Syria or not?
 

Lots of talk in the papers these days about another Syrian intervention.

Your thoughts?

My instincts say hell no.

I'm not unsympathetic but it's a quagmire and what exactly do we do with the intervention? Drop a bunch of bombs and then what?

Re: Syria or not?
 

I fear that if Assad is deposed, it will make way for even more evil and turbulence in the country (as what happened with the Arab Spring)

Re: Syria or not?
 

I expect the average American doesn't want to see their tax dollars dropped all over the Middle East in the shape of bombs......for nothing......again.

However maybe the recent chemical attack and images / footage of people will make people think twice about ignoring it?

Depends how much the Russians are and further get involved which is the provocation America needs to get involved?
Repeat above for Iran and KSA.

Unfortunately it's civilians being killed for a couple of proxy wars / dick swinging.

Re: Syria or not?
 

Exactly. Look at Iraq and Afghanistan as two lessons not to be ignored. Or Libya.

Unfortunately the best thing to do is likely to leave Assad alone to turn the country back into the tyrannical police state it was. At least it was at peace and people could just get on with life.

As the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Re: Syria or not?
 

Why would Assad do it? What reasons would he have for doing it? Both sides have chemical weapons. The convenient attack pretty much a year ago (April 2017), it still hasn't been proved that Assad did it. Why attack a city 3 days after the USA decides to pull out? Who gains?

I think the other lot did it on their own people to force the West to get involved and depose Assad as they can't do it on their own.

Take a look at http://video.foxnews.com/v/5767243543001/?playlist_id=5198073478001#sp=show-clips, (yes I know it's Fox News, but have a listen).

Re: Syria or not?
 

Sort of begs the question - why intervention now rather than other 85 times chemical weapons have been used since 2012/13 ?

Re: Syria or not?
 

because it will suit Strump?

Re: Syria or not?
 

John Bolton

Re: Syria or not?
 

Afghanistan. Iraq, Libya. i say NO

But of course the decision will be made in Trumpistan.

Re: Syria or not?
 

Probably the right thing would be to prop up Assad and help him behave. You're not going to get rid of him and a dictator is what is needed. Look at Egypt, much better after Sisi came in.

Ultimately, it's not a problem I can control, thus it falls into my don't give a **** bucket.

Re: Syria or not?
 

Some realpolitik is required similar to Egypt, do some bad such as propping him up in order to do a greater good. Or in Assad's case a lesser evil.

The alternative to Assad in Syria is endless stone age tribal/sectarian warfare.

Re: Syria or not?
 

A Syrian friend said this. At least under him you knew what was what. Now it's chaos and any new order will be chaos for a long period of infighting.

Re: Syria or not?
 

Same as Iraq. Saddam was a nightmare but he kept all the loonies in line.

Re: Syria or not?
 

Yeah but he had WMDs....

Re: Syria or not?
 

Trump has appointed neoconservatives to senior positions in the US government who want to war against Assad and Israel on behalf of Israel. They are looking for any excuse to wage war, and if the excuse isn't forthcoming, they will create one, like the bogus WMD claims against Iraq.

Re: Syria or not?
 

:nod:

Re: Syria or not?
 

In all countries where "we" got rid of elected despotic governments it is now a mess. Syria would just become another country with umpteenth chiefs trying to grab power plus more migrants heading for Europe.

Re: Syria or not?
 

US mid terms are coming up. Historically, the popularity of the leader of a country 'at war' skyrockets.

If that pus filled arsehole Trump can swing it, he will.

Re: Syria or not?
 

But a thermonuclear war would take the electorate's attention away from the chaos of Brexit.

Re: Syria or not?
 

:rolleyes:

Re: Syria or not?
 

So thats a good thing right? If they're heading for Europe, they won't be heading to the UK :) #brexitjustgetonwithit

Re: Syria or not?
 

Americans will be shooting missiles at syria, the russians will be shooting missiles at the americans. Whats not to love? Now, which arms makers do i need to invest in? Rockwell Nobel and koncern kalashnikov for sure, boeing?

Re: Syria or not?
 

Doesn’t look like our version of world order is going to happen.

Re: Syria or not?
 

They lied about Iraq. They lied about Libya. They lied about Syria.

Re: Syria or not?
 

It's one of the too common instances where the layman on the street is more astute about the realities of the situation than the political masters.

Politics often isolates leaders from the genuine truth. I wouldn't call it corruption but that when you're in a position to actually have meaningful impact (ring up the army and say yo, drop dem bombs) it's hard to resist reacting to a genuine crisis because it's the morally right thing to do. And it's compounded by seeing your allies taking a proactive move towards military action and you start to think you're in the moral wrong for staying away from the crisis. After all, in this instance, Assad is a nightmare, Syria is a nightmare, millions of people have been badly affected. It is a very cold decision to do nothing about other people's suffering.

Morals and politics. Often a bad mixture. The layman on the street, free from the pressures of being a western political leader, is free to continue to be pragmatic, even if it means being selfish and indifferent.