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Marcello

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Now even disregarding the atrocious English, the source doesn't look too reputable itself, and is quite obviously partisan in the conflict. However, it would fit; Todenhöfer's 2012 softball-serving interview with Assad is well-known, and the content here is just too in-your-face. The man has never met an Arab despot he didn't like after all.

Oh, it could certainly be a fabrication from start to finish. Unfortunately while some years ago such thing could have been safely dismissed out of hand now it is within the realm of the possible.

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And machine gun started firing again

 

It's a very common failing in people who were raised under Soviet socialism - belief that popular mobilization somehow enables people to transcend the laws of economics. See Venezuela for modern example.

 

No, it is just question of 1) Personal and family experience and 2)Definition of "rebuild"

As Russian who survived 1990th, with all aspects of it - from growing own potato to building house by own hands with very basic materials - i know what people could do when they need to. I do not think Syrians are less productive then Russians, they got nice climate and land, they got tradition of self-employment (something almost lost in Russia during USSR years) - so they surely could do it. Yes It is unlikely they would get high-speed trains network, nuclear power stations and other high-tech infrastructure, but i see no reasons they can't fix dents in walls, craters in roads etc. Major objects like strategic bridges are more complicated (like two Ephrat bridges blown by US aviation recently) but people lived in this places for 8000 years without them....

 

 

If the refugees are any indication, I would not built on that. Even being at work at on time and working 8 hours straight seems to be a challenge for not only a few.

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If the refugees are any indication, I would not built on that. Even being at work at on time and working 8 hours straight seems to be a challenge for not only a few.

 

I know little about refugees and how representative they are, but anyway rebuilding Syria is up to Syrians. Russia, among others, could provide them some help (for example Syrian fruits are already going to Russia in replacement of Turkish and Egyptian ones https://www.bfm.ru/news/310874)but with all respect they can't expect somebody to build new country for them.

 

By the way this is also Aleppo (Gov-controlled part). March 2016

1c0d64c2d8573b9eea21476bfe7f911f.jpg

(from this article http://tass.ru/spec/syria_story )

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However, this FP article on Aleppo helps repair the magazine's reputation in my eyes. It too looks back to the 1990's (1999 to be exact) but it does so without a propaganda angle, but rather an honest attempt to understand Russia's tactical and operation objectives:

 

 

A city blasted into rubble, its civilians fleeing, hiding, or simply dying in the ruins while a world looks on in horror. Bombs spilling from Russian warplanes and shells and rockets thundering from Russian guns and launchers. Today this is a portrait of Aleppo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Not long ago, it was Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.

 

 

Another example of Western journalism and political standards: With all chest beatings about "poor Aleppo" , they carefully avoid mentioning the fact that most of Aleppo population live in Gov-controlled areas (pre-war population is 2.3mln, estimation of rebel-held area population is ~250k) and this populated areas are mostly intact (despite rebel hell-cannons sometimes reaching them with their gas tanks of explosives).

 

 

Rebel hell-cannon rounds and rockets hitting populated areas controlled by the Syrian government wouldn't fit The Narrative.

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However, this FP article on Aleppo helps repair the magazine's reputation in my eyes. It too looks back to the 1990's (1999 to be exact) but it does so without a propaganda angle, but rather an honest attempt to understand Russia's tactical and operation objectives:

 

 

A city blasted into rubble, its civilians fleeing, hiding, or simply dying in the ruins while a world looks on in horror. Bombs spilling from Russian warplanes and shells and rockets thundering from Russian guns and launchers. Today this is a portrait of Aleppo, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Not long ago, it was Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.

 

Another example of Western journalism and political standards: With all chest beatings about "poor Aleppo" , they carefully avoid mentioning the fact that most of Aleppo population live in Gov-controlled areas (pre-war population is 2.3mln, estimation of rebel-held area population is ~250k) and this populated areas are mostly intact (despite rebel hell-cannons sometimes reaching them with their gas tanks of explosives).

Rebel hell-cannon rounds and rockets hitting populated areas controlled by the Syrian government wouldn't fit The Narrative.

The whole "barrel bomb" story is so annoying. <_<

 

Is a BAZALT 250 kg bomb any less explosive or "more humane"? Well actually more kaboom and more reliable than the bubble gum and duct tape improvised bombs that don't fuse at times.

 

choose one: http://bazalt.ru/en/aircraft_bomb/

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The whole "barrel bomb" story is so annoying. <_<

 

Is a BAZALT 250 kg bomb any less explosive or "more humane"? Well actually more kaboom and more reliable than the bubble gum and duct tape improvised bombs that don't fuse at times.

 

choose one: http://bazalt.ru/en/aircraft_bomb/

 

They (bombs) are more accurate, while hell cannons with XV century-grade accuracy are more like weapon of terror shooting "from our district into infidel's district".

Example - Aleppo's Kurds district under hell cannons fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlwxiKIsdDs

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When this is over, the lack of water that was causing a lot of the social issues will remain. Basically Syria population was outstripping the available water.

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When this is over, the lack of water that was causing a lot of the social issues will remain. Basically Syria population was outstripping the available water.

Syria cannot rebuild until the drought ends.

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When this is over, the lack of water that was causing a lot of the social issues will remain. Basically Syria population was outstripping the available water.

Syria cannot rebuild until the drought ends.

