Posted on 10/20/2012 6:34:28 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
There is something that I don't get about opponents of greater American action in Syria, such as the freelance reporter Benjamin Hall, who was recently in Aleppo. He points out, as other observers have, that the rebels are disorganized and that various factions are often at odds with one another. They don't have a central, unified leadership... Hall recommends not arming the rebels -- although he is open to the imposition of a no-fly zone.
Here's where I don't follow the logic... while the U.S. is not arming the rebels and is not imposing a no-fly zone or helping to set up buffer zones for refugees. What makes Hall think that, given the current situation, there is any option of allowing Assad to remain in power and re-impose control? That seems extremely unlikely. What seems more likely, if we continue on the current path, is that the war will continue taking a deadly toll, jihadists will continue to play an ever-bigger role, and chaos will continue to spread across Syria...
There is no perfect policy choice in Syria -- only least bad and worst options. But the worst option of all, I would argue, is to allow the current conflict to rage unabated.
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
Government troops had been holed up inside the place of worship in downtown Aleppo for several months before rebels fighting to topple Assad launched a push to liberate it this week.
One good reason not to get involved?
There are about 100,000 Russian personnel in Syria,
plus their naval base on the coast.
They are propping up the Assad regime.
We do not want a direct confrontation with them.
But if someone does, watch for a “staged incident” in which Turkey, a NATO member, is “forced” to respond
(and calls for UN and NATO assistance).
That may be what Ambassador Stevens was meeting with the Turkish ambassador to Libya (in Benghazi?) about.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution.[snip] Five of Syria's six World Heritage sites have been damaged in the fighting, according to UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural agency. Looters have broken into one of the world's best-preserved Crusader castles, Crac des Chevaliers, and ruins in the ancient city of Palmyra have been damaged. [/snip] -- Historic mosque in Syria's ancient city of Aleppo is burned; Assad orders repairs (AP)To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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All I need to know can be found whenever we see a video of the rebel factions celebrating a kill with shouts of “Allah Akbar”.
Jewish Quarter of Damascus blooms again
Jerusalem POst | 11/05/2010 | KSENIA SVETLOVA
Posted on 11/08/2010 5:47:44 AM PST by SJackson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2623442/posts
All the groups involved are hostile to the United States.
On one side is Syria ,Iran and Russia. On the other side is Al Qaeda, Saudia Arabia ,the Muslim Brotherhood etc.
If there is a winner in this, the winner will still be hostile to us. I say stay out of it.
Our real concern is that if the conflict spreads the price of oil would go up. I don't buy into the loss of Muslim life on either side is a big concern to Americans.
I say stay the course using "Crocodile Tears." - Tom
We are Helping to arm the enemy in Syria by Funneling The arms From Kadafis Arsenal in Libya to Syria by way of Turkey. That is What Ambassador Stevens was Helping with in Benghazi
We are Helping to arm the enemy in Syria by Funneling The arms From Kadafis Arsenal in Libya to Syria by way of Turkey. That is What Ambassador Stevens was Helping with in Benghazi
First off, there’s always American taxpayer money involved in these little forays, so it’s not like there’s no cost. Second, I wouldn’t want this current administration involved in any more foreign policy. I wouldn’t let them run a cupcake sale. They’d wind up with deadly cupcakes.
Commentary has a track record of trying to draw America into middle eastern wars. I would like to know why.
The kenyan desperately needs a major foreign policy “incident” or surely think\s he does. I think Benghazi was supposed to be that incident with Stevens getting kidnapped and the President forthrightly and quickly “negotiating” his release, probably in return for the release of the Blind Sheik right after the election. Those damned SEALS interfered and botched it all up by mounting a defense.
Bingo. The only thing we need to do is keep a low profile and continue with commerce.
If we are attacked, annihilate the enemy and then end the war immediately after finished, exiting the enemy nation after extracting spoils of war. Do nothing to rebuild enemy nation - they deserved to be annihilated, the consequences are their problem.
If our diplomats or businessmen are attacked in any way, execute a short and sweet retributive attack.
But like you say, the “rebels” in Syria happen to also be sworn enemies of the U.S., and based on how quiet things were for decades, it would appear that the rebels would actually be a more serious enemy that the Syrian government as it is now.
The idea of spreading democracy is the mideast is absurd.
IMHO, for other nations where oil is at stake, I don’t think we should not buy mideast oil; that leaves it all for other competitor superpowers to buy more cheaply. We should let our oil companies buy wherever they want. But that does not mean we have any obligation to provide free help to enemy nations at all in any way. Also, selective economic sanctions can be very effective at hurting the economies of would-be attacking nations, since in order to reach markets they need to pay a third party that ultimately charges them in one way or another for the service. If misery short of war can be exerted on populations subjected to evil national leadership, that’s the best way to motivate them to admit that their national leadership is indeed evil. Let them reap the rewards of evil.
Helping third world nations is nothing more than a bunch of scams that ultimately are paid for by productive, taxpaying Americans. But politicians all over the world love the idea of the UN, fruitless political attempts to “fix” poverty, hunger, disease, etc. Attempts by the “intelligentsia” and politicians to produce peace invariably result in war.
Instead of worrrying about influencing every nation going, if America returned to God and just kept working and getting ahead in a smart way, that would be our best foot forward.
Today, Infidel Russia who is supporting the Alawite Assad, got some backlash from the Sunni Muslims.
From the Voice of Russia-
“Brothers, Moscow has become the enemy of Islam and of Muslims these days. It has become the number one enemy of Islam and Muslims”. This was the astonishing statement made by leading Sunni scholar, Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi. With this new theological ruling, he also blamed Moscow for the bloodshed in Syria. - Tom
A lot of the people who prop up these organizations and publications are big-government globalists and/or puppets of Middle Eastern oil interests (see the large Saudi ownership stake in Fox News Corp. as a case in point). It would be comical if it weren’t so tragic, but there’s no getting around the fact that the U.S. has pissed away thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars to topple secular dictators in the Middle East and replace them with “democratic” governments where radical Islam is a far bigger threat right now.
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