Syria and the fog of war

Faced with a humanitarian crisis of major proportions, we are the ignorant observers, the blind witnesses, and the powerless actors in this conflict. We have no free access to people or information, no one does; the Assad regime is making sure we all stay out and in the dark. We rely only on information handed out by interest groups, therefore skewed and serving various agendas, painting a grim picture of Syrians being slaughtered, but at whose hands? Stories abound, finger pointing galore, the blame game is making the rounds. People believe what they want to believe, but the truth is certainly far from anyone’s reach. As long as no independent reporting is available from inside Syria, all information is suspect, exactly how the authorities would like it to be. The biggest losers are those innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, struggling to stay alive in a web of hate, manipulation, blood and murder. They do the only thing available to them: They wait, helpless, for their turn to come or for the violence to simply end.

Between news of chemical stockpiles being moved around Syria, continued calls for stricter UN sanctions, warnings of a Libya-style NATO intervention, and a relentless Assad regime still armed to the teeth both literally and figuratively with the remaining support of countries like Russia and China, one must be deaf not to hear the rumblings of war.

Syria today is immersed in a blinding shroud of propaganda from all sides. As a result, we are faced with a gigantic and desperate information fog of war. Between disinformation and news manipulation, we are left with skepticism about the situation on the ground and deep sadness for the daily brutal loss of innocent life.

In the midst of this dark cloud, we have learned by now that when it feels like war and sounds like war, the result cannot be anything but war.