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

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

#231

Post by 7952 »

theowss wrote: post #180
bbor wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any regime change that involves freeing many thousands of women and children from prisons notorious for torture and mass-executions seems like a decent one! The future is uncertain, but it's not like "everyone chills out and gets into their hobbies" was an option -- it's gotta be one of the most war-ravaged places to exist in human history.

[flagged]

It is curious that you don't mention the fact that the Sha was in power due to an American/British coup that deposed a democratic government to protect oil interests.

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

#232

Post by DiscourseFan »

jampekka wrote: post #202
adamsb6 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saddam Hussein was a brutal despot who also kept his own country’s factions from waging war on one another. It didn’t turn out well when we took him off the board.

And the same in Libya.

The Libyan war is just some bullshit to keep oil prices low, its very close to being a manufactured situation

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

#233

Post by AngaraliTurk »

lukan wrote: post #130
j_maffe wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was under a repressive dictatorship with crumbling infrastructure. Sure, it can always be worse, but the people deserve and are capable of so much better.

"Sure, it can always be worse" Yes, I would argue the islamic state was indeed worse. And so far I see nothing preventing them or a similar force taking hold again. I mean turkey is the moderating factor here and turkey under Erdogan has gone the authorian islamic way since a while.

I was giving you the benefit of doubt all this time, but your comments about my country confirms to me that you're misinformed. For all I hate Erdoğan and his attempts to undermine democracy, and I want to see him gone sooner or later, Turkey is as much an Islamic authoritarian state as USA is a Christian authoritarian one under the rule of Trump. There seems to be a tendency to exaggerate the realities on the ground for some reason, and I suspect this is fueled by bots.

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

#234

Post by perihelions »

cnlevy wrote: post #217
cm2187 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing in his wiki bio that suggests moderation.

Well, you haven't read it properly then: [ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Mohammad_al-Julani ] > When asked about al-Nusra's plans for a post-war Syria, al-Julani stated that after the war ended, all factions in the country would be consulted before anyone considered "establishing an Islamic state". He also mentioned that al-Nusra would not target the country's Alawite minority, despite their support for the Ass…

I agree with the other commenter; I don't believe this language, which seems to be directed towards western audiences for self-serving reasons.

- "He also mentioned that al-Nusra would not target the country's Alawite minority, despite their support for the Assad regime"

In the past, al-Julani (or al-Golani) has explicitly demanded Alawites convert to Sunni Islam,

- "But any Allawite considering taking advantage of Golami’s kind offer must meet certain conditions. They must not only stop supporting Assad, but they must convert to Nusra’s brand of extreme Sunni Islam or, in other words, stop being Allawites. Christians will be given a grace period before they have to start pay jizya, a special tax, and Golani takes for granted that Sharia will be implemented. “The basics remain the same,” says Lund, “and they’re extreme enough to be borderline genocidal even when sugar-coated by Al Jazeera.”"

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/syrian-civ... (2015)

And the surrounding context of that quote is apropos, too: "They had earlier forcibly converted hundreds of Druze to their fundamentalist variant of Sunni Islam." These people have no intention of coexisting with different religious groups—they intend to violently convert them, and eradicate their religions.

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

#235

Post by [deleted] »

ggm wrote: 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…

[deleted]

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

#236

Post by AngaraliTurk »

teractiveodular wrote: post #110
asimpletune wrote: post #75

What are the chances the Kurds will get their own land out of this?

The best case is that northern parts of Syria end up like Iraqi Kurdistan, where they will de facto control a slice of the country. However, Turkey to the north is really not keen on the Kurds having any territory, so they'll do whatever they can to frustrate this.

The Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG) you mention has friendly relations with Turkey.

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

#237

Post by [deleted] »

hackandthink wrote: post #50

Nassim Taleb (in Lebanon not far from Homs right now): "The strangest thing is that after 14 years of war, the Syrian rebels walked into the entire country faster than if they were on a tourist sightseeing tour. Except at the beginning, there was no fighting." (from his X Account)

[deleted]

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

#238

Post by teractiveodular »

AngaraliTurk wrote: post #236
teractiveodular wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best case is that northern parts of Syria end up like Iraqi Kurdistan, where they will de facto control a slice of the country. However, Turkey to the north is really not keen on the Kurds having any territory, so they'll do whatever they can to frustrate this.

The Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG) you mention has friendly relations with Turkey.

The main Syrian Kurdish militia has very unfriendly relations with Turkey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Defense_Units

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

#240

Post by fooker »

wiseowise wrote: post #215
TheAlchemist wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for Russia, and is all seems pretty relevant. The article seem to indicate that it's much more sustainable for the West than for Russia.

It’s not sustainable for Ukraine.

NATO is ensuring it’s just about sustainable.
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