1
3DHS / Re: Russian forces take Syrian chemical, biological weapons under control
« on: December 26, 2012, 07:19:27 AM »But seriously - I saw the headline of this post on my RSS feed and had to stop in to say,
why are the Russians suddenly trustworthy with Syria's chemical weapons?
They're pretty friendly with Iran.
Because I suppose Moscow is the lesser of two evils.
If it boils down to al-Qaeda or Russia getting the WMD's....I'll take Russia.
Russia has had WMD's for decades and pretty much refrained from using them,
but we cant be sure about al-Qaeda using them sooner rather than later.
Henny...
even-though I am very anti-Iranian
I have been very leery of cheering for the overthrow of Assad because of who some of the rebels are.
Sure Assad is probably not a great guy.....but jeezz wouldn't it be even worse if an al-Qaeda linked group took over Syria?
I am curious as to your take on the Syrian "civil war".
You make a good point about the lesser of two evils - and you are entirely right that at least the Russians have demonstrated over decades that they have self-control.
About the Syrians and my take on the war over there... I think that they are probably more well educated and ready for this kind of change than Libya was. I don't believe that Assad was entirely evil, and I understand their politics are incredibly complicated - that in the true understanding of it, Assad himself probably has a lot less to do with what is happening now than Ba'ath military leaders. Or something like that. (Middle East politics make me kind of queasy since the beginning of the Arab Spring, so I often take a "la-la-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you!" approach to in-depth news reports.)
But the fact of the matter is, the "civil war" has turned into a brutal government slaughter of dissidents. People here post videos of Syrians running across the border into Jordan (45 minute drive from Amman) - entire families with tiny children - and being gunned down by the Syrian military on their way in. Including the children. That is terrible enough, but also Jordan can't support so many more refugees. Every family in the region is giving what they can, some opening their homes to let Syrian families live with them, but so many are still freezing in refugee tents on the border.
Someone has to do something, is my opinion. But CU4, let me ask you - the world went running in to help Libya. Why, in your opinion, is no one doing anything to help Syria? Many say it is because Libya had oil, Syria doesn't. That's the only conclusion I can come up with - but there must be other considerations.
(And in the meantime, there are reports, that Syria is "aiming their weapons at Jordan" in advance preparation for the West intervening - because "the West" would come through Jordan. For this and so many other reasons I am working on a company transfer to Amsterdam. Enough!)