
Syria from Space - digdigdag
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/syria_from_space_english
======
thinkloop
Excellently made article in terms of web tech. It's media-heavy but loads
progressively and fast, _the employed effects support and enhance the content_
, resizing the browser works well even in the middle of effects, it looks nice
in general and is very readable - great work bbc team who made this.

~~~
sillysaurus3
The 2011/2017 before/after images are striking, mostly because they use
scrolling to show the before/after effect. I've never seen that before, and it
gives a lot of control over the viewing experience compared to dragging a
handlebar.

I wish it were a bit easier to tell which parts of the image are showing
bombed areas, since it's difficult to tell whether the diffs are due to
explosions or natural changes over time.

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pavement
When plenty of hereditary monarchies are given a hall pass, I cannot fathom
why anyone thought cracking open this one might have been a good idea.

I've tried to mull over whatever calculus might have been at play, when a room
full of people drew up quiet plans to rip this country apart, and I don't see
the motivation.

A generation from now, nothing will be normal in these imploded countries, but
kings and princes elsewhere will thrive with no elections at all, I'm sure.

~~~
MrQuincle
On a geopolitical level it makes sense.

[http://www.businessinsider.com/stratfor-george-friedman-
pred...](http://www.businessinsider.com/stratfor-george-friedman-predictions-
for-the-future-2016-2)

George Friedman: "Well what are our geopolitical objectives? First, that North
America be peaceful, prosperous, dominated by the United States. Second, that
no nation be able to approach the United States militarily ... Those are the
goals. It's very simple. We achieve that by making certain that all conflict
takes place in the Eastern Hemisphere so we don't have conflict here."

It's survival of the fittest countries by stirring up stuff in other
countries.

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joshfraser
The United States dropped over 12,000 bombs in Syria last year. I'm ashamed
for my country that profits from perpetuating killing and destruction.

~~~
nojvek
Source?

~~~
joshfraser
[https://airwars.org](https://airwars.org)

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samcheng
Another interesting remote-sensing analysis would be to look at NDVI
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalized_Difference_Vegetati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalized_Difference_Vegetation_Index))
- there was already a terrible drought leading up to the conflict, but this
war must have also taken a significant toll on the country's agricultural
output.

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teekert
I _still_ don't understand why the US won't fight IS together with Russia and
Assad. I though it was well known by now that the FSA and IS are difficult to
take apart, they are basically mercenaries fighting for whoever has money.
When IS got oil wells (and the means to make money off of them by secretly
selling to Erdogan) the FSA, at least partly, became IS. Assad has been saying
since the beginning that the FSA are animals, and some of them were barbecuing
heads at some point.

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Synaesthesia
Civil wars are just so vicious. The medical effects of this conflict will
linger on for decades, and most of the good doctors have left the country.

~~~
skocznymroczny
Not only doctors, engineers as well.

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1001101
The view from space doesn't quite do the destruction on the ground justice.
Also from the BBC [1]. I hope the perpetrators of this atrocity are identified
and brought to swift justice.

[1] [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-
east-38396747](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38396747)

~~~
theparanoid
If the government is overthrown the Alawites will probably vanish from the
middle-east. There's a saying "Christians to Beirut, the Alawites to the
grave" [0].

[0]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarianism_and_minorities_...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectarianism_and_minorities_in_the_Syrian_Civil_War)

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Veratyr
I don't suppose anyone knows which particular NASA dataset the BBC is likely
to have taken those images from? I'd love to find one that has high spatial
and temporal resolution.

I had a look at the linked article at the bottom
([https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/new-night-
lights-m...](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/new-night-lights-maps-
open-up-possible-real-time-applications)) but looking at the linked layer in
WorldView, it's nothing like as high resolution.

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diroussel
No mention of drought in the article. Would it make sense that the drought in
the middle east is the single biggest contributor to the instability there?

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nojvek
People argue that US should help Syria? Why? Doesn't US have their own
problems? Why spend more money on other countries problems if they aren't
helping you back?

I think all US should do is not interfere at all. That means no weapon exports
to Syria as well.

I'm with Trump on this. We are not the world's police. Last time Hillary and
Co helped, more damage was done.

