Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

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HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

I caught an interesting bit of news from Russian news sources this morning that Russia is holding talks with the US about offering Assad asylum. I checked around and western news sources say Russia denies any such talks are happening. Whether talks are happening or not seems moot as Assad is very committed to going nowhere.

(In Russian) http://kommersant.ru/doc/1973054

http://themoscownews.com/international/20120704/189918629.html

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-says-n...Y3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

# ¿ Jul 4, 2012 15:01

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 10:04

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Brown Moses posted:

I've decided to kick the conspiracy theory hornets nest with my latest blog post, looking at Alex Jones' InfoWars And Their Anti-Free Syrian Army Propaganda. Hoping this will wind up a lot of conspiracy theorists.

Good for you, an excellent blog post, as always. Alex Jones is so insane but funny in how quickly he changes his tune on who the enemy of America is. First it's Bohemian Grove, then the Bilderberg Group, now it's the FSA. It's all part of the same global conspiracy of course, better hoard more guns and freeze dried food.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2012 17:49

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

How would removing Ahmadinejad from power change anything in Iran? He's not the one with any real power, that's the Ayatollah, and he doesn't always see things eye to eye with Ahmadinejad either.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2012 00:00

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Young Freud posted:

Russia.

Not even kidding. I recall that one of the reasons they've got a hard-on defending Assad, aside from big military buyer and the last Russian naval port on the Mediterranean, is that Putin's having problems at home and needs to act tough on his foreign policy.

Assad getting rode out of Damascus on a rail would cause all sorts of headaches in Moscow.

It's really a minor embarrassing stunt, but last week two Swedish chuckleheads got into a single engine plane and flew from Lithuania into Belarus without being challenged at the border. The plan was to drop teddy bears on Batka's presidential palace, but changed their minds after someone contacted them on the radio and spoke to them in Russian when they got close. They instead went to the southern suburbs of Minsk and dropped their teddy bears before hightailing it back to Lithuania.

Now the defense ministry of Belarus insists it was a hoax and never happened. The video and pictures were photoshopped. Still, they have spent a week collecting the teddy bears that don't exist and investigating what happened. Lithuanian authorities confirmed airspace between the two countries was breached, but won't give more details. The latest development is now the defense ministry is making idle threats on the ministry blog to Lithuania and the radar station in Smorgon that should have detected the plane doesn't have supplies, radar or even binoculars. The personnel stationed there say if it weren't for care packages from home, they wouldn't even have much food.

The point is, Belarus is a buffer zone to Russia, and they completely failed to detect a single engine privately owned plane flying low enough you could read the numbers on it. It's an embarrassing security breach, and the last bad pr thing Russia needs.

With that said, I don't see anything like what is going on in Syria. or Yemen, or Bahrain happening in Russia any time soon. Politics and social issues tend to move very slowly in Russia.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2012 00:12

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Watching the twitter feed explode BM it's amazing, who didn't they kill in that explosion?

# ¿ Jul 18, 2012 12:06

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

The tweets about the gas masks being handed out by Assad to his elite troops is pretty scary. If those reports are true this is going to get even uglier, if that's remotely possible anymore. I don't think this will be over this month either.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2012 18:25

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Now that we've outed the Fox News reporter

# ¿ Jul 18, 2012 21:17

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

The Entire Universe posted:

Yeah, Tehran or Beirut might be the top destinations. Moscow and Beijing are a little too close to the international community to be unmoved by negotiations, I think.

Don't rule out Minsk either. Deposed leaders have a tendency to end up there, or try to. Saddam Hussein's sons didn't quite make it.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2012 22:48

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Somehow I don't know how Syria can successfully topple Assad without the next stop to regime change being Iran. The US government has been harping on this since Bush/Cheney was in office and the anti-Muslim momentum in the US hasn't cooled down at all. The Ayatollah has been a sore point for the US for over 30 years and I'm sure if there is any possible opening to cause "regime change" the US will take it.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2012 16:27

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

sullat posted:

Yeah, that's not going to happen. Domino theory always has been and always will be a terrible metaphor for geopolitics. Iran had a period of unrest, but the regime managed to get through it with a little applied brutality and the support of religious conservatives who make up a huge chunk of the country. Also, Iran has periodic elections, which gives the elected leadership a veneer of credibility. There won't be a violent uprising again until maybe the next elections, if they are perceived to have been stolen.

