Syrian Crisis in One Picture (Warning: Very Sad)

[mcHAPPY]

Serge Ibaka: If you don’t like refugees coming to your country, then stop voting for politicians who love to Bonb the shit out of other countries.
– via sergeibaka9


Serge Ibaka: you dont like refugees coming to your country, but you like their resources.
– via sergeibaka9

[mcHAPPY]

Oh, I agree. I'm all for letting the Persians, Turks and Arabs fight their own goddamn wars. Of course, the idea that stuff will sort itself out without affecting us doesn't really work out in practice (i.e. the entire topic of this thread). Having said that, things are never as straightforward. For example, having created the conditions for an autonomous Kurdish homeland in northern Iraq, do we abandon them now to certain death and destruction? I mean, we can go back and blame the guys who partitioned the Ottoman Empire after WWI for a lot of what has happened since but, so what? Like it or not, Europe has been in conflict with Islam for centuries and the Allies have had their fingers all over the Middle East for decades, so it's not easy or simple to just walk away.

I'm not so sure about the last paragraph. It wasn't like the Visgoths in Spain were all up in the Muslims faces in the Middle East but they still got invaded. The Hungarians and Austrians weren't building any oil pipelines and it didn't save them. The North Africans, Indians, and Persians have all been conquered, too. That part of the world is equal opportunity - they don't need an excuse.

North America is not that part of the world.

Do we really need to go through the countries the US has bombed and toppled governments of?

Canada has become just another United State.


Canada, US, Western Europe should stay out of their affairs - period. The only intervention should be opening borders to refugees and offering humanitarian aid. They should not be adding to (or creating) the unrest and instability. Their history of war and violence is no excuse to meddle and interfere for ulterior motives - whether it be as nations or private individuals.

[mcHAPPY]

Today in Syria, the situation tragically comic as the West supplies it’s “anti-Assad rebels” with weapons, who often end up switching allegiances to ISIS.

The truth is that what Solana & Scheffer were cautioning against has been going on since at least 1949 (the date of the first of six Western engineered military coup d’etats in Syria) and what we have today is the result of it.

Conclusion: Sooner or later….

“Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences…” – Robert Louis Stephenson

So if you really want to make “refugees” the election issue “du jour”, one can waste a lot of time watching the mainstream incumbent parties bicker over the “right” number of refugees to allow into Canada or how much taxpayer money to throw at aid, or even whether more Canadian “boots on the ground” should be headed over there on various “peace keeping” escapades.

OR,

You could ask the really hard hitting questions like

Why is there a refugee crisis in the first place?
Would there be one if Western foreign policy wasn’t one of destabilization and subversion going back for decades?
Could what we call “terrorism” possibly be an asymmetric response to our pre-emptive (and often brutal, often bloody, often murderous) subversion of foreign governments whom we deem unfavourable to our interests?
And, given the newer data points such as 1) the arrival of Russia’s military in Syria and 2) Canada’s deployment of military trainers to the Ukraine, another good question could be

Would you mind very much if we got into a shooting war with Russia?
Finally:

Given Canada’s complicity in this mess, both under Conservatives and Liberal regimes, should either of those parties be taken seriously in their earnest looking hand wringing?
The major parties are happy to serve up easily digestible over-simplified “solutions” to these election issues.

It takes a Libertarian to ask the truly relevant, albeit uncomfortable questions like “what was our part in it?” and to face the unpleasant facts that our society, our country isn’t an ubermoral saviour to these “Arab savages” rending their own societies apart, but that we are were actually complicit in implementing and profiting from policies and actions that helped cause it and we are collectively happier to be ignorant of that.

Now you can wonder how many of these refugees we should take in.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...election-issue


Interesting article relevant to the topics in this thread specifically related to Canada and the latest headlines from federal election.

[raptors999]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...election-issue


Interesting article relevant to the topics in this thread specifically related to Canada and the latest headlines from federal election.

It seems unlikely many will decide to cross the Atlantic or hop a plane over multiple Euro countries granting Asylum to freeze their ass off in the Tundra

[mcHAPPY]

It seems unlikely many will decide to cross the Atlantic or hop a plane over multiple Euro countries granting Asylum to freeze their ass off in the Tundra

Get bombed by the US.

Get beheaded by ISIS.

Get cold in Canada.



Tough choices.

[raptors999]

Get bombed by the US.

Get beheaded by ISIS.

Get cold in Canada.



Tough choices.

It gets really cold plus there is snow

No joke but even with the crisis Greece is a beautiful country

[Bendit]

It seems unlikely many will decide to cross the Atlantic or hop a plane over multiple Euro countries granting Asylum to freeze their ass off in the Tundra

Surely many would be aware that a warm hookah, flaky baklava and robust turkish coffee awaits them in Canada....mmmmm.

My apologies for making light of a serious situation.

[raptors999]

Surely many would be aware that a warm hookah, flaky baklava and robust turkish coffee awaits them in Canada....mmmmm.

My apologies for making light of a serious situation.

Not making fun of the refugees but Canadian politicians and citizens thinking that the problem could be solved by "opening doors" to refugees halfway across the world. A lot of this wouldn't have happened if Canada acted responsibly the last decade.

[raptors999]

This picture also captures the crisis

[Bendit]

This picture also captures the crisis

Hungarian paparrazi!

