Site Search:
 
Speak Korean Now!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Syria
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 5, 6, 7 ... 27, 28, 29  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Current Events Forum
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Steelrails wrote:
Question here- If you were Assad, what would you do?


^ What an odd question.

If I were a blood-thirsty dictator petrified for my life and the continuation of my ultra-privileged existence...?

I'd call up the local chapter of the most extreme, vicious, my-beard-is-longer-than-your-beard extremists and say, "Let's make a deal!" The basis is that a dictatorship is a dictatorship, and the rationale for it is mostly, maybe entirely, irrelevant.

My second call would be to the emergent anti-democratic forces in the West and say something along the lines of, "Wanna keep the brown-skin camel jockeys outa Europe? I know how to do it. Send me some guns and money."

My third call would be to the Armageddon folks in Israel and the US... "Wanna bring it on? Send me some guns and money."
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Titus



Joined: 19 May 2012

PostPosted: Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya-ta Boy wrote:

If I were a blood-thirsty dictator


What?

http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/08/13/laying-the-groundwork-for-genocide-in-iran

If you think that's hysterical then here's Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Madeleine Albright:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbIX1CP9qr4

I don't know what planet you're on ya-ta.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Leon



Joined: 31 May 2010

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/08/syria-on-the-verge-of-collapse/100352/

Incredible gallery of picture of Syria.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The former PM that ran away says Assad only controls 1/3 of Syria. Taking hyperbole into account, that is probably 1/2.

Not bad for a chaotic rebel force with no central organization.

With all the wretched news that says it's turning into a proxy war between Sunnis and Shiites, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this can turn out 'not terrible'.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Junior



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: the eye

PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Titus wrote:
The Israeli lobby in the United States is the single source of war propaganda on earth. Argentina is not trying to start wars. Iran is not trying to start wars.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9059179/Iran-We-will-help-cut-out-the-cancer-of-Israel.html

Quote:
Iran: We will help 'cut out the cancer of Israel'
Iran will help anyone willing to "cut out the cancer" of Israel, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today.



Speaking of Iran and Argentina....


Argentina Pursues Iran in '94 Blast As Neighbors Court Ahmadinejad

Quote:
President N�stor Kirchner, left, has ignored critics in strongly supporting the indictments. Former president Carlos Menem, right, had been accused of taking $10 million to cover up any Iranian role in the blast. He denied the allegation and was never charged. (AP)

By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, January 14, 2007

BUENOS AIRES -- As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Latin America this weekend to strengthen economic and political ties with the region, Argentina's N�stor Kirchner will not be in the line of presidents turning out to greet him.

Kirchner's government has reinvigorated attempts to prosecute Iranian figures for their alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center here, recently issuing arrest warrants for nine former Iranian officials. Among those sought is former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, accused of ordering the attack that killed 85 people and injured more than 200.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Titus



Joined: 19 May 2012

PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1267738--turkey-s-pm-warns-nation-not-far-from-war-with-syria

Quote:
ISTANBUL�One day after winning blanket authority to send forces into Syria, Turkey�s prime minister warned Friday that his country is �not far from war� and said that it would be a �deadly mistake� for the Syrian government to test Turkey�s will.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the comments as the Turkish military fired shells into Syria for the third straight day � retaliation for a mortar shell that landed just inside Turkish territory in Hatay province, according to the provincial governor.

Until Wednesday, when a Syrian shell killed five civilians in the border town of Akcakale, several hundred kilometres to the east, Turkey had avoided responding to what have appeared to be errant shells fired into Turkish territory by Syrian troops battling rebel forces for control of crossing points.


Some Turks protested a potential war with Syria:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/9588458/Thousands-protest-in-Turkey-over-Syria-mandate.html#ooid=d5bWQzNjpTYGABJEiPjmgifn0nJmChZH
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
bucheon bum



Joined: 16 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Turkey Warns Syria

Quote:
�We responded, but if it continues we will respond with greater force,� state television quoted the Turkish chief of staff, Gen. Necdet Ozel, as saying, according to Reuters.


And NATO has announced its support of Turkey as well:

Quote:
On Tuesday, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, emphasized that NATO, of which Turkey is a member and which considers an attack on one member to be an attack on all, had �all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary.�


Everyone has been so focused on Israel-Iran. Looks like a war (or, if they're like the USA, they'll choose to go with the term "conflcit" or "operation") is more likely to break out between Syria and Turkey. The Syrian government is in quite a bind. If I were the President, I'd try to negotiate a seperate country (the western coastal area where Alawites predominate). Otherwise? I can't see how the government remains in power in the long run. Its supporters are few and I think the only outside power on its side is Iran, which isn't exactly booming these days.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

bucheon bum wrote:
Turkey Warns Syria

Quote:
�We responded, but if it continues we will respond with greater force,� state television quoted the Turkish chief of staff, Gen. Necdet Ozel, as saying, according to Reuters.


And NATO has announced its support of Turkey as well:

Quote:
On Tuesday, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, emphasized that NATO, of which Turkey is a member and which considers an attack on one member to be an attack on all, had �all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary.�


Everyone has been so focused on Israel-Iran. Looks like a war (or, if they're like the USA, they'll choose to go with the term "conflcit" or "operation") is more likely to break out between Syria and Turkey. The Syrian government is in quite a bind. If I were the President, I'd try to negotiate a seperate country (the western coastal area where Alawites predominate). Otherwise? I can't see how the government remains in power in the long run. Its supporters are few and I think the only outside power on its side is Iran, which isn't exactly booming these days.


