2013-09-20, 05:02 | Link #723 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Syrian opposition slams al-Qaida-linked militants
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...09-20-04-12-48
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2013-09-22, 15:54 | Link #726 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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U.S. official: Syrian CW list more complete than anticipated.
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Not saying he's a nice person of course. Last edited by maplehurry; 2013-09-22 at 16:10. |
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2013-09-24, 22:17 | Link #727 |
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Join Date: Jan 2008
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Syrian Rebel Commands Tank Battalion from Hospital Bed:
"Yahya Mhebeldin was a tailor in Al Qusayr, a city in western Syria near Homs. Then in the spring of 2011, mass demonstrations demanding the end of Pres. Bashar Al Assad’s dictatorial rule sparked a civil war. Mhebeldin, 29, became an opposition fighter, commanding a growing force of local men fighting to defend their neighborhood from government troops and their allies. Badly wounded at the height of the fighting five months ago, today Mhebeldin is in a hospital in northern Lebanon, where he continues to lead his men—and an arsenal of captured tanks—relaying commands via a battery of cell phones resting on his pillow." See: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/625430cfd97f |
2013-09-25, 03:17 | Link #728 |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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UN chemical arms inspectors heading back to Syria
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...09-25-02-06-14
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2013-10-04, 20:37 | Link #729 |
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No More Chemical Weapons, No Problem—Syria Steps Up Firebombings Instead:
"Al Assad’s regime has reportedly used fuel-air bombs before, but appears to dropping them more frequently now that the world is alert to any use of chemical weapons. A major regime gas attack in Damascus in August killed more than 1,400 people and precipitated a diplomatic crisis." See: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/846e3599724e ===================================== Obama's Failed Syria Strategy In One Sentence: "Michael Young of Now writes that Assad's strategy of not attacking the al-Qaeda groups — and even collaborating with them in certain districts — has worked astonishingly well, noting that the Obama administration has a lot to do with it. This sentence from Young says it all:" See: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama...rategy-2013-10 |
2013-10-05, 01:52 | Link #732 | |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
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People are dying, it doesn't make it better to use lead projectiles than using anything else. It was hilarious when people tried to make Chemical Weapons some kind of "red line" when we know it is all one sad unfunny joke.
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2013-10-05, 01:58 | Link #734 |
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That assumes you know who would rule it. I would love to hear what your predicted outcome is, because right now it is still a clusterfuck.
I prefer Assad to win and all the foreigners get kicked out. Then we can deal with reforms without other countries sending their fighters in. But that might be decades away.
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2013-10-05, 02:08 | Link #735 |
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I'd say it's heading Lebanon's way with Russo-Iranian influence prevailing but possibly challenged by pro-west agents, especially those affiliated to Turkey. Then again the fundamentalists are progressively taking over the opposition so should they take over completely I think the eventual end for Syrian Civil War will be setback even further and the future even harder to predict. Either way however, the west has lost the country to SCO.
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2013-10-05, 02:23 | Link #736 |
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Age: 43
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The West never had a chance in Syria. It is either military invasion followed by colonisation and genocide, or nothing. You can't control another country via soft power against their will.
For too long the West believed in their own rhetoric about the glory of democracy, when it was meant to be nothing more than propaganda left over from the Cold War. And when they really tried to use nothing but democracy to change a country, it failed. The only way for Syria to obey the West is if the West is willing to do Evil. It just isn't going to happen.
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2013-10-05, 02:33 | Link #737 |
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Certainly that the west screwed their chance since day one. Even Turkey reacted (understandably) timidly to the changes since they were actually making progress through peaceful approach previously. Assad wasn't that belligerent in international politics, but to begin with he's conservative and a sectarian, so he's definitely part of the problem. And now, he's desperate dork whose only way to keep power is through prolonged armed conflict. He's not the only root of the chaos but the less depending of him the establishment becomes, the sooner we will reach settlement.
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2013-10-05, 02:37 | Link #738 | |
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Quote:
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2013-10-05, 02:59 | Link #740 |
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If the establishment goes with him, then yes even Lebanon option is out. But I don't think the non-Sunnis are so entirely dependent of him.
As things stand though, he's too polarizing a figure to reign over any sort of reform and reconciliation between the warring factions. The Civil War is now his life blood and he knows it, and he won't let it end as long as he either feels like staying in power or is alive. Indeed, the Al Qaeda fighters are as much the life blood of the civil war as he is. But somehow I suspect that they'd be willing to settle with being the Sunni Hezbollah for a condition. If Assad would okay that condition then we'll might be sooner towards Lebanon-style settlement but somehow I think it will hurt Assad's position more. And Lebanon-style eventuality is increasingly becoming the only alternative to decades of genocidal meltdown.
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