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HigherThanTheSun

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: UK

Quote:

The Israeli government has approved the construction of nearly 1,200 new homes in Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian areas.

It comes three days before peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are due to resume in Jerusalem.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23655661
A goodwill gesture to kick off the peace talks! Thoughts?
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alelsupreme
Awful.

Gender: Male
Age: 27

Israel's just so good at diplomacy.
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HigherThanTheSun

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: UK

Hundreds of people killed by chemical weapons in Syria but I have no idea how the US or Europe should even react to this. To start any sort of military action against Assad means they're pretty much committed to getting rid of him but nobody has any clue who would replace him afterwards, could just end up leaving the country in the hands of islamists and terrorists, and the people of Syria potentially in a much worse situation than under pre revolution Assad.

Also, Assad being backed by Russia, who have been arming him heavily since the start of the conflict and before, it means it will essentially be a battle between western and Russian weapons, which sounds a pretty scary idea. Assad has gassed hundreds of his own citizens though, and the US, Europe and the UN start to lose a lot of credibility to stand by and do nothing.

Really don't envy the people who are having to make these decisions right now.
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bongritsu
电子人 ( ｃｙｂｏｒｇ)

Location: bog

whoo boy im drunk and this is a bad idea but here i go!

HigherThanTheSun wrote:

Hundreds of people killed by chemical weapons in Syria

all the chemical weapon attacks so far are far too unclear on what actually happened for anyone too base a massive decision such as getting involved on.

Quote:

but I have no idea how the US or Europe should even react to this.

ya thats a really difficult question to answer

there are around 200 independent Armed groups in Syria right now. adding another to the mix would be disastrous. A limited bombing campaign against Syrias CW capabilities and the Alawite units that have been accused of CW attacks would just be irresponsible and would probably not even shift the power in any sort of noticeable degree. It would just increase tensions between the west and Russia/Lebanon/Jordan/Iran not a fun time.

Like you said or alluded too, a significant bombing campaign too tip the power in the FSA's favor would just create a power vacuum for more bad stuff to happen.

Quote:

Also, Assad being backed by Russia, who have been arming him heavily since the start of the conflict and before, it means it will essentially be a battle between western and Russian weapons, which sounds a pretty scary idea.

this would most certainly be the biggest military challenge for thewest since the gulf war i would say. I have a morbid curiosity to see the pretty sophisticated Syrian AA system vs the west airforce (btw in the last few days a large amount of military planes have been transferred to Cyprus which would no doubt be the staging bases for any western aircraft based strike) another interesting thing to note is that there is a large number of russian nationals under contract taking care of the Syrian AA systems further complicating things. Old putin would be pretty upset if some of his russians become casualties.

Quote:

Assad has gassed hundreds of his own citizens though, and the US, Europe and the UN start to lose a lot of credibility to stand by and do nothing.

But standing around and doing nothing is all the un knows how to do!
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meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

HigherThanTheSun wrote:

Hundreds of people killed by chemical weapons in Syria but I have no idea how the US or Europe should even react to this. To start any sort of military action against Assad means they're pretty much committed to getting rid of him but nobody has any clue who would replace him afterwards, could just end up leaving the country in the hands of islamists and terrorists, and the people of Syria potentially in a much worse situation than under pre revolution Assad.

Also, Assad being backed by Russia, who have been arming him heavily since the start of the conflict and before, it means it will essentially be a battle between western and Russian weapons, which sounds a pretty scary idea. Assad has gassed hundreds of his own citizens though, and the US, Europe and the UN start to lose a lot of credibility to stand by and do nothing.

Really don't envy the people who are having to make these decisions right now.

I agree with you all the way. this is all really scary. Clearly Assad is a problem that needs to be taken care of it, but the thought of the US in yet another war in unsettling, especially considering the international repercussions this could set off. I don't think any decision made by the President will go over well.
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HigherThanTheSun

Gender: Male
Age: 33
Location: UK

Britain has effectively ruled out any sort of military action in Syria, at least for now. Curious to see how the US and France will react to this, would be surprised if France was still willing to get involved and Obama won't like the US doing anything all on their own though it will be hard not to after the rhetoric from the last few days.

Anyway I'm happy the UK isn't getting involved, don't think anybody has a clue what they would be getting themselves into if they did, which I think is why the vote went the way it did.
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meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

HigherThanTheSun wrote:

Britain has effectively ruled out any sort of military action in Syria, at least for now. Curious to see how the US and France will react to this, would be surprised if France was still willing to get involved and Obama won't like the US doing anything all on their own though it will be hard not to after the rhetoric from the last few days.

Anyway I'm happy the UK isn't getting involved, don't think anybody has a clue what they would be getting themselves into if they did, which I think is why the vote went the way it did.

Yeah. I read about that yesterday. I wish the US could follow the same logic. I really don't like the idea that it suddenly looks like we'll be the only country going in. I guess we've got to feed the military industrial complex and keep unemployment numbers down to keep the left and right happy.
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bongritsu
电子人 ( ｃｙｂｏｒｇ)

Location: bog

I don't even know where Kerry Is Getting his info from lmao. Even the most anti Assad reports I have seen only put the casualties of the CW attack at ~400 now it's aparrently ~1400? This is nuts. also lmao @ "the Assad regime was agressivley trying to clear out the Damascus suburbs" that not even close to what was happening in Damascus in the days/weeks leading up to the CW attack. This whole thing is really starting to stink.
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bongritsu wrote:

I don't even know where Kerry Is Getting his info from lmao. Even the most anti Assad reports I have seen only put the casualties of the CW attack at ~400 now it's aparrently ~1400? This is nuts. also lmao @ "the Assad regime was agressivley trying to clear out the Damascus suburbs" that not even close to what was happening in Damascus in the days/weeks leading up to the CW attack. This whole thing is really starting to stink.

I don't care if they lie or not. I don't also care if it's 400k or 1400k and if they use it as a justification. The only important thing is that we have a government that ruthlessly kills its own people and the civil war situation has resulted in the sprouting of numerous terrorist group and a foreign intervention (whatever the hidden intentions might be) is the best option right now. It should've happened a year ago but it's never too late.

bongritsu
电子人 ( ｃｙｂｏｒｇ)

Location: bog

tekin wrote:

I don't care if they lie or not. I don't also care if it's 400k or 1400k and if they use it as a justification. The only important thing is that we have a government that ruthlessly kills its own people and the civil war situation has resulted in the sprouting of numerous terrorist group and a foreign intervention (whatever the hidden intentions might be) is the best option right now. It should've happened a year ago but it's never too late.

Personally I can't support anything that's based on misinformation and emotional appeal. As far as I'm concerned there are no "right" sides in this fight. At this point the alawites are fighting for survival, and tbh I don't believe they used chemical weapons. Also, The FSA arnet exactly taking prisoners, if you are an alawite or a christen and you are found by an FSA unit your are probably going to die a humiliating death. In dont see why the west should help facilitate revenge killing. But anyways that's irrelevant because the action that the states is going to take is just to save face on their "red line" comment and to keep the Israelites and Saudis happy. It won't have any real effect on assads ability to make war.

Now this is political theatre
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