
A beginner's guide to the conflict in (and country of) Syria - llambda
http://thehowardbealeshow.tumblr.com/post/59787605249/a-beginners-guide-to-the-conflict-in-and-country-of
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tristanj
The author missed one of the main reasons the west is involved in Syria:
Energy. Syria sits right in between the oilfields in the Middle East and the
oil consumers in Europe, so when a pipeline is built connecting the two, Syria
has a vote for or against its completion. Since oil pipelines are both
necessary and quite profitable, this can lead to very large disputes. Al
Jazeera covered this last year here [1] where it was suggested that the West
would be inclined to usurp Assad for someone more favorable to the West's long
term energy interests. It seems their prediction was correct as the US (along
with Britain and Turkey) is escalating relations with Syria, using chemical
attacks and civil rights violations as justification.

The Guardian also has a great summary of the issue here. [2]

[1]
[http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/20128513344...](http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/201285133440424621.html)

[2] [http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-
insight/2013/au...](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-
insight/2013/aug/30/syria-chemical-attack-war-intervention-oil-gas-energy-
pipelines)

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bsaul
This passage : "As the conflict has gone on, more and more foreign powers have
supplied their side of choice with aid, both tacit and direct. Whether it be
Hizbollah joining the side of the Syrian regime via Lebanon, Russia, China,
North Korea and Iran delivering the regime military, political and financial
support"

is complete BS. Syria is an historical ally of Iran. It dates way before the
protests, and the proof of that is in its control over Lebanon via the
Hezbollah (which has been financed by Iran for more than 20 years).

If you want to understand arabs war in general, look at who's Shia and who is
Sunni (and from time to time, when sunnis and shias don't fight each other,
look at who is a jew).

Now for a quick sum up on the situation : Iran is trying to become a nuclear
power. It's a shia country. Sunni don't want that (mainly saudi arabia and
qatar). Syria is ruled by shias but the population is mostly sunni, so the
ruling party is allied with Iran. Rebels are sunnis and mostly financed by
saudi arabia and qatar.

Until there was chemical weapons involved, most occidental countries were
quite happy to see iran fight saudi arabia using a proxy war in Syria. They
sell weapons (Russia sells to Syria, US sells to Saudi Arabia), and enjoy
seeing radical islamists and dictatorial regime kill each other instead of
joining forces against Israel or bomb european cities.

But since Mr Obama said there was a "red line" and now that that "red line"
has been crossed, US is forced to take side.

On a sidenote, the US has helped islamists gain power recently in Egypt,
against dictatorial regimes, hoping for a middle term transition to democracy
(a bit like what is hoped for Turkey), but that failed very recently with
egyptians wanting islamist party out. So the whole US strategy in the middle
east right now is a bit of a mess anyway.

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revelation
More like "a westerners introduction to the Syria conflict, as narrated by our
media". I do not claim to know what is true and what isn't, but I do know that
I can't even read or understand the language of the majority in Syria. I have
no insight into sunnis and shiites. In 2010, Syria ranked place 121 in
internet penetration.

Frankly, I would not trust most any of the journalism on this topic. It's not
malice or propaganda, it's just very likely to be very poorly researched.

~~~
chime
> I do not claim to know what is true and what isn't, but I do know that I
> can't even read or understand the language of the majority in Syria. I have
> no insight into sunnis and shiites.

If the above is true, then:

> it's just very likely to be very poorly researched.

Is just a strong assumption with no factual basis.

I just watched the documentary linked in the post and found it fascinating (
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E_oOuqsuQs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E_oOuqsuQs)
). I agree with you that it is a westerners introduction to the conflict but
that does not necessarily mean it is untruthworthy, incorrect, or poorly
researched. It simply means it is seen through the eyes of a westerner.

Think of it as the same photo shot by two accomplished photographers, one 5ft
tall, another 7ft tall. Neither is fabricating anything, just looking at the
same thing from a slightly different point of view. Just because the 7ft tall
photographer is not a native like the 5ft tall photographer, does not mean the
photo is unreliable.

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ekianjo
Too bad the whole post fell short at the end with the Syrian model picture. So
what, if people were ugly there, you would not care as much ? That was a
really bad way to finish the article, which was otherwise well written.

