{"id":8895,"date":"2013-08-30T12:00:58","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T02:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=8895"},"modified":"2013-09-02T09:17:09","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T23:17:09","slug":"attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/","title":{"rendered":"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n

Call me a bleeding heart, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m the only one who feels that something simply must be done about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks. I\u2019m not the only normally peaceful soul who hopes that in the next few days the United States will lead a very short and limited military strike against Syrian military facilities. I say those words \u2018feel\u2019 and \u2018hope\u2019 deliberately because these are largely emotional responses borne of the images and stories of what happened in Ghoula to hundreds of civilians. Indeed, a fair bit of a similar emotional dread was behind the banning years ago of chemical weapons in an international convention that Syria refuses to sign. And US Secretary of State John Kerry\u2019s description of the gas attacks as a \u2018moral obscenity\u2019<\/a> seems spot on in this context. As a way of venting of that moral outrage, a small volley of cruise missiles sent off by the United States would make it clear that this sort of action, even in the midst of an already barbaric civil war, simply won\u2019t be tolerated.<\/p>\n

But as the days have gone by since the chemical weapons attacks took place, it\u2019s noticeable how many commentators have been warning Mr Obama of the riskiness of this endeavour. These aren\u2019t just the geopolitically-inspired criticisms from the Russian government, the Assad regime\u2019s apologist in chief. Aaron David Miller\u2019s list of three points for the President to ponder<\/a> is just one example of the clear and rational thinking about America\u2019s interests that is going on here. Again I\u2019ve chosen those words \u2018clear\u2019 and \u2018rational\u2019 very deliberately. The questions being posed are eminently reasonable ones: \u2018What strategy will guide these limited strikes?\u2019 \u2018What happens if the Assad regime repeats the atrocity?\u2019 \u2018What might Iran do?\u2019 \u2018Can the United States really just send a few cruise missiles in and hope that will be the end of it?\u2019 \u2018Will we end up owning a dreadful civil war in Syria?\u2019<\/p>\n

Perhaps these are just the sort of cool and calm questions, which reflect the application of reason rather than emotion that should guide us. Hedley Bull once argued<\/a> that you shouldn\u2019t ask strategic analysts to come up with moral answers. That\u2019s not our job. But he also implied that all strategic questions become moral ones. As soon as you start asking about the purposes of action, ie \u2018why should<\/i> we do this?\u2019, you are in ethical territory. This applies whether your purposes are the emotional and value-laden ones that could figure largely in the coming missile strikes or the rational aims of national interest that figure in the growing chorus of unease.<\/p>\n

There might just be a point at which reason and emotion might meet together. A chemical weapons attack of the type perpetrated in Syria is an assault on common (or reasonably common) international values<\/i> that it\u2019s our interests<\/i> to protest in an especially strong fashion. We might then hope that a carefully calculated demonstration of outrage might help deter further such events. It could of course make things worse. But if it were me, I\u2019d take that risk.<\/p>\n

Robert Ayson is on research leave from Victoria University of Wellington at the ANU\u2019s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Image courtesy of White House<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Call me a bleeding heart, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m the only one who feels that something simply must be done about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks. I\u2019m not the only normally peaceful soul who …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":8898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,274,31],"class_list":["post-8895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-strategy-2","tag-syria","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAttacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Call me a bleeding heart, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m the only one who feels that something simply must be done about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks. I\u2019m not the only normally peaceful soul who ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-30T02:00:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-01T23:17:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/p082913ps-0110_0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"654\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"436\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robert Ayson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robert Ayson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/p082913ps-0110_0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/p082913ps-0110_0.jpg\",\"width\":654,\"height\":436,\"caption\":\"President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in the Oval Office, Aug. 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) of Germany in the Oval Office, Aug. 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/\",\"name\":\"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail? | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-30T02:00:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-01T23:17:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/104a6f0b2548d8bf45566446fa0c9424\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/104a6f0b2548d8bf45566446fa0c9424\",\"name\":\"Robert Ayson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d94283d5e658f30dcf98c7e072dd7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d94283d5e658f30dcf98c7e072dd7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Robert Ayson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/robert-ayson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail? | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail? | The Strategist","og_description":"Call me a bleeding heart, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m the only one who feels that something simply must be done about the Syrian chemical weapons attacks. I\u2019m not the only normally peaceful soul who ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2013-08-30T02:00:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-09-01T23:17:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":654,"height":436,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/p082913ps-0110_0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Robert Ayson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Robert Ayson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/p082913ps-0110_0.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/p082913ps-0110_0.jpg","width":654,"height":436,"caption":"President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in the Oval Office, Aug. 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) of Germany in the Oval Office, Aug. 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/","name":"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail? | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2013-08-30T02:00:58+00:00","dateModified":"2013-09-01T23:17:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/104a6f0b2548d8bf45566446fa0c9424"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/attacking-syria-should-emotion-or-reason-prevail\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Attacking Syria: should emotion or reason prevail?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/104a6f0b2548d8bf45566446fa0c9424","name":"Robert Ayson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d94283d5e658f30dcf98c7e072dd7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d94283d5e658f30dcf98c7e072dd7d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Robert Ayson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/robert-ayson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8895"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8901,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8895\/revisions\/8901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}