 

Photo from Rus war correspondent, Aleppo today

14524399_249109538818175_165896573088321

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When this is over, the lack of water that was causing a lot of the social issues will remain. Basically Syria population was outstripping the available water.

Syria cannot rebuild until the drought ends.

Photo from Rus war correspondent, Aleppo today

14524399_249109538818175_165896573088321

The bananas are imported, the citrus and lemons probably local produce. the canned fruits can come from anywhere. So what does it tell us? That Syria is not bone dry. Not really news, but still Syria lacks water. Many fields have been left alone years ago because there wasnt enough water. Turkey having build lots of water dams the last decades does not exactly help with the water supply either.

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When this is over, the lack of water that was causing a lot of the social issues will remain. Basically Syria population was outstripping the available water.

Syria cannot rebuild until the drought ends.

The bananas are imported, the citrus and lemons probably local produce. the canned fruits can come from anywhere. So what does it tell us? That Syria is not bone dry. Not really news, but still Syria lacks water. Many fields have been left alone years ago because there wasnt enough water. Turkey having build lots of water dams the last decades does not exactly help with the water supply either.

 

Syria is big country with climate ranging from dry stone desert to wet warm coastal regions. Saying that " Syria cannot rebuild until the drought ends" is too much oversimplification. "Many fields have been left alone years ago" - the same in Russia, still Russia is not starving.

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Again - all of those things you mention fall under definition of "economy". They all require money or money-equivalents. The time a doctor is spending tending her garden instead of treating patients? Money. Time engineer is spending rebuilding his bedroom instead of working in a factory? Money. Extra 48 hours trucker has to drive to get from Aleppo to Damascus because bridges are blown out and the fastest road from here to there is patrolled by a militia which the government has no money to put down? Also money. So will every last Syrian die of hunger? No. Will their standard of living remain somewhere around 1950s level for the next 10 years without major investments which nobody will provide? Yes.

 

Nice example of present-day economic thinking, where money are product of FRS or US Treasury, not convenient equivalent of human labor. With working hands in place, plus some basic organization, plus basic law enforcement, plus climate\environment conditions - it is all components of steady rebuilding in place. Not to create high-tech stuff, but returning to 1960th level would be much better then many countries on the planet have. And do not forget that most of Gov-controlled areas are almost untouched by war.

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Its not so much that the drought resulted in people starving, its result was that half a million people lost their livelihood. The vast majority of those people were the "country folk" and not the Assad chosen ones. As per standard in these conflicts it comes down to reasons economic along tribal lines. ISIL is the true Jihadist movement in the region, the rest are first and foremost Anti-Assad.

 

Labeling the Assad opposition "jihadists" just results in that becoming a meaningless term. The rural folk tend to be more religiously conservative than the urbanites (as is the case in most places). Aleppo is a good example, it was hardly an Islamist haven prior to the war.

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http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/30/world/middleeast/john-kerry-syria-audio.html?_r=2"Audio Reveals What John Kerry Told Syrians Behind Closed Doors"

 

My own thought on reading that story on CNN was that Kerry's protestations on the Congress ring hollow, given how much time the Obama Administration spent earning the congressional rebuffs it has received. Starting with Obamacare and going on through every insult and slight Obama has heaped on Republicans in Congress, and ending with his open attempts to go around Congress via executive orders, President Obama spent years earning congressional hostility and he should not be shocked by it. I also wonder why Obama and Kerry also think Russia should go along with their ideas in spite of their poor track record where foresight and planning is concerned.

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These "barrel bombs" have the wrong ratio of case weight to explosive fill to be very effective (and adding nails and junk inside is no substitute). They're making very inefficient use of their explosives and sortees. Not that that's a bad thing, here; incompetently slaughtering civilians is preferable to competently slaughtering civilians.

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... ISIL is the true Jihadist movement in the region, the rest are first and foremost Anti-Assad.

 

 

Only problem is that they don't oppose Assad cause they want democracy and shit, they do so cause they want Sharia at least, cleansing of anyone not their brand of Islam at worst. Plus a lot of them are Al Qaeda affiliated, which makes them exactly how much different from ISIL? Or AQ are now suddenly a good guys?

Edited by bojan
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Only problem is that they don't oppose Assad cause they want democracy and shit, they do so cause they want Sharia at least, cleansing of anyone not their brand of Islam at worst. Plus a lot of them are Al Qaeda affiliated, which makes them exactly how much different from ISIL? Or AQ are now suddenly a good guys?

 

They're not Al-Qaeda! They're Al-Nusra Front! Don't spell it wrong, cause it's absolutely different things!

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Al Nusra wants an Islamist state yes, as do many of the tribal groups in Syria. Al Nusra is not the same as Al Qaeda. Not wanting democracy is not the same as genocide. I think Democracy in Syria is a bridge too far considering the tribal/ethnic divisions that existed prior to the war and are only exacerbated now.

 

The only thing that unites them is removing Assad from power.

 

ISIS and Al Queda are very different. Both are external groups that have agendas that go far beyond removing Assad from power. The US National Security Apparatus is well aware of the difference.

 

There are many countries that recognize Islamic law that aren't terrorist states, from Africa to Asia. Indonesia being the largest. Eleven countries follow Sharia law, many more recognize some form of it.

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