And next, Syria?
- Thread starter Idris2002
- Start date
Geri
wasn't born to follow
The rebels in Aleppo are now being attacked by Bashar al-Assad in the south, Kurdish insurgents in the west and Islamic State in the east.
In all honesty, I cannot support this YPG initiative to liberate Arab villages. To me it looks like territory grab by the PYD. Not only does it threaten to cut off Aleppo, their coordination with the regime will cause them to lose goodwill not only amongst Arabs but with Kurds who have suffered at the hands of Assad (I know this because I have spoken to some of them). If Assad wins, he will turn on the Kurds and annihilate them.
In all honesty, I cannot support this YPG initiative to liberate Arab villages. To me it looks like territory grab by the PYD. Not only does it threaten to cut off Aleppo, their coordination with the regime will cause them to lose goodwill not only amongst Arabs but with Kurds who have suffered at the hands of Assad (I know this because I have spoken to some of them). If Assad wins, he will turn on the Kurds and annihilate them.
teqniq
DisMembered
I was trying to think of something suitable but that'll do.
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
Very interesting interview here with Maria Zakharova by Anissa Nouai.
All very spot-on, and a powerful ending statement.
All very spot-on, and a powerful ending statement.
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
The Very Rev Dannat isn't that posh, he spoke to the express...
He's also one of the worst, least effective, and not fantastically bright CGS we've had in some time. Very poorly regarded - nice bloke, genuine, kind, and personally brave (he won an MC as a Pln Cdr in NI in the early 70's) - but not up to fighting a war on three fronts : in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Whitehall...
He's also one of the worst, least effective, and not fantastically bright CGS we've had in some time. Very poorly regarded - nice bloke, genuine, kind, and personally brave (he won an MC as a Pln Cdr in NI in the early 70's) - but not up to fighting a war on three fronts : in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Whitehall...
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
I got 10 minutes in and had to stop. I did try but it's just fucking laughable it really is.
'Western media is all propaganda but ours isn't' errr... sure
'Russia obeys international law but the West doesn't' That's absolutely classic
I'm paraphrasing of course but listening to the spokesperson of Russia's foreign ministry speaking in favour of Russian government actions on a media outlet the Russian government funds is just, well, come on. If I provided a video of a foreign office spokesperson being interviewed for half an hour by, let's say, Emily Maitlis and they said how the BBC doesn't propagandise but Russia does you'd, rightly, laugh your head off about it.
teqniq
DisMembered
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
That's interesting, and explains the rest of your post.
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
I have a finite amount of time on this planet. Why would I give a person more time if they've spoken utter bollocks for the first ten minutes? This is particularly true of government spokespersons. Did she suddenly start making really profound and previously unheard statements about international affairs at the 11th minute of the video?
You said it was 'All very spot on' when it very clearly wasn't was it? She opened her interview talking about the fucking Mayan calendar and how power has dramatically shifted in the world
I mean FFS, why take the word of a politician at face value? I didn't think you were this in lock step support of the Russian state but seems I should reevaluate that view.
coley
Well-Known Member
Aye, points taken, but if he hadn't taken the fight to Whitehall our lot would have still being fighting from snatch land-rovers, too much on one plate sums up his tenure, but well respected by the rank and file.
coley
Well-Known Member
Paywall,
coley
Well-Known Member
teqniq
DisMembered
Foreign Policy is not behind a paywall. It does however load a register/subscribe now overlay which you can dismiss by clicking on the 'X' in the top right hand corner. You only get to read the article once. The other publication linked to in the Tweet is in Dutch anyway but I posted it mainly because of his comment.
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
Agreed.
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
Touché my man but yeah you go ahead and take a government spokesperson's word as gospel and then wonder why no one takes you seriously on here, except for the booze soaked Assad and Putin worshipper.
seventh bullet
sovietwave
He's a tool. Why are you bothering?
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
No?
Saying the words of the spokesperson for the Russian state's Ministry for Foreign Affairs are 'All very spot-on' sounds a lot like you take the words of said spokesperson as gospel truth. If that's not the case then why say her words are 'All very spot-on?'
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
That's just my opinion, nuthin wrong with having an opinion is there? If you consider my opinions as gospel then... well thank you very much. I don't contest your right to disagree with what she said, would be interested in fact to see what counter-points someone who disagrees with the things she said in her interview might make. So far nobodies stepped-up... cept one guy who admits he doesn't know what he's talking about as if it's a badge of honour.
go in peace.
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
The first 10 minutes was just stupid. She literally said the Russian media doesn't do propaganda but only the west does. That's weak as piss. We know both sides do propaganda and I do agree with her about the BBC 'doc' about the nukes, I didn't see it but the premise is just embarrassing but saying her own side is telling the truth is designed for stupid conspiraloon types that RT openly targets as a segment of its audience.
