Malevolence Incarnate
The evil that men do long outlives them. The proliferation of nuclear weaponry know-how by the activities of a Pakistani nuclear scientist in assisting countries like North Korea and Iran, and hopefuls like Syria to attain nuclear installations and ultimately nuclear weaponry has placed the world closer to the knife-edge of extinction. Future incidents of such devices falling into the hands of terror groups remain a potential, accelerating the possibility of utter disaster.Saddam Hussein was determined to obtain bigger and better armaments, and he was on his way to possessing weapons of mass destruction before the first Iraq invasion. Iran is now well on its way to possessing nuclear capability in the production of nuclear warheads. Yet another country whose belligerent and malevolent views of its neighbours and whose aspirations to complete political ascendancy in the geography marks it as a source of concern for the future.
Should the world mourn the destabilization of such evil-minded countries, or the assassinations of their enablers? It's unnerving to anyone with a modicum of common sense to recognize the danger to which ownership of fissionable materials meant for destruction places us all in. There's a feeling of incredulous dismay when we learn of the sinister plans of one country against another.
The world's countries are all engaged in feverish attainment of conventional weaponry, even those whose national purse strings are constrained. How much more frightening that politically unstable countries with a historical record of enmity toward their neighbours are in possession of nuclear weaponry?
The brittle, bitter, truly hostile relationship between two nuclear powers like India and Pakistan represent a possible tinderbox of huge proportions. A conflict that could, if it emerged, swiftly swallow up the civil advance of both countries, and affect all their neighbours. A conflagration whose proportions would be vastly beyond redemption.
News of the assassination of Syria's Brigadier-General Mohammed Suleiman may be cause for great concern within Syria and Iran and Lebanon, but it spells just desserts for someone who made it his business to make the world just a little less stable. He's reported to have supplied Hezbollah with a superior anti-aircraft missile system capable of producing immense damage to Israel. The man held a position of great prominence in Syria and he dealt closely with North Korea and Iran.
He will, undoubtedly, be missed by his contacts there, and most certainly by the Assad regime, given his great responsibilities there. As a main contact with Hezbollah, a premier terror group with no humane scruples whatever and whose determination to battle and overthrow Israel, opening its territory to Palestinian control after the destruction of the Jewish state, he succeeded in performing more than enough damage in the geography.
The manner of his death is known; a single bullet through his head, while he enjoyed the comfort and solace of his garden. The mystery is the agent of his death, said to have been accomplished by a sniper firing from a passing speedboat.
Sounds like the fantastic stuff of which master-spy-fiction is constructed. Sounds like the finger of suspicion would gravitate to Israel. As it would, as a matter of course, in any event. Syria has been pushing its luck, of late. Its ongoing commitment to arming and training Hezbollah, alongside Iran, is a costly one in terms of its place in the Middle East and elsewhere.
And Hezbollah too, is growing restive, complacent with its armaments store and its readiness for another armed conflict with Israel. Confident that this time around confrontation will result in a complete victory. Their unceasing need to engage in bloody armed conflict, a reflection of the Arab neurosis relating to Israel, will not soon evaporate to be replaced with a willingness to recognize Israel's right to exist in peace with its neighbours.
And as long as countries like Syria and Iran foment unrest and violence and themselves hope, with the help of their surrogates, or on their own, to destroy Israel, they will remain pariahs on the world stage. Apart from which there will be a reckoning, and in the final analysis, it will be telling who will survive and who will pass, unlamented, from human memory.
Labels: Israel, Middle East, Societal Failures, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, August 10, 2008
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