Thanks for walking us through this. I appreciate that you also outlined solution options and reasons why.

It’s such a complicated war, and I don’t think the general populace has any clue which end is which. Most people just want it simplified to Who are the Good Guys and Who are Bad Guys, and be able to root for the appropriate side. It’s frustrating not to be certain, so we scream about taking down “The Terrorists” — pretty much anyone who looks a certain way and who might have moved along a sea of desperate and dying bodies, or of dead children, while carrying a machine gun.

I voiced my outrage at Assad, and then was swiftly schooled. So I condemned all the Rebels, until a different group corrected my apparent misconception. Like most, I just wanted to blame someone, a group, any group, anyone. I was lectured it was all ISIS’s fault; wait, no — it’s Russia; no again — it’s the US! Ah… who should we blame and be angry at for all the innocent and displaced lives, the dead children, the chaos and destruction? (Those war images are great at eliciting certain gut reactions.) Here’s a different perspective: it’s the result of Economic Instability and the widening gap between the Very Rich and the Very Poor. Here’s yet another perspective: it’s the result of Climate Change.

So frustrating. Still, I appreciate your summary.

Great map, btw.