Syria

[mota bhai 2,675]

I want to join the group not screw them.

Letting you join would be like knowingly doing something that may end up breaking up a happy home or two or three. I can not, in good conscience, do that.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Letting you join would be like knowingly doing something that may end up breaking up a happy home or two or three. I can not, in good conscience, do that.

What ever.

[mota bhai 2,675]

What ever.

Sorry, I may be a Democrat but I am not amoral.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Sorry, I may be a Democrat but I am not amoral.

Dream group that doesnt exsit.

[james&olya 1,121]

So I have a bunch of Facebook sockpuppet accounts with various names of both genders and various ethnicities.

My main account (where I use my real name) has a number of friends I've made over the years. Some VJ folk, some college friends, some work friends, family, etc. Some of the college friends are Bangladeshi. One of them is in Dhaka right now.

As a result, I've been somewhat in the loop on what's happening there. In a nutshell, a fight between secularists and Islamists. The Islamists have been going around intimidating women traveling alone or without the proper coverings. The secularists have blogs in which they go out of their way to insult the Prophet. Both sides sound pretty freakin' mad at each other.

Anyway, so what else is new? Well, one of my friends and I used to troll Israel chat rooms back in college. On IRC. Maybe some of you remember IRC, I believe it is still around. She told me I should help her troll the Facebook page of a British Imam. He is of Bangladeshi birth and is the very definition of religious nutcase. He wants a strict Sharia state in Bangladesh in the Saudi sense of the word. You all know what that means.

Here's where it gets interesting. His Facebook page also has a lot of material on Syria. Apparently he was there recently and spent a lot of time with the rebels.

So where am I going with this? If what I've seen on his page and read in the comments is any indication, we (the United States) should probably be siding with Assad. The rebels are trouble. They're Islamists, in the worst possible sense of the word.

I understand there is a saying in Arabic countries to the effect that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. I think we should know better by now than to adopt this misguided philosophy. When dealing with some of the rat's nests of the world we may need to accept that 'the enemy of my enemy may also be my enemy' and anything we do to strengthen one against the other may cause us immense grief somewhere in the future. Look at our history with Iran and with the al Qaeda resistance to the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. We need to stay the he!! away from this particular rats nest. No good will come of our being involved on either side of this conflict.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

So I think you neglected to consider the course fully on this one. You say this guy wants islamist stuff, okay. And most of the world agrees that Assad is bogus. So, to this guy, good = islamist. So of course he is going to look for and be connected with the islamist elements in the "good fight" against Assad. It's a way of gathering his flock, because most agree that is Assad is bad, so if they agree on this, then he can convince them to agree on other things.

I have read that there are some islamist elements in the rebels, which makes it much more complicated. I do agree that we don't understand the situation fully and that intervening is not good. But how long can the world watch this slaughter happen? My friend used to visit Syria and he said that was where the "fun times" were. Sad.

[decocker 7,198]

the u.s. focus should be refugees. that's it.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

the u.s. focus should be refugees. that's it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3eAUN6_JSU

The UN's refugee agency is appealing for $1.5 billion to help refugees fleeing the violence in Syria.

The UN says more than one million Syrians could head into neighbouring countries during the first half of 2013.

That's double the current number across the region - in Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, North Africa and Lebanon.

Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall reports from Al Jalil refugee camp in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

[mota bhai 2,675]

the u.s. focus should be refugees. that's it.

No. Please. Let Canada take the refugees, that is their specialty.

But how long can the world watch this slaughter happen?

Until it's over?

[decocker 7,198]

No. Please. Let Canada take the refugees, that is their specialty.

we don't have to take in the refugees to focus on their support.

[mota bhai 2,675]

we don't have to take in the refugees to focus on their support.

?

[GandD 5,966]

?

Like, they can be given aid without moving them.

[mota bhai 2,675]

We need to stay the he!! away from this particular rats nest. No good will come of our being involved on either side of this conflict.

Agreed. You're wise, for a liberal.

Like, they can be given aid without moving them.

Why would you want to give them AIDS? You monster.

[GandD 5,966]

Why would you want to give them AIDS? You monster.

I only wanna give them one aid.

[decocker 7,198]

?

money.

as a poor liberal that is my solution for the world.

Edited May 8, 2013 by val erie