The Syrian Clusterfuck

Reason With Logic Filling said:
I'm at work
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It's a tragedy. The scale of Putin's recklessness and aggression took the West by surprise.

The civil war is effectively over, and Assad with Putin's support, will starve the remaining rebels out. I think the best we can do is try to negotiate a settlement, and provide all the humanitarian aid we can.

We should try to protect the Kurds, who allied with us, but I think Trump is right to want to get US forces out of Syria. They're an obvious target now.

It's been a debacle, as we have lost a lot of influence with Turkey, through assisting the Kurds.

But we've seen Putin for who he really is. I think we need a clear strategy, to prevent him engaging in any more "adventures".
 
Sloe Djinn said:
Can anyone enlighten me on what is at stake for the US in Syria? I don’t know anything about it. Are we having a proxy war with Russia or something for a foothold in the Middle east?
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For the past seven years, Syria has been involved in a civil war. Peaceful protests against President Bashar-Al-Assad (he's a dictator) who has been President since the year 2000 became violent. These peaceful protests then splintered off into a variety of different factions, each representing different global interests.

Faction #1 (Bad Guys)
Syrian Government/Bashar-Al-Assad.
Allies: Russia (Putin), a variety of Shia Militias.

Faction #2 (The Good Guys)
The Kurds (an ethnic minority group) spread across northern Syria. They've secured democracy in the region of Rojava.
Allies: United States, a coalition of various Western-European nations.

Faction #3 (Pure Evil)
ISIS, a militant jihadist group who has been shocking the world with their disgusting brutality in recent years. Fortunately, they've lost most of their territory.

President Assad is trying to stay in power at the expense of the democratic process by any necessary means.
 
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Pin said:
Faction #2 (The Good Guys)
The Kurds (a large ethnic group) spread across northern Syria.
Allies: United States
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I wouldn't just name the US as allies. There are other western countries, most of them in Europe, who love to get involved in things, like France and Great Britain, and (one of?) the Kurds' weapons deliverers, Germany.

Nonetheless, this was well put.
 
Basically Assad is like a lynchpin for a lot of stability. You start fucking with that guy and other problems are going to inevitably arise. Maybe now was an optimal time for it though, who knows. It's going to have an after effect though, from unexpected places. Maybe not soon, but eventually.
 
Other problems like the US (and in consequence its allies) and Russia warring in Syria? ISIS becoming more powerful again because everybody else is too busy clobbering each other to death? Another wave of refugees flooding Europe?

Does anyone know why Putin wants to keep Assad in power? Officially, I think, he said something about maintaining some sort of stability, which there wasn't to begin with. But what are his connections to him? What does he have to gain from this?
 
Ginny said:
Other problems like the US (and in consequence its allies) and Russia warring in Syria? ISIS becoming more powerful again because everybody else is too busy clobbering each other to death? Another wave of refugees flooding Europe?

Does anyone know why Putin wants to keep Assad in power? Officially, I think, he said something about maintaining some sort of stability, which there wasn't to begin with. But what are his connections to him? What does he have to gain from this?
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Between 1955 & 1960, the Russia (The former Soviet Union) gave Syria more than 200 million dollars in military-aid in exchange for trade and Soviet influence. Putin wants to reclaim Russia's former sphere of influence. In preserving the interests of Assad, he preserves his own by extension, being a dictator.

Source about Soviet trade from the CIA.
 
Pin said:
Between 1955 & 1960, the Russia (The former Soviet Union) gave Syria more than 200 million dollars in military-aid in exchange for trade and Soviet influence. Putin wants to reclaim Russia's former sphere of influence. In preserving the interests of Assad, he preserves his own by extension, being a dictator.
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Probably the reason he doesn't want to make another run for president in six years. :uhyeahsure: He expects to be dictator by then. And he'll be dictator of what? A run down country of little to no own economic value because he wasted it all on becoming "President for life" for how long again? 20 years? And then what?
 
Ginny said:
Probably the reason he doesn't want to make another run for president in six years. :uhyeahsure: He expects to be dictator by then. And he'll be dictator of what? A run down country of little to no own economic value because he wasted it all on becoming "President for life" for how long again? 20 years? And then what?
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Fortunately, the world is by-and-large becoming more democratic.
 
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