Fear-The Winners and Losers Part II
The situation in Syria is nuts, to say the least. Assad is not in control of anything after years of civil war prompted by his brutal attacks on his fellow Syrians. He governed with fear just as ISIS is governing with fear, but because of the grass roots push by ISIS in their beginning, opposed to Assad’s position from a gold studded throne, ISIS moved faster and more decisively and now runs some of that country. Having a “caliphate” requires holding a homeland and in their case the burned out, bombed out lands of Syria and Iraq is attractive especially with all that oil money to support them.
The Syrian and Iraqi people have much to fear; the guns and chemicals of Assad and the bombs of the US, France, Russia and the brutal pressure from ISIS to repent their impure ways. ISIS in areas they hold, are taxing the Syrians for everything imaginable, from making them buy what equates to a “purity” license to repent their sins to the tune of $300.00 with a yearly renewal fee of $50.00, to rationing gas. Many have lost their jobs because of closed shops and shuddered professional services especially women owned businesses. They have food to buy, but only certain foods as the IS are exporting most of it to Iraq, the place they desire the most. They control the economy to the point that the only way to make any money is to join them as they conveniently pay very well and provide food, medical treatment and drugs. Much like Hitler, they attract through fear, money and a sense of belonging. None of that means they will turn into Jihad John, but the odds are not in their favor or ours. People will always do whatever it takes to survive and without an alternative they will often make poor choices.
The Islamic State are gaining ground on the monetary front by holding the oil refineries and wells in parts of Iraq and Syria. That is why we went after them so heavily in one Iraq area early on because the US and others knew once they had the oil the game would change. Iraq doesn’t want us there, yet they ran like bunnies when it came time to hold their ground. I have read that the oil is being transported by underground pipelines that often run for miles with dispensaries located helter skelter out in the desert.
ISIS has plenty of money which is why they are so hard to deal with and the money available to them also makes the idea that they would bother with a boat trip in rough seas to infiltrate the refugee program is probably pretty far fetched. On top of that the 18-24 months of investigation before being placed permanently in this country under current refugee protocol…the plane trip is far more easy. You can buy from some members of the corrupt Syrian government, a passport or visa, and if you can’t afford quite that amount there are plenty of counterfeiters to choose from. Why would anyone want to risk drowning on an over crowded boat instead of a nice plane ride if they had the means?
The IS has taken the Syrian economy over by closing shops, offices and groceries with their bully tactics and threats of death that make people fear them. Once you take the jobs that the young people have it does not bode well for them or us. Much like it is in the United States, without the jobs young people are pulled into a whirlwind of temptation with the promise of a few bucks and that is precisely why many, many Syrian’s have fled the country trying to enter not only Europe, but other mid-eastern countries as well; they are trying to get their kids out of there. In comparison, the smaller percentage of single males coming to Europe have often left because their schools were closed or they lost their jobs. Many of them had a dream to be doctors and such and that has vanished with the coming of ISIS and the civil war before that.
The people who are fleeing Syria and Iraq are doing so because they are the persecuted and are the non-conformists when it comes to the IS standards of existence. They have been ducking bullets and swords clear back to the time we were slaughtering the American Indians and for centuries before that. They are fleeing just like the Polish did, or the Jewish, Cuban’s and German’s. The winds of fear and persecution have always be strong across the globe and probably always will be because of money and power and a few places like the US have been there for many of the persecuted, but never without hesitation. We always seem to fear the fearful.
