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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

#311

Post by Pikamander2 »

ein0p wrote: post #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 Lad…

I don't think people are cheering for the Islamists so much as they are celebrating the collapse of the Assad family's brutal half-century dictatorship.

Syria is a place where optimism goes to die, but this is the first time in generations that Syria has been given a chance to rebuild itself, so there's at least a tiny glimmer of hope.

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

#312

Post by stogot »

philwelch wrote: post #306
postingawayonhn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Is Ukraine actually the largest war since WW2? Is it bigger than the Second Congo War?

In terms of manpower, weapon types, domains of warfare, quantity of equipment, global impact, and national security implications-Ukraine is the largest.

In total violent deaths, 2nd Congo is worse. Let’s hope the war ends before that happens again

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

#313

Post by humanlity »

echoangle wrote: post #259
Timber-6539 wrote: post #186

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?

I believe that his opinion is that HTS originated from ISIS.

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

#314

Post by Eddy_Viscosity2 »

roenxi wrote: post #301
TheAlchemist wrote: post #5

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. The dust hasn't settled, but my assumption is that the Russians had a sort-of working plan that the Syrian army would do the heavy lifting and Russia would be funnelling in supplies and providing power for key points - following a proxy-war style defensive model. Given the speed and totality of the Syrian army's collapse they didn't really hav…

I also fall into the not fully understanding the dynamics at play here. What happens it the Assad family loses? Who would likely take control? Would this be better or worse for the regular Syrian person?

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

#315

Post by stogot »

ralfd wrote: post #287
paxys wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I recall seeing western nations corroborate the evidence. Trains out of North Korea into Russia follow one path and are easy to monitor.

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

#316

Post by GordonS »

phsau wrote: post #293
GordonS wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There hasn't been a single scrap of evidence to support the claims of Russia using North Korean... there have however been several cases of the media getting caught lying about it, doctoring photos etc: https://x.com/AXChristoforou/status/1864324321960972298?t=4H... https://x.com/BowesChay/status/1864447294474457245?t=yK0OU-9... The North Korean claims appear to be complete lies, designed to make Russia look bad.

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/39... The DoD says North Korean soldiers are already in Kursk and preparing? News of NK armament deliveries and use is old at this point and not debatable. Is the DoD spreading fake news? Just because they haven't seen front-line combat _in Ukraine_ doesn't mean Russia isn't using NK assets.

Yes? Hasn't the DoD also maintained the line that there are no US forces in Syria for years too? It's really not so surprising that they'd lie.

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

#317

Post by sincerecook »

fardo wrote: post #119
brabel wrote: 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…

Ongoingly is not a word.

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

#318

Post by dralley »

guerrilla wrote: post #262
j_maffe wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HTS has cut off ties with ALQaeda and IS since almost 10 years.

[flagged]

I mean, they've literally gone to war against both ISIS and Al-Qaeda. You don't have to trust them exactly but it's not like there's no grounds to believe they're at least not going to be ISIS.

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

#319

Post by roenxi »

throwup238 wrote: post #164
blub wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

[flagged]

If the examples springing to mind were in 1945 then that says a lot about how US efforts are going in the modern era. There is no real comparison to how the US handled defeated powers in WWII and how the State Department handles regime changes from ... I want to say the 60s onwards. All the people involved in Germany or Japan's reconstitution are dead (Ed Deming, we miss you; heros of the peace are the most impressive ones).

Which is a shame because the 1950s strategy of investment and prosperity made the world much better and the modern strategy of destabilisation tends to make it worse.

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

#320

Post by cutemonster »

fooker wrote: post #243
postingawayonhn wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I partly agree, in that by drip feeding Ukraine supplies we have given Russia time to build up their production rates. And my earlier comment was disputing the idea that drip feeing the supplies was some kind of intentional strategy. With regards to the broader claim that Russian production is outpacing that of the west. Yes, with artillery shells that's probably true, though we are continuing to ramp production. The…

They have destroyed the rest of their industrial capacity and economy in the process, an outcome very much desired by US and friends.

Russia isn't that interesting any longer, economy wise.

China is the competitor to the US nowadays. All Russia has is nukes and troll farms, and corruption.

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