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MEET SYRIA'S CHRISTIANS - AND LEARN WHAT THE WEST GETS WRONG ABOUT THEM
PolicyMic
Sept 17 2013
Brendan Behrmann
For years there has been a discussion at the highest and the lowest
levels of Western society about "saving Middle Eastern Christians."
This discussion has left out the actual Christians of the region,
who are busy charting their own political future. Particularly in
the northern Middle Eastern nations of Syria, Lebanon, and Armenia,
there appears to be an increasing conflict of interest brewing between
Western interests and local Christian communities.
In the ancient Syrian Christian village of Maaloula, Syrian army
soldiers kiss their crucifixes and spout anti-Western rhetoric as
they battle opposition fighters for control. Pro-government Christian
militiamen have been battling the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo for a
full year. In Lebanon, the largest Christian party's alliance with
Hezbollah has been intact since 2006. And Armenia's long relationship
with Iran has been deepening lately.
The clearly paternalistic views of both former French Foreign Minister
Alain Juppe and the infamous Islamophobe Pamela Geller, linked at the
beginning of the article, blind them (and like-minded individuals)
to the course of action taken by Christians in these countries. In an
increasingly polarized region, Middle Eastern Christians are shifting
their view to the east, where fellow regional minorities rule in Iran
and Iraq; and to the north, where a newly assertive and increasingly
Orthodox Russian voice rolls over the Caucasus mountains.
These shifts are largely due to the changing nature of the Syrian
opposition, the growth of Sunni Islamism in the wake of the Arab
Spring, and in the case of Armenia, oil pipelines. Armenia is still
smarting from its exclusion in the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which
deepened "its political and economic isolation." This exclusion
occurred due to the Nagaro-Karabakh conflict with neighboring
Turkish-supported Azerbaijan and a joint Turkish-Azeri blockade
of Armenia.
Pipelines are a backdrop to the Syrian Civil War as well. A gasline
from the South Pars/Northfield on the Iran/Qatar maritime border
will be built. The proposed lines are Iran-Iraq-Syria and Qatar-Saudi
Arabia-Jordan-Syria-Turkey. The Assad government chose the Iran-Iraq
route, perhaps explaining the particularly high levels of support
Turkey and Qatar are giving the Syrian opposition. Yerevan is looking
to prevent further Turkish gains by supporting the Syrian government's
attempt to block the Qatar-Turkey route.
However, one cannot talk in absolutes when discussing entire groups
of people. Of course there are Christians in these countries who take
a different view. George Sabra, from a Christian family, was president
of the opposition Syrian National Committee until recently. The smaller
Phalangist Kataeb and Lebanese Forces parties both hold anti-Hezbollah
and pro-Syrian opposition positions.
These are not signs of a slowly dying, apolitical group with little
power sitting on the sidelines - the caricature often trotted out by
the mainstream media. These are the ways of a community determined
to protect itself, its future, and its interests at any cost. The
idea of a regional Christian decline is true only in proportional
terms. But even proportionally, the Christian communities are still
large - the percentages of Christians in Syria and African-Americans
in the United States are roughly equal. As respected Middle East
historian Juan Cole points out, "they [Mideastern Christians] are
arguably more numerous in absolute terms than ever before." And this
important community is looking to save itself.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/63751/meet-syria-s-christians-and-learn-what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-them
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
PolicyMic
Sept 17 2013
Brendan Behrmann
For years there has been a discussion at the highest and the lowest
levels of Western society about "saving Middle Eastern Christians."
This discussion has left out the actual Christians of the region,
who are busy charting their own political future. Particularly in
the northern Middle Eastern nations of Syria, Lebanon, and Armenia,
there appears to be an increasing conflict of interest brewing between
Western interests and local Christian communities.
In the ancient Syrian Christian village of Maaloula, Syrian army
soldiers kiss their crucifixes and spout anti-Western rhetoric as
they battle opposition fighters for control. Pro-government Christian
militiamen have been battling the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo for a
full year. In Lebanon, the largest Christian party's alliance with
Hezbollah has been intact since 2006. And Armenia's long relationship
with Iran has been deepening lately.
The clearly paternalistic views of both former French Foreign Minister
Alain Juppe and the infamous Islamophobe Pamela Geller, linked at the
beginning of the article, blind them (and like-minded individuals)
to the course of action taken by Christians in these countries. In an
increasingly polarized region, Middle Eastern Christians are shifting
their view to the east, where fellow regional minorities rule in Iran
and Iraq; and to the north, where a newly assertive and increasingly
Orthodox Russian voice rolls over the Caucasus mountains.
These shifts are largely due to the changing nature of the Syrian
opposition, the growth of Sunni Islamism in the wake of the Arab
Spring, and in the case of Armenia, oil pipelines. Armenia is still
smarting from its exclusion in the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which
deepened "its political and economic isolation." This exclusion
occurred due to the Nagaro-Karabakh conflict with neighboring
Turkish-supported Azerbaijan and a joint Turkish-Azeri blockade
of Armenia.
Pipelines are a backdrop to the Syrian Civil War as well. A gasline
from the South Pars/Northfield on the Iran/Qatar maritime border
will be built. The proposed lines are Iran-Iraq-Syria and Qatar-Saudi
Arabia-Jordan-Syria-Turkey. The Assad government chose the Iran-Iraq
route, perhaps explaining the particularly high levels of support
Turkey and Qatar are giving the Syrian opposition. Yerevan is looking
to prevent further Turkish gains by supporting the Syrian government's
attempt to block the Qatar-Turkey route.
However, one cannot talk in absolutes when discussing entire groups
of people. Of course there are Christians in these countries who take
a different view. George Sabra, from a Christian family, was president
of the opposition Syrian National Committee until recently. The smaller
Phalangist Kataeb and Lebanese Forces parties both hold anti-Hezbollah
and pro-Syrian opposition positions.
These are not signs of a slowly dying, apolitical group with little
power sitting on the sidelines - the caricature often trotted out by
the mainstream media. These are the ways of a community determined
to protect itself, its future, and its interests at any cost. The
idea of a regional Christian decline is true only in proportional
terms. But even proportionally, the Christian communities are still
large - the percentages of Christians in Syria and African-Americans
in the United States are roughly equal. As respected Middle East
historian Juan Cole points out, "they [Mideastern Christians] are
arguably more numerous in absolute terms than ever before." And this
important community is looking to save itself.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/63751/meet-syria-s-christians-and-learn-what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-them
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress