13 replies to this topic

[Tatar Khan]

Syria is in the news today again after a bloody massacre. The current situation is that Syrian government is blaming the terrorist groups, which are present there. Al-Qaeda is would be present in Syria as one of its goals is overthrow of the dictatorships and monarchs and establishment of Islamic democracies. The opposition to Syrian government is blaming the government for the massacre. The resulting pictures and videos have shocked the world, more specifically the western world, and the leadership of Western world is currently siding with the opposition to Syrian government. UN chief on the ground doesn't have a clear report and the Xinhua, Chinese main news agency, is avoiding placing a blame on either side. Russian news agency RussiaToday while also avoiding the blaming any side is indirectly attacking the West for misrepresentation of the situation on the ground.

This of course leaves the Syrians in the middle of the political games of the great powers. Russia has no interest in attacking the Syrian regime because Syria is providing the only currently available international port where it can refuel and service its military vessels. China is also as it is becoming a bigger and bigger power is looking for allies and Syria could also be a great place to refuel and repair its military vessels and thus create ability to put naval presence in Mediterranean.
The west on other hand has no love for Assad's regime due to its affiliation with Iran and Russia and also the west has strong pressure from its electorate to do something about the plight of the Syrian people. The plight of the Syrian people is broadcasted through unofficial channels such as Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and so the integrity of the reports could not be verified. The fact that these reports often come from the people representing the opposition to Syrian government puts a stamp of bias on them.
The exact situation on the ground in Syria is unclear so far no foreign journalists are allowed to go freely and so far the western journalists and the Russian journalists reported a completely different stories about what is happening in Syria.

The question I pose is could the crisis could be resolved or is Syria and its people will become a fodder in the game of the Great Powers with crisis continuing?

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...ria-sunday.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk...e-east-18229870
http://www.rt.com/ne...annan-plan-307/
http://news.xinhuane...c_131613846.htm

[Davidu]

Syria is a key player in the region and an old ally of Russia. On the other hand it has no oil so, unfortunately, nobody cares. Just look how fast the West mobilised against Gaddafi's regime and how long it takes them to do ANYTHING about Syria.
The latest news indicate Turkey might step in as they want a more active role in the region.
And "the people" are, as usual, meat for the grinder. Sadly, it's never been different, especially in the orient.

[Tatar Khan]

The West is not mobilising against Syria for few reasons. One is that Russia and China are blocking it. Russia is doing it very actively. 3 squadrons from 3 different navies (Blatic, Pacific, Black Sea) are throwing training exercises, maneuvers and wargames next to Syrian shores over next 3 months. So Syrian regime got it self a defensive cover. The second is the West's experience with the situations where they helped to overthrow the regime. The gain from that is small. Very little money is being made from Afghanistan, actually it is just a sinkhole we will be throwing money in for decades. The biggest operations there are by Chinese in mining copper. In Iraq the biggest players are not American companies or Western companies but the Russian, Chinese and Iranian companies. In Lybia after regime overthrow there is somuch instability that nothing is going to happen for years. In Egypt the new president and the parliament are not Western leaning either. So in the end, there is high chance that when Syrian rebels win they will not exactly throw themselves open to western commercial interests.
The incident with Turkey has made it a secure base for the Syrian rebels to launch raids or retreat to. So this is perfect for guerilla army as it now has a safe haven to hide out in if things get tough.

[Davidu]

Apparently the US has sanctioned the CIA to provide whatever help possible to the rebels. Read it in some newspaper... so things will get even bloodier.

[Hawker]

These days Syrians rebels attack Turkey if you don't know

[Davidu]

BBC said it was Assad's forces that shelled the turkish town. Probably they were trying to hit the rebel-held border crossing.

[Edric O]

If Turkey intervenes in Syria militarily, there are many Arabs who will suddenly remember the centuries of Ottoman domination and their rebellion against it, 100 years ago. One of Assad's biggest problems right now is that he has a horrible public image as a monster and a tyrant. If Turkey joins the fighting on the side of the rebels, Assad will be able to present himself as a patriotic Arab fighting for independence against Turkish imperialists and their puppets. So he might be glad to see a (small) Turkish intervention, so he can rally his supporters under the banner of independence.

[Davidu]

Assad plays the game well... he is just showing off that he can spill hell in the whole middle east. He's saying: let me be or this is going to blow up everything.

[Hawker]

Assad wants all hehe

[Hawker]

Any news? hehe at my part nop

[Davidu]

just the usual... rebels ushing in very slowly, otherwise a massacre... and all this spilling out into Turkey but more into Lebanon. nothing else much.

[Hawker]

Okay, thanks

[Davidu]

check http://www.bbc.co.uk they have pretty well written news there. and you can skip between Europe, Middle-East and whatever other region you want.

[Hawker]

Oh thanks about that , very intersting.