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kalonji posted:Probably the unpopular opinion but i'm with Gaddafi on this one. Its an internal affair and certainly doesn't warrant international military action. This is just the United States removing an enemy from power. While I don't agree with you it is certainy extremely hypocritical to have a handful of arab dictatorships cooperate with Western nations in this operation. The moral weight of it all is roughly at the same level as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's condemnation of the Bahraini monarchy's beat-down of opposition protestors. It's all extremely problematic and may have severe popular political consequences.
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Mar 19, 2011 15:37
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AllanGordon posted:He did put sanctions on Assad and told Saleh to step down in Yemen. Outside of pushing for UN sanctions I don't really know what else he can do. What about Saudi Arabia? What about Bahrain? There's a lot Obama could do if he wanted to.
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May 26, 2011 08:18
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Sneakums posted:Israeli troops just fired on peaceful protesters at the Golan border. (Al-Jazeera Channel) They're commemorating the Naksa day, which is the anniversary of the day Israel occupied Palestine and the Golans.
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Jun 5, 2011 10:26
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dj_clawson posted:Palestinians also protest within PA controlled areas all the time - sometimes with guns and suicide vests on display - and Israel does nothing about it unless it turns violent on its own. Are you kidding me? This is probably the most obvious lie you've ever spouted on these forums, and I've read a few. If nothing else there's hundreds of hours of video evidence to the contrary easily accessible on the Internet, such at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyIiajWL_6U Or the weeklies in Bi'lin, etc, etc. Most likely something similar happened today in the Golans. *edit* VVVVVV Nelson Mandela was removed from the US's terrorist list in june 2009, so it's ok now. Svartvit fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Jun 5, 2011 |
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Jun 5, 2011 21:33
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Some footage of the Golan mow-down taken from the Israeli occupied side. Also featuring an interview with Mark "Goebbles" Regev, finally being talked back by someone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-lJkOzhZnk *edited for correctness
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Jun 6, 2011 11:30
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Xandu posted:The girl who writes this amazing blog, http://damascusgaygirl.blogspot.com/, has been kidnapped by the Syrian government. According to Ma'an it was an uprising in a Palestinian refugee camp as a protest against the weak and complacent leadership. The PFLP-GC HQ was attacked and militants opened fire on the protestors.
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Jun 6, 2011 21:28
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Toast Museum posted:I'm not up to speed on Turkish politics. What is Turkey getting out of its relationship with Syria? Turkey has a "zero problems with the neighbours" policy. Not hard to understand considering Turkey borders Iran, Iraq and Syria.
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Jun 10, 2011 21:48
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There's not really any significant difference in how Turkey approaches the Spring compared to how the western countries does it. It's a game of coming out looking as good as possible while losing as little investment as possible.
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Jun 10, 2011 23:09
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dj_clawson posted:Remember that "massacre at the Israeli border with Syria" last week? The one that was never proven to actually result in mass deaths? (But 20 Palestinians were shot around the same time - by Syrians, in the refugee camp in their country) Oh please, won't you ever stop your brainless propaganda? Everyone knew full well both at Nakba and Naksa day that the Syrians didn't stop the protesters from reaching the Golans. The mere fact that the protests were carried out was solid evidence for that, and the fact that every other attempt was stopped is another. You have to be really indoctrinated by your own propaganda to believe that not attempting to stop it is the same thing as being "behind it". Letting the protesters demonstrate was the only moral thing the Syrian government did. Making sure that everyone was unarmed made it even better.
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Jun 14, 2011 20:16
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dj_clawson posted:I'm not sure how a secret document from the Syrian government detailing a situation is "brainless propaganda." dogmaan posted:Ha Ha
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Jun 14, 2011 21:29
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Plastic_Gargoyle posted:More than that, what kind of nutcase volunteers for something like that? I don't think I'd be willing to be attacked with smartbombs even if I was starving. You would if your family was.
