Civil War in Syria

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

What was the symbolism to the removal of the third star and reversal of red and green?

I think it was an old flag, like in Libya.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

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[Snowstalker Mk. II]

And if the US says something like this you would be the first to claim it invalid because of that, but somehow Russia gets a free pass from you.

I know I will not believe a word the interventionists say. The last 11 years have proven those people will exaggerate, lie, and manufacture evidence to support their accusations.

I agree; manipulation and forgery of evidence has been done numerous times by Western nations to justify military intervention (see Vietnam, Kosovo, Iraq, etc.). That certainly doesn't mean you should trust what Moscow says.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

What we did in Libya won't work. We'd eventually knock out the Syrian Army, but they're in FAR better shape than Gaddaffi's forces were, most of the fighting is in concentrated urban areas, and the country is far more evenly divided than Libya was. There would certainly be NATO casualties, and probably even more FSA casualties (for the record, the FSA is not too much better than Assad) than there would have been had we stayed out.

And of course, the West (and Russia/the USSR and China, let's not leave anyone out) has yet to atone for all the atrocities it has committed against civilians since the end of World War II, so I'm a bit annoyed by Kerry's righteous tone here.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

West decides to start World War III anyway, Turkey to lead the charge.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The moderate rebels have been displaced and are now fighting the Islamist groups in the country, who are gaining strength there and in Iraq; I doubted their viability as both a long-term fighting force and as a government anyway. The government has basically won on the ground thanks to rebel infighting and the West pulling military aid.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The West would have had to act far more decisively that it was ever likely to act for a desirable outcome in Syria to emerge.  The window of opportunity is gone.

It's been gone for years now. 

It was never there.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The government has basically won on the ground thanks to rebel infighting and the West pulling military aid.

The government still seems to be light years away from being able to retake the rebel-held territory in the north and east.  Seems like the country's been divided, and locked in a stalemate for some time now, and that could continue for years to come.

True, but said rebel territory is mostly just sparsely-populated desert.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

cnn.com has a story about barrel bombs on their main page right now. Where is their coverage of the extremists on the other side looping people's heads off and committing massacres? There seems to be zero sense of balanced, actual reporting.

News media stands to gain from a war with Syria, so of course they want to drum up support for "humanitarian intervention".

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

ISIS literally crucifying people.