940.html

Naharnet
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/46073-syria-targets-wadi-khaled-with-shelling-again-3-killed

AFP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h3-IQ0PJuwzOcOU9dz3SckrTrb9Q?docId=CNG.8f0c4738dfd49a20ec83df63b9f407a3.371

The Beast Shows Its Teeth

-
Assad's Military Prepared To Defend It's Genocide
(Part of The Darkness Visible Series)

Even as Kofi Annan visited Syria to hammer out a peace plan al-Assad would agree to the military continued to shell Syrian citizens. Then to top off their show of force, the Syrian naval forces along with the Syrian air force began using live ammunition in "military exercises". This was both an attempt to show Assad's willingness to attack UN fighter jets or a UN naval blockade and to attack any rebel targets along the coast.

Once again bombs fell on rebel villages and town just out of sight of Damascus as the capital city itself continued to burn. And once again the UN proved itself incompetent as Annan timidly pleaded with Assad to step down. Yet despite promises and good will intentions it is still very unlikely that Assad will leave without much more ruthless blood shed.

In recent days Assad has talked to foreign reporters and claims that he is not afraid of dying like Gaddafi if his country is to fall under UN jets. He also claimed that he will not be held accountable like the dictator of Egypt if he does end up willingly stepping down from his role as tyrant. And yet Annan still seems to be drinking the kool-aid as he sucks down the lies Assad keep spouting to the West.

Human Rights Watch has pointed out that Assad's regime is using at least 27 different facilities across the country to torture and butcher their own citizens. There have been more reports of torture than any one organization can catalog and document. And yet once again Kofi Annan pretends that once Assad is gone the country will be free of this disturbing form of oppression.

As children disappear into the night only to return ready to be buried by their parents Assad's wife claims that "all Syrian children" have the right to live free of fear. These "rebels" are often found to be under the age of 13 and yet are beaten to death by Assad's thugs. Their corpses are returned only to nurture a culture of fear across Syria. The goal is to kill off the next generation of dissenters. Yet people like Kofi Annan in the west claim that "dissent is patriotic".

In the picture above Hana (12 years old) flashes the V for victory. Her sister, Eva (13 years old), was beaten with her. Both were lucky to live. And yet still, Annan and the UN are hesitant to address the issue of torture and murdering of children when it comes to Assad.

Now we are watching as Assad's war spills over into neighboring Lebanon. In Tripoli the majority population happens to all be Sunni Muslims (the same group that makes the majority in Syria). And as if to mirror Syria, the minority population in Tripoli is comprised of Alawites (the religious cult that Assad belongs to). So just as the battle lines were drawn in Syria... so to are they being drawn in Lebanon. This has only been made more obvious by the endless stream of refugees coming out of Syria... another point that Annan seems unwilling to address when it comes to Assad.

So where are we headed if the UN remains unwilling to take on the beast head to head? How are we ever going to end this long bitter night and bring some hope to those suffering under Assad?

Obviously there is reason to believe that the UN is starting to look a little more seriously at enforcing "No Fly Zones" over Syria. This was made even more clear as the Syrian military beefs itself up to defend their genocide. It is even more obvious now that Assad is beginning to talk to the West... even if it is just saber rattling for the time being.

Yet even if Assad's jets are grounded we are left with the continued artillery barrages on defenseless civilian neighborhoods. So how do we stop the attacks without entering into a war with Assad himself? We can't.

We have to realize that to end this genocide we will be taking the Middle East to the brink of all out war. Iran will stand and fight if they think the West is moving in next door and taking down their favorite ally (for the time being). After all, Iran has far to much invested in making Syria an Islamic Republic. Then to add to the deadly duo, Hamas in Lebanon will send in whatever ragtag support it can offer to stopping the "Zionist threat". And finally... we will have to deal with Russian and Chinese support for the Syrian resistance. Putin himself says that Syria needs peace only if Assad remains.

So once again we must ask ourselves where will this never ending spread of darkness end? We are watching as European countries continue to deport their Romani populations and harass the remaining Roma. We are watching as the European doll Aung San Suu Kyi's government slaughters the Rohingya of Myanmar. We are watching as Syria burns under the oppressing weight of the Assad Regime and its nation's children are bleeding to death. So where will this long night's reach end?

The darkness is spreading faster than it has ever before in my lifetime. I have lived long enough to see Rwanda and Bosnia. Darfur was there for a some time the worse genocide we had to worry about. But now... now the world community is simply covering its eyes and ignoring as the world around us plunges into darkness.

Currently, just off the top of my head, I can list more countries and communities of people at risk of or dying in genocides around the globe. So I'm going to ask one last time today... how far are we going to let this darkness spread?

All this reminds me of that poem...

First they came for the communist,
and I did not speak because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the unions,
and I did not speak because I wasn't a unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
again I did not speak because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for Me,
but there was nobody left to speak out for me.

Do your part and speak out for the Syrian people. They are dying for their freedoms. Their children are being taken away only to be killed. This is genocide. Speak up, share this on your FaceBook or Twitter... scream for those who have died and those about to die.







Sources Used For This Post (please note that not all sources are listed)

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/03/syria-torture-centers-revealed

BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18687422
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18761264
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18655845