HT to Reflecting by the Shore.
By John Pontifex
The Syrian government must resist the uprising – and has the people's backing in quelling forces seeking "destabilisation and Islamisation" – according to one of the country's most respected Catholic bishops.
In a strongly worded defence of President Bashar al-Assad's response to the protests and instability, Bishop Antoine Audo accused the media including the BBC and Al Jazeera of "unobjective" reporting, unfairly criticising the Syrian regime.
The Jesuit, who is the Chaldean Catholic Bishop of Aleppo, went on to warn that if Assad's government was overthrown, it would cause widespread instability, a breakdown of basic services such as electricity, increased poverty and a drive towards Islamisation.
Speaking from Aleppo in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Audo said: "The fanatics speak about freedom and democracy for Syria but this is not their goal.
"They want to divide the Arab countries, control them, seize petrol and sell arms. They seek destabilisation and Islamisation."
"Syria must resist – will resist. 80 percent of the people are behind the government, as are all the Christians." [...]
Read the rest of it here.
3 comments:
Oddly, I understand his fears. Many observers here (US) are concerned that the vacuums created by the "Arab Spring" may well be filled by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood etc. If so, the people of Aleppo are going to be very unhappy. I'd like to see Bashar gone but I worry about who will replace him
The bishop's fears are highly justified. If you look at how the Islamic revolution in Iran began in 1979, you can see the same thing developing in Egypt, and the influence of Iran in Syria is very strong. Iran has undoubtedly stirred things up in Yemem, Bahrain, and Libya too.
Unfortunately, I must agree with both of you. There is just no evidence to support the hypothesis that the Arab Spring can lead to states that have genuine human rights. Islam never has, and never will, produce such states, regardless of how much Muslims would like it to.
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