MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
|
|
|
From the Readers
- barefooted 10 months ago
- PeraclesPlease 12 months ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
Creative corner
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- PeraclesPlease 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
- artappraiser 1 year ago
From the Dagbloggers
- Michael Wolraich 1 year 3 weeks ago
- Danny Cardwell 3 years 3 months ago
- Doctor Cleveland 4 years 3 weeks ago
- PeraclesPlease 4 years 2 months ago
- PeraclesPlease 4 years 2 months ago
- William K. Wolfrum 4 years 2 months ago
- William K. Wolfrum 4 years 2 months ago
- Doctor Cleveland 4 years 3 months ago
- Doctor Cleveland 4 years 4 months ago
- William K. Wolfrum 4 years 4 months ago
Hits of the Day
- artappraiser (139)
- artappraiser (115)
- PeraclesPlease (113)
- artappraiser (93)
- William K. Wolfrum (61)
Bashar Al-Assad Has More Popular Support than the Western-Backed “Opposition”:
By A Guy Called LULU on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 11:34am |In the view of Syrians, the country’s president, Bashar al Assad, and his ally, Iran, have more support than do the forces arrayed against him, according to a public opinion poll taken last summer by a research firm that is working with the US and British governments. [1]
URL:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/bashar-al-assad-has-more-popular-support-than-the-western-backed-opposition-poll/5495643
- Add new comment
- 6116 reads
Comments
Doesn't this explain why Assad must go before an election can be held? I recall that the US under Eisenhower rejected elections in Vietnam because it was known that Ho Chi Mihn would win.
by A Guy Called LULU on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 11:37am
Making any comparison between a venerated leader such as Ho Chi Minh and a second rate, second choice, petty hereditary dictator such as Assad is offensive to a Ho admirer.
I don't think you can draw any valid conclusions from a Western sample poll of a war torn and locked down, under repressive security, state.
I'm sure Assad has support in his home base among Alewites and elsewhere but would you as a Syrian living in a government controlled area tell a stranger on the phone that you hate the Glorious Leader?
This is a civil war not a popularity contest and the further they went, from Assad controlled areas, to ask their questions, the people seemed less supportive of Assad as they dodged his barrel bombs and Russian Crusader attacks.
by Peter (not verified) on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 2:42pm
You point is correct. Polls are often useful but cannot be simply taken at face value. But your point is also true for ISIL controlled areas. How likely would it be for someone in those areas to risk saying they support Assad?
by ocean-kat on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 4:08pm
Good point, OK but this series of polls is being used in trying to sell the notion that Assad is popular and would be elected and should be respected which is just more Western interference in the Muslim world IMO. This time it's the so called anti-imperialists and multipolar faction supporting the bloody dictator over his own people for their political reasons. The Russians and Iranians are also using this, the Syrian people should decide, BS for their own geopolitical agendas.
by Peter (not verified) on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 6:28pm
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 4:42pm
I didn't even hint that Ho was a saint or infallible just a great and widely respected leader who led his people to victory against three world power's invasions and occupations. Assad is no such being just another appointed autocrat running the family business trying to cling to power by killing his own citizens, with the help of Iran and Russia.
by Peter (not verified) on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 6:02pm
Admiring him is dubious, but yeah, he did lead the resistance to French and American imperialism, and that is something. Perhaps the death toll was 200,000, but many people accept Bernard Fall's estimate of 50,000.
by Aaron Carine on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 7:57pm
That seems to be a pointless assertion. Abraham Lincoln led a war that created a bit of animosity too. I think there are even many who would claim he started it. In todays terms as used to demonize the last few foreign leaders we have attacked, Lincoln killed thousands of his own people.
by A Guy Called LULU on Sat, 12/26/2015 - 12:41pm
It's a bit hard to compare Lincoln's efforts against slavery and national unity and deaths in a regular war on the battlefield, vs. Ho Chi Minh slaughtering people accused of being landowners while in custody. One might debate the morality of Lincoln's actions, but Ho's were simply murder, Stalin-style.
by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 12/26/2015 - 3:07pm
Peter, my comparison was not of Assad versus Ho. Rather, it was to compare the two situations where the US was/is against an important election in another war torn country and tried to prevent it because there was strong evidence that the winner would not be the one we wanted. I do not know enough about Ho Chi Minh to have a solid opinion of him personally but I admire him one step removed because I admire much about the Vietnamese people who followed him.
As to the accuracy of the poll I agree that it cannot be taken at face value to be definitive but only as one more piece of evidence.
by A Guy Called LULU on Sat, 12/26/2015 - 12:37pm
Lu, I understand your comparison but i don't accept it as a valid analogy. The Vietnamese were fighting foreign armies seeking their independence and not Western approved or dictated democracy.
The US is pushing for elections and Western secular democracy in Syria just without the dictator in control of the process. Those who use polls such as this and promote Assad as popular know that dictators never lose elections.
None of this will matter in the end because many of the people of the ME have seen that Western democracy has been a failure in the West and when Islamic thought came to power through fair and free democracy in Egypt it was crushed so they are returning to their roots of governance in Islam and rejecting the degenerate Western imposition.
by Peter (not verified) on Sat, 12/26/2015 - 7:12pm
The people of the ME? Any time there's the slightest liberalization of a ME society many if not most of the women grasp at it desperately. Until the men take it back.
That is such a flawed interpretation of what happened in Egypt that I can't believe even you believe it. Egypt's problem is there's probably as many people who support the Muslim Brotherhood, a Wahhabi off shoot, as support some liberalization of the society. Like so many problems there's really no compromise solution, no win/win, between them. Eventually one side will win and the other lose.
by ocean-kat on Sat, 12/26/2015 - 9:37pm
As I skimmed several more articles I became more curious about “Global Research” itself and so googled about them. I find that many consider it to be an unreliable source prone to conspiracy theories. That may well be correct but as of now I haven’t found that the poll itself has been debunked. I came upon that site by googling about polling of Assad support. There are plenty of other sources that indicate the same bottom line which is that Assad has a lot of support among his country’s people and might very well win an election.
by A Guy Called LULU on Thu, 12/24/2015 - 12:19pm