In September 2013, before IS had begun its death march, about 130,000 people who have since died were still alive. But it’s Assad’s military that has killed the most Syrians. According to reports by the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Assad's soldiers killed about 11,500 people between January and August, while IS killed 1,800. The area around Douma, pictured here, is controlled by rebels and is one of the most embattled areas in the Syrian civil war.
Both men were Syrians -- a taxi driver and his passenger. They met during an hour-long drive in April from the airport in the southern Turkish city of Adana toward the east. Within a few minutes, they realized that they were from the same place, the northern port city of Latakia, which is controlled by the Syrian regime.
Things got tricky when the two men began to wonder whose side the other had been on.
They avoided direct questions for a while. Before, on the other side of the border, they may have shot at each other. But now they were sitting in the same car. Eventually, the driver began to tell his story. He had been a bank manager and had told jokes about Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. After an informer betrayed him to the government, a man from Syrian intelligence gave him a warning, saying: "Get out now. They're coming to get you in half an hour."
Then the second man told his story. He had been an architecture student. "I had nothing against Assad," he said. But checkpoints had been erected everywhere in recent weeks, where young men were forcibly recruited into the army. "I didn't want to die," he explained. The driver chuckled briefly, and then the two men went silent for a while.
"It's over," the driver finally said. "Yes," his passenger replied. They spent the rest of the trip discussing the best routes to Europe.
WNU Editor: Syria is a hopeless and a lost cause .... I cannot put it in any better way than that. As for Europe .... the Speigel post dwells into that at the beginning but the EU migration crisis is not about refugees streaming from Syria .... but refugees from all over .... Four out of five migrants are NOT from Syria: EU figures expose the 'lie' that the majority of refugees are fleeing war zone (Daily Mail)
5 comments:
Your post earlier about the image the Germans have presented to the third world was spot on... I don't know how the German economy can possibly handle tens of thousands of refugees, in a volatile economic era already. A bunch of undereducated underemployed people living in camps or ghettos are a recipe for nasty stuff.
Bashar Assad is the leader of Syria. This will NOT change. Policies based upon the notion that this is somehow going to change are doomed to failure. While the ouster of Assad may be optimal, it is simply not going to happen nor can the US or Gulf Arab state make that happen.
Unfortunately the US and a number of Gulf Arab states based their foreign policies on such a ridiculous notion that Assad was going to somehow be ousted or that he should be. To base one's policies on such things is a bit like basing one's retirement plan on winning the lottery!! While it'd be nice, it is not likely to happen. The same applies to a future for Syria without Assad as the dominant power. It simply ain't going to happen. The US and others need to get used to it.
I'm assuming the US was manipulated by its "allies" into supporting such a ridiculous position as supporting the removal of Bashar Assad. This is not going to happen nor can it happen as the Russians would never allow it. The US needs to adjust its policies according to geopolitical reality and not ideology. Russia and China are the world's dominant powers and this is not going to change in the foreseeable future. Adjust policies accordingly and good outcomes are possible. Failure to do so can only result in bad outcomes for us.
We are going to need Russian assistance to ensure Iran complies with the nuclear "deal." Good places to start would likely be by trying to align our policies with Russia's on Ukraine and Syria.
Additionally we have common enemies in ISIS. Perhaps we could work with Russia in this area. Russia can probably deal with this problem without us. As such, perhaps we could place US troops under the command of Russian military leadership. This way we would have access to the best leadership and tactics in the world giving us a better chance of actually prevailing and perhaps getting help in dealing with Iran.
In 2012, I had predicted the Saudi government and other Gulf Arab governments would be ousted by pro-Iranian/pro-Russian forces by the end of 2015. Perhaps I was premature. Nevertheless these governments are unstable and do not a good mid to long range future. As such, our relations with them should be jettisoned sooner rather than later.
The primary focus should be on the Russian puppet master of Iran and Syria. Do this and good outcomes are still possible. It will require the recognition among American leadership that Russia is the world's dominant power with China in the number 2 position and this will not change in the foreseeable future. Then we can position ourselves accordingly.+
Furthermore the US dollar will lose its role as world's reserve currency. There is nothing we can do to prevent it. Policies that would try and preserve this are doomed to failure and will only cause pain and suffering. As such, the best approach will be to negotiate with the top powers to ensure an orderly transfer and a so called "soft landing."
Do this and good outcomes for the United States are possible. Failure to do so and good outcomes are less likely than the parting of the Red Sea. In other words, its long past time to jettison ideology and wishful thinking and it is time to focus on reality and not what we wish ideology is.
Right on B.Poster. Very well put.
But I'm afraid the die is cast. There's just not enough sense among the elite above or the masses below in North America to bring the change needed.
A co-worker often says "Stupid should hurt".
And boy is it going to.
Assad is no longer the president of Syria. He's the president of the coast + Damascus.
Caecus,
"Assad is no longer the president of Syria. He's the president of the coast + Damascus.", and Putin's creature.
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