MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
No Love for Assad, Yet No Support for Arming the Rebels
Pew Research Global Attitudes Project, May 1, 2013
Survey Report
As concern mounts about the Syrian government’s possible use of chemical weapons against its own people, publics in the Middle East – especially the Lebanese – are extremely worried about violence spreading to neighboring countries. Nonetheless, a new survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted before news emerged of alleged use of chemical agents by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, found little regional support for Western or Arab countries sending arms and military supplies to anti-government groups in Syria. And there is even greater opposition among American and European publics to such indirect Syrian involvement by their governments. A more recent Pew Research nationwide U.S. poll finds that hard evidence that Damascus has engaged in chemical warfare would only lead to a modest increase in American public support for an allied military effort in Syria.
Meanwhile, Assad is very unpopular throughout the region, except among Shia Muslims in Lebanon. In turn, Lebanese Muslims are divided over aid to the rebels. Most Sunnis back such assistance, while Shia overwhelmingly oppose it.
These are the key findings from a new survey by the Pew Research Center of 11,771 people in 12 countries from March 3 to April 7, 2013. Surveyed countries include Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Tunisia in the Middle East; Germany, France and Britain in Europe; and the United States and Russia. [....]
Comments
The CBS article on the same by Fred Backus: Poll: Americans against U.S. intervention in Syria, N. Korea
by artappraiser on Fri, 05/03/2013 - 12:40pm
That a majority of Americans are now anti-interventionist is very good news. But the question in the poll on drones(at least the poll I saw) was flawed. It simply asked(I'm paraphrasing) "Do you support the use of drones, yes or no?"
My answer would be that I'm okay with using drones to kill Al Qaeda men, but I oppose the war crimes that have been committed with the drones. I would also say that there is no longer good reason for killing Taliban soldiers, with drones or other weapons, bad people though they are.
by Aaron Carine on Fri, 05/03/2013 - 2:41pm