And what is the 'world' going to do to ease its conscience? Intervene as it did in Iraq and Afghanistan, and be lambasted by the UN and the usual leftists posing as humanitarians? Maybe the Western powers have learned, at last, the lesson that barbarians in the Third World need to solve their own problems.

This liberal US academic author seems to be implying its the Wests fault that in 2011 some Arab liberals launched the "Arab Spring” protests, eg. in Syrian capital Damascus.

Then Islamist forces (always below or above the surface in Mid East) hijacked the Arab Spring protests.

This all led to an orgy of Muslim killing Muslim killing Kurd violence that is still going on in Syria. More specifically it is the Muslim Shiite dominated Syrian Army/Government, who have been fighting Sunni Muslim insurgents, with Kurds, Turks and Russian forces all mixed up in the process.

The West (including US) is not to blame for Muslims perpetually killing Muslims.

Even before Islam (7th Century) Arab tribes, in what is now Syria, were constantly killing each other.

All this is what muslims do.
Their average IQ level is unable to find peaceful ways to settle their disputes.
To fire a gun is a simple solution and does not require
talk talk talk. It is too intellectual for most Arabs.
For some reason I do not know their clever people do not seem to be
able to rise to the top. Perhaps they understand that mixed with their
religion there is no solution.
The best that we, the west can hope for is that other Arab nations, eg
Lebanon also destroy themselves and they stop bothering the rest of us.

I can just imagine the reaction of the worry warts to the above, well
somewhere along the way they have to be cut off from dependence on
outside powers.

"All this is what Muslims do?"

Those bloody conflicts, WW1 and WW2, were fought primarily by the western Christian powers. That is what we and other humans do.

It might be wise to look at ourselves before we condemn others for acting like us.

davidf,
I'd have thought "our" conflicts arose from the necessity of economic defence whereas Islam is on-going dark ages indoctrination.

An impassioned argument seeking improved global conduct and responsibility, but how sincere is your desire for better conduct?
I agree the international community should have a more humane view, but shouldn't such morality first take account of situations that the international community itself has created?
As an American born in Iraq and educated in Israel, UK and US you may be more aware of recent & temporary plights such as in Syria; but as an Australian, I am also aware of the 58 year occupation and denial of all human rights of West Papua (West New Guinea) in the Australian Pacific.
Both Israel and Iraq voted for the US proposed New York Agreement in which Indonesia was asking the United Nations to invade, disarm, and subjugate the people of West New Guinea whose only crime was that they had arrested some 1500 Indonesian soldiers who had invaded West Papua and wanted to deport the invasion force 3500km back to Indonesia. We don't know how many have been slaughtered by Indonesian forces that the United Nations released and appointed as 'administrator' of West Papua because Indonesia has declared the nation a restricted zone requiring special permission to enter since September 1963. However, a leading expert estimated the number at 300,000 some forty years ago, and by twenty years ago all the NGOs permitted to operate within Indonesia agreed the number was in the hundreds of thousands.
I would happily speak up for Syria, Yemen, the Sudan, and all the other afflicted nations if only you and other 'experts' in international affairs will speak up for the victim of the ongoing 58 year UN war against a people who were at peace when our governments voted on 21 Sept 1962 to authorise the UN invasion of West Papua.

a people who were at peace
Daeron,
Head hunting & raiding=peace ! Ever heard of the Kia Kia & Marind ? In the northern islands close to PNG/Irian Jaya some people still steal a worried look over their shoulder if the word Tugere is mentioned.
Looks as though your definition of peace is different to others'.

The left whingers are unashamedly hypocrites. If you invade a country to stop massacres you're evil, now if you don't you're also evil.

Syria with the Russians, Iranians, Syrians, Kurds, ISIS etc all involved is a cesspit of violence where no one is innocent. No self-respecting country should touch it with a barge pole.

Consider what REALLY caused this humanitarian crisis. Starting with quote: "The difference between what the United States government does in other countries and what the majority of American people THINK it does is one of the greatest propaganda achievements." Seems from the foregoing comments, Australians who have not watched news sources other than the mainstream media have also been partly brainwashed by "official" lies. For a start, Syria and also Libya - which the US earlier destroyed were the most progressive Arab countries. Syria is also secular, which people following a range of different religions peacefully coexisting. Also, President Assad is obviously much more popular among his own people than leaders of most other countries in the world. Not a brutal dictator as western interests try to portray him.

The war since 2011, which has killed over half a million Syrians out of a population of around 24 million and also created millions of refugees is not a civil war despite being claimed as such after the government put down some civil disobedience. Is basically on behalf of interests of the US and other Western interests. There is a large gas field under and on each side of the Persian Gulf. The US wants to support Saudi Arabia building a pipeline to send it to Europe which would have to go from south to north across Syria from Jordan to Turkey. However, the Syrians want one which will transport gas from Iran across Iraq and then east to west across Syria en route to Europe. Of course Yanks and Israel especially regard this as totally unacceptable to themselves.

So US interests wanted the Assad government removed and a puppet regime subservient to themselves installed. Was not politically acceptable at home or abroad to just invade. So they have covertly helped sponsor paid mercenary terrorists from many overseas countries to try and overthrow the Assad government. Meanwhile using terrorist presence as an excuse to send US forces into the country on the pretext of fighting terrorism. However, have often been caught out helping terrorists they have been pretending to fight.