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What was Syria like before the war

searchingforsyria.org

141–150 of 213 posts

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#141
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't mobile only. I visited it using Chrome Version 58.0.3029.110 (64-bit) on Windows 10. Works fine.

Version 58.0.3029.110 (64-bit), except I'm on a Mac. Is it possible they've got a bug that misidentifies Mac browsers?

No, same problem here with latest Chrome on Windows 10.

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#142
For the record: I don't think that Mid-East is ready for democracy yet (the majority wouldn't support basic human rights IMO) so the biggest mistake was for the "West" to support the Arab Spring. Yeah, those dictators were bad, but they were predictably bad.

Nature abhors vacuum and radical Islam is filling in.

P.S. I don't care about down votes.

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#143

I lived in Aleppo with my family 1962-1964. My dad was a US consul at the time. It's heartbreaking to see those pictures of that great city trashed. Half a century is a long time in the history of an American city, but the twinking of an eye in the history of Aleppo. The people of the city were incredibly supportive of us -- their guests -- in the aftermath of JFK's murder. Strangers on the street came up to us to ex…

i am syrian from aleppo, so proud to hear someone talk nicely about my destroyed city, thanks man.

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#144

I wish there were more definite sources detailing what the actual conflict is about. People are giving all sorts of accounts online and it seems to be divided into a few camps: 1) western and sunni middle eastern press: it's all Assad's (government's) fault. People want democracy. Specifically this is supposed to be a response to violent repression of pro-democracy protests from March 2011. Problem: very hard to beli…

Stuff like this doesn't happen for some pipeline. In this case, the theory has the following problems: - The supposed Qatar->Europe would have to cross Saudi Arabia, which is a much larger obstacle to any pipeline project. - Same for Turkey - Dependence on Russian gas isn't so much a "European" problem, as a Eastern-European problem, from Germany to Greece. These are countries that aren't really known for 007-style f…

You seem to be emphasizing that european energy 'independence' is the only reason for the pipeline without noting as a result, it also shifts significant funding bases for all the producing nations involved and therefore also shifts the geopolitical balance of power viz-a-vis state finance, and that the orientation of major producing nations has direct bearing on the global balance of power / energy / finance. See also: BRICS

You also presume that the short-term interests of politicians is not heavily tied to the long term interests of their major constituents.. See also: think tanks

As for brutality: Try to create a 'peaceful and inclusive' society when a significant enough minority to overthrow a weaker regime is always present and agitating to do so (e.g. jihadi sympathizers).. it might be more difficult than you imagine, which is not to say that conflict never exacerbates extreme positions. You might find that some normal people would prefer a harsh regieme keeping those people out than a week democracy which they expect will likely fail (see also: egypt)

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#145

For the record: I don't think that Mid-East is ready for democracy yet (the majority wouldn't support basic human rights IMO) so the biggest mistake was for the "West" to support the Arab Spring. Yeah, those dictators were bad, but they were predictably bad. Nature abhors vacuum and radical Islam is filling in. P.S. I don't care about down votes.

Iran had democracy in 1953. The democratically elected prime minister was overthrown in a coup that was orchestrated by the CIA in order to protect the profits of BP. This isn't a conspiracy, this information has since been declassified. Look it up on Wikipedia. If there's any truth to your statement that the middle east "can't handle democracy" it's in no small part due to our interference.

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#146
post #12

This is totally off topic (and may even be taken to be insensitive considering the plight of the Syrian people), but I had to ask: is there any way that you/anyone/HNer could offer suggestions on how to deploy such a site for a non-developer...are there free/self-hosted themes and/or frameworks whose installation and use is noob-friendly enough to lend themselves well to interactive storytelling...? Any help/pointers…

I think a lot of animated presentation software like prezi can also do this.

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it established? What proof of any kind do you have that people are being paid to troll in our corner of the internet? Even if agencies had a presence on social media, what advantage do they having coming to HN and trying to convince a bunch of computer nerds that life was better in Syria under Assad?

You can find plenty of articles in serious sources which contain serious research on Russian astroturfing operations. Based on those, any forum is a target and HN is more influential than most.

I think Occam's razor is applicable with our discussion. Are the people who are disagreeing with you a paid shill from the government trying to advance a particular agenda, or is it just a person who disagrees with you?

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#148
post #111
post #80

Meta-commentary: This is one of the more fascinating threads I have seen on HN. It seems to parallel many of the problems with political discourse in the world today - maybe it's always been like this, but I'm not old enough to know. I would break down the comments into several types: 1) conspiracy theorists who believe in some secret cult that is unilaterally organizing everything 2) trolls - state sponsored or othe…

> state sponsored or otherwise pushing an anti-humanitarian cause. What's the anti-humanitarian cause? Throwing enough resources at the fight to keep it going for years instead of weeks/months, but not enough to actually end it, for what I hope are callous realpolitik reasons and not simple incompetence?

There are a bunch of reasons. I recently sat next to an Asian mom at the passport office and when the news came on about Syrian refugees she said to me "no Syrian refugees." She complained they cost us money. I asked her a couple questions about Syria and Iraq and she was completely clueless and not interested in learning about the situation. With her accent it's likely she emigrated from Asia. People constantly amaze me.

Re: What was Syria like before the war

#149
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

""Bana" is a media campaign." A child.

"Bana" is both a real child and very likely a well resourced propaganda operation.

So many conspiracies!

I simply must put on my white helmet to keep out the radiation..

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