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Thread: Syria under Bashir Assad (closed end 2014)

  1. #361
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    Default U.S. Strategy in Syria

    U.S. Strategy in Syria

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  2. #362
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    Default The Ghost of Iraq Past and Syria Present

    The Ghost of Iraq Past and Syria Present

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  3. #363
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    Default Airpower Options for Syria

    Airpower Options for Syria

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    Default Ambassador Christopher Hill and General Anthony Zinni on Syria

    Ambassador Christopher Hill and General Anthony Zinni on Syria

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    Default General Dempsey Lays Out Goals for Syria Attack

    General Dempsey Lays Out Goals for Syria Attack

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  6. #366
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Who has given help for Syrian refugees?

    The Guardian has analysed UNOCHA data and produced several diagrams, which refuse to be copied as attachments:http://www.theguardian.com/news/data...uch?CMP=twt_gu

    What is interesting is not who has paid the most, but those whose money has arrived - on Fig.1.

    The US has boasted of being the largest donor so far - which is true - but the donations look a little different when considered as a proportion of the donor's economy. We've done the calculations and, when stacked as a percentage of GDP, Kuwait emerges as the largest donor.
    davidbfpo

  7. #367
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    Default Syria Thoughts

    Syria Thoughts

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  8. #368
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    Default CNAS to Host Live Stream and Twitter Chat on Syria Tonight

    CNAS to Host Live Stream and Twitter Chat on Syria Tonight

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    Default Remarks by President Obama on Syria

    Remarks by President Obama on Syria

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  10. #370
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    Default No US Military Consensus on Syria

    No US Military Consensus on Syria

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  11. #371
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    Default Syria Crisis Underlines Pentagon’s Move to the Back Seat

    Syria Crisis Underlines Pentagon’s Move to the Back Seat

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  12. #372
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    Default Smoke, mirrors, gold and guns

    I am sure we each have our own "word cloud" for Syria, alongside a variety of human emotions and realpolitik. SWC now has several threads on Syria: 'Syria: the case for action', 'Syria: The case for inaction', 'The background to Syria, history, people and more' and 'Syria: a civil war (closed)'.

    In the background are two older threads: 'Muslim Brotherhood': and 'US policy with an ally like the Saudis':http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=2119

    Now to the "meat" IMHO. Three interesting articles trying to make sense of the political and ideological / theological competition within Syria, in which Saudi Arabia is the leading player now.

    Two short articles: 'Saudi Arabia and the Syrian Brotherhood', which ends with:
    If the Saudi agenda in Syria is similar to that of Egypt and aims at bringing in a ‘Syrian el-Sisi,’ things will not go down well with many of us,” a leader of the Brotherhood said. “We do share the same short-term goals with the Kingdom,” he insisted, “but our long-term relationship is currently being reevaluated.”
    Link:http://www.mei.edu/content/saudi-ara...an-brotherhood

    Then from Reuters: 'Saudi Arabia boosts Salafist rivals to al Qaeda in Syria', with one passage:
    If Riyadh's aim is to thwart al Qaeda enemies by rallying local Syrian Islamists in the way Washington did with Iraq's Sunni tribal Sahwa, it may be miscalculating, said commentator Hazem Amin. Unlike the Iraqi fighters, he said, Syrian Salafists were increasingly embracing radical views close to al Qaeda.
    Link:http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...e=RSS&irpc=932

    For the really dedicated, the third link is to an on-line publication from the London-based Cordoba Foundation, whose latest issue looks at the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia:
    In this edition, we analyse the Saudi state and its Salafi trends
    Link:http://www.thecordobafoundation.com/...hp?id=4&art=69
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  13. #373
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default The Syrian uprising and war maps

    A French article on mapping the conflict:
    The cards they reflect reality? Are they an objective view of the world, its divisions, its conflicts? Nothing is less certain. They often reflect a subjective point of view and also biases. They are also part of the information war, as evidenced by the Syrian conflict.
    Link:http://orientxxi.info/magazine/l-ins...nne-et-la,0397

    No-one says here that a civil war is easy to understand. I suspect in the US Civil War similar maps could be produced, especially in the west.
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  14. #374
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    Default

    I wonder how the logistics of daily life work for the residents of that pocket in eastern Damascus?



    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    No-one says here that a civil war is easy to understand. I suspect in the US Civil War similar maps could be produced, especially in the west.
    Probably more complex, even. The area where I grew up, Southern Appalachia, was quite a patchwork. East Tennessee was nominally part of the Confederacy until 1863, but plenty of folks never bought in.
    If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)

  15. #375
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    Default

    I wonder how the logistics of daily life work for the residents of that pocket in eastern Damascus?
    As I understand from some reading the people are starving. Somehow that fact and situation have slipped from the media's reporting. When the chemical incident happened only then did I realise that several eastern suburbs had been rebel-held for over a year.
    davidbfpo

  16. #376
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    Default Damascus suburb: civilians exit

    An update on Ganulv's question:
    I wonder how the logistics of daily life work for the residents of that pocket in eastern Damascus?
    A BBC News report:
    Thousands of Syrian civilians have finally been allowed to leave the besieged Damascus suburb of Moadamiya....At least three of Damascus's suburbs - Yarmouk, Eastern Ghouta and Moadamiya - have been besieged by government forces for several months....The situation has become so desperate that earlier this month Muslim clerics issued a religious ruling allowing people to eat cats, dogs and donkeys just to survive. Those animals are usually considered unfit for human consumption in Islam.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24730536

    Note the fighters in this suburb have stayed behind, one can guess what will happen now.
    davidbfpo

  17. #377
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by davidbfpo View Post
    An update on Ganulv's question:

    A BBC News report:

    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24730536

    Note the fighters in this suburb have stayed behind, one can guess what will happen now.
    Thanks for passing that one along, Dave. Earlier today I saw the BBC piece regarding the polio outbreak in Syria. I saw cases of polio while living in Guatemala near the end of the civil war there. I have had more than one public health/medical professional tell me they refuse to believe that, an indication of how vanishingly rare the disease is outside of Pakistan and Nigeria today.
    If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)

  18. #378
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    Default I thought this one would get more media traction.

    The Israeli Air Force carried out an airstrike yesterday (01 November 2013) near Latakia against Russian-made missiles apparently intended for delivery to Hezbollah.
    If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. – Mark Twain (attributed)

  19. #379
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    Default "In Syria, everyone has lost. No one is winning."

    A useful glimpse into the Syrian civil war, using interviews with three rebels, two of whom give up and leave:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...nflict-rivalry
    davidbfpo

  20. #380
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    Default As Syrian Chemical Attack Loomed, Missteps Doomed Civilians

    An in-depth WSJ article, subtitled:
    Miscalculations by the Syrian regime, opposition groups and U.S. government left them all unprepared for the Aug. 21 gas attack.
    Link:http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...94203188283242

    Classic we don't understand what the target speaks:
    As Syrian troops battled rebel forces in the Damascus suburbs Aug. 18, U.S. eavesdropping equipment began picking up ominous signals.

    A special Syrian unit that handles chemical weapons was ordered closer to the front lines, officials briefed on the intelligence say, and started mixing poisons. For two days, warning signs mounted until coded messages went out for the elite team to bring in the "big ones" and put on gas masks.

    U.S. intelligence agencies didn't translate the intercepts into English right away, so White House officials didn't know what the Syrian regime was planning until the assault began.
    davidbfpo

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