Thread: The crisis in Syria

Originally Posted by Doomer

Как и все люди
Политик должен думать прежде всего об интересах страны. Прав он или нет, это понятие растяжимое, нельзя понравится всем

Ну, вот. Tеперь мы согласны! Что делать?

Although I rather support Putin's actions in Snowden and Syria cases, I'm far from believing that he is doing this because he is such a good guy. He needs popularity and support all over the world for very cynical reason: he and his buddies have their families living in Europe and USA, keep their money there, their children are getting education there, they have real estate there etc. They just using Russia as a "milk cow" to gain their well-being, but are planning to live elsewhere. They don't plan in any way becoming an outcasts like North-Korean elite. So some international PR suits their interests very well.

Originally Posted by Basil77

Although I rather support Putin's actions in Snowden and Syria cases, I'm far from believing that he is doing this because he is such a good guy. He needs popularity and support all over the world for very cynical reason: he and his buddies have their families living in Europe and USA, keep their money there, their children are getting education there, they have real estate there etc. They just using Russia as a "milk cow" to gain their well-being, but are planning to live elsewhere. They don't plan in any way becoming an outcasts like North-Korean elite. So some international PR suits their interests very well.

Hehehe. I don't think Putin is a "good guy" or a "bad guy." I think he is a politician and the leader of one of the greatest nations in the world. I do not envy that responsibility, and I do not envy Obama's role either. Both of them are going to do what they can to appeal to their constituents. We can only hope that they try to appeal to the INTELLIGENT constituents rather then the troglodytes in both of our countries.

CIA begins weapons delivery to Syrian rebels - The Washington Post

Even as Russian officials are working with Assad to eliminate Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons, the US is overtly delivering arms to insurgents in that country, according to this article in the Washington Post:

The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.

The arms shipments, which are limited to light weapons and other munitions that can be tracked, began arriving in Syria at a moment of heightened tensions over threats by President Obama to order missile strikes to punish the regime of Bashar al-Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons in a deadly attack near Damascus last month

Not everyone in America agrees with this policy, however. Congressman Dennis Kucinich has been outspoken against supplying the rebels with arms, which may fall into the hands of jihadists, despite reassurances from the Obama administration that the weapons can be "tracked."

kucinich.bluestatedigital.com | TELL CONGRESS: STAND FOR AMERICA - VOTE NO TO ANY ATTACK ON SYRIA

A Pew Research Center poll also reveals that 70% of Americans oppose arming the insurgency, according to another Washington Post article:

Americans clearly against arming Syrian rebels, even after ‘red line’ crossed, polls show

The United States is moving to arm Syrian rebels following White House confirmation that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people, but the American people aren't on-board, according to new polls.

A new Pew Research Center poll shows 70 percent of Americans oppose sending arms to the opposition groups, while a new Gallup poll shows 54 percent oppose the Obama administration's decision, compared to 37 percent who support it.

Opposition in the Pew poll is actually higher than ever before in the two-year-old civil war. And that's even as much of the poll was conducted after the White House announced Thursday that the Syrian government had crossed the "red line" and used chemical weapons.

But while the red line was significant to the White House, it doesn't seem to have altered the perceptions of the American people.

Good news, as of this morning we are all still alive and have not blown each other to smithereens.

Russia, US Agree Syria Chemical Weapons Deal in Geneva | Russia | RIA Novosti

In fact, US Secretary of State John Kerry appears to be on a first-name basis with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They have reached an agreement regarding how to go about destroying Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons.

A more gruesome reality which we must not forget is still going on...

http://lightbox.time.com/2013/09/12/...ter-cruelty/#1

This is a TIME photographer's personal account of an execution he witnessed in Syria, performed by the "Free Syrian Army." I warn you, the images in the link above are graphic and horrifying. The description to follow is also very hard to stomach, and the photographer witnessed not just one, but DOZENS of executions that day:

I saw a scene of utter cruelty: a human being treated in a way that no human being should ever be treated. But it seems to me that in two and a half years, the war has degraded people’s humanity. On this day the people at the execution had no control over their feelings, their desires, their anger. It was impossible to stop them.

I don’t know how old the victim was but he was young. He was forced to his knees. The rebels around him read out his crimes from a sheet of paper. They stood around him. The young man was on his knees on the ground, his hands tied. He seemed frozen.

Two rebels whispered something into his ear and the young man replied in an innocent and sad manner, but I couldn’t understand what he said because I don’t speak Arabic.

At the moment of execution the rebels grasped his throat. The young man put up a struggle. Three or four rebels pinned him down. The man tried to protect his throat with his hands, which were still tied together. He tried to resist but they were stronger than he was and they cut his throat. They raised his head into the air. People waved their guns and cheered. Everyone was happy that the execution had gone ahead.

