Final Word from Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Czechs are particularly sensitive to invasion, having experienced it themselves. All the more curious, then, is yesterday's unanimous resolution by the lower house of Parliament to condemn Turkey for invading Syria. During debate on the resolution, the Kurds were named 40 times. Karel Schwarzenberg even compared the situation to the Munich Agreement and German occupation 80 years ago. Yet in the resolution itself, there is not a single mention of the Kurds. What, then, are Czech lawmakers condemning? Violations of international law? Civilian casualties? These are serious matters, but how do these atrocities differ from the U.S.-led invasion of Syria in Sept. 2014? There have been 34,167 airstrikes and 111,980 bombs dropped without a U.N. mandate, according to official U.S. figures. There have been at least 1,300 civilian casualties, also according to U.S. figures. If Czech MPs want to condemn invasion, they should be more explicit about what they don't like. [ Czech Republic United States of America United Nations 1938 1939 Turkey ]
Glossary of difficult words
atrocity - an extremely wicked or cruel act, typically one involving physical violence or injury;
casualty - a person killed or injured in a war or accident;
airstrikes - official U.S. figures do not distinguish between airstrikes and bombs dropped in Syria, on the one hand, and in Iraq, on the other, as part of the Inherent Resolve operations.