So your argument would also apply to all other acts done to please a deity? And belief in deities that desire/dictate that acts be done to please them is what is ultimately primitive, more than the specific nature of the act in this case?
Well, against a backdrop of previous US/Western engagement in the region, I think US/Western intervention in this case just further complicates the situation in the region. It's unlikely to make a huge difference to Assad's calculations, and given Iran's support for the Syrian government, will...
I'm not convinced the analogy applies here, though it's an interesting one, to be sure. It's a little more complicated, for a start, not least given previous US/Western engagement in the region.
Let's say there is absolute proof (or proof beyond reasonable doubt) that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against civilians - does that give the West the right to somehow punish the Syrian government for this action? If so, why?
Possible, of course. But methinks President Assad works to a different system of logic. And with Russia behind him, presumably he thinks he can act with impunity.
I don't doubt that a chemical attack occurred. And it is most likely the Syrian government. But it only just occurred, and I'm not a huge fan of throwing around accusations without proof, so am erring on the side of caution in this respect, for now at least.
In this instance, the Syrian government for their alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians (assume, for the moment, that the Syrian government were responsible).
I'm not sure about President Assad being a great statesman - to an extent this depends on what you mean by this - or of the wisdom of the US leaving NATO, but I'm equally unconvinced of the idea that it is the West's place to intervene on this score (as on many other scores). That said, what...
After the chemical attack recently carried out in Syria, allegedly by government forces, President Trump has promised 'forceful' action and in the past, France's President Macron has threatened to strike Syria if the Syrian government were found to use chemical weapons against civilians.
Should...
No, and neither I nor the Koran claim it to be.
In what ways, in relation to justice?
In essential ways it does. Not perhaps by today's standards, but in the basic sense.
Except it is. It is only in cases of danger to life that one is permitted to hide one's identity as a Muslim.
Wrt...
As someone who has studied the Koran, I believe that would be the case (although I would note that some Muslims would say that a certain amount hinges on what one means by the Koran's God).