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Syria: 'The bank account is mightier than the sword'


Islamic State can be defeated without resorting to bullets, argues Iraqi priest Fr Nadim Nassar. Just stop the flow of resources and publicity - Dave Gaskill writes in today's Church Times.

"Vatican endorses military force against IS", the headlines shouted, after Archbishop Silvano Tomasi (the Vatican's Permanent Observer to the UN) spoke to the United Nations in Geneva. His statement, widely reported, was interpreted by some as not only endorsing the use of military force to protect Christians and other minorities from the violence and oppression of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, but as the declaration of a "just war" against IS.

I believe that Archbishop Tomasi could not have emphasised more strongly the need for dialogue and peaceful means to solve all conflicts, including those in the Middle East.

Yes, he did leave the door open for military action if all else fails - but we have not yet exhausted all the alternatives.

I agree with Archbishop Tomasi that dialogue with IS is currently impossible; but there are other ways of defeating this monstrously evil force. These relate to the means by which IS survives and thrives: through human and physical resources, through money, and through propaganda. These are the areas that the world should devote its energies to pursuing rather than play with ideas of military intervention.

To read on, see: www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/3-april/comment/opinion/the-bank-account-is-now-mightier-than-the-sword

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