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Jul 9, 2011 22:43
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Xandu posted:http://www.npr.org/2012/02/01/146235292/30-years-later-photos-emerge-from-killings-in-syria The great Robert Fisk looks back on the massacre and also scold the U.K. a little bit. Deservedly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8dSFeWxRnI
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Feb 3, 2012 21:01
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Brown Moses posted:Small update: I can kind of see the point of that. I'm not very sure about what's happening in Syria right now but I know that Syrian militias are ruthless. Hama '82 didn't happen for no reason at all, that was a bloody story. Am I completely in the wrong here?
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Feb 4, 2012 11:34
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Brown Moses posted:For those of you who don't want to watch the video, but know the Anon/Reddit description is wrong and want know the contents here's the description. I've read about anti-personnel artillery doing these kinds of things when they explode close to the ground. Wasn't Homs bombed?
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Feb 5, 2012 19:33
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Must be nice for Clinton to be on the right side of world opinion for once! She looks at home behind the podium now.
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Feb 6, 2012 08:09
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Hamelekim posted:Yet this was all started by the West in the first place. I don't see Assad's response to all of this as being justification to take him out. The guy is a dictator, of course he is going to use violence to stop a violent uprising. I don't believe the West's involvement has anything to do with democracy, freedom, blah blah blah, but I'd like to see some evidence from you that the West somehow has instigated an attack against the regime. I mean, good if they did, but you might have noticed that the uprising in Syria wasn't an isolated event.
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Feb 6, 2012 19:45
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Sivias posted:After doing a little research on Hezbollah's history (I wont deny I know very little of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict), his 'support' of the Syrian government seems more like reluctant support. Syria and Iran have had long standing political and military assistance toward's Hezbollah's ambitions fighting Israel as their common Jewish enemy. Instead, Syria is fighting it's own people. It's not that anyone wants to support a regime like Assad's, it's just that Hezbollah are insufferable realists, and this is the face of realpolitik.
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Feb 7, 2012 20:55
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Warbadger posted:While their reasons may be realist in a sense, they certainly WANT to support the regime rather than the alternatives. Yeah, I just tried to separate "want" and "want". Now you just added a "WANT"!
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Feb 7, 2012 21:50
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Golbez posted:re Hamza: it's stuff like this shows how truly in the dark ages many Muslim nations are. The last time you could hide domestic woes by distracting the people with religion in the Christian world was pretty much, what, pre-Renaissance? And now we have this? The people in Saudi Arabia, if we are to take this at face value, are far, far more angry about a few tweets than anything else wrong in their country? It's either a paradise or they're easily used by the government. I'm sorry, but you're just wrong. I see that poo poo in a lot of Christian places, especially in southern Europe, Africa, Eastern/Central Europe and the Americas including U.S.A. where a load of Christian fundamentalists are rallying for all kinds of backwards projects used by Republican candidates in order to avoid the things that really is wrong in America. Clearly, religion has a greater part in the Middle East than in the West, but you have to watch what you're saying.
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Feb 9, 2012 15:58
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Golbez posted:I can only speak for the U.S. but while they may try they don't succeed. They certainly don't get people screaming for blood like we see in this situation. It's cliche to compare the religions in this fashion, but I don't recall anyone extraditing the guy who made Piss Christ, or any government seriously calling for his punishment or death.
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Feb 9, 2012 16:23
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Xandu posted:I'm not sure about AQI specifically, but in general al-Qaeda and its affiliates confirm their attacks. The fact that Zawahiri is mentioned as authorizing the attacks leads me to believe they'd claim responsibility if it was them. Zawahiri has previously praised the Syrian protesters, which makes sense given that Ba'athist Alawites (i.e. non-Sunni) are in charge. I was going to say that what's going on in Syria is looking more and more like what happened in Algeria, but I didn't want to jump the gun, and I honestly don't know enough about what really went down in Algeria.
