Some Help from Another World

According to an Onion article, the alien nation of Zarklom 12 has decided to step in to help out the Syrian people after watching the violence unfold without intervention and seeing a "U.N. report indicating al-Assad's forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians." One alien remarked that "we find ourselves as disgusted by your reluctance to stop it as we are horrified by the deaths themselves," and the emperor furthered that "It defies all universal logic that the leading nations of your planet failed to agree on a simple resolution calling for an end to the violence in Syria."

The aliens will be performing a short military intervention to dislodge al-Assad from power, free political prisoners, and liberate cities such as Homs before withdrawing to monitor the process from afar.

Now, obviously, the article is from The Onion, and there are no alien invaders coming to save Syria. But perhaps there should be. The United Nations report stating that more than 7,500 civilians have been killed is real, and while the U.N. General Assembly has passed a resolution condemning al-Assad and supporting his removal from office, the U.N. Security Council has failed to pass two resolutions condemning the violence due to vetoes from Russia.

As I have learned while researching my Junior theme, the world has sat back and watched while conflicts with much higher death tolls raged - Rwanda and the Anfal campaign are a few examples, where the deaths were estimated at 800,000 and 100,000, respectively. But this does not mean that the world should.

But the chances that the U.S. will lead an intervention as it did in Libya are slim. Not because the Syrian conflict is fundamentally different or more dangerous, but because "In the midst of an election campaign, the Obama administration will try to avoid getting entangled in a new Middle East war." Unfortunately for the Syrian people, a military intervention just isn't politically convenient at the moment.

Now, I'm not sure if intervention in Syria is a good idea. There could be mission creep, there could be unknown dangers, and removing the al-Assad government could open up the area for terrorists or extremists - but in the end, that's not why the United States is not getting involved. It's because it's election time, and it's just not convenient right now. Sorry guys, may be you can call us back in a few months? We might have time for you then.

When humanitarian intervention is dictated by the political whims of one state, it does not seem like a fair process. But is there any other way to do it?