The Fodder & the Flock!

What’s really happening with Islamist groups in Syria? Are they finally turning against the very regime that for long sponsored them, in the belief that a chaotic situation in Syria will better serve their interests at this stage? Is the Faustian deal that has for years united the two radically opposed camps, the Alawite regime and the Sunni extremists, and according to the which the latter camp was granted safe haven in Syria in exchange for reserving their violence to other people and countries and in accordance with some of the regime's most notorious policies, finally falling apart? Or, have the Assads of Syria decided that turning against their unlikely allies at this stage will bolster their image both with regard to the domestic scene and the international one?

Well, considering the unexplainable knack of these terrorists to attack empty buildings along the Mazzeh Boulevard, the latter alternative might appear to be the more likely and convincing one. On the other hand, the Assads have never actually shied away from shedding the blood of their innocent countrymen when they though this could serve their vile purposes. As such, the very murderous nature of the regime makes it very difficult for observers to make up their mind here.

But, and whatever the case may be, we, the people, are the ones who are going to pay the ultimate price. We are the damned ones in this macabre game. We are the ones who will have to suffer the consequences of both the failure and success of the regime’s policies, because everything will come at our expense, as it has always had. We are not factored into any equation except as fodder. Proletariat, citizens, the faithful, the epithets vary, but the meaning remains the same: fodder for other peoples’ wars. Perhaps it is about time we waged our own.

But, if there is any scenario that I fear most it is exactly this one, the one that we need most. For this is the scenario that changes the nature of the game, this is the scenario that allows us to become self-aware as a people. But I haven’t heard of a people who have become self-aware without going through hell first.

Indeed, we are not self-aware yet, we are still but cattle. And our leaders are but shepherds who, like all other shepherds, have to fleece and feed upon the flock.