Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous • Hacker News Board

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#21

Post by rehem » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 3:46 PM UTC

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #16

msh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but did they take up arms before or after the brutal response and is the Syrian government legitimate? (my understanding is after and no).

I mean either scenario is possible but yeah I don't know for sure. I'm not sure how to think about the legitimacy of the Syrian government though. Is any government legitimate? I know a lot of people don't like Stephen Harper or Obama, but they deal with it until the next election. Presumably the Syrian government was elected at some point too so they must have some kind of support in the country. Indiscriminately ki…

Either you are a sock puppet or live under a rock. The syrian regime was installed in a coup and passed down to Bashar al-Assad by his father. Additionally it is well documented that Assad regime attacked its own citizens from the very beginning of the protests in syria.

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#22

Post by mladenkovacevic » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 3:57 PM UTC

hnhg wrote: post #17

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean either scenario is possible but yeah I don't know for sure. I'm not sure how to think about the legitimacy of the Syrian government though. Is any government legitimate? I know a lot of people don't like Stephen Harper or Obama, but they deal with it until the next election. Presumably the Syrian government was elected at some point too so they must have some kind of support in the country. Indiscriminately ki…

It doesn't take long to look up that the Syrian government was formed as a result of a coup decades ago, especially if you're going to make a comment about it. EDIT: Actually I think there is a good point in your post, but I still think that familiarising yourself with the history of the country is necessary to understand where they are now.

I knew about the coup and I realize how ridiculous and meaningless a 1-party regime can seem (I've lived under one myself) but that doesn't exclude elections and political process from taking place. I did actually look up "Elections in Syria" on Google and read through the Wikipedia entry here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Syria and also this article came up where the opposition was apparently boycotting the elections (which is understandable if you think the system is corrupt and don't want to participate in the farce - hey it's how I feel about the Canadian elections sometimes but I still go) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16135298

Also when I lived under said 1-party regime I have never seen people more politically and socially engaged - and not just in a rebellious way. I live in Canada now and most people are totally indifferent as to what happens in their own community, let alone further afield.

I hope no one is reading my posts thinking "This guy is defending Hitler! Stone him!" For all I know Syria could be far worse then anything I've ever experienced. And in the end we kicked out our president too! (Although no bazookas or AK-47s were involved) So this could just be a natural progression of any authoritative regime.

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#23

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:00 PM UTC

msh wrote: post #15

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #14

I'm looking at some of the images in that slideshow in the middle of the article. It's showing rebels with rocket launchers and AK-47s. Then it's also showing destroyed armoured vehicles that I can only imagine belonged to the government. I'm not denying that Syrian government is being very brutal in how it's dealing with protests... but if the "Occupy" protests here in Canada and in the States took up heavy arms, I…

Yes, but did they take up arms before or after the brutal response and is the Syrian government legitimate? (my understanding is after and no).

[deleted]

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#24

Post by namdnay » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:10 PM UTC

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #16

msh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but did they take up arms before or after the brutal response and is the Syrian government legitimate? (my understanding is after and no).

I mean either scenario is possible but yeah I don't know for sure. I'm not sure how to think about the legitimacy of the Syrian government though. Is any government legitimate? I know a lot of people don't like Stephen Harper or Obama, but they deal with it until the next election. Presumably the Syrian government was elected at some point too so they must have some kind of support in the country. Indiscriminately ki…

The Al-Assad family have been ruling Syria for the past 40 years, so I think it's fair to say that the government is not the most legitimate there is.

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#25

Post by powertower » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:12 PM UTC

msh wrote: post #15

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #14

I'm looking at some of the images in that slideshow in the middle of the article. It's showing rebels with rocket launchers and AK-47s. Then it's also showing destroyed armoured vehicles that I can only imagine belonged to the government. I'm not denying that Syrian government is being very brutal in how it's dealing with protests... but if the "Occupy" protests here in Canada and in the States took up heavy arms, I…

Yes, but did they take up arms before or after the brutal response and is the Syrian government legitimate? (my understanding is after and no).

Look at what happened in Libya.

Gaddafi spent the last 10 years working with the UN and the US, disarming his country, going on camera shaking hands and smiling with US, French and Italian delegates, ambassadors, and presidents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=856HOHH5UJE

Then he became a "despot" overnight that has been torturing and murdering everyone for the last 40 years...

First a group of people attacked a military base / weapons cache and were met with deadly force (what the news reported as something else), and then a sworn enemy of Gaddafi reported that Gaddafi was bombing more innocent and unarmed people. That was all we needed to hear!

The whole thing was a setup, and well prepared.

Now Libya is a torn country where murder, rape, torture, and general human suffering are the norms.

Do you really think Syria is going to be the different one? The one where we come in and fix things properly.

If you want something another country has, or want to prevent or destabilize an alliance, just go in and stir things up a bit. That country will split up into factions, one fighting another, and you get whatever you want on the cheap.

http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2011/08/bombing-his-own-p...