Her point about power shifting is nonsense too. Power, in international affairs, ultimately comes down to who has the most and biggest guns. That's still overwhelmingly America and on that basis it hasn't really shifted at all. Putin's rehashing the 80s USSR Afghan mission, albeit more smartly and he's doing it for the same reasons of a crumbling national economy and falling oil and gas prices, something that virtually the entire Russian economy is based on.
So those are my counter points for the first ten minutes and actually my opinion of Russia's Syria policy in general. There's obviously more to Russia's policy than that but that's my counter to the video, or the first ten mins at least. I don't really want to pull this thread into the direction of debating that video though as this is primarily about Syria and not wider Russia/Western relations.
Just to give the other side of the story:
Syrian Campaign Nails Myths About Russia’s Economy
A Gas Station With Nukes? Why UK Fits the Bill Far Better Than Russia
I'm always astounded at how much cheerleading there is for America around here considering that it's the fountain head of the neoliberalism which everyone hates so much.
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
I found the bit where Annisa presses her on the difference between the Western propaganda and examples of anti-Western rhetoric in the Russian media interesting because Annisa (who works for RT) pursued this point before Maria made the point that although there are noises like that in the Russians "free media" that they have "in response to the kind of things they hear from the West", you won't hear "a billionth" (bit excessive in my opinion, a billionth) of such rhetoric coming from the Russian government itself. So in her opinion the difference is that such noises are not integrated with the public statements of the Russian government, on the other hand in the West the message from the state is working in tandem with what's in the media "orchestra".
A lot of he rest of what she says is consistent with what Russias been saying all along (I won't duplicate those points as they're right there in the vid) but I found her closing points about the Russian perception of war touching but scary (according to Anissa she had tears in her eyes at that point). On the youtube comments it's interesting that this was seen by fuckwits as a sign of weakness in the face of NATO, but it's a mistake in my opinion to think that when a woman weeps it's a sign of weakness (and anyway youtube comments are usually a sewer of ignorance, racism, sexism and anti-semetism... dunno why I checked em to be honest).
What's concerning is that a high-up in the Russian foreign ministry was moved to tears when saying what she thinks about the threat of war. Obama can weep all day long about gun-control in the US (meh) but in this case I believed it when Director Zakharova was moved to tears by the strength of her feelings on the question of Russia being dragged into war with the West. Fair play if you dismiss it as all just an act but if you saw that part of the vid (last few minutes) then I don't think you would consider her emotions at that point as a put on.
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
I'll read your links when I get a moment but your last comment is where you and the likes of CR vanish up your own arseholes. No body on here is cheerleading for America, plenty of cheerleading for Assad and Russia though. If there,s any cheerleading going on it's for the Syrian people and their revolution, all dismissed as 'western backed headchoppers' by several on here. All bombed and shelled to fuck by Assad and his Russian friend. All tortured, raped and murdered by Assad's regime in its tiny prison cells.
One other gob smacking obvious fact that people like you miss is that Russia is itself part of that neoliberalism. It's not a communist utopia taking on the great satan of American capitalism. It's governed by and run in the interests of corrupt, oligarchal, murdering gangster arseholes, pretty much like our country and America is. Why you yourself cheerlead for one section of that arrangement of power and assume everyone who calls you out for doing so is cheerleading for the other section I have no idea.
Geri
wasn't born to follow
Interesting looking article.
America picked the wrong allies against the Islamic State
GRIL (gonna read it later)
America picked the wrong allies against the Islamic State
GRIL (gonna read it later)
seventh bullet
sovietwave
Living standards in Moscow... The south?
Doctor Carrot
Marxist Henchman
Russia Insider seems to be little more than cock waving for the Russian state. It's ability to wage war has absolutely zero bearing on how well it's doing economically. Allies aside, North Korea could launch a ground invasion of the South and stand a pretty decent chance given the size of its army and military budget relative to GDP but half its people are starving.
What's the point of the second article in relation to Syria? It just seems to be 'Yeah, well, at least Russia doesn't need another state's approval' Like I give a shit if my ruling class sucks off the ruling class in America on a regular basis, what does that have to do with me or you? I don't really have any bearing on that I just suffer the consequences of it, as does Russia's people suffer the consequences of Putin's policies and the Syrian people suffer the worst consequences of the decisions of all powers involved. Again, I don't understand why this is being painted as a football match style of 'my team's better than yours.'
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
Thanks for the post, but it has a Henry Jackson Society author, so I'll bear that in mind when reading.
Similar threads
