Civil War in Syria
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Author Topic: Civil War in Syria  (Read 206307 times)
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Chuck Hagel 08
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« Reply #375 on: January 13, 2013, 09:15:06 PM »

You can play a game of this here or on an Android if you have one.

Still using video games as your main source of information on this conflict?
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they don't love you like i love you
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« Reply #376 on: January 18, 2013, 11:51:16 AM »

Pro-Assad forces kill 106 civilians in sweep

Nice way to continue to follow in Gaddafi's footsteps Assad.
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Frodo
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« Reply #377 on: January 27, 2013, 07:55:26 PM »

Israel is contemplating launching a pre-emptive strike on Syria's stashes of chemical weapons to prevent them from falling into the hands of al-Qaeda and other jihadist groups.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
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« Reply #378 on: January 27, 2013, 11:48:58 PM »

I don't see the problem here.  If the situation described, Assad either losing control over his CW or transferring them to Hezbollah, were to start to occur, it would make sense for Israel to act.  Thus it also makes sense to be making plans on what to do if it decides it must act.  War plans need not indicate a desire or intention to activate them.
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Blue3
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« Reply #379 on: January 29, 2013, 01:02:08 AM »

Mrs. Assad is pregnant with their 4th child:
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/28/16745634-report-syria-president-assad-announces-wife-asma-is-pregnant?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=5
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #380 on: January 29, 2013, 02:29:26 AM »


Why do I suspect she'll soon be traveling to a foreign medical clinic for her pre-natal care?
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Simfan34
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« Reply #381 on: January 29, 2013, 02:33:51 AM »
« Edited: January 29, 2013, 02:35:34 AM by Simfan34 »

I had an embarrassing soft spot for Asma al-Assad before this thing. Indeed, my whole opinion of Syria before the civil war could be described as tragically misguided. Hope for reform, hope for detente. I, in a way, was rooting for al-Assad. Of course, the war stamped this out. But this story made me wonder, made me fear, if I still have such a soft spot.

How embarrassing.
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Blue3
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« Reply #382 on: January 30, 2013, 07:36:50 PM »

So, Israel bombed a Syrian arms convoy to Lebanon today... Syria agrees it was bombed in an act of aggression, but says it was a military research center near Damascus that was a rebel target:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/01/2013130165625330449.html
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njwes
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« Reply #383 on: January 31, 2013, 03:13:51 AM »

Sorry if this was addressed earlier in the thread, I only skimmed the first few pages, but for all the people who vehemently support the rebels and believe the West should supply them arms or even intervene militarily: why? Not to say you should like Assad, but how do you see a better outcome if the rebels win? Especially if they win with some extra toys from the West? Does anyone seriously not think the country will descend into sectarian, near-genocidal slaughter if the rebels win?
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dead0man
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« Reply #384 on: January 31, 2013, 03:55:08 AM »

So, Israel bombed a Syrian arms convoy to Lebanon today... Syria agrees it was bombed in an act of aggression, but says it was a military research center near Damascus that was a rebel target:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/01/2013130165625330449.html
It was a convoy of missiles heading from Syria to southern Lebanon and the asshats there that will no doubt use them.  The latest rumor I heard was that they were actually Hezzies missiles in the first place and that they had taken to Syria for safe keeping and were moving them back because they weren't all that safe anymore.

The NY Times thinks the Hezzies might be bleeding themselves dry....well, maybe, we can certainly hope.

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Goodwin
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« Reply #385 on: January 31, 2013, 07:23:43 AM »

Sorry if this was addressed earlier in the thread, I only skimmed the first few pages, but for all the people who vehemently support the rebels and believe the West should supply them arms or even intervene militarily: why? Not to say you should like Assad, but how do you see a better outcome if the rebels win? Especially if they win with some extra toys from the West? Does anyone seriously not think the country will descend into sectarian, near-genocidal slaughter if the rebels win?

It's Western geopolitical madness aimed at stopping the Chinese and Russian influence within the Middle East and Africa. The Zbigniew Brzezinski policy. Nothing to do with freedom or democracy. Egypt is a mess, Libya is a mess, Syria is a mess, Iraq is a mess, Lebanon and Mali are in the process. The end goal is, of course, the destabilization of Iran. It always has been. The West have continually overthrown, or tried to overthrow, governments that don't promote their interests (Operation Gladio in Europe during the Cold War, Iran 53, Chile and Afghanistan in the 1970s, as well as Iran in 79, Latin America in the 1980s - Nicaragua and Panama, Afghanistan 2001 and Iraq 2003). Some of these were actually democracies as well - shock horror! 

