A reminder of why people are celebrating the end of Assads regime.
Stories like this are why I don't buy the "devil you know" argument on maintaining the status quo. The devil we know right now is a murderous psycopath dictator who has no problem murdering his own people, imprisoning them, enriching his family and setting half the continent on fire just to stay in power. He allowed russia to literally raze down cities under his watch. When I see people in Syria celebrating on the streets and ripping his statues down, I know that the devil needed to go.
Of course there is no guarantee that there is a long-term positive outcome for Syria. In fact, I will be surprised if it does play out like that. But Syrians at least deserve the chance to try after getting a hard reset handed to them on a silver platter. Heck, the western world should be fully supporting them if it means millions of refugees can return home. I don't mean that to be interpreted as immigrants=bad and time to send them packing, but rather, those who cry about their country being "ruined" by refugees should at the very least be supportive of trying to build Syria back up to the nation people want to return home to.
Way to early to say if it will ever reach that stage, and like I said I will be surprised if it plays out that way. But Syrians deserve a chance to at least try.
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The guys still ultra rich and has considerable political influence. It would make a lot more sense for the Russians to extort Assad over a long period of time. Russia also gets a kick out of harbouring its enemies' enemies.
Yeah, unless he's the dumbest dictator to ever hold power he's probably got millions if not billions squirrelled away in numbered accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. He can still be useful to Russia in the future so he's not going to "disappear". Not yet anyways.
As for what this means for Syria and the world... who knows. Dust isn't even close to settling and all folk can do is hope that it isn't Khomeini replacing the Shah.
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Stories like this are why I don't buy the "devil you know" argument on maintaining the status quo. The devil we know right now is a murderous psycopath dictator who has no problem murdering his own people, imprisoning them, enriching his family and setting half the continent on fire just to stay in power. He allowed russia to literally raze down cities under his watch. When I see people in Syria celebrating on the streets and ripping his statues down, I know that the devil needed to go.
Of course there is no guarantee that there is a long-term positive outcome for Syria. In fact, I will be surprised if it does play out like that. But Syrians at least deserve the chance to try after getting a hard reset handed to them on a silver platter. Heck, the western world should be fully supporting them if it means millions of refugees can return home. I don't mean that to be interpreted as immigrants=bad and time to send them packing, but rather, those who cry about their country being "ruined" by refugees should at the very least be supportive of trying to build Syria back up to the nation people want to return home to.
Way to early to say if it will ever reach that stage, and like I said I will be surprised if it plays out that way. But Syrians deserve a chance to at least try.
The problem is that instability can often be so much worse. If you look at Iraq, Saddam Hussein was pretty close to Assad. Hundreds of thousands disappeared. He habitually used nerve gas and other chemical/biological weapons on his own people. That included gassing entire Kurdish village and burying them in mass graves in the dessert.
After he was gone, the instability resulted in just as many deaths as the dictator.
Then you've got Iran and other outside forces purposely fostering and encouraging instability.
It's really a rock and a hard place.
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I've read that the IDF has invaded the southern part of Syria and aren't that far from Damascus. Pretty surprising to not hear about battles between them and the rebel groups. I guess this Syrian land will end up being occupied by Israel? What a mess.
Last edited by activeStick; 12-10-2024 at 03:54 PM.
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I wouldn't be surprised if putin just took whatever cash and valuables assad arrived with on his plane and killed him. Doubtful we'll ever see assad again.
I wouldn't be surprised if putin just took whatever cash and valuables assad arrived with on his plane and killed him. Doubtful we'll ever see assad again.
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I offered what I thought were reasonable rates on ass ads and got no serious takers. It was a little disappointing if I'm honest.
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I wouldn't be surprised if putin just took whatever cash and valuables assad arrived with on his plane and killed him. Doubtful we'll ever see assad again.
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Nah. There's literally a whole town near Moscow where these guys live, Barvikha, of course full of luxury sevices and stores. Former Ukraine president "Euromaidan" Janukovich lives there, as does the Milosevic familiy of Serbian fame, and former Kyrgyzstan president/authoritarian Akaev that was taken down in 2005, and former Georgian separatist leader and kleptocrat Aslan Abashidze.
Putin rewards loyalty, not competence.
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Nah. There's literally a whole town near Moscow where these guys live, Barvikha, of course full of luxury sevices and stores. Former Ukraine president "Euromaidan" Janukovich lives there, as does the Milosevic familiy of Serbian fame, and former Kyrgyzstan president/authoritarian Akaev that was taken down in 2005, and former Georgian separatist leader and kleptocrat Aslan Abashidze.
Putin rewards loyalty, not competence.
Yeah, I think Putin takes pride in sticking it to the international community. These guys are like trophies for him. You want to take Assad to be tried as a war criminal? I'll just throw him in this town full of ultra wealthy former dictators. Btw what town?
Nah. There's literally a whole town near Moscow where these guys live, Barvikha, of course full of luxury sevices and stores. Former Ukraine president "Euromaidan" Janukovich lives there, as does the Milosevic familiy of Serbian fame, and former Kyrgyzstan president/authoritarian Akaev that was taken down in 2005, and former Georgian separatist leader and kleptocrat Aslan Abashidze.
Putin rewards loyalty, not competence.
If ever there was a town that deserved the old Coventry/Dresden treatment.
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Nah. There's literally a whole town near Moscow where these guys live, Barvikha, of course full of luxury sevices and stores. Former Ukraine president "Euromaidan" Janukovich lives there, as does the Milosevic familiy of Serbian fame, and former Kyrgyzstan president/authoritarian Akaev that was taken down in 2005, and former Georgian separatist leader and kleptocrat Aslan Abashidze.
Putin rewards loyalty, not competence.
Yeah, on second thought, I'm inclined to agree with you. Putins puppets would need to have faith in knowing a safe haven is available should things go sideways.
Apparently assad transferred $135b in assets to Russia during the collapse.
Yeah, on second thought, I'm inclined to agree with you. Putins puppets would need to have faith in knowing a safe haven is available should things go sideways.
Apparently assad transferred $135b in assets to Russia during the collapse.
Yeah, on second thought, I'm inclined to agree with you. Putins puppets would need to have faith in knowing a safe haven is available should things go sideways.
Apparently assad transferred $135b in assets to Russia during the collapse.
Yup. Reading about so many bad things happening there right now. Christians being targeted, people being dragged by cars, all of these prisons being discovered.
Man, I hope they find all the prisoner locations before they die from thirst or hunger.
see I'm a suspicious bastard, I'm thinking if the first thing he says is 'I'm a civilian' then he clearly knows what's going on and is trying to differentiate himself from the guards, at which point I'm thinking he also looks pretty well fed for a guy who's been starved for 3 or 4 months
see I'm a suspicious bastard, I'm thinking if the first thing he says is 'I'm a civilian' then he clearly knows what's going on and is trying to differentiate himself from the guards, at which point I'm thinking he also looks pretty well fed for a guy who's been starved for 3 or 4 months
The whole scene was odd for sure. I've read that these reporters will have someone medically trained traveling with them just in case, so another thing that was off was that they didn't have their person look at the prisoner before sitting him down for questions.
