Live data from Hacker News

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

apnews.com

281–290 of 530 posts

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

#281
post #153

I'm not really aware of what's going on in Syria, and not really sure who's worse - Assad or the rebels, but it seems clear that Iran & Russia, which were main backers of Assad regime, appears extremely weak. That's understandable for Iran which may want to avoid to overextend itself following the recent events, but it's hard to comprehend why Russia was unable to do anything at all. In any case, it seems like there…

> but it's hard to comprehend why Russia was unable to do anything at all. Is it really? Russia literally has to rely on North Korean soldiers to continue their own "special operation" a few miles away. Their power projection ability is now zero.

They haven't yet forced conscription. There's plenty of manpower available to Russia through this very unpopular measure. If pressed they'll do it, the question will be whether Putin survives the young people of Moscow and St Petersburg joining the meat waves.

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

#282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Um, did Somalia actually get much better since then ?

The case for refugees isn't "their country is bad". It is "they are fleeing war".

If it was the former case, then approximately 7b people would be valid refugees.

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

#283
post #18
post #2

It's interesting that everywhere, the government forces simply abandoned their posts, and none of Syria's allies appear to be willing to intervene in any way. Maybe there's something else going on we don't know yet.

Maybe if your leader is a dictator and it looks like you are losing, defecting might be a better option than fighting to the death for a leader who doesn't care about you.

Most of the Syrian army was made up of people forced to be there or to be imprisoned ~

A lot where changing clothes in the middle of the street.

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

#284
post #2

It's interesting that everywhere, the government forces simply abandoned their posts, and none of Syria's allies appear to be willing to intervene in any way. Maybe there's something else going on we don't know yet.

I’m reminded of how people in Afghanistan had the reputation of switching sides pretty easily.

Except Syria has a completely different history and population, being Arab, is nothing like Afghani people.

Assad was an evil dictator and his father before him, but Syria had a stable government and bureaucracy etc until the civil war. It was a functioning state.

There are sects and regional populations in Syria, the Kurds, Alawites (Assad's group), Sunni, Christian. It's more that they will have to accommodate the regional and religious groups in their government.

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

#285
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't seen any indication that Israel plans on invading Syria, nor can I see a particular reason for them doing so.

Hmm - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights ? [Not that I'd take this as having any new impact on the current situation, but...]

Yes, they annexed that after the last war with Syria. Do you think the US is going to abandon the southwest US back to Mexican cartels, or the UK will abandon Wales, or any of these other countries will abandon territory they won in war long ago?

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

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your logic posits that the good guys lost i.e Russia & Iran, supposedly fighting terrorists in Syria.

How do you read that from the comment?

It's clear to me given the description of the protagonists involved on this topic.

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

#287
post #153

I'm not really aware of what's going on in Syria, and not really sure who's worse - Assad or the rebels, but it seems clear that Iran & Russia, which were main backers of Assad regime, appears extremely weak. That's understandable for Iran which may want to avoid to overextend itself following the recent events, but it's hard to comprehend why Russia was unable to do anything at all. In any case, it seems like there…

> but it's hard to comprehend why Russia was unable to do anything at all. Is it really? Russia literally has to rely on North Korean soldiers to continue their own "special operation" a few miles away. Their power projection ability is now zero.

There is still no proof for North Korean soldiers at the front and pro-russian bloggers make fun of it in ironic memes.

I now think it was either only a few North Korean officers or it was just Ukrainian propaganda to justify more western support.

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

#288
post #56
post #2

It's interesting that everywhere, the government forces simply abandoned their posts, and none of Syria's allies appear to be willing to intervene in any way. Maybe there's something else going on we don't know yet.

[flagged]

Musk sells more Teslas and makes more batteries in China than everywhere else except US. So thinking that Trump will be "anti-China" is wishful thinking. Last time, China didn't suffer, but US farmers had to be bailed out.

Russia is the bad actor here, and Trump has never had a bad word to say about Putin.

Oh and the BRICS trying to get off the USD is just wishful thinking as well. Ask Russia what its like trying to sell oil to India and getting paid in INR.

Russia is already a vassal state to either CN or IN, they'll fight over the resources.

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

#289
post #4

Who are likely to control Syria now? Will Syria become an islamic state?

Turkey is relatively liberal (for an islamic country) and they backed the "revolutionaries". I'm kind of wondering what Jordan is going to do in the coming weeks/months.

I think Jordan is sitting there saying to itself "If we just stay quiet, maybe no one will notice us".

They don't want to be involved and would be ecstatic if the Syrian and Lebanese refugees were able to return and leave Jordan.

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

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I'm thinking too. But if that's true, it means Ukraine has a real fighting chance to put them on their knees. In any case, this seems like a major loss for Russia.

> it means Ukraine has a real fighting chance to put them on their knees. Yes, and this point has been obvious to many for the last two years. The problem has been the west drip feeding aid into the largest war since WW2. We actually have to define the objective as reclaiming all Ukranian territory (at least to the pre-2022 borders) and supply them appropriately. It might be expensive in the short-term but we can aff…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN