Monday, March 30, 2015

The Virtue of ISIS


The world today seems to be seized with the menacing events taking place in the Middle East in the name of ISIS. Unfortunately, this seems another example how misinformed politicians and military men have botched up and made a complete mess of a noble idea.

The movement called ISIS, as the very name Islamic State of Iraq and Syria seems to have started to unite Iraq and Syria into a single Islamic Republic. Historically they have been parts of a greater Islamic empire and most of the troubles of the people of both countries seem to have started after their separation, specially the religious sectarian persecution.

Let us see what will be religious distribution of a united ISIS Republic. The table below gives a heartening picture:

Country
Total Million
Sunni %
Shia  %
Christian %
Other  %
Sunny Million
Shia  Million
Christian Million
Other Million
Syria
18
74
12
10
4
13.32
2.16
1.8
0.72
Iraq
36
33
62
4
1
11.88
22.32
1.44
0.36
Total
54
47
45
6
2
25.2
24.48
3.24
1.08

Form the above table it is obvious that the union of Iraq and Syria will constitute a viable country with nearly equal populations of Shias and Sunnis, while the 8% minorities will hold the balance of power. It would be a workable democracy with little chance of anyone being persecuted on religious grounds.

It would be a good idea if the demonization of ISIS and the inhuman military activities are stopped and diplomatic efforts are made to bring the leaders of Iraq, Syria and the ISIS to form a Democratic Islamic State. The name and the capital will indeed be issues that can be resolved by decent negotiations.


The United Nations has a good opportunity to do at least once what it was created for.