What is special about Syria

[EagleKeeper]

Link

Another Arab dictatorship
3 months worth of protests
Civilians being killed
Support of terror
Involved with assinations of government officials.


But not a peep within the media about that country.


Lack of oil?
Iranian proxie?

 

[Scotteq]

More like "Status Quo", IMHO.

 

[bigpimpatl]

Link

Another Arab dictatorship
3 months worth of protests
Civilians being killed
Support of terror
Involved with assinations of government officials.


But not a peep within the media about that country.


Lack of oil?
Iranian proxie?

there haven't been 3 months of protest, they only started a couple weeks ago.

 

[Imp]

It's Syria... Status quo in that part of the world.

North Africa may be Arab, but it's "outside" the Middle East in everyone's mind, so more of an event. I use the Nile as a dividing line for these kind of things.

 

[manimal]

because the sheeple can only handle so much before they tune out and watch Jeff Foxworthy...

 

[Perknose]

there haven't been 3 months of protest, they only started a couple weeks ago.

This, plus Syria is far more efficiently locked down than any of those other countries. Foreign press have a FAR harder time getting in, if any get in at all, and the father-to-son Assad/Syrian Baath party dynasty exercises far greater control, backed with Saddam Hussein level violent oppression, of its populace.

Therefore, the populace itself has less and far more restricted and censored access to it's own internet-level levers of expression. The Syrian government's control of both the foreign press and its own people means we don't get news from there.

For instance, not many here seem to know that in the early 80's, papa Assad's troops crushed a rebellion centered around the town of Hama, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 people in the process.

Other uprisings have been brutally put down over the years.

The Assad led Baath party in Syria is nasty man, they mean business.

 

[BladeVenom]

The leader of Syria didn't insult Obama.

 

[Lemon law]

I agree with bigpimpat, the Syrian protests have only gained some head way as of yet.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/2011323153056287399.html

To some extent the "government may be able to defuse the protests by dismissing government officials or they could try the use violent repression, but Syria too bears watching. The other question becomes, will Turkey and Iran, who have important trade ties with Syria act or sit on the sidelines if the Syrian protests keep growing.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

The leader of Syria didn't insult Obama.

Nor Bush, apparently. If he had planned some attempt to assassinate Bush Senior, we would probably have troops there, too.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I am a bit disappointed with NPR on this one, they have mentioned Syria, but it has been mostly nuclear dangers in Japan and The Colonel slaughtering innocents.

Although, they still covered Syria and Bahrain much more than the mainstream news stations.

 

[Zebo]

Look up the word practical in the dictionary and apply it to liberal foreign policy. It pretty much cover why they do or do not do things.

 

[Zebo]

This, plus Syria is far more efficiently locked down than any of those other countries. Foreign press have a FAR harder time getting in, if any get in at all, and the father-to-son Assad/Syrian Baath party dynasty exercises far greater control, backed with Saddam Hussein level violent oppression, of its populace.

Therefore, the populace itself has less and far more restricted and censored access to it's own internet-level levers of expression. The Syrian government's control of both the foreign press and its own people means we don't get news from there.

For instance, not many here seem to know that in the early 80's, papa Assad's troops crushed a rebellion centered around the town of Hama, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 people in the process.

Other uprisings have been brutally put down over the years.

The Assad led Baath party in Syria is nasty man, they mean business.

Most don't know about it because the All-Israel-All-The-Time United Nations is too busy to focus on it to make news. Same reason most third world slaughters go quiet. 200K in Algeria, 3M in Bangladesh, 1M in Darfur, etc.

 

[irwincur]

Puppet state of Iran. All that needs to be said.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Syria is a puppet of Iran. The US is not ready for that confrontation...yet. Plus, if we let the other ME countries pave the way there eventually may not be any need to get involved in that quagmire. Iran and the rest of its puppets will be backed up against a wall if it gets to that point.

Edit: lol. irwincur beat me to it.

 

[Pocatello]

There is only so much protest the news networks can cover, and people do get tired quickly watching such news.