ACT for PEACE ... Engineers for CHANGE....

Dear Mr. Kevork,

Although university has been busy, I and my sister have been able to find the time to put together a discussion of an issue that would be suitable for the blog. Below is what we came to talk about.

Me and my sister have been talking about a conflict that has been on a pressing issue for over 3 years now; The Civil War that is currently occurring in Syria.

Here are my thoughts about it…

The war started off as a small conflict with Syrian citizens that were unhappy with their government and were looking to make a change in their country in the same way that the countries of the “Arab Spring” were able to. It has since evolved to become a full-scale civil war between Muslim Sectarian divisions of the Alawi -Druze dominant government and civilian Sunni Rebels. 

Islamic-Jihadists in action...

The president, like his father, initially reacted by trying to aggressively suppress the civilians that he now found to be “disloyal” to him by bombing the rebels into the submission. This caused a national rally cry and has evolved into full-scale civil war that has found foreign interference from almost every world power. The Americans always call themselves the greatest force for freedom, and make talks about bringing peace, but in reality they’ve helped to escalate to the conflict as the NATO powers have their own interests and do not “approve” of the country’s government so they have been secretly supplying the rebels with arms to fight the so-called “regime” and help de-stabilize Syria. On the other side, the President and his forces have found continuous military assistance from their ally in the north, the Russian Federation, which has a major naval the coast of the country in a region that has always seen foreign intervention. If other nations never got involved, this conflict might not have ever spread outside of the town it started. Now it’s so big that it’s threatening the political stability of the entire middle-east, causing increasingly higher tensions in neighboring countries with similar sectarian divisions which could lead to more civil wars in the region and start an even bigger conflict to a part of the world that has rarely seen peace. Having lived in Syria for 2 years during its better times, I remember the happy community it had in its beautiful landscape. Thinking of what has become of it, I feel like I experienced its Golden Age, and hope that it will one day return to its state of prosperity. However, as long as the world intrudes with each nation looking to fulfill its own motives, despite the lies that western nations advocate, it’s unlikely anyone will find peace there, especially to the Syrian refugees who have fled because they are suffering from a tragic and near catastrophic crisis that nobody seems to be able to predict it’s peaceful ending.

Those were my thoughts, and then my sister had her own opinion on the matter.

Here’s what she said:

My brother and I lived in Syria for two years over a decade ago. We didn’t know it at the time but when we were living in Syria, we had it at its peak. Our years in Syria were Syria’s best years. Not only has Syria been the center of the Middle East, but it has also been the heart human civilization. Damascus, Syria’s capital is currently the oldest inhabited city in the world. No one, not even the pessimistic politicians of the Middle East expected Syria’s situation to grow so bad in such a short period of time. Syrians who used to hold their head high, full of Syrian pride, had to resort to becoming the refugees of the neighboring Arab countries. Lebanon, for instance, has one Syrian for every two Lebanese. 

Syrian refugees in Lebanon...

The country is overpopulated and Lebanon’s economy cannot sustain the already increasing rate of unemployment as well as insufficient basic necessities. The war in Syria needs to end now so that Syrians can return to their beloved home and become a step in achieving peace throughout the Middle East once and for all. 

P.S.

I had one more comment to add that I forgot to mention earlier. If the war in Syria never reached such an extremity, the barbaric militant group known as ISIS would never have been formed. Now it poses a threat to the whole world as its claimed goal is to violently spread Islam by any means they see fit.

That’s all we had to say, what do you think of it? Sorry for such a delay.

***

Dear former students, and if I may… my young friends…

I am very pleased to hear from you. Your thoughts are very welcomed and I share them wholeheartedly… So I am posting it on the blog as it is… I have posted my thoughts about the situation in the Middle East quite often… and readers may refer to previous posts and follow the discussion… I just wanted to emphasize few facts…

1. The U.S. Invasion of Iraq destabilized the country…and their troop withdrawal created a political vacuum and engendered sectarian violence… In this climate ISIS developed… much faster…the Iraqi army collapsed and the U.S. arms which was provided to Iraqi army… transferred hands to ISIS…

2. Now the U.S. and the “allies” are initiating to arm Syrian “moderate” Muslims… The same will happen there… The arms provided will find their way to ISIS…

I guess some NEVER learn…After all their greed has blinded them…

3. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates – Qatar and the rest…, are despotic kingdoms or despotic sheikdoms… Jordan is a semi – despotic kingdom… and Turkey is democratic only by name…

So these countries can NEVER lead a democratic struggle in Syria… and the proof is just under everyone’s nose… IRAQ is the devastated and raped proof of this faulted “democratic” initiative…

***

But to be truthful, I was very keen on posting my thoughts about violence on university campuses and especially about sexual violence… I was following the university campus news and it is very disheartening… 1 out of 5 female students on campuses over North America is victim of sexual violence…

It is sad…but it is the truth…

Stephanie S. reported being sexually assaulted in a University of Washington dorm room in 2001.

Credit: Dan DeLong/Special to Investigate West

Dear young friends… may be in your next topic you can discuss that… You are brother and sister… and it will be very interesting and engaging to hear the male and the female view on this topic…

Demonstration in San Francisco... You should ACT too...

I hope you will take the challenge despite the fact that both of you are very busy with your engineering studies… I am sure it requires time an you will be hard pressed…for time…

Engineers unleashing their potential... for a more beautiful world and a better society....

But engineers are ingenious in creating new gadgets and “stuff”… and I am sure you smart people will be able to find the time for this next discussion… I am sure both of you are intelligent enough to bring together your academia with your social consciousness and outlook…

Thank you for your thoughts… I am sure the blog readers will be interested in your points of view… and I am sure they will anxiously await you thoughts about sexual violence on North American campuses…both Canada and the U.S.