Do I like President Assad? No. Do I like the so-called Free Syria Army? No way. If you want stability, bite the bullet and stick with the more secular Assad for now, reform can come later. If you want chaos then by all means root for the opposition, largely full of Islamist fighters and foreign mercenaries, but it won't get any better. Oh and here is a hint - if Saudi Arabia are endorsing / arming the opposition you know that democracy is not the goal.     

Why do I think this? I study Geopolitics at university, along with other geography / political modules. This doesn't mean that I'm right of course but I have some knowledge in this area and this is simply my opinion. It's incredibly ignorant to believe everything you see in the western press / media.

Read Samuel P. Huntington's book "The Clash of Civilizations".

Also Belgian MP Laurent Louis has recently said this in parliament:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCTZDH3WDjo

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Insula Dei
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« Reply #386 on: January 31, 2013, 03:33:23 PM »

One of the more disgusting things about a crisis like this is that you always have people who feel a need to prove just how clever they are at the expense of the actual people living without food or petrol in the bombed remains of their city. The Assad regime is not intent on 'stability' (even the idea of a continuation of the status quo is absurd at this point, really), it just wants to annihilate its opposition or, at the very least, take as many people as possible down with it. From the beginning of this mess Assad has shown himself to be ruthless and ready to employ whatever force necessary to stay in power (and a good deal more if people also need to be taught a lesson).

None of this is news. The Assad family hasn't exactly a very glorious history when it comes to maintaining 'stability' or respecting human rights. Are there tactical considerations behind the West's support for the rebels? Possibly, but that's highly irrelevant. It's not as if Russia and China are being objective observators in this whole mess. Really, arguing in favour of Assad because of what you *think* may happen when he goes down, is beyond the pale. Yeah, I know you know all these cool facts about shi'a and sunni muslims (and alewites! and suriacs!), but the way people throw around religious divides as the be-all and end-all of politics in the region is about as absurd as it would be for a student of the 19th century to look at the relations between the Great Powers exclusively trough the spectre of catholic vs. protestant nations. It is also a good deal less innocent.
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Goodwin
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« Reply #387 on: February 01, 2013, 10:13:15 AM »

hmm.....sounds like I hit a nerve. I apologise for that but I stand by on what I said. For your information, I do not endorse any political party or organisations and I'm certainly not an apologist for the Assad regime. That being said however, I believe in the importance of national sovereignty, respect for international law, and the right for the Syrian people to decide their own political future without such a future being imposed on them by outside forces. I based my previous post on research that I have done on the crisis over the last couple of years. I'm simply against the genocide of the Syrian people and I hope peace comes quicker rather than later. How is Libya coming along after the murder of Gaddaffi? Any word on the Libyan blacks being killed by Libyan deathsquads? If the secular Assad falls then I wish the Alawite, moderate Shia and Sunnis, Jews, Druze and of course the Christians all very best and I urge no more violence, although I doubt this will happen.   

http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/black-genocide-libya-why-silence
http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/07/07/libya-ethnic-cleansing/

A favourite opposition argument is that peaceful protesters restrained themselves for a long time until the “brutal crackdown by the Assad regime”. However, Robert Fisk of the Independent – first real western journalist to visit Daraa (where the so-called uprisings began) – found a very confusing scene.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-inside-daraya--how-a-failed-prisoner-swap-turned-into-a-massacre-8084727.html

“Being the first western eyewitness into the town yesterday was as frustrating as it was dangerous. The bodies of men, women and children had, of course, been moved from the cemetery where many of them were found; and when we arrived in the company of Syrian troops at the Sunni Muslim graveyard – divided by the main road through Daraya – snipers opened fire at the soldiers, hitting the back of the ancient armoured vehicle in which we made our escape. Yet we could talk to civilians out of earshot of Syrian officials – in two cases in the security of their own homes – and their narrative of last Saturday’s mass killing of 245 men, women and children suggested that the atrocities were far more widespread than supposed.”

Who are these mysterious “snipers” firing at the Syrian soldiers and Robert Fisk then?

Notice that witness Leena says a number of dead bodies were lying in the street BEFORE the Syrian Army even turned up – who shot these then? The snipers?