~~~
ddeck
Not so much the photo, but the title:

 _> Also, it doesn’t hurt that Syria happens to produce a lot of gorgeous
human beings:_

WTH? Doesn't hurt what?

~~~
lostlogin
It would seem that it could hurt, judging by the weaponry the beautiful carry.

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venomsnake
A critical piece of the background is missing in my opinion - a lot of what is
going on right now in ME, Central Asia and North Africa (I think that the
events in all countries in that regions are one global trans national crisis)
was set in motion by the Great Game, the colonial era, the messy unwinding of
the Ottoman Empire and the less than stellar ending of the colonial regimes.

It has been brewing for a long time.

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C1D
I actually have a Syrian friend who I've recently been talking to about the
situation in Syria and what this man said is mostly true except that this has
been brewing for a long time.

My friend's grandfather was sent to jail when his mother was 6, becuase his
grandfather was a sunni politian against hafez assad's regim.

His grandfather was in jail for 20/30 years and he told me how his mother
didnt even know or remember her father until he was let out and she got to
know him.

He told me how when his mother was in school soldiers would drag sunni girls
wearing hijab (face cover) by their hair out of the schools and they would
never be seen again.

The government would treat Sunnis like second class citizens.

And something he didn't mention and most people don't know is that this very
same thing is starting to happened in Lebanon.

The army of Lebanon is hizbollah which is a Shia terrorist organisation and
they have been mistreating Sunnis and now Sunnis are starting to rebel. I have
a friend that was living in Lebanon and moved back to Australia because he
told me a civil war is going to start.

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seldo
Another good (and slightly less flippant) introduction to the country and
conflict from the WaPo:

[http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/29...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/29/9-questions-
about-syria-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/)

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saejox
I'm ashamed of my humanity after seeing this page.

[http://www.therevoltingsyrian.com/post/50495350134/does-
this...](http://www.therevoltingsyrian.com/post/50495350134/does-this-not-
outrage-you)

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teamgb
This looks and smells like propaganda.

Only a single post, this one, has ever been posted on the account.

[http://thehowardbealeshow.tumblr.com/archive](http://thehowardbealeshow.tumblr.com/archive)

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ljf
Propaganda for who?

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hankutark
This post is seriously flawed as it completely forgot to mention the previous
chemical attack. It happened a few months ago and there was a huge uproar by
western states, specially US. But the media suspiciously quieted down as soon
as many organisation including UN and French investigations proved that the
rebels were behind the attack. No actions were taken then by any countries.

And now this article claiming to provide info on the conflict has not a single
mention about it. I call BS!!

~~~
NoPiece
The Le Monde article makes a strong case that there have been previous
chemical attacks by the Syrian Goverment.

[http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-
orient/article/2013/05/27/chemi...](http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-
orient/article/2013/05/27/chemical-war-in-syria_3417708_3218.html)

Can you share a link substantiating that French investigations proved rebels
were behind some of the chemical attacks?

~~~
teamgb
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/1...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10039672/UN-
accuses-Syrian-rebels-of-chemical-weapons-use.html)

 _UN accuses Syrian rebels of chemical weapons use

Syrian rebels have made use of the deadly nerve agent sarin in their war-torn
country's conflict, UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte has said.

"According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical
weapons, making use of sarin gas," del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor,
said in an interview with Swiss radio late on Sunday.

"We still have to deepen our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings)
through new witness testimony, but according to what we have established so
far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas," she
added. _

~~~
NoPiece
You have one investigator commenting on preliminary evidence, but the actual
commission investigating not backing her up.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-
east-22424188](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22424188)

 _Carla Del Ponte told Swiss TV that there were "strong, concrete suspicions
but not yet incontrovertible proof".

Ms Del Ponte did not rule out the possibility that government forces might
also have used chemical weapons.

Later, the commission stressed that it had "not reached conclusive findings"
as to their use by any parties.

"As a result, the commission is not in a position to further comment on the
allegations at this time," a statement added.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the statement was terse and shows that
the UN was taken by surprise at Ms Del Ponte's remarks._

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ck2
What horrifies me is people saying "Syria this" and "Syria that".

No, it's also consisting of many (perhaps mostly) innocent people like you and
me who did nothing wrong and just want to live and get through their day
peacefully.

It's not some unified entity. It's a lot of innocent people caught in the
middle.

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Mekza
Very relevant on Hacker News.