I understand & agree. We also sometimes self flagelate a bit much... which goes to the point made quite often... about the west having to be the policeman or being the tip of the spear. Yes, we have much responsibility for our geopolitical and economic decisions made on the backs of many of these peoples and their forebear but what is also distressing is that many of the surrounding countries with their large armies and petro wealth cannot coalesce and lead with solving what is a neighbourhood problem...in this case Syria.

[raptors999]

I understand & agree. We also sometimes self flagelate a bit much... which goes to the point made quite often... about the west having to be the policeman or being the tip of the spear. Yes, we have much responsibility for our geopolitical and economic decisions made on the backs of many of these peoples and their forebear but what is also distressing is that many of the surrounding countries with their large armies and petro wealth cannot coalesce and lead with solving what is a neighbourhood problem...in this case Syria.

Just meant the Hungarian reporter tripping a fleeing refugee. The EU is constructed so that one small country can basically tell Germany what to do.

Democracy does not work

[rocwell]

The change is coming guys. This world sucks, but I believe it has enough good people to make a change.

Pic from tonight ( night before the anniversary of 9/11 )

[slaw]

Why is there a refugee crisis in the first place?

Because most of the world is a shithole and Europe is giving away free stuff cause it needs cheap labour.

Would there be one if Western foreign policy wasn’t one of destabilization and subversion going back for decades?

Yes. See again, most of the world is a shithole. The problem with libertarians is that there world view rests on an assumption that everyone is white, young and smart and plays by Western, liberal democratic norms. None of that is true. Letting the Ottoman Empire totally collapse after WWI and "staying out of it" wouldn't have turned the Middle East and North Africa into a utopia. It would still be a shithole. The retreat to the dark ages in the region since the 1950s has had nothing to do with the US or Europe and everything to do with political Islam regaining its hold.

Could what we call “terrorism” possibly be an asymmetric response to our pre-emptive (and often brutal, often bloody, often murderous) subversion of foreign governments whom we deem unfavourable to our interests?

No. Most Islamic terrorism isn't directed at the West. It's directed at other Muslims.

And, given the newer data points such as 1) the arrival of Russia’s military in Syria and 2) Canada’s deployment of military trainers to the Ukraine, another good question could be

Would you mind very much if we got into a shooting war with Russia?

Keep chasing Unicorns my libertarian friend. Keep chasing those unicorns....

[mcHAPPY]

Because most of the world is a shithole and Europe is giving away free stuff cause it needs cheap labour.



Yes. See again, most of the world is a shithole. The problem with libertarians is that there world view rests on an assumption that everyone is white, young and smart and plays by Western, liberal democratic norms. None of that is true. Letting the Ottoman Empire totally collapse after WWI and "staying out of it" wouldn't have turned the Middle East and North Africa into a utopia. It would still be a shithole. The retreat to the dark ages in the region since the 1950s has had nothing to do with the US or Europe and everything to do with political Islam regaining its hold.



No. Most Islamic terrorism isn't directed at the West. It's directed at other Muslims.



Keep chasing Unicorns my libertarian friend. Keep chasing those unicorns....

Keep chasing unicorns, eh?


Your argument boils down to this: they are crazy people killing one another so what difference does it make if the west is doing their best to create unrest and instability? They are going to do it with or without us!




Let them wage war amongst themselves. The west should not be actively involved making attempts to further add to (or even create) further instability in the region for its own gain.

[Apollo]

"Prepare for operation salvation" - Vladimir Putin

I saw this posted on another forum and I thought it might be worth posting in here:

Addressing the Russian top brass on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin lambasted U.S. Middle-East policy for being 'disastrous' as Saudi-backed rebels vowed to purge Syria and Iraq from Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities.

"We have nearly two million orthodox Christians in the Levant—Syria and Lebanon— and approximately 5 million Christians across Middle-East. Regardless of America's presidential election outcome, White House craves chaos in that oil-rich region by supporting fanatic Islamist organizations, i.e. ISIS and al-Nusra Front," Moskovskaya Pravda cited the Russian president as saying.

It is morally incumbent upon Russia to change this terrible status quo in the Middle-East , added Mr.Putin , prepare for operation 'Salvation' and with God almighty's aid , we shall cleanse Syria from Obama's ruthless terrorists.

Amid accusations from the United States that Moscow is beefing up its military presence in Syria, there are unconfirmed satellite pictures and intelligence reports about building several runways across Syria suitable for landing the giant Antonov An-225 Mriya , allegedly transferring battle tanks, heavy armored vehicles, offensive weapons and Russian elite forces to be deployed and then engaged directly with radical terrorist groups.

White House spokesperson criticized on Tuesday Russian military movement in Syria, suggesting Moscow tries to establish a central air base at an airfield south of Latakia Province – President Assad's stronghold– that has been at the heart of a recent Russian military buildup in Syria.

Russia has been providing arms to Damascus since Soviet times and Moscow has been the key international ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the conflict that started with Islamist rebellion against Syria's secular system.

Over the past year, evidence has steadily emerged of a growing Russian military presence in Syria. As Syrian army struggles to defeat al-Qaeda rebels but according to Russian officials, the time has been arrived for Russia to save Middle-East.

http://awdnews.com/top-news/putin-to...a-s-terrorists