The article continues to talk to other eyewitness of the tragic event. Many people in the comment section are beginning to say that Fisk was being biased. I’m not so sure – he is a respective journalist in the Middle East who has criticized Dictator President Assad on a number of occasions. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-assad-faces-his-peoples-hatred--but-as-their-anger-grows-his-excuses-are-still-just-the-same-6287792.html

Now, do these snipers belong to the Free Syria Army or the Syrian Army? My conclusion is NO. Are these snipers working for someone else? There must be a chaotic third party involved. We know that Al Qaeda has been working in Syria along with Al Nusra and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – do the snipers belong to them? Who is funding these terriost networks?

Here are some references confirming the presence of Islamist networks terrorising Syria:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/30/us-syria-crisis-town-idUSBRE90T0VH20130130
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-clinton-admits-us-on-same-side-as-al-qaeda-to-destabilise-assad-government/29524
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/28/al-qaeda-syria-bombing/1869959/
http://www.newser.com/story/154739/reporter-killed-by-sniper-in-syria-during-live-broadcast.html
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/06/houl-j16.html


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Insula Dei
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« Reply #388 on: February 01, 2013, 11:24:18 AM »

1. Yeah, Fisk is a very decent journalist. I'll happily grant you that.

2. A civil war is a civil war. It's a nasty, dirty conflict with atrocities on both sides. Noone is disputing that. What I have a problem with is pretending that there is any outcome of this conflict where Assad stays in place and where there is not a day of reckoning troughout all of the rebel heartlands. Or that Assad is good for 'stability'.

3. Your post wasn't the main trigger for my post, nor was my post directed mainly at you. It's just a certain trend in reporting on the Middle East that I find both tiresome and, as I said, far from innocent.
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danny
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« Reply #389 on: February 03, 2013, 08:38:39 AM »

Stability isn't necessarily a good thing, North Korea is currently a very stable hellhole. I actually think Libya has gotten better even though it has become less stable.
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Blue3
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« Reply #390 on: February 03, 2013, 04:25:59 PM »

Surprisingly, Turkey is accusing Israel of "state terrorism" for bombing Syria:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/02/20132317737493423.html
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danny
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« Reply #391 on: February 03, 2013, 06:03:53 PM »


You mean "surprisingly", right?
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njwes
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« Reply #392 on: February 03, 2013, 07:13:53 PM »

Surprisingly, Turkey is accusing Israel of "state terrorism" for bombing Syria

Lol. The Turkish government's aware that they've been at war for what, 40 years now, right?
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Blue3
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« Reply #393 on: February 03, 2013, 10:18:08 PM »

That's what I wrote.

And it is surprising since Turkey has sent some artillery fire into Syria, and seem to want a military intervention. Yet they call Israel a sponsor of state terrorism for bombing them too...

Surprisingly, Turkey is accusing Israel of "state terrorism" for bombing Syria

Lol. The Turkish government's aware that they've been at war for what, 40 years now, right?
No they haven't... things have only soured between them since the Gaza war/blockade about 4 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Turkey_relations#Diplomatic_and_political_relations
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dead0man
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« Reply #394 on: February 04, 2013, 06:53:47 AM »

He was talking about Israel and Syria being in a technical state of war for 40 years.
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danny
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« Reply #395 on: February 04, 2013, 07:29:30 PM »

That's what I wrote.

And it is surprising since Turkey has sent some artillery fire into Syria, and seem to want a military intervention. Yet they call Israel a sponsor of state terrorism for bombing them too...


Obviously this is politics, the current Turkish government hate Israel so they say these things. In the same way, Turkey calls what Israel does to the Palestinians genocide, even in cases that are minor compared to what the Turks do to the Kurds. That is just the way politics work, and it isn't even remotely surprising if you follow the news.
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dead0man
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« Reply #396 on: February 14, 2013, 12:48:58 AM »

A senior commander in Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard reportedly killed in Lebanon
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Well that's good news.  I like the "mercenaries of the Zionist regime" part.
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dead0man
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« Reply #397 on: February 14, 2013, 01:39:52 AM »

This fellow was Imadinnerjacket's personal representative in Lebanon.
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All Along The Watchtower
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« Reply #398 on: February 20, 2013, 12:02:21 PM »

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-syria-crisisgulfl5n0bbe9e-20130220,0,6983643.story
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Benj
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« Reply #399 on: February 20, 2013, 12:50:44 PM »

I think they're probably right. Being too hands-off gives the view, however wrong, that the US/the West just doesn't care who is in government in Syria. In turn, that feeds into support for jihadist groups, both on the usual anti-US/anti-Western lines and because the jihadis are the ones with weapons, so the rebels become more dependent on them the fewer weapons they can get from elsewhere.
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