[EddieNero]

Good for the game. Unfortunately, USA won't have an opportunity to donate the gift of democracy to Syria along with missiles.

[Jimnik]

What game?

[buddyholly]

All those ships in Turkey that the left is just itching to use in a freedom run to the shores of an eastern Mediterranean country where people are being massacred. Why are they still in port and where are the left wing intellectuals that are willing to die to save the lives of a helpless and persecuted people?

[ssin]

Poor Syrians between a rock and a hard place. Outside threats just strengthen the regime, and the intervention would certainly lead to more deaths. Doing nothing about it is equally bad. The best thing would be if the oligarchy resigned peacefully, through combination of diplomacy, strong pressures and guarantees, done by the US, Arab countries, Russia and all others together, but there are opposed "strategic interests" that have nothing to do with ordinary people.

[Aloimeh]

The Assads are Alawite Shi'ites, and as a religious minority in Syria they are eager to win the Christian vote.

Syria is one of the few Middle Eastern countries where persecution of Christians remains low...as opposed to the Western pets in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt.

The Copts of Egypt are facing increasing persecution by the Muslim Brotherhood stooges. Iraqi Christians have been all but wiped out.

If the Assads go, Syria is the next country to have its Christian minority wiped out by sharia.

It's a shame to all the evangelical "Christians" in the US who don't give a rat's behind about their co-religionists in the Middle East.

Btw: this whole story of the Assads brutally abusing the Syrian people is nothing but BS. We've seen this propaganda before and we'll see it again.

[Aloimeh]

Originally Posted by Jimnik

What game?

The Great Game, episode 2...or is it 3?

[buddyholly]

Originally Posted by Aloimeh

Btw: this whole story of the Assads brutally abusing the Syrian people is nothing but BS. We've seen this propaganda before and we'll see it again.

Difficult to believe you actually wrote this. But I suppose anyone that can call evolution a hoax could conceivably make such a statement with a straight face.

[Echoes]

90% of Syria supports Assad, that's common knowledge ...

And millions of supporters are demonstrating their support. Al Qaida of course supports the Rebels. Surprise? Anywhere where America stands, you can find Djihadists.

The Assads are secularists, first and foremost. And by the way, for most Syrian people, Islam is a mere 'cultural' trace. Many of them don't even celebrate Ramadan.

[Jimnik]

UN Rights Chief:

"The failure of the Security Council to agree on firm collective action appears to have emboldened the Syrian government to launch an all-out assault in an effort to crush dissent with overwhelming force," she told the UN General Assembly on Monday.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...431397449.html

[Aloimeh]

Originally Posted by Jimnik

UN Rights Chief:

"The failure of the Security Council to agree on firm collective action appears to have emboldened the Syrian government to launch an all-out assault in an effort to crush dissent with overwhelming force," he told the UN General Assembly on Monday.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...431397449.html

Exactly as it should be. The US government would crush a revolt like this, too. So would any other self-respecting sovereign government.

[tripwires]

Seriously?

[buddyholly]

Originally Posted by Aloimeh

Exactly as it should be. The US government would crush a revolt like this, too. So would any other self-respecting sovereign government.

Interesting choice of word there - ''sovereign.'' But of course you could not use any word that would imply the government was actually the choice of the revolting people.

I would expect that if you had lived in the area 2000 years ago you would have been claiming ''Quite right to have crucified that rebel. Any self-respecting ruling authority would have done the same.''

[Har-Tru]

Render unto Assad...

[ssin]

it's a sort of a civil war and it means civilians are at the receiving end, to put it mildly. I try not to look at it ideologically. We should not be interested in either of the warring factions, they will not bring anything good to anyone in Syria. There was certainly some genuine discontent that could not be channeled through the regular Syrian system, and now it's a vicious circle of revenge and survival, conflict for its own sake, with a positive outcome impossible now, the damage has been done. Syrian government should have stepped down with some guarantees, their political power is not worth a single human life, but it seems it's too late for that. The lack of reliable information coming from Syria is frustrating. Ordinary people in Syria don't want this, that's for sure. Stupid politics and religion.

[Jimnik]

Activists say several people injured as thousands turn out for funeral of slain protesters in capital's Mazzeh area.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...186397646.html