26 November 2011 | Defying the Arab League? So What?

Wow, Syria just defied the Arab League!

Wait, shouldn't you actually have some fear of what an organization might do *before* you make a stink about defying it?

So it is with our Media Glitterati, who are breathlessly reporting that Syria has "defied" the Arab League's deadline to allow in international observers. This after months and months and months of killing and repression. Oooh, the Arab League is getting involved! The Syrians are in for it now!

Except they're not. Sure, Syria's economy stinks and curtailing flights and transports will not help, but the media is portraying this as the biggest deal ever. The fact that this is the first time the Arab League has actually stood up to a member state is supposed to be looked upon as a watershed moment: well, the news is that the Arab League is rather feckless and has no teeth. It's best for presenting useless proclamations against Israeli occupation, but note that it's never really done much to end the conflict. 

But for Syria, well, why should Bashar "The Butcher of Damascus" Assad give a damn? He's been on a tear (literally) against his own people for the better part of eight months. Now words of warning from the Arab League? No wonder he's missing their deadline so casually: he knows it won't amount to much. And don't even get me (too) started on the Europeans, who are always fascinated by butchery but pretend to be horrified by it. Think about it: Western Europe did nothing to stop the killing in the Balklands until President Clinton forced their hand. In Syria, we have open aggression by the government to "crackdown on protesters" (what a fucking sick euphemism for "killing our citizens") but only a lot of hand-wringing and stern words from faraway capitals. Any action worth repeating? None. Wonder why? Fear of bad Muslims, namely Iranians who often support the Assad cartel and are power brokers with Hizbullah. The specter of radical Muslims running loose because of a decisive stance on Syria is too great, thus the tepid, yawn-inducing condemnations from Paris and London.

Yep, our feckless media folks are still too enamored of using the kicky "Arab spring/fall/winter" phrase to explain to brain dead Americans what the Arab League is and how toothless its threats are, and why that's deadly for the Syrian people. Americans on the whole do not care about Arab lives, but if our Media Glitterati for one second would throw just a few seconds of a harsh light on the situation, they might pause for a second. Then resume shopping.