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#26

Post by mc32 » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:14 PM UTC

mike-cardwell wrote: post #4

These sort of mass email leaks can be prevented by deploying PGP, and configuring the incoming mail server to encrypt all incoming email with the recipients public key, ala https://grepular.com/Automatically_Encrypting_all_Incoming_E... Of course, they can also be prevented by people just deleting their email after they're read it, instead of compulsively hoarding it.

Since Domino/Notes was one of the first enterprise apps supporting strong encryption --except for pre-2000 export restrictions, I wonder what internal email systems are the most frequently compromised when we see these leaks.

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#27

Post by pooriaazimi » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:15 PM UTC

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #16

msh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but did they take up arms before or after the brutal response and is the Syrian government legitimate? (my understanding is after and no).

I mean either scenario is possible but yeah I don't know for sure. I'm not sure how to think about the legitimacy of the Syrian government though. Is any government legitimate? I know a lot of people don't like Stephen Harper or Obama, but they deal with it until the next election. Presumably the Syrian government was elected at some point too so they must have some kind of support in the country. Indiscriminately ki…

> I mean either scenario is possible...

We're not talking about a movie with an open ending, we're talking about something that has been happening for the past 11 months right in front of our eyes (maybe not literally, but there is at least a couple million YouTube videos about it).

When you're talking about current events, don't assume. Do some research and then post a comment. He has killed 6000 Syrian to date, it's not like they were in a school fight and we can l forget about it in a week or two.

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#28

Post by mladenkovacevic » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:21 PM UTC

rehem wrote: post #21

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean either scenario is possible but yeah I don't know for sure. I'm not sure how to think about the legitimacy of the Syrian government though. Is any government legitimate? I know a lot of people don't like Stephen Harper or Obama, but they deal with it until the next election. Presumably the Syrian government was elected at some point too so they must have some kind of support in the country. Indiscriminately ki…

Either you are a sock puppet or live under a rock. The syrian regime was installed in a coup and passed down to Bashar al-Assad by his father. Additionally it is well documented that Assad regime attacked its own citizens from the very beginning of the protests in syria.

I obviously didn't post to get the upvotes and was sort of expecting an unpopular interpretation of events to get some down-votes. But I wasn't expecting anyone to create a new account just so they could tell me I live under a rock and call me a "sock puppet?" (huh?)

I do watch the news on a regular basis have a general understanding of the narrative in Syria. I realize the nature of the regime and I never suggested that Assad was elected - but merely that political elections did take place in Syria. I was merely offering a possible viewpoint but thank you for coming out and contributing to the discussion.

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#29

Post by pooriaazimi » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:22 PM UTC

powertower wrote: post #25

msh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but did they take up arms before or after the brutal response and is the Syrian government legitimate? (my understanding is after and no).

Look at what happened in Libya. Gaddafi spent the last 10 years working with the UN and the US, disarming his country, going on camera shaking hands and smiling with US, French and Italian delegates, ambassadors, and presidents. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=856HOHH5UJE Then he became a "despot" overnight that has been torturing and murdering everyone for the last 40 years... First a group of people attacked a milit…

yep... And it was I (with the help of NATO of course) who bombed Libyan cities. Poor Muammar, just like Caesar, he was surrounded by bad friends who killed him at the end... :(

Some one's sworn enemy reporting something about him does not make their point invalid; Just like Gizmodo reporting bad stuff about iPhone 4's antenna doesn't mean iPhone 4's antenna design is flawless.

By the way, it was the first time I've heard that Gaddafi was a sworn enemy of Arabs! Last time I heard, he was The King of Arabs. Maybe you meant Saudis, but even then you would've been wrong.

Re: Bashar Assad emails leaked by Anonymous

#30

Post by mladenkovacevic » Tue, Feb 07, 2012, 4:41 PM UTC

namdnay wrote: post #24

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean either scenario is possible but yeah I don't know for sure. I'm not sure how to think about the legitimacy of the Syrian government though. Is any government legitimate? I know a lot of people don't like Stephen Harper or Obama, but they deal with it until the next election. Presumably the Syrian government was elected at some point too so they must have some kind of support in the country. Indiscriminately ki…

The Al-Assad family have been ruling Syria for the past 40 years, so I think it's fair to say that the government is not the most legitimate there is.

I'm sorry I can't find the source now as I heard this on the radio a few days ago, but there was a recent independent poll where over 50% of the polled Syrian citizens were in favour of Assad remaining in power.

In fact the poll was specific enough to indicate that this did not mean that these people were strong Assad supporters. But that they merely feared the instability that would arise if Assad the the government surrounding him was dismantled.

Clearly he's not the most popular guy in school and his methods of staying in power are very manipulative and unfair, but any support he might have is real.

And if we're counting years-in-power, the Queen just celebrated her 60th jubilee yesterday. Is her power legitimate? How popular is she in the commonwealth?