What the HECK is going on in Syria. By Nash F.

Syria has been in the news a lot lately but why has it been in the news.  Rather than look around on the internet for a in-depth review here is a more simplistic guide to understanding Syria and you can finally understand why this is important and what the news readers are actually talking about. So here it is a guide to Syria in four parts.

Part I: What is the conflict?

Syria is ruled by an Islamic sect that is the minority in Syria. The people feel under represented and are against this harsh dictatorship so the people decided to hold a peaceful protest in 2010. The government responded by killing four people. This then lead to a series of violent out bursts and eventually the government used chemical based weaponry in 2013.

Part II: What is the big deal with chemical weapons?

In 1920 a lot of nations signed something called the Geneva conventions. These convention gave some rules to how war is done. These rules have been constantly broken by government but one of the most enforced rules was the ban on the use of chemical weapons. This ban was created because chemical weapons are not useful in terms of military combat but they are great at killing people in cities. So they were banned to prevent the killing of innocent civilians.

Part III: U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and the U.N.

When the news got out that Syria broke the most enforced rules in the Geneva Convention the United Nations held a meeting discussing the situation. Now the United Nations has five nations that if they vote no on any proposition then the movement fails. The U.N. is not going to do anything but those five major nations opinion go something like this.

United Kingdom: They originally wanted to do something about this but parliament voted no.

Russia: They are actually the people supplying the weapons to the Syrian government because Syria is the only ally Russia has from the post-coldwar U.S.S.R. They also have special interests in Syria because russia uses it as a deployment space for their navy.

Unites States: They want to send two Cruise Missiles off of boats they have right outside syria but Congress needs to vote on this.

France: They will back any choice the U.S. makes.

China: They believe everyone needs to slow down and think about this more.

Part IV: The big question?

Now the United State's Congress has a big question, should they approve the missile strike? On one hand if they approve, this could draw the U.S. into another war. All the U.S wants to do is say we will not stand the use of chemical weapons but this could still suck us into another war. On the other hand by not doing this what kind of message would that send to other dictators, that we are okay with the killing of innocent lives. I personally think that we should fire that warning shot and take that chance of starting another war but we should avoid that war if possible. What do you think the U.S. should do?

Bibliography:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/29/9-questions-about-syria-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186