dagblog - Comments for "Some Random Thoughts on Syria"

Russia: Syria agrees to take

artappraiser — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:03:03 +0000

In reply to Some Random Thoughts on Syria

Russia: Syria agrees to take part in talks
Foreign ministry says Assad government has agreed "in principle" to attend US-Russia brokered proposed peace conference.
Al Jazeera, 24 May 2013

Syria Rebels Threaten to Wipe

A Guy Called LULU — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:35:41 +0000

In reply to Some Random Thoughts on Syria

Syria Rebels Threaten to Wipe Out Shiite, Alawite Towns

From Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-21/syria-rebels-threaten-to-wipe-o...

Communities inhabited by Shiite Muslims and President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority will be “wiped off the map” if the strategic city of Al-Qusair in central Syria falls to government troops, rebel forces said.

“We don’t want this to happen, but it will be a reality imposed on everyone,” Colonel Abdel-Hamid Zakaria, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army in Turkey, told Al-Arabiya television yesterday. “It’s going to be an open, sectarian, bloody war to the end.”

I'm getting whiplash. Turns

A Guy Called LULU — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:23:46 +0000

In reply to I just found a link and it

I'm getting whiplash. Turns out Pipes is pushing the play-both sides idea hard.

Now that it looks like humanitarian intervention might not work out, it turns out they have a Plan-B ready to go. How can a man dare to dream, even on a spring night, without a thousand points of light? Muzzle flashes will do just fine, thank you.

I had never seen Real News before. As much as Pipes, notice the tone of the talking head. Notice the nature of the questions and the assumptions included. Find a good book on zombie defense. Find out where they are hiding their silver bullets.

Short video.

http://muslimmatters.org/2013/04/05/anti-muslim-bigot-daniel-pipes-says-...

I just caught an ironically

artappraiser — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:21:46 +0000

In reply to This is good news and I hope

I just caught an ironically funny typo. I hit both the 't' and the 'r' on my keyboard and wrote "as well as could be treasonably expected. That will probably be the right-wing response to any effort towards peace

Hah, sounds about right, like we might be hearing that soon. Right now they still seem quite busy trying to find treason in "Benghazi." I did notice McCain and Lindsey Graham trying to drag them over to the Syria thing. But then the real wingers, both pseudo-intellectual kind and the Tea Partiers, don't trust those two much more than they do Obama.

I agree that the Russians'

Bruce Levine — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:14:00 +0000

In reply to Especially

I agree that the Russians' willingness to consider a future government led by someone other than Assad is really big news. What we need to watch no, I suspect, is whether the rebels will agree by some kind of consensus to leave Assad and his family alone in exile or something. That's going to be a tough one I think, no?

I just found a link and it

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:10:12 +0000

In reply to This is good news and I hope

I just found a link and it turns out a comment on Pipe's websight expressed that idea of helping them kill each other, not Pipes himself as far as I know. My apologies to any and all who has them coming for my attributing a commentor's statement to a sight owner.

But don't spit it out yet, Pipes, you have it featured on a page of its own. http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/198088

Glad you watched and glad you

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:02:27 +0000

In reply to Fisk and his nonsense

Glad you watched and glad you responded with your evaluation. Sorry it aggravated you so much.Where I differ with you is regarding the opinion Fisk related as to different countries respecting international borders. I think he was just pointing out what he sees as the hypocracy of western countries or western oriented countries attacking other countries militarily and then justifying it in what would be completely unacceptable if the situation were to be reversed. Since I agree with calling that 'hypocrscy', I am not offended by his doing so. And no, I do not think Syria has the capability to successfully bomb Israel and neither does Fisk. That is why Syria doesn’t do it and conversely, that is why Israel does, they can get away with it, at least so far.
I also suspect that Fisk thinks that the reason this hypocracy is worth making an issue of is that it is ultimately dangerously counter productive for all involved. Fisk quite obviously is not a fan of Assad or his regime.

I appreciate journalists taking an attitude, even developing an agenda, when their reporting reveals a reason for one as long as the reporter is honest [as can be] in their reporting so as to fairly support that attitude.

Rather than a refund I will just offer another interview as a replacement.

This is good news and I hope

A Guy Called LULU — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:33:37 +0000

In reply to Also interesting re: the

This is good news and I hope it plays out to produce a cease fire. I have to say that my biggest reason to support Obama in 2008 was that I felt he would be much smarter about war. I have been very disappointed a number of times but He seems to be finessing this one about as well as possible. Or, as well as could be reasonably be expected. [I just caught an ironically funny typo. I hit both the 't' and the 'r' on my keyboard and wrote " as well as could be treasonably expected. That will probably be the right-wing response to any effort towards peace]

I don't have a link but Daniel Pipes, one of the usual suspects, reportedly said let both sides keep on killing each other. If the Assad regime pulls ahead, supply the rebels. If they pull ahead then pull back on that support and help keep the Assad regime viable militarily. Nice guy. If true, I wish he would eat shit and die.

Whether any national power has been deliberately trying to affect such a stalemate of ongoing destruction so as to destroy Syria as a regional power or not, that looks like what could happen if something isn't done on the diplomatic front. If Russia is smart enough to wish to avoid wider war but still support the Syrian regime in power, their longtime ally, that might explain the timing of their involvement. Regardless the motives of the various parties, I agree, this is hopeful.

About the refugee crisis, it must be double bad because Syria had accepted so many refugees from Iraq and other besieged countries.

Also interesting re: the

artappraiser — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:04:54 +0000

In reply to The U.N. is pleased to hear

Also interesting re: the three other permanent members of the Security Council,

as China complained to Bibi about the Israel strikes being an invasion of sovereignty on Monday,

this p.r. effort happened: Israel sought to avoid a direct confrontation with the Syrian regime on Monday by stressing that air strikes across its northern border at the weekend were intended to prevent weapons reaching Hezbollah in Lebanon rather than further destabilise the government of President Bashar al-Assad

including this source: an Israeli politician close to the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said the action was "against Hezbollah and not against the Syrian regime".

The U.N. is pleased to hear

artappraiser — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:48:00 +0000

In reply to Especially

The U.N. is pleased to hear it:

8 May 2013 – The Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the Arab League for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, today welcomed the statements by Russia and the United States that they would work together to achieve a political solution to end a conflict that has claimed more than 70,000 lives over the past two years.

[....]

“The statements made in Moscow constitute a very significant first step forward. It is nevertheless only a first step,” Mr. Brahimi said in a statement, adding that this is the first “hopeful news” concerning Syria in a very long time.

Mr. Brahimi....has consistently called on the US and Russia to exercise leadership and work together to initiate a process to implement the Geneva Declaration of 30 June 2012.

That document – issued after a meeting in the Swiss city of the Action Group for Syria – lays out key steps in a process to end the violence. Among other items, it calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, with full executive powers and made up by members of the present Government and the opposition and other groups, as part of agreed principles and guidelines for a Syrian-led political transition.

“There is every reason to expect the three other permanent members of the Security Council as a whole and indeed all the Security Council members to work together amongst themselves and with the Secretary-General to carry the process forward,” said Mr. Brahimi.....

As they aren't just thinking 70,000 deaths or even getting into genocide issues, they have these other very real problems to deal with as pundits talk about various entities staying "hands off":

In addition to the tens of thousands killed, some 4.25 million people have been displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, with more than 1.4 million of them taking refuge in neighbouring countries.

The UN estimates that some 6.8 million people inside Syria are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance – nearly half of them children.