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Feb 11, 2012 12:41
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Dodoman posted:The avatar shows the Persian Immortals. Not sure on the quote. The quote is from a very influential Persian Sufi philosopher. One of the best poets in the world all time probably.
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Feb 12, 2012 12:32
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Xandu posted:Well when you raise the stakes to Gandhi My opinion is very strongly in favour of foreigners travelling to other countries and participating in (non-violent) popular protests. It can really be helpful, especially if it's done in places that doesn't get a lot of attention otherwise. From what I've heard, this has really meant a lot in places like East Timor, South America, Palestine and for the situation of the Kurds in Turkey. Foreign nationals can be intimidating in that way, and can boost the morale a great deal. I know the American Occupy movement soaked up the encouraging message from the Egyptian trade union to the point of total exaggeration even if it wasn't much. Also I'm totally an internationalist.
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Feb 18, 2012 02:05
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az jan jananam posted:These protest movements don't need foreigners, they need their neighbors. If anything a foreign presence works directly against these homegrown and dynamic protest movements given pervasive paranoia towards foreign involvement, which is why protesters have generally been quick to deny any sort of foreign assistance. I would tell any foreigner that they are better off trying to raise awareness and build solidarity where they are rather than waste money flying off to an Arab country to play at being Che Guevara or Gandhi. Yeah of course, you have to exercise judgement. What works in one place or even generally isn't necessarily a good idea everywhere. The protest movements in the Middle East are not all that is in the world though, may I remind you that things are going on in other places, like in Tibet where the same stigma doesn't exist. And "foreigner" doesn't imply "Westerner" either, it can easily be Libyan or Maldivian or whatever.
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Feb 18, 2012 15:09
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Patter Song posted:This is about as provocative as it gets. It would be sort of like naming an anti-Christian group "The Pontius Pilate Brigade" or something. Also he was the independent-minded governor of Syria at the time. It fits in.
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Feb 19, 2012 23:45
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Patter Song posted:Quite right. And after the Umayyads (Muawiyah's family) took power, they moved the capital of the caliphate to...you guessed it...his seat of power, Damascus. I just read the original post and I don't think this is the right Muawiyya. Let's move on.... *edit: I can't read, I am an utter failure. I don't exist. You read nothing. Svartvit fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Feb 20, 2012 |
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Feb 20, 2012 00:09
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QuiteEasilyDone posted:WillyFoReal just broadcasted from the Syrian border. Confirming that Assad forces are laying mines on the borders as an attempt to keep refugees inside the country. Also, militias are using neighbouring countries to catch breath, heal and resupply.
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Feb 24, 2012 21:42
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Young Freud posted:Sad, but not surprising. My guess is that most people have confabulated the Palestinian Authority with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Also, not surprising is that the view of Palestinians flip-flops around 2001 (or, should I say, 9/11), because the Palestinians were viewed more favorably than Israel through the later part of the '90s. Palestinians have never been viewed more favourably by Americans than the Israelis. The judgement on Israel has always been in the stratosphere compared with the judgement on the PA/PLO. It's even in there in the link. Views on Palestinians didn't really flip-flop after 9/11, they dipped.
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Mar 2, 2012 23:49
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I've been keeping an eye on Yemen just a short while now and it is really messed up. Just this Saturday, militants destroyed several buildings in a southern city, and yesterday al-Qaida showed up at the outskirts of a southern province they control with more than 40 "military vehicles" and fought off the Yemeni army which apparently ran out of ammunition before al-Qaida did. Another militia was reported to have "surrounded" an entire mechanised division of the Yemeni army in the same province. It's all hosed up. A new southern commander has been appointed and I think that the Yemeni army is planning to invade said province (Abyan) soon which could lead to anything.
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Mar 5, 2012 18:45
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The al-Qaida accusation has made a full circle i think. Soon it will lose all weight and meaning.
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Mar 8, 2012 20:19
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ISAF's own Anders Behring Breivik.
