Years Before Common Era and well over 20 Centuries
Syrian Arab Republic
Ancient City of Damascus
Ancient City of Bosra
Palmyra (site of)
Ancient City of Aleppo
Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din
Ancient Villages of Northern Syria
Dates to 3rd millennium Before Common Era; place of “some 125 monuments from different periods of its history” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/20
Ancient City of Bosra
Within its great walls “a magnificent 2nd-century Roman theatre, early Christian ruins and several mosques” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/22
Palmyra (site of)
Dates from “the 1st to the 2nd century (its) art and architecture … standing at the crossroads of several civilizations…”; “oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/23
Ancient City of Aleppo
Dates from the 2nd millennium Before the Common Era: “ruled successively by the Hittites, Assyrians, Arabs, Mongols, Mamelukes and Ottomans;” site of “13th-century citadel, 12th-century Great Mosque, multiple 17th-century madrasas (Muslim schools, colleges, universities). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/21
Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din
Two castles “illustrating exchange of influences and documenting evolution of fortified architecture in the Near East during the time of the Crusades (11th - 13th centuries)” The Crac des Chevaliers “ranks among the best-preserved examples of the Crusader castles.” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1229
Ancient Villages of Northern Syria
Date from the 1st to 7th centuries (and) feature a remarkably well-preserved landscape and the architectural remains of dwellings, pagan temples, churches, cisterns, bathhouses etc. …” Grouped in “eight parks situated in north-western Syria…,” these forty villages are “testimony to rural life in late Antiquity and during the Byzantine period.” United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1348
Under 300 yearsLate-stage Collapse Piling up Worldwide Enemies
Rabid Belligerence: Unfriendly Relations
Militarism USA in Asia (West) 1996-2021Doha, Qatar, area Al Udeid Air Base11,000 US & “Coalition” personnel (estimates60 Acres accommodating circa “100 aircraft as well as drones”
Militarism USA in Afghanistan and Iraq 20-year period (2001-2021)
- US personnel deployed in Afghanistan 800,000 (peak period 100,000 Bagram to Kandahar)
- US personnel deployed in Iraq 1.5 million-plus
Militarism USA in Iraq 2007Personnel on site: 170,000 (estimated)
Militarism USA 2020 occupying 159 countriesUS military personnel (troops) deployed: 173,000Militarism USA in Iraq 2021Personnel on site 2,500 (estimated)
Militarism USA 2021 ReportsUS Bases Worldwide: 750Occupying 80 countries (estimates)
Militarism USA in Middle East 2024 reports
(estimates)
45,000 military personnel (troops)
(in Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and more)
45,000 military personnel (troops)
(in Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and more)
Militarism USA in SYRIA 2024900 US soldiers together with“Undisclosed number of contractors”
Militarism USA in West - East
USA militarism in Europe: 60,000 personnel (estimated)
- Germany: 119 bases, 33,900 personnel (from 2006 period 72,400)
- Italy 12,300
- UK 9,300
USA militarism in Japan 120 active bases (53,700 personnel)
USA militarism in Republic of Korea: 73 bases (26,400 personnel)
General Reference plus Al Jazeera 2021 Mohammed Hussein and Mohammed Haddad “Infographic: US military presence around the world: The US controls about 750 bases in at least 80 countries worldwide and spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined,” September 10, 2021 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive
There was a time.
Commemorated Today
EVERY YEAR ON THE TENTH DAY OF DECEMBER Human Rights are highlighted; the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (UDHR) — proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly meeting in Paris, France, on the Tenth Day of December in 1948 — is remembered.
RECOGNIZED and AFFIRMED in post WWII era 1948
Excerpt from the UDHR Preamble
The “INHERENT DIGNITY and … EQUAL AND INALIENABLE RIGHTS of all members of the human family is foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world….” (caps emphasis added)
The “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind; and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND BELIEF AND FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND WANT has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people….” (caps emphasis added)
If human beings are “… not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression …, it is essential that human rights should be protected by the RULE OF LAW….” (caps emphasis added)
It “is essential to promote the development of FRIENDLY RELATIONS between (and among) NATIONS….” (caps emphasis added)The “…peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the DIGNITY AND WORTH OF THE HUMAN PERSON and in the equal rights of men and women; and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom….” (caps emphasis added) https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
The Charter of the United Nations: the founding document of the United Nations signed June 26, 1945, in San Francisco (USA), at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organization. This Charter went into effect on October 24, 1945.” https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter; Human Rights Day 2024 https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/hrd2024
A decade ago, UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova raised the alarm of a rapidly deteriorating situation in Syria causing “incalculable” loss and suffering to human beings.
The obligation “is codified in the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict” and is “consistent with customary international humanitarian law.”
Humanity, Beauty, Creation must be preserved
The obligation “is codified in the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict” and is “consistent with customary international humanitarian law.”
Upholding these commitments and adhering to these principles “must be part of wider efforts to end violence, to protect human life, and to move toward peace. “I appeal to all parties to the conflict … to abstain from using … cultural property or their immediate surroundings … for any military purposes.”UNESCO February 20, 2014 “UNESCO Director-General condemns military presence and destruction at World Heritage Sites in Syria,” https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1108/
Sanctity of Life and Creation Protection of Human Rights, Cultural Heritage
“Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with Regulations for the Execution of the Convention” Date and place of adoption: May 14, 1954, The Hague, Netherlands; Entry into force: August 7, 1956, in accordance with Article 33; Signatories: 49; Number of States Parties 136; Depositary: UNESCO; Registration at the UN: 4 September 1956, No. 3511 https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/convention-protection-cultural-property-event-armed-conflict-regulations-execution-convention
RECOGNIZED, AFFIRMED Pre & Post-Wars
Excerpt, minor edit
“Cultural property has suffered grave damage during … armed conflicts and … it is in increasing danger of destruction … (given) … the developments in the technique of warfare….”
“… Damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind, since each people makes its contribution to the culture of the world.”
“… The preservation of the cultural heritage is of great importance for all peoples of the world and … it is important that this heritage should receive international protection”
Under guidance of “principles concerning the protection of cultural property during armed conflict… established in the Conventions of The Hague of 1899 and of 1907 and in the Washington Pact of April 15, 1935…”; and while acknowledging that “such protection cannot be effective unless both national and international measures have been taken to organize it in time of peace…, yet “determined to take all possible steps to protect cultural property.”
Final Thoughts
The militarists, war profiteers, destroyers, sadists cannot endure. They are the real threats to the world: threat to whatever and wherever they call their homeland; threat to themselves.
The evidence is clear. The present tyrants or neocolonialists or imperialists can neither sustain nor survive. They are incapable of creation. They are incapable of matching or improving the endurance of the ancients.
Thoughts Worth Pondering
Perhaps
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PROLIFIC SOUTHERN-BORN AMERICAN WRITER DR. CAROLYN LADELLE BENNETT focuses on People, Press, Politics USA; Domestic and Foreign Affairs (no copyright claimed in direct quotes and individual image)
Latest book: Are There No Champions? Yes and No
Links: https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett
https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/
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