i have dipped in and out of this thread in the recent past. i admit i dont really know a TON about what goes on over there. that said i found a video that seems to be a quick overview of the current situation and how it came to be.
This is brilliant. So basically the suggestion is that the CIA used the Saudi's to fund the rebels and the Turks to get the weapons into the country and then it all went to hell when Al-Qaida said: "free weapons, cool!" and broke off to make ISIS. The Turks took the opportunity to bomb and harass the Kurds. The Russians took the opportunity to bomb and harass the non-ISIS anti-Assad rebels. I'm not sure I totally believe it but when the CIA screws up in a big way this is exactly how they do it.
I don't hate America. I hate America's foreign policy, which basically is to hide the fact that we're an empire behind a facade of do-gooding that rarely actually does anything good. I was a bit more relaxed on the issue before I watched W and the neocons go stumbling after the "evil-doers" hopelessly screwing us for generations in the process.
Wouldn't it make sense to send all those refugees to the closest place that is already set up to house 3 million people? Air conditioned tents in Saudi Arabia. Closer than Germany, France, US etc. It's only used 5 days a year. Sorry wrong thread.
Bringing this topic back form the dead.... Obama's $150B contribution to the Iranian regime is already paying off dividents: Tehran ready to buy $8 billion worth of weapons from Moscow
Yep. Brilliant. Where are my smart democrats saying normalizing relationships with Iran will help USA big term. You have to be an idiot not the see the situation in Middle East. For the past 1400 years, Middle East has been home to wars between Shia and Sunni Islam. Iraq has Shia and Sunni and they fight. Syria has Shia and Sunni and they fight. Current ISIS problem is due to Shia dominance in Iraq and Syria for the past 50 years causing Sunni's go balistic. Yet, we thought it is a good idea to pour money into Iran so they can create an alliance with Russians and turn Middle East into Russia's and Iran's playground.
it drives me insane when people get mad at those of us who have a differing opinion. and i agree wholeheartedly with your reasoning.
When you pursue democracy you live with the numbers. Iran is in the position it is in right now because it is the closest thing to a Democracy aside from Israel and Iraq in the Middle East. When we knocked off Saddam we empowered a Shiite majority in Iraq and made Iran stronger. The Shiites are running Iraq because they cannot lose an election if they try with close to 70% of the population and all voting done on a sectarian basis. Our plan in Iraq was to insert a friendly non-sectarian leader who would somehow magically get elected after US troops left and stabilize the region in our favor, particularly in terms of oil contracts and other construction and security projects. Then we ran into the fact that our "friendly" non-sectarian leader was actually pretty corrupt and couldn't get votes for his life because everybody knew that and he wouldn't pick a side and tribalize the elections. Plan B was to install the least dangerous person who could get enough votes and that's who we are living with to this day. He's Shiite and getting closer to Iran every year and he's completely sectarian, driving Sunni's out of office whenever he gets the chance. The answer here is to just back off and support the Democracy. It's not like American Democracy was pure and clean at the start (or ever has been). It takes generations to build up a democratic consensus that lets the minority have a real say. Even then that real say is very limited. Same thing in Iran. We'd have been much better off letting Mossadegh stay in power in '53, although we didn't like him at all. Iran would be much closer to a "good" democracy at this point if we'd let them deal with all the pratfalls and stumbles over the last 3 generations. Allowing Iran to buy weapons from Russia is part of the price of stabilizing their democracy. It's part of the process of bringing them into the community of respected democracies. Whether we'll still be a respected democracy when they finally get there is an open question.
The really disgraceful part about that is that, in 2016, the enlightened class believes that we are no more worthy to determine who should and shouldn't have weapons like this than Iran in its own self-determination. This is the age of identifying and stomping out privilege wherever it is. Except, of course, in the living rooms of the privileged few. But it certainly includes the global balance of power. It's such a horrible turn in our history.
The death of white privilege really sucks, doesn't it? On the bright side you can lay down your burden now and stop worrying about whether Allende or torturous murderous bastards are better standard bearers for America in places like Chile.
Life is a series of puddles, is all. Adventure. Good and bad. Someday I'll explain it better, but I have no illusions it would make it through to a guy whose life is brightened only by the monthly delivery of Reader's Digest, and who crosses off the days until his senior discount kicks in. There's a sky out there, Br4d. It's blue. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but trust me - it's blue and there are big puffy clouds in the shape of those big balls of yarn in your knitting bag.
Right. It's kinda like when Obama helped overthrow Mubarak and then get his Muslim Brotherhood buddies elected in Egypt. Next thing we know they declared that the peace agreement with Israel would no longer be recognized. Some countries are better off with dictators being in control. It's much easier to deal with a dictator than with a democratically elected religious nutjob.
It's why I've said all along the US should be backing Assad in Syria, he did a pretty good job of keeping his nut jobs in order. Qaddafi, Saddam and Mubarak all previous examples as to why you just let the king of the lunatics preside over the asylum in that part of the world.
Take it for what it's worth Putin Threatens Turkey & Saudi Arabia with Tactical Nuclear Response to Syrian Ground Invasion