I hope it doesn't happen, but certain American politicians and religious groups have been beating that war drum loud enough and long enough the seed is planted in people's minds that Iran is evil, has had enough time to be evil and something needs to be done about them. A veneer of elections isn't enough for some countries to get a pass either. Belarus also holds "elections" yet no one believes they're free or fair either. I saw an earlier post mentioning Belarus as a country that could face an Arab spring type revolution and I will say with confidence Iran's government will fall before Belarus's. Sweden can drop all the teddy bears on that country and have as many KGB officials defect to them they want.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2012 17:04

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

SexyBlindfold posted:

sooo is this the endgame or what? all of a sudden the FSA is in control of the iraq/syria border and making gains in damascus

Perhaps, once they figure out where Assad is. There were pictures of him a few hours ago shown with his new defense minister but no one knows if he's still at the palace or hiding somewhere else.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2012 21:27

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Brown Moses posted:

[edit] Here's a crazy person obsessing over my blog.

You attacked Alex Jones, you should have expected this. :colbert:

ATS is that bastion of truth and lucidity everyone can trust against the MSM.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2012 23:53

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Brown Moses posted:

You ain't seen nothing yet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNG3VMlrdOQ
(blog)

Cripes, it's still smoking :psypop:

I waited for his legs to get blown off and I'm very happy they didn't.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2012 14:42

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

MothraAttack posted:

And it looks like a fifth top diplomat might have joined the defection club. Welcome to the fold, Syrian ambassador to Armenia.

I knew of the Ambassadors from England and Belarus, who are the other two? With Belarus and Armenia's ambassadors calling it quits will this have any change in Russia's stance on Syria? Or will they remain the same even when the ambassador in Moscow decides to defect too?

# ¿ Aug 1, 2012 02:19

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/us-denounces-hezbollah-backing-bashar-al-assad-adds-it-list-organisations-under

al Jazeera posted:

The United States denounced the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah for backing Bashar al-Assad on Friday, and added it to a list of organisations under sanctions for their ties to the Syrian regime.

"This action highlights Hezbollah's activities within Syria and its integral role in the continued violence the Assad regime is inflicting on the Syrian population," the US Treasury Department said in a statement. [AFP]

This with the news that Iran will be completely off the internet grid by 2013 is sobering. I'm really shocked at how quickly things are deteriorating in the Middle East.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2012 16:01

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Young Freud posted:

They'd probably be better off expelling Russian contractors from their nuclear program for lazy computer security than cutting off the nation's internet.

Except the Russians are BFF's with Iran so that will never happen. Iran needs Russian technology.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2012 17:57

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Young Freud posted:

Some stuff that came up in my Google Plus feed but there's been a major earthquake in Iran that's killed over 200 and injured 2000 and there's some talk by the Saudis of making a "all-women" city where they can be employed.

Saudi Arabia finally allowed a single woman on their Olympic team because the IOC threatened to ban them from coming to the games if they didn't. Women who show up at all women fitness centers are still expected to keep their bodies covered while training. A women only city doesn't tell me the women who end up living there will have more freedom.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2012 15:11

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Did not see this mentioned before, but the Syrian VP is under house arrest for fears he may try to defect.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/syria-opposition-assad-regime-fears-imminent-defection-of-vp-farouk-shara-1.457142

# ¿ Aug 12, 2012 15:14

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

New Division posted:

A Turkish politician just got kidnapped by the PKK. The PKK seems to be more active than usual lately.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...b285_story.html

That is incredibly bad news, but there hasn't been any good news from there recently.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2012 00:51

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Aug-11/184276-iran-halts-visa-free-entry-for-turks-ahead-of-nam-summit.ashx#axzz23WkBWyoD

Non Members Turkey and Russia have been invited to the NAM summit happening at the end of the month. 120 leaders of member nations will arrive for this summit where leadership of the organization will pass from Egypt to Iran.

I found it interesting that Belarus is the only European country left still a member of NAM

Daily Star posted:

TEHRAN: Iran has suspended until at least the end of the month visa-free entry for nationals of Turkey and eight other countries, citing its hosting of a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, the Mehr news agency reported Saturday.

Turkish media have highlighted the suspension, which came amid heightened tensions between Iran and Turkey over opposing stances on the conflict in Syria.

Iran's embassy in Ankara confirmed the suspension, and said the NAM summit was the sole reason.

"The three-week suspension of the no-visa arrangement is due only to the important Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran," to be held August 26-31, the embassy said in a statement reported by Mehr.

