PRESIDENT Trump has decided that the only way that he can increase his popularity and look decisive, without having to suffer the ignominy of being rebuffed by the Congress, is to start another war.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Already he has bombed Syria, and he is sending a war fleet across the Pacific with the aim of forcing a showdown with North Korea.
As we approach ANZAC Day, it is worth bearing in mind who will pay the price for these cavalier adventures. It will be the service men and women drafted into the conflict, to be sure, but it will be mostly the innocent men, women, and children who will be bombed, terrorised, starved, raped, and dislocated.
After 100 years of fighting the war to end all wars it is apparent that war does not actually end war. It only lays the seeds for the next conflict.
If Bashar al-Assad is guilty of war crimes, and I am sure he is, then place him in front of the International Criminal Court and try him. This would be to use a law court to attribute responsibility for crimes using a rule-based system of international relations. It may sound tedious and boring but it is the only alternative to endless war.
And if Australia is to participate in any further conflict in Syria, or any conflict in North Korea, then we must be prepared to accept refugees from these countries. One cannot expect that one can bomb a country and not to have responsibility for the aftermath.
Peter Sobey, Valla