I noticed Pope Francis has asked Europe to be compassionate to the migrants. But, the USA military stated there would be these challenges with the climate crisis. Now, some of this is understandably caused by a brutal and faux religion to form a calphate. But,...
...in a series of media presentations Thomas Friedman explored the underlying causes of the Syrian revolution.
May 18, 2013
By Thomas Friedman
They grow up to be teenagers with too many guns and too much free time,...
...in a series of media presentations Thomas Friedman explored the underlying causes of the Syrian revolution.
May 18, 2013
By Thomas Friedman
...As
we were driving back to the Turkish border, I noticed a school and
asked the driver to turn around so I could explore it. It was empty — of
students. But war refugees had occupied the classrooms and little kids’
shirts and pants were drying on a line strung across the playground.
The basketball backboard was rusted, and a local parent volunteered to
give me a tour of the bathrooms, which he described as disgusting.
Classes had not been held in two years. And that is what terrified me.
Men with guns I’m used to. But kids without books, teachers or classes
for a long time — that’s trouble. Big trouble.
...I came here to write my column (click here) work on a film for the Showtime series, “Years of Living Dangerously,”
about the “Jafaf,” or drought, one of the key drivers of the Syrian
war. In an age of climate change, we’re likely to see many more such
conflicts.
“The
drought did not cause Syria’s civil war,” said the Syrian economist
Samir Aita, but, he added, the failure of the government to respond to
the drought played a huge role in fueling the uprising. What happened,
Aita explained, was that after Assad took over in 2000 he opened up the
regulated agricultural sector in Syria for big farmers, many of them
government cronies, to buy up land and drill as much water as they
wanted, eventually severely diminishing the water table. This began
driving small farmers off the land into towns, where they had to
scrounge for work.
Because
of the population explosion that started here in the 1980s and 1990s
thanks to better health care, those leaving the countryside came with
huge families and settled in towns around cities like Aleppo. Some of
those small towns swelled from 2,000 people to 400,000 in a decade or
so. The government failed to provide proper schools, jobs or services
for this youth bulge, which hit its teens and 20s right when the
revolution erupted....
In realizing the extent to which the USA military had this right, there was absolutely no preparation for these events. Wall Street priorities overshadowed everything, including our nation's security.
In realizing the extent to which the USA military had this right, there was absolutely no preparation for these events. Wall Street priorities overshadowed everything, including our nation's security.