"The suspension does not effect only Turkish visitors. It applies to all countries that enjoy visa-free travel to Iran," it said. It added that Turkish officials had been informed of the decision in advance.

The Non-Aligned Movement is a grouping of 120 countries which consider themselves not formally part of the world's major power blocs. Iran is to take over its rotating presidency from Egypt at the summit.

The Tehran mayor's office said 9,000 people from 120 countries are expected to travel to the Iranian capital for the summit, Mehr reported.

According to the Iranian foreign ministry, the countries having a visa-free arrangement with Iran are: Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Georgia, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Turkey, Syria and Venezuela.

Nearly 15,000 Turkish nationals visited Iran in 2011.

It was not immediately known whether Turkey would suspend visa-free entry for Iranians in a reciprocal step.

More than a million and half Iranians visited Turkey in 2011, according to Iranian tourism officials.

That flow has lessened this year because of the devaluation of Iran's currency against the dollar due to Western sanctions. According to the Turkish ministry of culture and tourism, some 439,000 Iranians travelled to Turkey in the first five months of this year.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2012 16:12

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Morsi legal adviser wants to amend the Camp David Accords.

http://www.bicom.org.uk/news-article/8696/

bicom posted:

Mursi legal adviser reportedly mulling amendments to peace treaty with Israel
Mohammed Gadallah, the legal adviser to Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi, told the Egyptian media yesterday that Mursi was looking into the possibility of amending the Camp David Accords to expand Egypt�s control over the Sinai.

The accords give Egypt full sovereignty and control of the entire peninsula, but Egypt is only allowed to keep a small force in much of the territory, as per the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Last week, Cairo deployed heavy weaponry � including artillery and attack helicopters � to target terrorists following a deadly attack on border police near the town of Rafah.

Israel�s Defence Minister Ehud Barak approved Egypt�s initial use of air power in the Sinai, for the first time since the 1973 war, as Mursi ordered a crackdown on terrorist sites in the Peninsula. Israeli ministers then gave telephone approval for the temporary maintenance of heavy weaponry in the Sinai as the crackdown continued.

Calls to review the terms of the peace treaty in Egypt have intensified since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak last year, and especially since the attack last Sunday in which 16 Egyptian border police were killed.

Despite the calls, any amendment to the treaty would require negotiations with Israel, which would likely be cautious of an increased Egyptian military presence in the Peninsula. Egypt could instead make unilateral changes, but this would almost certainly be met with disapproval internationally and would also jeopardise the peace treaty and already fragile ties between Jerusalem and Cairo.

Was this to be expected?

# ¿ Aug 14, 2012 17:25

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Nenonen posted:

Do you have a more reputable source? We've had so many false news regarding Egypt, including that one time when Farsi claimed they had called to Morsi himself who had told them that he was looking at reversing Camp David - which then turned out to not have been Morsi at all. And don't even get me started with that "destroying the pyramids" forgery that spread in blogs. "Britain Israel Communications & Research Center" article that cites no sources doesn't sound any more credible to me.

How about Times of Israel?

http://www.timesofisrael.com/morsi-considers-amending-camp-david-accords/

I know there are non credible sources. The fact that all the sources I'm finding are from Israel makes me wonder too.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2012 17:51

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Warcabbit posted:

Think Iran may try to link up harder with Russia?

Which country has given Syria more support? Iran and Russia right now are having a minor spat over weapons Iran contracted for and Russia won't deliver. This hasn't soured relations between Russia and Iran to the point they're not talking, Russia is quickly becoming the only friend Iran has left. Iran can't afford to lose friends and they're running out.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2012 04:42

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Reuters just put out a breaking report that Assad's brother lost a leg in that blast.

http://ara.reuters.com/article/topNews/idARACAE87F0AH20120816

Reuters posted:

DUBAI (Reuters) - A Western diplomat based in the Gulf source said on Thursday that the president's brother Maher Assad lost his leg in an attack on the security command in Damascus in July.

The diplomat told Reuters: "We heard that he (Maher Assad) lost a leg during the blast, but we do not know more."

The Gulf source said the news "was one of his legs. News is true."

