Why aren't we doing anything about Syria??

[SamurAchzar]

Really? The US is in a catch-22 position in regards to Syria or any other nation in trouble. If US aids Syria, any further reform might be construed as influence from US and can be invalidated by the nationalists. The new established gov't in Syria would then have less of a legitimacy, whether real or perceived, doesn't matter. If US doesn't aid Syria, it would be seen as hypocritical given how much it values human rights and democracy. I propose US doesn't help Syria because it's not the world's police. The UN is for that purpose. Meanwhile, US has problems of its own like stagnant economy, large deficit, and other problems. Why should any priority be given to problems abroad when our own aren't even fixed?

Spot on. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. However, couple it with the fact that whatever anyone does it WILL turn into a civil war between the factions and you'll see that intervening is just a waste of time, money, reputation and good will.

 

[Schadenfroh]

The way I see it the religious thrash left Europe...and Europe got better from it.
...
And yet, you choose to invoke superstion in your public oaths...says it
all...theocracy in disguise.
...

Location: Denmark

Well, maybe we should just rewrite our constitution to be more like Denmark, the UK, etc. and have an official state religion?

 

[Zebo]

Like father like son. Major massacres going on defectors say. 700 in just one town, one episode, make this 1000 number human rights groups have been saying for weeks a little low.

With a blank stare in his eyes, Tahal al-Lush said the "cleansing" in Ar-Rastan, a town of 50,000 residents in the Syrian province of Homs, prompted him to desert.

"We were told that people were armed there. But when we arrived, we saw that they were ordinary civilians. We were ordered to shoot them," said Lush, who showed his military passbook and other papers as proof of his identity.

"When we entered the houses, we opened fire on everyone, the young, the old... Women were raped in front of their husbands and children," he said, giving the number of deaths as some 700, difficult to verify as journalists are not allowed to circulate freely in Syria.

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worl...serters-raise-alarm-on-regimes-wanton-cruelty

 

[JumBie]

We are bombing the hell out of Libya but seem to be ignoring Syria. Meanwhile at least 1000 people have been killed by the Syrian regime since the protests started.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html

Can someone please explain to me the logic behind helping the people of Libya but not the people of Syria?

Removing the Syrian regime would do so much more for us geopolitically. Libya was pretty much minding their own business and hasn't done much on the world stage in years.

Syria on the other hand is still causing all kinds of problems in the middle east. Their leadership killed the leader of Lebanon. They prop up Hezbollah and provide weapons to them. And after years of silence on their border with Israel they are now paying people to protest and storm the border resulting in the death of a dozen or more people.

So can someone please explain to me why Obama is silent on the whole Syrian thing?

So you want America to have influence over Egypt, influence over Iraq, Influence over Libya. And now you have the audacity to ask why America isn't doing something in Syria? Have you any knowledge or understanding of what is going on in other countries in the middle east? Do you suppose the USA starts bombing Syria for no reason other than western influence and control over these countries. Get a grip.

These countries want control over them selves not western influence. America should have no say and no involvement in the political uprising of these countries, nor should they establish any sort of military presence.

 

[JumBie]

No.

What I have been waiting for (being form Europe) is that superstion leaves politics...worldwide....for good.
I look on with horror when I see how religion infects politics in the US...just as I look on with horror when I see religion holdning the middleast in a chokehold...

And what would atheism bring for politics? Hmm? A stop to all war? Providing food and shelter to the poor? I doubt it, don't assume that an atheist can make any more rational of decisions than a theist can. There are many prominent athiest (christopher hitchens anyone) who supported the invasion of Iraq and the so called "War on Terror". What politics need aren't atheist, or theist, no, what politics need are rationale and smart people, not these idiots that have been in office since the dawn of time.

 

[ProfJohn]

Jumbie, the operative question of the thread is this:

Why are we helping the people of Libya but not the people of Syria?

The obvious answer is oil. Libya provides oil to Europe thus the Europeans wanted to take action in order to ensure their oil supply doesn't get interrupted. Sadly the people of Syria have no oil and are thus left to die at the hands of their dictator.

What really makes this sad is that all the people who claim that Bush went into Afghanistan and Iraq just to get the oil seem awfully quiet on us going into Libya for oil. The anti-war crowd has lost all credibility since Obama took over.

 

[cutforscience]

Because Goldman Sach is allowed to do business there

 

[a777pilot]

We are bombing the hell out of Libya but seem to be ignoring Syria. Meanwhile at least 1000 people have been killed by the Syrian regime since the protests started.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/index.html

Can someone please explain to me the logic behind helping the people of Libya but not the people of Syria?

Removing the Syrian regime would do so much more for us geopolitically. Libya was pretty much minding their own business and hasn't done much on the world stage in years.

Syria on the other hand is still causing all kinds of problems in the middle east. Their leadership killed the leader of Lebanon. They prop up Hezbollah and provide weapons to them. And after years of silence on their border with Israel they are now paying people to protest and storm the border resulting in the death of a dozen or more people.

So can someone please explain to me why Obama is silent on the whole Syrian thing?

Why do we have an interest at all in either of those countries? If they want to kill each other, who cares?

 

[JumBie]

Jumbie, the operative question of the thread is this:

Why are we helping the people of Libya but not the people of Syria?

The obvious answer is oil. Libya provides oil to Europe thus the Europeans wanted to take action in order to ensure their oil supply doesn't get interrupted. Sadly the people of Syria have no oil and are thus left to die at the hands of their dictator.

What really makes this sad is that all the people who claim that Bush went into Afghanistan and Iraq just to get the oil seem awfully quiet on us going into Libya for oil. The anti-war crowd has lost all credibility since Obama took over.

I understood the question, and I was trying to imply, that the reasoning for America's deployment in Libya is to secure resources. The reason the US cant get into Syria is because of Iran, and Russia.

 

[epidemis]

That's why this is so special, Zebo.

This is Arab on Arab.

Sounds hot

 

[Oric]

Refugees from Syria to Turkey now tops 8.000

 

[Lemon law]

On a positive note, I just heard a brief Vignette on the CBS news that Syrian soldiers are defecting, to Turkey, by the truckload, because like their fellow Egyptian soldiers, they refuse to shoot their fellow Syrian civilians. That was the beginning of the end for Mubarak.

Even a rat fink like Mubarak did not shoot his own dissenting soldiers, Assad does because its army standing orders. If enough Syrian soldiers defect, it may be the end of Assad. If so, its could be a start to good riddance to the bad rubbish of Assad.

And even if we can say Turkey has past problems with its Kurdish minority, Turkey is now acting in a exemplify manner in excepting, feeding, and sheltering all defecting Syrians.

As the ideas of the new Arab spring transform the entire mid-east, and will hopefully end the regime of the Assad family.

 

[senseamp]

Because Boehner is going to go apesh!t. He's already harassing Obama over Libya.

 

[Oric]

You are doing somerhing, Angelina Jolie has visited a refugee camp. Thank you !