15 Comments
· 6 years ago
I understand the desire to defend yourself from aggression and would do the same. However this revolution has been created by pumping 100's of millions of dollars in weapons and materiel into the disenfranchised. Worse yet in support AQ and Al Nusra which are the antitheses of the West. How can we have destabilized a country that was at peace and improving just to push back Iran and ease right wing Israeli fears?
I lived in Syria until mid 2011 for a total of 3.5 years and I saw it getting better for the people every year, and now its a disaster. WHy and for whom? This isn't a quest for freedom unless you count the freedom to bring Sharia to a people that have had a secular government for 40 years.
Yes the situation is more complex than I can cover here but if you are supporting AQ and Al Nusra you are on the wrong side of right. The SNC isn't credible and unless it becomes more inclusive will never be. There is no "way out" for Alawi's, them and those that stand with them will be slaughtered, it's the "Arabic" way. So there can be no negotiated settlement without a way that addresses all true Syrians not these barbarians from Libya, Chechnya, Soudi, Yemen, Etc.
I lived in Syria until mid 2011 for a total of 3.5 years and I saw it getting better for the people every year, and now its a disaster. WHy and for whom? This isn't a quest for freedom unless you count the freedom to bring Sharia to a people that have had a secular government for 40 years.
Yes the situation is more complex than I can cover here but if you are supporting AQ and Al Nusra you are on the wrong side of right. The SNC isn't credible and unless it becomes more inclusive will never be. There is no "way out" for Alawi's, them and those that stand with them will be slaughtered, it's the "Arabic" way. So there can be no negotiated settlement without a way that addresses all true Syrians not these barbarians from Libya, Chechnya, Soudi, Yemen, Etc.
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This commment is unpublished.
· 6 years agoI am quite sure that neither side in this conflict is good for the west. If you trace back the alliances and make a few calculations you would either be siding with Iran/Hezbollah(i.e. Assad as he now owes quite a few favors to Hezbollah/Iran and has alienated the Sunni world) or Sunni Jihadis/Al-Qaeda. The best outcome would be the restoration of the former status quo, which is not going to happen.
As such, the notion that the USA or Israeli is behind this civil war is utter nonsense. One who understands the region would have known that the outcome would be worse than the former situation - even knowing how awful it is to have Assad and Hezbollah as neighbors. Turkey is the only country that clearly stood to gain from toppling Assad and the Erdogan has a warm place in his heart for Sunni extremism. It stands to reason that if anyone helped get the ball rolling it was Turkey or other Sunni powers. -
This commment is unpublished.
· 6 years agoTrying to make sense of the Middle East is fast becoming a fool's errand.
Where the "good guys" morph into totalitarian tyrants and nearby nation's strive to destabilize neighboring countries; where freedom fighters are overtaken by jihadists and revolutionary guards.
The simple-mindedness that was on display in the Libyan intervention followed by covert aid via Libya to Syrian rebels through Turkey - matched by al Qaeda recruiting of Libyan fighters for the Syrian uprising. Then the doubling down on cluelessness last summer when Obama declared unilaterally the need to immediately attack Syria. WTF? Iran is providing materiel and battlefield advisers (if not brigades) in defense of Assad. Hezbollah creates more unrest in Lebanon and threatens to become a player in Syria. Who is destabilizing who? And for what end? Who ultimately gets to fire the bullets that others provide? What is the undercurrent re Israel and Palestine?
N-dimensional chess without rules.