This whole thing is a mystery to me, I have to admit. If I were dictator of a sand pile and the population finally decided to revolt against me, I have a hard time figuring out why I would try to engage a richer and more powerful neighboring state in a war while I was trying to wipe out the local opposition. 1 + 1 = 6?

Contra McCain: stay the heck out and let the locals work out a solution of their own. (My view might well change if we found out the locals had ties to some Christianist armaggedon type policy.)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Titus



Joined: 19 May 2012

PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 8:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/world/middleeast/syrian-air-raids-increase-as-battle-for-strategic-areas-intensifies-rebels-say.html

Quote:
The United States indicated on Wednesday that it was undertaking its most aggressive attempt yet to reshape the Syrian opposition, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton dismissing the current leadership as a bunch of out-of-touch exiles who should be replaced with a group more representative of the fighters on the ground.

�There has to be representation of those who are on the front lines, fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom,� Mrs. Clinton told reporters during a trip to Croatia. �This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes, but have, in many instances, have not been inside Syria for 20, 30 or 40 years.�

....

�We�ve made it clear that the S.N.C. can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition,� Mrs. Clinton said, referring to the Syrian National Council. It can participate, she added, �but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice that needs to be heard.�

Clinton is going to pick the new opposition because the truth is that the USA is the opposition and always has been. AQ et al are fighting for America! Crazy!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
GENO123



Joined: 28 Jan 2010

PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 9:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2012/October/middleeast_October390.xml&section=middleeast


Quote:

More than 36,000 killed in Syria conflict: watchdog

(AFP) / 31 October 2012

More than 36,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of Syria�s anti-regime revolt in March 2011, with an average of 165 people killed a day since August 1, a watchdog said Wednesday.
Civilians, at 25,667, represented the vast majority of those killed, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which includes non-military people who have taken up arms against President Bashar Al Assad�s regime in the category.

The rest were from the military � 9,044 government soldiers and 1,296 who defected to join the rebellion.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Titus



Joined: 19 May 2012

PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Syria�s anti-regime revolt


This is how the Far West describes an ethnic/religious war.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Kuros



Joined: 27 Apr 2004

PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya-ta Boy wrote:
bucheon bum wrote:
Turkey Warns Syria

Quote:
�We responded, but if it continues we will respond with greater force,� state television quoted the Turkish chief of staff, Gen. Necdet Ozel, as saying, according to Reuters.


And NATO has announced its support of Turkey as well:

Quote:
On Tuesday, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, emphasized that NATO, of which Turkey is a member and which considers an attack on one member to be an attack on all, had �all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary.�


Everyone has been so focused on Israel-Iran. Looks like a war (or, if they're like the USA, they'll choose to go with the term "conflcit" or "operation") is more likely to break out between Syria and Turkey. The Syrian government is in quite a bind. If I were the President, I'd try to negotiate a seperate country (the western coastal area where Alawites predominate). Otherwise? I can't see how the government remains in power in the long run. Its supporters are few and I think the only outside power on its side is Iran, which isn't exactly booming these days.


This whole thing is a mystery to me, I have to admit. If I were dictator of a sand pile and the population finally decided to revolt against me, I have a hard time figuring out why I would try to engage a richer and more powerful neighboring state in a war while I was trying to wipe out the local opposition. 1 + 1 = 6?


Its simple, really. Weapons and supplies for rebels come through Turkey. The Turks aren't stopping them. To survive, the Syrian loyalists must attack rebel supply lines. Those are in Turkey.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address
Titus



Joined: 19 May 2012

PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The chaos in the Middle East inspires the following from David Sanger in the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/world/middle-east-challenges-obamas-light-footprint.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Get "more involved". Kill more of them. That'll do it. Robots in the sky ain't enough.

Is the New York Times even slightly aware of the fact that New York exists in the United States and that in this place called the United States are people, who are watching their nation decline and that maybe devoting more money and blood thousands of miles away is counterproductive?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
catman



Joined: 18 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Titus wrote:

There is no end to this. The Israeli lobby in the United States is the single source of war propaganda on earth.


It is hard to take you seriously when you make statements like this. Even within the US there are many other pro-war faction. A lot of $$$ can be made.



Quote:
We have got to talk sense into the Christian Zionists in America. Without them the Israeli lobby is isolated. How the hell to we argue with Christians who think god is a pro-Israeli warmonger?


True.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
comm



Joined: 22 Jun 2010

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Titus wrote:
Quote:
Syria�s anti-regime revolt


This is how the Far West describes an ethnic/religious war.

No, that's how the West describes terrorism that they're in favor of.
Or was Timothy McVeigh part of an "anti-regime revolt"?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Korean Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Current Events Forum All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 5, 6, 7 ... 27, 28, 29  Next
Page 6 of 29

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

TEFL International Supports Dave's ESL Cafe
TEFL Courses, TESOL Course, English Teaching Jobs - TEFL International