You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria now in Civil War status say UN bigshot
2012-06-13
The 15-month-old conflict in Syria has grown into a full-scale civil war in which the government is attempting to recapture large swathes of urban territory it has lost to the opposition, the UN peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday.

"Yes, I think we can say that," UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous said....
Posted by:Lord Garth

#17  CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > THE BEAR WARNS WAR IS COMING UNLESS THE SYRIAN REBELS COULD BE CRUSHED IN 4-6 WEEKS | [WND.com] RUSSIA WARNS [Assad = Syria] WAR IS COMING, SOURCE REVEALS GOVERNMENT GIVEN 4-6 WEEKS TO CRUSH OPPOSITION.

ARTIC = Mama Russia repor did not elaborate on what kind of war was specifically coming or could break out.

* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > ISRAEL TO "EVACUATE TEL AVIV" IN CASE OF MISSLE ATTACK, espec by LRBMS, Rocket Arty wid Unconventional Warheads.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US, IRAN RACE TO LIMIT EACH OTHER'S INFLUENCE AFTER ASSAD FALLS.

* WAFF > ANKARA'S RED LINE.

Syrian mil buildup detected near Aleppo may have serious implications or effects for Turkey's national, geopol security which it may not be able to ignore or alleviate short of Turkey-specific mil intervention agz Syria???

* SAME > THE RISE OF TURKEY IN THE BALKANS.

Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-06-13 23:00  

#16  "It's almost as if Obama is hustling for votes money from the Muslim Brotherhood types."

FTFY, EU.
Posted by: Barbara   2012-06-13 21:43  

#15  IIRC wasn't it bin Laden's master plan to start a war with the U.S. / west so we would go after the "terrorists" and show how the respective current M.E. regimes were in cahoots with us? That way the Muslim proletariat would rise up to overthrow said regimes and begin to form a new pan-Muslim caliphate. Smells like Arab spring to me. That just begs the above questions on why we are supporting the actors that we are supporting. Fishy. Very fishy.
Posted by: Lowspark   2012-06-13 20:55  

#14  One of his favorite restaurants get blown up?
Posted by: tu3031   2012-06-13 19:18  

#13  ebbang,

I was thinking those are reasons to favor a cease fire. However, as I implied, there is little chance of that.
Posted by: Lord Garth   2012-06-13 16:51  

#12  Lord Garth, those all sound like reasons why we should support Assad.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2012-06-13 16:42  

#11  At the margin, I agree that the civil war in Syria isn't something the US should try unwind and, in any event, without use of military force our options are minimal (a few more economic measure and a few more diplomatic ones).

However, there are real problems here.

1/ stocks of bio/chem stuff in Syria that could go to terror groups if the Civil War continues.

2/ the remaining Christian communities in Syria are more in danger every week

3/ ditto the Kurds

4/ ditto any remaining secular liberals
Posted by: Lord Garth   2012-06-13 15:04  

#10  One thing that seems apparent is that throughout this whole "Arab Spring" thingy our U.S. government has consistently sided with the "demonstrators" or "rebels" or whoever is opposed to the existing governments in the Arab Middle East.

Sunni Arab theocrats (i.e. the ones who'd like nothing but to kill us all) are great propagandists. In this respect, they resemble the communists, who were so successful that there was scarcely a communist movement that the media did not support, back in the days of the Cold War. A lot of politicians on both sides (GOP and Democrat) are uninformed, and prone to seeing these conflicts in black and white, David and Goliath terms. The side currently carrying out more atrocities is bad and the side with more power is bad. In truth, few people have had the luxury of using kid gloves to quell insurrections.

If Arabs living within Israel prior to the 1948 war had stayed, Israel would be a seething cauldron of insurrection, and continuous guerrilla warfare like Syria today. It's fashionable today to badmouth our Indian fighting forebears for using harsh tactics to subdue the natives during the Indian Wars over a century ago. However, if these tactics hadn't been employed, we'd be fighting them today.

The amusing thing about this selective outrage over Syria is that nothing comparable has been expressed over Sunni Arab-ruled Sudan, which hosted al Qaeda and has killed over 200K Christians and animists, and is continuing to kill 1000 people a month. Where are the calls for a no-fly zone over Sudan? My impression is that we have become the mamluks, Sunni Islam's military slaves, of the 20th century.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2012-06-13 14:35  

#9  Think there might be a little baksheesh spread around to help get rid of the "infidel" Alawites?

It's the tranzi equivalent of crusades.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2012-06-13 14:27  

#8  AlanC's explanation sounds a lot more believable than anything I've heard Bummer say. Might also explain Romney's silence.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2012-06-13 13:42  

#7  Great! Send both sides weapons and let them kill each other.
Posted by: DarthVader   2012-06-13 13:35  

#6  Aren't WE sposed to be having a civil war? Or is that after obooboo gets cashiered?
Posted by: M. Murcek   2012-06-13 13:23  

#5  IMHO the reason is that the Sunni/Salafi part of the Muzzie world (aka the rebels) are bankrolled by the Saudis and the other oil despots.

Think there might be a little baksheesh spread around to help get rid of the "infidel" Alawites?

The Saudis don't do the Russians who still see themselves as the counter weight to the US in the ME.
Posted by: AlanC   2012-06-13 13:03  

#4  Those are good questions, Yosemite.

One thing that seems apparent is that throughout this whole "Arab Spring" thingy our U.S. government has consistently sided with the "demonstrators" or "rebels" or whoever is opposed to the existing governments in the Arab Middle East. This has been in spite of indications that the anti-government folks in these countries are either unknown or else known to be just as bad if not worse than the existing governments.

One example would be Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as opposed to Hosni Mubarak. After presiding over 30 years of peace with Israel, all of a sudden Mubarak was a bad guy who just had to go. I don't know why. It's almost as if Obama is hustling for votes from the Muslim Brotherhood types.

Another example would be Syria. How is it that we have dog in this fight? Why should we care?

Then, of course, there is Libya. If Ronald Reagan had gone all out after the Lockerbie bombing to terminate Qdaffy I would have thought that would be a good thing. But the way NATO did it this year for no apparent reason just seems chickenshit.

I don't get it and have yet to hear a credible explanation. There must be something that O'Bummer isn't telling us. Romney isn't calling him on it either which would seem to indicate that the Republicans are in on it, whatever "it" is. Dunno.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2012-06-13 12:59  

#3  Fellow Rantburgers, these are "for real" questions from me. Why is this such a big news story and the UN so worried about it? I dont understand. Am I missing something? Whats the difference between the Russians giving the Syrians copters and arms compared to us giving arms and and a proxy air force/navy to the Libyan Rebels? I would think its a good thing to let the Syrians go at each others throats instead of being a tool of Iran right now.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2012-06-13 11:43  

#2  Boy Howdy!!! Nothing get's past these guys does it?
Posted by: AlanC   2012-06-13 10:49  

#1  Ditto says Chucky Krauthammer oer at FOX NEWS AM.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-06-13 00:14  

00:01