Syria

[Alex]

What will happen if/when Assad falls ?   I don't know much about this conflict, my first thoughts were ' this will mean more bloody dinghy boys ' and why is the west kind of cheering on the jihadists who are trying to bring Assad down ?  Anyone got an idiot's guide as to what is happening there ?

[klondike]

Assad / Russia was causing most of the crap in Syria by clamping down on dissent. Now there are waring factions of Islamists. In an ideal world they'd just wipe each other out. Unfortunately it isn't an ideal world.

Assad has already fallen and buggered off to Moscow. There are some adherents of the old regime but they are mostly running. The Russians are overcommitted already in Ukraine and will not be able to reinforce their bases there so will probably pull out. The main reason they were there was to give them a naval base on the Med which they will certainly want to keep but simply won't be able to.

Result? Yeah - probably more dinghy boys I fear.

[ansu]

Seems we all have to admit that the "world order" is changing. I suppose without the help of Russia and possibly Iran Assad's chances to maintain his power will be small. However, I don't have any clue what Syria will look like in future. At school they told us that the Arab mentality is very difficult to understand and that they need a "strong" leader - no idea whether this is still applicable, but it's obvious that there are a lot of players in the game - as we say - there. Just let's wait and see.

[JBR]

Seems we all have to admit that the "world order" is changing. I suppose without the help of Russia and possibly Iran Assad's chances to maintain his power will be small. However, I don't have any clue what Syria will look like in future. At school they told us that the Arab mentality is very difficult to understand and that they need a "strong" leader - no idea whether this is still applicable, but it's obvious that there are a lot of players in the game - as we say - there. Just let's wait and see.

'The world order is changing', yes, you are perfectly correct there.
Until a few years ago we had a 'working' stand-off, with Russia on the one side and NATO on the other.  China did not really figure in that 'arrangement' and was content to build up its assets by selling cheaply in the West and so increasing its financial power.

Things have begun to change now.  An alliance is beginning to take place between Russia, North Korea and China.  That is two major powers opposing the one other major power, the USA.  To make matters worse for us, we in Britain - and other West European countries - are being invaded by people, mainly young males, from the muslim Third World.  As a consequence of our politics, we in Britain and probably other European countries, are becoming weaker militarily as the days go by.  It is believed that we, certainly the UK, are no longer capable of defending ourselves against any real military attack by Russia and we can only hope that the US would stand with us, because on our own we have no chance of surviving.

[klondike]

Don't forget that Iran also figures in that axis of evil. It's their kamikaze drones that Russia is using in large numbers to attack Ukranian civilians and infrastructure every night.

[JBR]

Don't forget that Iran also figures in that axis of evil. It's their kamikaze drones that Russia is using in large numbers to attack Ukranian civilians and infrastructure every night.

I agree.  Iran appears to have allied itself with Russia.  

I'm not sure, but I wonder whether certain Middle East countries are intentionally sending their young men into Europe, and thence here, for political and military reasons.  We are providing potential enemies with all they need to conquer us.

[Judd]

I foresee Syria becoming a totalitarian Islamic country on the lines of Afghanistan. Goodbye to any freedoms the population may have.

[Alex]

I foresee Syria becoming a totalitarian Islamic country on the lines of Afghanistan. Goodbye to any freedoms the population may have.

Seems likely Judd, so why aren't we denouncing the 'rebels' ? 

[klondike]

What's the point? Hand wringing achieves nothing and Assad's sugar daddy is Putin so let him sort it if he can. 

If you've seen any videos of this shower they are a just a bunch of tribal fighters shooting AKs into the air from their tally wagons not a professional army. They pose no threat to the west and will probably cause no more reason for the locals to make their way across the Med than Assad is already doing.

IMO we've already poked our noses into the middle east far too much already thanks to Blair. Let the buggers get on with it.

[muddy]

Meanwhile the Middle East send its insidious tentacles around the world using its vast amounts of money .
The double dealing Qatar owns vast numbers of properties and has invested in academic institutions both in the U.K.anf in the USA .

Why does it invest in academic institutions ? 
They do not have an obvious financial return 
Just look ar the pro Palestinian demonstrations in campuses all over the west .

This is an Islamist take over .
The young males coming from dangerous countries to the U.K.  are actually coming from France .
France is not known as a dangerous country although it is becoming so for Jews and Christians .

These are not refugees these are the invading army troops .

[JBR]

Meanwhile the Middle East send its insidious tentacles around the world using its vast amounts of money .
The double dealing Qatar owns vast numbers of properties and has invested in academic institutions both in the U.K.anf in the USA .

Why does it invest in academic institutions ?
They do not have an obvious financial return
Just look ar the pro Palestinian demonstrations in campuses all over the west .

This is an Islamist take over .
The young males coming from dangerous countries to the U.K.  are actually coming from France .
France is not known as a dangerous country although it is becoming so for Jews and Christians .

These are not refugees these are the invading army troops .

Exactly.  They know that they cannot conquer us by force, so they do it in an underhand way.

[Alex]

I fear you're both right.

[Alex]

Just reading the plane taking Assad out of Syria has disappeared.

Daily Mirror

[klondike]

Perhaps he was juggling with hand grenades in it. Odd sort of hobby but others in Putin's entourage are known to participate. There were lots of reports that he and his family were already in Moscow. Maybe the windows were all secured properly in his penthouse.

[dextrous63]

It's a funny old world.  Most despots don't die a natural death at a great age.  Makes one wonder why more of them don't reflect on that and try not to be so despotic.