The power of music

Watching the Russian Orchestra playing amongst the ruins of the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra and now hearing the cries of "Russian propaganda" thrown out by the Western Press seems to accentuate the apparent inability of humans  to get along.

 When I first saw the concert I was struck by the ambiguity of culture and war, the one representing the highest striving of mankind the other its lowest. Of course, because it was produced by one of the warring parties the incongruity was especially clear since if one wished to project peace and good will, the best way to do it was to stop the fighting. 

Propaganda is a finely tuned tool and relies on convincing people of one thing while desiring something very different. But I for one was prepared to give the Russians the benefit of the doubt if only because it reminded us of the contrast in that war torn country and what is at stake.
The West which has been playing catch up in what started as a dreadful civil war, between Assad and the Sunni rebellion but which has morphed into a religious movement wishing to create a Caliphate State, resembling the worst religious ideology and characterised by absolute intransigence towards anyone not of the faith, not even only faith but a special brand of the faith which has its origins in the distant past.
With more resolute leadership, America could have seized the nettle and displaced Assad but not unnaturally the American public were tiring of this repeated regime change policy and Obama didn't have the stomach for it. The Russians are now the major players and with their decisive air strikes they seem to have consolidated Assad's military position. There is now talk of including Assad in the short term, whilst the Caliphate forces are defeated.
Another Putin gamble comes off and consolidates his standing not only amongst his own people but also in the geopolitical world of power politics, evidence that dictatorships can be decisive when it comes to conflict whilst democracy seeks debate and consensus before doing anything.