The catalyst to the war in Syria was peace.

Syrians were peacefully protesting neoliberal economic policies -- the same economic policies that are poisoning Canada -- and the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. They were hoping for a stronger, more sustainable economic model, coupled with a more democratic form of government.

Unfortunately, the movement for peace, economic justice, and democracy, was hijacked.

Al Qaeda, and an assortment of terrorists supported by a diverse array of power-hungry countries, (including the U.S., Saudi-Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar), insinuated itself into the mix, and Syria exploded.

Nobel Peace Laureate Maudie Maguire describes the Syrian tragedy in these words:

"In the last decade, the world has watched in horror such military intervention by U.S.A./U.K./NATO and Western forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and other countries. Now we have been promised by President Obama a military intervention on Syria 'with teeth',(in Iraq it was shock and awe). We have been promised that he will continue to support the armed opposition in Syrian (a majority of which are Jabhat al-Nusrah-Victory Front, and other such al Qaeda groups) and we have likewise been promised regime change in Syria. Such U.S. military action, which will probably involve trying to destroy the Syrian army, will leave the civilian population unprotected from the onslaught of armed opposition forces, and will embolden and strengthen the thousands of Islamic extremists from all over the world who have poured into Syria, supported financially and trained by some western governments, and whose intent is to remove the Syrian Government and kill all those who oppose them."

The plutocrats in Washington know that this criminal war is a hard sell, especially since the illegal invasion of Iraq continues to destabilize the mid-east. The invasion of Iraq --- which by 2006 had already cost the lives of some 655,000 more people than would have died if there had been no invasion -- is fresh in people's minds. Shockingly, studies also show that the rates of infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombed by the U.S. with depleted uranium ordnances, are even higher than those incurred after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Consequently, the U..S and its allies likely enabled false-flag terrorism to justify an invasion for what is essentially an engineered, but extraordinarily murderous war, in which over 100,000 people have so far perished.

If the aggressors succeed, they will further de-stabilize the country, and a proxy government will be installed, likely chosen from the ranks of the extremist "rebels".

Oded Yinon's 1982 essay, "The Zionist Plan For The Middle East" outlines a geopolitical strategy in which de-stabilization is, in fact, the goal. If the Middle-East is de-stabilized, argues the theory, then other countries aligned with Israel can fill the vacuum and exert their hegemony.

And so it goes... the executive branch of the U.S. may order an illegal invasion of a sovereign country -- despite the wishes of an overwhelming majority of American citizens -- to impose its imperial will. Plutocrat rule at its best.

More countries, including China and Russia, could be drawn in to protect their interests, and what started as a peaceful movement for a better country, could escalate to catastrophic, world-wide proportions.

If common sense, international law and a sense of shared humanity trumped imperial conquest, then the aggressors in this tragedy would work towards peaceful, diplomatic solutions. Current predominant trajectories are leaning towards increased violence and anarchy.

The world awaits the triumph of humanity's better nature.