Consolidated Syria Conflict Thread

[mirth]

And that's just the women. :)

ha!

[OJsDad]

I had visions of Gimli describing Dwarvish women in The Two Towers and Aragon mimicking a long beard behind his back when I wrote that.

[bob48]

^LOL

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Sept/Oct Foreign Affairs has a writeup on "Obama and the Middle East" p18-27. It basically says all is wonderful. It ends on the "...next President will rush to distance him- or herself from Obama ['s policy], only to discover that the structural realities of the region justify Obama's vision."

I must be missing something. Maybe the part where so many people want western benefits without solid western style States. OK, so they know how to topple strongman dictators. They are missing the part on building something new that benefits the people.

So, IMO, they will try to tear down what they do not understand in Europe. They will have nothing to replace it with but fundamentalism. If they knew how, they would have introduced it in the middle East.

Their basic problems are corruption. If they start getting power they turn into the new dictator, like eye doctor to killer Assad. Even if FA is correct, everyone has to decide if the "structural realities" can be improved.

[Bison]

If chaos is a foreign policy well I guess mission accomplished.

[eyebiter]

Looks like the Druze in the south are now being targeted.

http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2015/09/21/sheikhs-assassination-draws-syrias-druze-closer-conflict

"Syrians from the Druze religious minority are at a crossroads in the ongoing civil war, stuck between the Syrian government's brutal attacks, on the one hand, and an increasingly sectarian Sunni armed opposition on the other.

Remaining neutral in the civil war has become increasingly difficult for Syrian Druze, particularly in Sweida, a city in the country's southwest, where an influential Druze religious leader who openly opposed the Syrian government, Sheikh Wahid Balous, was killed by a car bomb on September 4."

[Gusington]

What a wonderful region. Maybe if it burns long enough it will totally disappear from the face of the earth.

[undercovergeek]

What a wonderful region. Maybe if it burns long enough it will totally disappear from the face of the earth.

that sounds like Bradford where we have settled the first refugees

[bob48]

Ha! Bradford is like a Middle Eastern / Asian country anyway - you need a passport to get in there.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

"The strategy to bring about this universal system would be named jihad, an obligation binding on believers to expand their faith through struggle. "Jihad" encompassed warfare, but it was not limited to a military strategy; the term also included other means of exerting one's full power to redeem and spread the message of Islam, such as spiritual striving or great deeds glorifying the religion's principles. Depending on the circumstances— and in various eras and regions, the relative emphasis has differed widely— the believer might fulfill jihad "by his heart; his tongue; his hands; or by the sword."
"
Kissinger, Henry (2014-09-09). World Order (pp. 101-102). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition.

Would occupy Europe, after significant physical struggle for survival, count?

[bob48]

^Yep. Infiltrate and gradually take over from within.

[OJsDad]

I'm thinking that the first Europeans to flea their mistakes will be the liberals that insisted they open their boarders.  The ones that will stay and fight for their countries will be those that opposed this policy.

[Boggit]

What a wonderful region. Maybe if it burns long enough it will totally disappear from the face of the earth.

that sounds like Bradford where we have settled the first refugees

"Refugees"? No, they are not. Try "Colonists" as a more appropriate term - here to stay and unwilling to integrate with the native culture.

[mirth]

Russian airstrikes have started

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/world/europe/russia-airstrikes-syria.html

[LongBlade]

Russian airstrikes have started

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/world/europe/russia-airstrikes-syria.html

yay?