The foreign policy of President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton toward the Middle East has been a disaster for Greece.
As a result of the destructive war in Syria, Greece has been forced to take in large numbers of Syrian refugees. Greece in fact has performed
magnificently in taking in refugees and providing them with food, clothes, and other humanitarian items. Indeed, despite the economic crisis, the
Greeks have demonstrated yet again the morality and greatness of Hellenism by extending support to people in need irrespective of nationality or
religion.
However, there are still unforeseen dangers. There is always the possibility of terrorists lurking among the innocent victims of war. The terror attacks
in Paris and Germany over the past year should be of serious concern. As such, Greece is a casualty of the reckless foreign policy of the Obama
administration and particularly of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Syrian war is extremely complex. Reading any number of books with
proper documentation it is has become very clear that the Syrian rebels that the Obama administration provided support to were linked early on with
Al Quada.
In September 2013, I attended an open forum with My Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts about the possibility of Obama and Clinton’s plans
to bomb Syria. Congressman Lynch told his constituents that the al nusra front one rebel group in Syria was very much linked to Al Quada. At that time
I had gotten up to speak about the plight of Christians in Syria, most notably the Nuns of a Greek Orthodox Monastery in the town of Maloula who had
been kidnapped by Syrian “rebels”. There was a time not long ago when the Christians of Syria were the most secure in the Middle East. Indeed, secular
Syria considered the Christians to be brother Arabs.
When the Iraq invasion led to the uprooting and genocide of Christians in that country, the Iraqi Christians headed to Syria where they knew Christians were
secure. With the advent of war and the unwise decision of Washington and Europe to intervene in Syria, it appears that Christians in Syria are condemned to
genocide or forcible expulsions. In many ways, this is a repetition of the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Armenians, Orthodox Greeks, and Assyrians
that culminated with the Turkish burning of Smyrna and the mass ethnic cleansing of 1923. Then as now, the Western governments were instrumental in
supporting those who targeted the Christians for extermination.
Alone among civilized countries, Russia has interceded in Syria for the Christians. It is an established fact that the Arab Christians of Syria are looking to
Orthodox Russia for support in a world that is indifferent to them. Despite Russia’s spiritually motivated actions. Moscow has been not only opposed by the
west, but condemned. Syria is being reduced to the status of a failed state. Yes, there is a humanitarian crisis in Aleppo. This is what happens however in
war, and the United States and Europe very eagerly and without moral and political considerations chose to support the rebels and to inflame the situation.
What is not being properly reported are the numerous moral outrages against the Christians. As with the Greeks and Armenians in Asia Minor and Cyprus,
the Christians of Iraq and Syria are being murdered by the movement that calls itself ISIS. ISIS emerged in the summer of 2014 and took over one third of
Iraq and one third of Syria. In addition to the Christians, ISIS has targeted Shiite Muslims for genocide. Yet another horror show is playing out against the
Yazidi people. The Yazidis are a Kurdish people who have maintained a religion that is neither Christianity nor Islam.
ISIS has specifically targeted this community for destruction. When ISIS conquered their villages during the summer of 2014, the men were rounded up and
shot in mass executions reminiscent of the Nazis in occupied Europe. Yazidi boys were kidnapped, converted to Islam and are forcibly serving their conquerers.
This forcible conversion of boys should horrify Greeks. For centuries under the Ottoman Empire, the Turks kidnapped Greek and other Christian boys, forced them
to convert to Islam, and turned them into the ruthless fighting machines known as the Janissaries.
However, it is the Yazidi women and girls who have it the most difficult. The females have been taken away by ISIS and are being sold in slave markets in Iraq
and Syria to ISIS fighters. Members of ISIS who have the most money buy these females at auction and are permitted to do as they want with them, which is
usually to rape them and sexually assault them. These are the horrors that Russia has been focused on stopping by supporting the secular Asaad regime.
The Asaad regime is a dictatorship but it is much preferable to the barbarism of ISIS.
For Greece, there must be a realization of the terrible realities emanating from the West’s policies in Syria. Kurdish forces have been waging a gallant and
heroic fight against ISIS. Yet, the Kurds have been bombed by Turkey. About a year ago, Columbia University published a report demonstrating that Turkey
has been supporting ISIS in a variety of ways. Even in the aftermath of the failed coup against President Erdogan and the subsequent purges against his opponents
the United States continues to provide support for Turkey.
Turkey has been the most staunch advocate for the removal of President Asaad from Syria. Saudi Arabia has also aggressively pursued an anti Assad policy.
Western foreign policy is now aligned with the interests of Islamic regimes in Turkey and Saudi Arabia against the pro Christian policies of Russia and its ally
Iran. Iran and its allies “Hezbullah” have been supporting the Christians of Syria by working with Russia to save the Asaad government which the native Christian
populations support.
The United States remains pro Turkish even after the most rabid and fanatical denunciations of America by President Erdogan of Turkey. It is clear that the United
States has no intention of disrupting its pro Turkish policies even as Turkey continues to occupy Cyprus, and as Turkey’s President openly claims rights to
Thessaloniki and other Greek territory. It is time to have a serious discussion and debate in Greece about the future of Greece and its alliances. President
Vladimir Putin has made high profile visits to the Holy Mountain of Athos and during the Greek economic crisis the Russian Orthodox Church raised money
which was given to Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens on his visit to Moscow for the benefit of the Greek people.
As of this writing. twenty five Coptic Christians were killed inside a Coptic Church in Egypt which was reportedly bombed by ISIS. There is very minimal media
coverage of this incident as the international media is more interested in condemning Russia rather than ISIS.