It should be noted that TIME Magazine never ran this story and never published the photos. The story has only been picked up by "alternative" media.

While the majority of Americans cheer the agreement reached by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Senator John McCain criticizes it as "weakness" and stands by his contention that prolonged military involvement in Syria is the best way to go.


John McCain, Lindsey Graham Criticize Syria Deal: 'An Act Of Provocative Weakness'

"It requires a willful suspension of disbelief to see this agreement as anything other than the start of a diplomatic blind alley, and the Obama administration is being led into it by Bashar Assad and (Russian President) Vladimir Putin," the senators said.

There has been plenty of Russian participation in the thread earlier. Maybe it's just the weekend and they have other things to do, than talk about Syria? *shrug*

Originally Posted by Deborski

Ужасная шутка

Но я согласна, что Америка стала хулиганом. Мне это совсем не нравится. Вообще, (простые) американцы ненавидят это тоже. Мы громко говорим "НЕТ ВОЙНЕ", но руководители не слушают. Что делать? Революция нужна? (Нужна революция?) Я не знаю...

"Нет войны" means "There is no war".

Originally Posted by Marcus

"Нет войны" means "There is no war".

I meant to say "No (to) war!" - so I guess "Нет войну!" would be better?

"Нет войне!" was correct

McCain feels a ‘little lonely’ because nobody wants to attack Syria | The Raw Story

Poor Senator John McCain feels "lonely" because no one else wants to bomb Syria.

D.Bykov, Russian poet:

На фоне жуликов, воров
И скалозубых технократов
У нас имеется Лавров –
Спаситель Сирии и Штатов.

Syria: 'Bashar al-Assad ordered me to gas people - but I could not do it' - Telegraph

Gen Sakat said the regime wanted to "annihilate" the opposition using any means, and said he received his first orders to use chemical weapons in October last year. On three occasions, he said he was told to use a mixture of phosgene and two other chlorine-based agents against civilian targets in Sheikh Masqeen, Herak, and Busra, all rebel-held districts.

However, under cover of darkness, he said he had replaced the canisters containing the chemicals with ones containing water mixed with dilute bleach which would give off a similar chlorine smell.

At first, his trick worked. "They were completely convinced that this was the same poisonous material," he told the Sunday Telegraph in an interview. "In this way I saved hundreds of lives of children and others."

But after the third occasion, in January, his bosses became suspicious at the lack of deaths in his "attacks" and he began to plot his escape to Jordan, where he has been based since the spring.

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Syria: 'Bashar al-Assad ordered me to gas people - but I could not do it' - Telegraph

Убедительнее ничего нет?
Статейки, газетёнки...
Беглый генерал не сразу, а именно сейчас "вспомнил" о приказе того, кого он предал.
Напечатали это британские СМИ, в то время как свидетель Пьер Пиччинин да Прата говорит о британском следе в этой истории применения химического оружия.

U.S., Russia Agree On Syria U.N. Chemical Arms Measure

U.S., Russia Agree On Syria U.N. Chemical Arms Measure

A U.S. State Department official hailed the deal as a "breakthrough."

"The Russians have agreed to support a strong, binding and enforceable resolution that unites the pressure and focus of the international community on the Syrian regime to ensure the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons," the official said.

Diplomats from the permanent Security Council members - China, Russia, the United States, France and Britain - had been haggling over the details of a resolution to back the American-Russian accord announced on Sept. 14 in Geneva to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons.

Assad agreed to destroy Syria's chemical weapons amid an international outcry over a sarin gas strike in the suburbs of Damascus last month - the world's deadliest chemical attack in 25 years.

The resolution also says that troops can be brought in, if there are any difficulties in getting Assad to comply with destruction of chemical weapons.

Russia earlier offered its own troops to safeguard and ensure destruction. If US decides to send some troops of its own, this could even turn into a joint US/Russian military peacekeeping action.

Russia has also stated that any chemicals under control of the rebels should also be destroyed, but I don't know where the US ended up on that negotiation, or if it fell through the cracks. It does appear that US officials have backed down on some of their initial demands, in the interest of finding agreement with Russia.

Overall, I think this is a positive development.

UN Syria Resolution to Cite Military Option – Report | World | RIA Novosti

Here is RIA Novosti's coverage of the resolution and the "military option" which was cited:

A United Nations Security Council resolution on eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons will refer to – but not automatically trigger – military action to enforce Syria’s compliance with a US-Russian deal to destroy its arsenal, The Associated Press (AP) cited a Russian diplomat as saying Wednesday.