If You Truly Want to Help Displaced Syrians

Then stop regurgitating political nonsense and support a real solution.

Economic implications aside, there is an undeniable fact that if you import ethnic groups en masse you will end up importing the bad with the good. The idea of immigration from an unstable culture, to a stable culture, is to do it in small enough volumes over extended periods of time in order to allow for assimilation to the successful social balance of the destination country rather than pockets of reversion to the failing culture of the origin country. That being said, this is clearly not a viable option when there is a massive number of displaced refugees. So what can be done?

Proposal

Here’s a solution that I think everyone can get behind: the US, the UK, the EU, the UN and even Israel need to lay down an ultimatum to Russia and work together, with Russia, to establish a UN controlled “Green Zone” along the northwestern coast of Syria.

Location of proposed “Green Zone” in Syria — Map Courtesy of Google Maps

The proposed area of land is large enough to accommodate the currently estimated displaced refugees so long as rapid infrastructure development is provided by the aid nations. Further, nearly half is bordered by an ocean, so supply chain concerns will be of little to no issue. If the refugee crisis continues to grow, the coalition should be tasked with expanding the border of the “Green Zone” to the east and south as necessary.

How will it be built?

The law of the land in the “Green Zone” will mirror that of the US with no exceptions. This includes a clear separation of church and state and every modern tolerance that we’ve come to appreciate in the west. Modern power, communications, food, clothing, family housing units, schools and security will be provided by and financed by the coalition.

The World Bank will issue “Syrian Crisis Bonds” to cover the costs incurred by the coalition nations and the interest and principal repayment will be repaid by way of Syria’s oil reserves. These “Syrian Crisis Bonds” will be denominated in SDR units (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_drawing_rights) and carry an attractive yield mirroring a marriage of the observable short term oil futures curve with economists’ projections on long-term oil pricing, at the time of issue. Before you start grumbling, remember that the plan here is to build permanent infrastructure, so this is not just a tent city investment, it’s supervised spending for the better of the people of Syria regardless of who ends up in power.

Conditions

For a displaced family entering the “Green Zone” there will be conditions:

1. You will be assigned a storage unit where you may put your possessions while housing is under construction.
2. All of your possessions will be searched for weapons of any sort.
3. You will be issued a new biometrically authenticated passport.
4. Your religion will not appear on your passport.
5. You will be registered in a database for the purposes of rations, healthcare, stipends and compulsory education for your minors.
6. You will be assigned a job until you are able to secure private industry work.
7. You and your family will be required to pass a very short exam on adapting to tolerance before you will pass from holding to the general “Green Zone” area.
8. You will sign a statement of understanding that will become a permanent page in your passport that you will respect the freedoms of others that live in the “Green Zone”.
9. You may leave and return at any time, but will be subject to search on return.

And, there will be several guarantees:

1. If you are part of a family, you will be domiciled together in a private family dwelling as soon as feasibly possibly. You will not be split up under any condition.
2. You will be free to practice any religion of your choice.

Exit Strategy

The constitution of the “Green Zone” will be self-limiting in duration and expire the power into the hands of the resident Syrians who would ideally vote for a unified Syra. Not enough information is available to precisely estimate this duration, but we need to consider the maturation of at least one generation of Syrians, so 25 years is a fair starting point. A roadmap for education on building stable hierarchies of government will be part of the educational system in the “Green Zone”.

Parting Thoughts

Is this a massive undertaking? Yes.

Can it be done in short order? Absolutely.

Is there any good reason not to do it? Not that I see.

Now, this is clearly a conceptual draft, and I appreciate any and all critiques, but please try to keep it constructive, and remember: in another life you may be born into one of these misguided nation states.

Let’s make it happen.

Discussion & Responses to Reader Comments

Reader Asks: What’s to stop al-Assad from bombing the “Green Zone”?
Bombing the “Green Zone” would be an act of war against the coalition and hopefully Israel’s latest missile defenese shields work as advertised.

Reader Asks: This sounds like Iraq, nobody wants another Iraq.
First of all, Iraq wasn’t bleeding refugees all over the map. Is the developed world prepared to send the message that ruthless leadership displacing millions of people is acceptable and the world at large will just absorb al-Assad’s failures?

Reader Asks: So, this is going to be an invasion of sorts?
I’m not a military strategist, but yes, most likely it’s something like:
1. Drop leaflets 24hrs in advance
2. Disable vehicular access to the green zone
3. Deploy missile defense and airdrop interior Green Zone perimeter defense
4. Establish beachhead
5. Expand Green Zone day by day until initial borders are met

Reader Asks: Why not just assassinate al-Assad?
First of all, it’s often more difficult than it appears in the movies. Further, it would just leave a power vacuum empowered by the memories of government abuse and cultural conflict.