Hama redux

Photo via Reuters

Like a chip off the old block, Bashir al-Assad is following in his fathers footsteps, brutally suppressing dissent throughout Syria and in the town of Hama. To be fair the death toll under Assad throughout Syria appears to be around 2-3,000, with a significant amount injured, arrested and some "disappeared". This seems to pall in comparison to his fathers approach to dealing with Hama, where between 10,000-40,000 people died over a few weeks. Seems all that western education has paid off, maybe Assad son will be able to make his point with only a few hundred dead, now that would be considered progress in that part of the world.
About the only silver lining in all this is it gives me more ammunition to beat "history unaware" progressives who seem to think all evils flow from Israel alone. Prior to the current uprising, few had ever heard of Hama or the atrocities committed there and why should they. Authoritarian regimes are always suppressing somebody and makes for boring print. Plus the dictators don't give a damn anyways. Far better to beat on Israeli's who actually care about their international reputation.
Meanwhile I await the first flotilla to Damascus to help the poor people there to throw off the shackles of the oppressor. (I don't plan on holding my breath)

Is it just hate or do people really care?

I am truly amazed at the local, national and international attention that the Gaza issue gets, from media, activists and politicians. An alien coming from another planet could be forgiven to think this was the worst humanitarian disaster to strike our planet in the last 100 years. But reality is so different. The IRC estimates that in the Congo 5 million people have died there in the last 10 years with 45,000 a month dead in 2008. A decade of war and infidata between the Palestinians and Israel have accounted for somewhere around 5,000 Palestinians killed (Number of civilians vs insurgents is disputed)
Let’s also look at the record of Islamic countries and how they treat minorities or other groups within their region. Syria is estimated to have killed between 7,000-40,000 people in the city of Hama alone in 1982 when attempting to destroy Hard line Islamists. Saddam gassed his own Kurdish minority in the town of Halabja killing approx 5,000 and injuring another 11,000. All the Sunni states harass their shiite minorities. Turkey, Iran and Iraq actively try to prevent Kurds from creating their own state. Saudi is building a 560mile long border fence which will prevent nomadic tribes from crossing into their historical grazing lands. This is a small taste of the volition of human rights by states that routinely criticize Israel. Yet I never hear about the other side of the coin. As for the locals here who love to bash Israel, how many are willing to give up their property that the First Nations have never relinquished claim to? We certainly are the pot calling the kettle black!