{"id":4797,"date":"2016-02-13T12:47:44","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T17:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/?p=4797"},"modified":"2016-02-13T12:48:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T17:48:11","slug":"on-losing-our-moral-compass-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/13\/morality\/on-losing-our-moral-compass-in-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"On Losing Our “Moral Compass” in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s important to\u00a0understand morality.\u00a0 For example, once we finally grasp the fact that it exists solely as an artifact of evolution, it may finally occur to us that attempting to solve international conflicts in a world full of nuclear weapons by consulting moral emotions is probably a bad idea.\u00a0 Syria is a case in point.\u00a0 Consider, for example, an article by Nic Robertson\u00a0entitled, From Sarajevo to Syria: Where is the world’s moral compass?<\/em><\/a>, that recently turned up on the website of CNN.\u00a0 The author suggests that we “solve” the Syrian civil war by consulting our “moral compass.”\u00a0 In his opinion that is what we did in the Balkans to end the massacres in Bosnia and Kosovo.\u00a0 Apparently we are to believe that the situation in Syria is so similar that all we have to do is check the needle of the “moral compass” to solve that problem as well.\u00a0 I’m not so sure about that.<\/p>\n

In the first place, the outcomes of following a “moral compass” haven’t always been as benign as they were in Bosnia and Kosovo.\u00a0 Czar Nicholas\u00a0was following his “moral compass” when he rushed to the aid of Serbia in 1914, precipitating World War I.\u00a0 Hitler was following his “moral compass” when he attacked Poland in 1939, bringing on World War II.\u00a0 Apparently it’s very important to follow the right “moral compass,” but the author never gets around to specifying which one of the many available we are to choose.\u00a0 We must assume he is referring to his own, personal “moral compass.”\u00a0 He leaves us in doubt regarding its exact nature, but no doubt it has much in common with the “moral compass” of the other journalists who work for CNN.\u00a0 Unlike earlier versions, we must hope that this one is proof against precipitating another world war.<\/p>\n

If we examine this particular\u00a0“moral compass” closely, we find that it possesses some interesting idiosyncrasies.\u00a0 It points to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with using military force to depose a government recognized as legitimate by the United Nations.\u00a0 According to earlier, now apparently obsolete versions of the “moral compass,” this sort of thing was referred to as naked aggression, and was considered “morally bad.”\u00a0 Apparently all that has changed.\u00a0 Coming to the aid of a government so threatened, as Russia is now doing in Syria, used to be considered “good.”\u00a0 Under the new dispensation, it has become “bad.”\u00a0 It used to be assumed that governments recognized by the international community as legitimate had the right to control their own airspaces.\u00a0 Now the compass needle points to the conclusion that control over airspaces is a matter that should be decided by the journalists at CNN.\u00a0 We must, perforce, assume that they have concocted a “moral compass” superior to anything ever heard of by Plato and Socrates, or any of the other philosophers who plied the trade after them.<\/p>\n

I suggest that, before blindly following this particular needle, we consider rationally what the potential outcomes might be.\u00a0 Robertson never lays his cards on the table and tells us exactly what he has in mind.\u00a0 However, we can get a pretty good idea by consulting the article.\u00a0 In his words,<\/p>\n

Horror and outrage made the world stand up to Bosnia’s bullies after that imagination and fear had ballooned to almost insurmountable proportion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today it is Russia’s President Vladimir Putin whose military stands alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army. Together they’ve become a force no nation alone dares challenge. Their power is seemingly set in stone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It would seem, then, based on the analogies of Bosnia and Kosovo, where we did “good,” that Robertson is suggesting we replace the internationally recognized government of Syria by force\u00a0and confront Russia, whose actions within Syria’s borders are in response to a request for aid by that government.\u00a0 In the process it would be necessary for us to defeat and humiliate Russia.\u00a0 It was out of fear of humiliation that Russia came to Serbia’s aid in 1914.\u00a0 Are we really positive that Russia will not risk nuclear war to avoid a similar humiliation today?\u00a0 It might be better to avoid pushing our luck to find out.<\/p>\n