# ¿ Aug 16, 2012 15:40

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Those videos with the children make me :ohdear:

the entire time I watch them. Especially the one with the baby crawling around. I had the image of them crawling with something explosive in their hands banging it on the floor like babies do and ... :smith:

They need to keep the children away and keep the adults away too because none of that stuff is safe.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2012 14:12

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

It's interesting to speculate on whether these weapons and supplies they're getting are indeed all captured or if they have established supply lines. The Steyr Aug photos are very compelling.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2012 14:21

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

BBC has breaking news that a car bomb struck a funeral in Damascus and killed 12 people.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2012 15:04

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

I certainly can't offer any expert advice on what these barrel bombs could be. They remind me of a Molotov bread basket though. Those bombs were vessels for delivering smaller incendiary devices inside.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2012 15:28

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Are the videos with the Iranian official from the NAM summit they just wrapped up? I recognize the room as one that was used quite a bit for conferences. They made sure there were lots of pictures and videos plastered on the internet of the UN General Secretary being there.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2012 22:22

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

I had to get to bed early last night and was busy this morning, but drat, RIP Vilerat. This is terrible news. My sympathies to his family.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 19:06

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

TLG James posted:

Isn't that the same loving idiot that said that 90% of what Planned Parenthood was abortions?

Yes it is. I love how these idiots are doubling down on horrible statements with even more horrible statements.

Actually no I don't love it. I hate it and I think I've just about reached my saturation point. Also, this article about Steve Klein from Max Blumenthal has some info.

http://maxblumenthal.com/2012/09/meet-the-right-wing-extremist-behind-anti-muslim-film-that-sparked-deadly-riots/

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 20:44

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

5er posted:

I can't help but wonder if Romney's irrepressible grin at that fact-deficient press conference he had was because he had a lock on guaranteed casus belli, a new 9/11 to get the masses whipped into a frothing outrage for a new war. He seemed so happy about bad news, about 'outrage'.

Congressman Charlie Rangel said to Martin Bashir today that he believes Romney is a threat to national security.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 22:28

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

ed. ^^^^ Which is what everyone else seems to be saying.

Very nice bit at the end of the Ed Show about Vile Rat. I was happy to see Ed not on it tonight.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 02:03

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

e. nevermind.

HUGE PUBES A PLUS fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Sep 13, 2012

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 03:57

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

kylejack posted:

Suppose you were creating something that could possibly get you killed by an Islamist. Would you want to put your real name on it?!

He used a different name because he was on probation and one of the conditions of his probation was no access to the internet. I can only imagine the internet was used for far more of the production of that video than just uploading it to Youtube, but that was all he had to do to violate probation.

HUGE PUBES A PLUS fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Sep 14, 2012

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 00:47

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

CNN now reporting 4th Benghazi victim was another retired Navy SEAL.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2012 01:08

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Because every other country in Central Asia in the midst of turmoil isn't enough, the CSTO has decided to flex their muscles and stage some training exercises in Armenia this week. Are you watching, Azerbaijan?

http://news.tj/en/news/csto-joint-military-exercise-launched-armenia

news.tj posted:

DUSHANBE, September 15, 2012, Asia-Plus -- The exercise for the Rapid Reaction Force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) kicked off at the Marshal Baghramayan training ground in Armenia on September 15.

According the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD)�s official website, the exercise that will last till September 19 has involved military units and special operations groups of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, as well as representatives from the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) and international observers from the United Nations, the OSCE and the CIS, totaling some 2,000 people.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is reportedly taking part in the exercise in line with the protocol of intentions signed by the CSTO Secretariat and the ICRC in 2009 and the joint action plan for 2012-2014. The ICRC is making make sure the international humanitarian law and other international regulations are observed during the exercise. The ICRC together with the command of the collective rapid reaction forces will hold briefings on the principles of the international humanitarian law for participants of the exercise.

The purpose of the CSTO joint exercise, dubbed Interaction 2012, is to rehearse coordination and interaction in repulsing a terror threat and mitigating effects of the emergency situation.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2012 20:29

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

I always like how whenever there is some conflict in the Middle East or North Africa Belarus gets blamed for getting involved one way or the other. They denied sending any troops to Libya to fight for Qaddafi too, but can't explain why 30 of their soldiers are in prison awaiting trial there.

http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-belarusbre88j0d1-20120920,0,2480847.story

# ¿ Sep 20, 2012 11:32

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

Morsi is currently addressing the UN General Assembly and he has been very aggressive in his speech condemning Assad, even going so far as to talk about the future of Syria without Assad and the need to make sure the country is democratic.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2012 17:49

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 10:04

HUGE PUBES A PLUS: Apr 30, 2005

I'm seeing something on Twitter about Syrian TV telling people in a round about way that neighboring countries are preparing to invade. I wonder what the rationale is for telling people Syria's about to go to war?

# ¿ Oct 1, 2012 12:13

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

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