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Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

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131–140 of 530 posts

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#131
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is extremely reductive, the asaad regime ( current and previous ) had to go, they've caused immense pain to syrians since the 80s.. The idea that this is some consorted effort by global hegemony to topple them ignores the effort of the rebels themselves, and how much the war in ukraine have costed russia..

> XYZ just had to go Yes, this worked out so well in the past. You people will definitely never learn. I honestly dread the times when your diplomats turn their gazes on my country.

[deleted]

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#133
post #6

Much though I want to view this as good news I keep finding myself steelmanning that it's actually bad news * destabilising a region already in flames * replacing a secular evil government by.. jihadists in a loose coalition. WCGW? * Russia used port and airfields to maintain a presence in the Med and for nefarious purposes in Africa. What do they do now, to replace them because I doubt "nothing" is the answer. * doe…

> * how will Turkey negotiate with this facing the pkk and Kurdish nationalism?

Hopefully Turkey does the honorable thing, recognizes an independent Kurdish state and apologizes for decades of oppression, murder and state-sanction terror? Unlikely though.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#134
post #119
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your impression of Russia's war capabilities is vastly mistaken. "According to Joseph Fitsanakis, professor of intelligence and security studies at Coastal Carolina University, “Russian military production is currently outpacing that of the US and all of NATO member states combined. This may be hard to believe, but Russia is obligated to do it if it is going to outpace the support given to Ukraine." Source: https://w…

It shouldn’t be surprising that a country with a war economy has a higher first derivative at producing material, the question of import is 1. What is the difference between absolute quantities comparing against all relevant players, 2. How long would it take to bridge the gap at current production rates, and 3. Can that rate of production be sustained long enough for it to alter any fundamentals? The point to rebut…

All of this is irrelevant if Ukraine crumbles first.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#135
post #6

Much though I want to view this as good news I keep finding myself steelmanning that it's actually bad news * destabilising a region already in flames * replacing a secular evil government by.. jihadists in a loose coalition. WCGW? * Russia used port and airfields to maintain a presence in the Med and for nefarious purposes in Africa. What do they do now, to replace them because I doubt "nothing" is the answer. * doe…

Assad wasn’t really a stabilizing force holding back worse players, he was a desperate despot just barely holding on to power thanks to a proxy war. Now the rest of the parties have a real chance to establishing a governing coalition. Syria has always been relatively secular and the rhetoric coming from the rebel side is in marked contrast to the usual pattern in the region. The most extremist group involved HTS has…

>Almost seven million Syrian refugees might have the chance to return home and rebuild now. That’s great news.

Just because they might have chance to return home and rebuild doesn't mean that they will. Somalis arrived in the 90's, and they never returned back there except for vacations.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#136

Despite reading it 5 times, I fail to understand the meaning of the title, "Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family"

Why is this so downvoted, especially with all the replies claiming that it is correct and understandable (title) English?

The original title makes more sense:

> Syrian government falls in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family

however I am not entirely sure about that one either.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#137

[flagged]

My car-to-work radio is set to a rock-based station. Occasionally they will play a(n overtly) pop song, or two. It's a great station (for me, as the infrequent "not of this genre" surprise keeps me interested. The occasional not-tech story on HN is equally welcome for myself, as the level of comments, and opinions are so much 'higher' than other places. There's always some comment/s that allow me to appreciate another pov, without getting too snarky.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#138
post #6

Much though I want to view this as good news I keep finding myself steelmanning that it's actually bad news * destabilising a region already in flames * replacing a secular evil government by.. jihadists in a loose coalition. WCGW? * Russia used port and airfields to maintain a presence in the Med and for nefarious purposes in Africa. What do they do now, to replace them because I doubt "nothing" is the answer. * doe…

> * how will Turkey negotiate with this facing the pkk and Kurdish nationalism? Hopefully Turkey does the honorable thing, recognizes an independent Kurdish state and apologizes for decades of oppression, murder and state-sanction terror? Unlikely though.

Why would they? They can just steam-roll across all freely available western Syria until they encounter Israeli forces coming from south, and then roll across eastern Syria until United States starts dropping bombs on them, at which point they will likely stop and start thinking about more permanent borders.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#139
It is a bit surreal to read people cheering for islamist head choppers who overthrew a secular government. Remember this 10 years from now when these same head choppers blow something up in NYC. The fundamental invariant of governance stands undefeated: religious head choppers, whether they are on "our side" or not, are always worse in the long run than the secular governments. See the "freedom fighter" Osama Bin Laden for a particularly vivid example.

Re: Syrian government falls in end to 50-year rule of Assad family

#140
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it must be much better now after all the devastation. Same with Lybia, much better place now, no?

Why do you insist that it will go the way of Libya? The rebels are calling for a peaceful and democratic transition of the government and the protection of all minorities. They've stopped using Islamist rhetoric for almost 10 years. This is as good of a regime change in Syria as it gets.

There is no counter-example of thriving democracies developed after western regime change projects. On the other hand, there’s Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
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