What of the bright idea of replacing the current Syrian government?\u00a0 It seems to me that similar “solutions”\u00a0really didn’t work out too well in either Iraq or Libya.\u00a0\u00a0Some would have us believe that\u00a0“moderates” are available in abundance to spring forth and fill the power vacuum.\u00a0 So far, I have seen no convincing evidence of the existence of these “moderates.”\u00a0 Supposing they exist, I suspect the chances that they would be able to control a country brimming over with religious fanatics of all stripes without a massive U.S. military presence are vanishingly small.\u00a0 In other words, I doubt the existence of a benign alternative to Bashar al-Assad.\u00a0 Under the circumstances, is it really out of the question that the best way to minimize civilian casualties is not by creating a power vacuum, or by allowing the current stalemate to drag on, but by ending the civil war in exactly the way Russia is now attempting to do it; by defeating the rebels?\u00a0 Is it really worth risking a nuclear war just so we can try the rather dubious alternatives?<\/p>\n

Other pundits (see, for example, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>)\u00a0inform us that Turkey “cannot stand idly by” while Syria and her Russian ally regain control over Aleppo, a city within her own borders.\u00a0 Great shades of the Crimean War<\/a>!\u00a0 What on earth could lead anyone to believe that Turkey is our “ally” in any way, shape or form other than within the chains of NATO?\u00a0 Turkey is a de facto Islamist state.\u00a0 She actively supports the Palestinians against another of our purported allies, Israel.\u00a0 Remember the Palestinians?\u00a0 Those were the people who danced in the streets when they saw the twin towers falling.\u00a0 She reluctantly granted access to Turkish bases for U.S. airstrikes against ISIS only so she would have a free hand attacking the Kurds, one of the most consistently pro-U.S. factions in the Middle East.\u00a0 She was foolhardy enough to shoot down a Russian plane in Syrian territory, killing its pilot,\u00a0for the “crime” of violating her airspace for a grand total of 17 seconds.\u00a0 She cynically exploits the flow of refugees to Europe as a form of “politics by other means.”\u00a0 Could there possibly be any more convincing reasons for us to stop playing with fire and get out of NATO?\u00a0 NATO is a ready-made fast track to World War III on behalf of “allies” like Turkey.<\/p>\n

But I digress.\u00a0 The point is that\u00a0the practice of consulting something as imaginary as a “moral compass” to formulate foreign policy is unlikely to end well.\u00a0 It assumes that, after all these centuries, we have finally found the “correct” moral compass, and the equally chimerical notion that “moral truths” exist, floating about as disembodied spirits, quite independent of the subjective imaginations of the employees of CNN.\u00a0 Forget about the “moral compass.”\u00a0 Let us identify exactly what it is we want to accomplish, and the emotional motivation for those desires.\u00a0 Then, assuming we can achieve some kind of agreement on the matter, let us apply the limited intelligence we possess to realize those desires.<\/p>\n

Morality exists because the behavioral predispositions responsible for it evolved, and they evolved because they happened to promote the survival of genes in times radically different than the present.\u00a0 It exists for that reason alone.\u00a0 It follows that, if there really were such things as “moral truths,” then nothing could possibly be more immoral than failing to survive.\u00a0 We would do well to keep that consideration in mind in determining the nature of our future relationship with Russia.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s important to\u00a0understand morality.\u00a0 For example, once we finally grasp the fact that it exists solely as an artifact of evolution, it may finally occur to us that attempting to solve international conflicts in a world full of nuclear weapons by consulting moral emotions is probably a bad idea.\u00a0 Syria is a case in point.\u00a0 … Continue reading “On Losing Our “Moral Compass” in Syria”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[281,46,24,59,6,166,28,135,84,62,5,10,29,54,125,30],"tags":[354,355],"class_list":["post-4797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aggression","category-amity-enmity-complex","category-demonization","category-foreign-affairs","category-good-and-evil","category-human-evolution","category-human-nature","category-ingroups-and-outgroups","category-islam","category-islamism","category-morality","category-nuclear-weapons","category-philosophy","category-russia","category-warfare","category-world-politics","tag-syria","tag-world-war-iii"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwEq0-1fn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4797"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4800,"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions\/4800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helian.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}