Power

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/un-monitors-said-to-reach-site-of-syrian-massacre/2012/06/08/gJQAnXAYNV_story.html?hpid=z2

From what I understand, the article was describing a massacre of Syrian civilians who contradicted their government in what they called "an uprising". As we all know, Syrian government is not a democracy and their culture relies heavily on tradition and hierarchy. Their government is controlled by a single, powerful family, most likely one that's been in power for a while. The Assad family, the head of the Syrian government, appears to have mercilessly slaughtered civilians who posed even the slightest contradiction to their methods. It was a case where heavily armored militias murdered civilian families who were most likely unarmed and unprotected. I believe that this violence arises from a paranoid fear residing in the current power. Authoritarians fear the loss of their power, since its all they have. They need to control their people with an iron fist, and as a result, there is no room for discourse or civil disobedience, let alone a rebellious thought. Currently, Syria is under the overbearing influence of the Assad family, who has numerous loyal civilians in their military force. These people are lured by the idea of government protection and, in exchange, give full loyalty to the family in power. That is why there are so many loyalist forces, even if they have to kill for their "protection". The US and surrounding countries have little idea on how to handle the situation, especially since their economic success is strained whenever they encounter middle-eastern tension. Is it our responsibility to fix the middle-east? It is in our best interest to, but a direct attack would sacrifice civilians and start another violent outbreak towards the US. Diplomacy, on the other hand, is often a lengthier process that often seems to result in a stalemate or unproductive compromise. Either way, we should not act unless the US is under an apparent threat that requires retaliation. Otherwise, we become a meddlesome annoyance that cannot be respected, thus we lose our power to fix anything.