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Mar 11, 2012 18:14
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Golbez posted:An unfortunate word choice on my part (in both instances) made for speed. I think the Afghans were uneducated and/or being manipulated. This does not justify their behavior in the least, it is an attempt to explain it. And yes, any American who would riot over such a thing is in exactly the same boat; my comment about 'sane' was to the fact that I can't picture anyone ever rioting over someone desecrating a copy of the Constitution, at all. The mere concept is laughable, so either it was a poor equivalence to desecrating a Quran, or we're dealing with two different mindsets. If you cannot fathom why there were riots after the Quran burnings (as the word were) then you do not fathom much at all about the reality of the occupation. Of course Afghanistan is "backwards" in so many ways, but as a rich and spoiled citizen of the comfortable West, you come off as incredibly arrogant and self-centered when you make such a high-handed analysis of an extremely downtrodden people while only exposing a shallow understanding of their situation.
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Mar 12, 2012 05:18
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Do Hadeed and al-Dude have an affair or what?
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Mar 18, 2012 13:51
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Don't listen to him. In this new economic climate one cannot afford to take vacations. This thread commands you to get to work!
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Mar 18, 2012 21:51
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az jan jananam posted:How on earth did she manage to say that? Also, how can she answer "how much do you cost" to a question where the obvious answer is ﻻ? Odd story. On another note, an acquaintance of mine is Syrian, born here, and has been pretty active politically in general and especially when it comes to the uprising in Syria. He and his brother has been forwarding videos and stuff from inside Syria and has been doing it in an organised way. Now he and his entire family has received death threats from the Syrian government, and they've been showing pictures of him and his family on Syrian state TV together with the encouragement to help catch the "traitors". Seven of his relatives in Syria has been jailed and tortured and forced to give up information about their family in Sweden. Sucks big time!
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Mar 27, 2012 17:48
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As an F1 fan I fully endorse this. Bahrain is the most boring race on the calendar. The only reason they have a spot is because they can pay ridiculous sums for it, but I have a feeling it's more of a royal family stunt than an actual boon to the Bahraini economy.
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Mar 27, 2012 20:42
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Yes, the government still has to pay the enormous fees and compensate sponsors to the tune of several hundreds of millions of euro, but not even the popular races with lots of attendees expect the event to generate black numbers in the books. That's even less likely for such a small country as Bahrain. The sport has seen a price hike in GP arrangements so big that France can't take it any more, and the legendary Belgian GP is halfway pulling out because it's so fiscally unsound. I'd take the assessments by the Khalifas and the F1 industry with a huge pinch of salt.
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Mar 27, 2012 21:06
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Tunisia is on the same longitude as Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. True story. *edit: rly makes u think 
Svartvit fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Mar 29, 2012 |
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Mar 29, 2012 09:46
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For those interested, here's a rough update on what I've been reading about Mali lately. Tuareg secessionist Azawad National Liberation Movement, joined by Maghrebi al-Qaida fighters apparently, has taken control of most of the north eastern Kidal province. They're outgunning Mali's army thanks to the flux of weapons from Libya. The coup governments focus is on crushing the rebels and may or may not actually have support from the people in doing this. Right now they're holed up in Gao and fear that the ANLM will make a move on that city which is a big and important city along the river Niger. Meanwhile the Western African regional organisation ECOWAS is currently awaiting an end to their ultimatum directed to the coup regime, set to expire tomorrow (depending on where you live). If power isn't transferred back to the democratic government tough sanctions will be imposed (they will probably hit Mali real hard). ECOWAS has promised that they'll aid Mali's army if they comply. The inability of Mali's regime to beat back the rebellion was the cause for the coup d'état in the first place. This may all spin out of control. 
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Mar 31, 2012 11:31
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MothraAttack posted:There are reports that Islamists took down the MNLA flags in Kidal and have been de-Westernizing the town, indicating some discord between the two rebel movements. Wow, that went down quickly.
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Apr 1, 2012 01:26
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