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Clinton calls for Syrian opposition shakeup to defeat Assad

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Well, at least the US is acknowledging that the "opposition" that is fighting Assad in the name of "freedom" doesn't have credibility among the majority of Syrians, including moderate Sunnis.

The US acknowledge no such thing in this article.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

"The dialog has most certainly changed over the past year"

Certainly not as much as yours.

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Are you claiming that there are no foreign elements among the rebels?

I have now discovered that you seem not to understand the meaning of the word 'all' in addition to the word 'alongside'.

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Keeping lands that have been captured in the past by America at the south of the country.

America captured Syria in the past? It's south of America?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

NeverSubmit: The dialog has most certainly changed over the past year. 8 months ago the mere mention that the rebels were foreigners generated ridicule.

Are you talking about the French and Blackwater troops?

Hey, what ever happened to them?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

rebels were foreigners generated ridicule.

Anyone claiming they all were or are foreigners should generate at least questions of credibility if not outright ridicule.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"Are you claiming that there are no foreign elements among the rebels?"

Nobody has once made such an assertion. I presume you repeatedly ask this strange question to deflect the scorn being poured onto yourself and your crackpot positions on this conflict, past and present. It isn't working.

"There is no uprising amongst Syrians themselves" - Never Submit

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"America captured Syria in the past? It's south of America?"

Maybe the evil Americans have hatched a plan to carve up Syria with the aliens when colonization begins. Obama is obviously one of Them.

Seriously, the therapists of some of these contributors must despair that we keep replying to their posts. I imagine the tinfoil hats remain on even during therapy these days.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

NeverSubmit: The presence of crack (and very expensive) Croat and Serb mercenaries

Is that where the darts landed today?

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there needs to be an opposition leadership structure that is dedicated to representing and protecting all Syrians."

Well, at least the US is acknowledging that the "opposition" that is fighting Assad in the name of "freedom" doesn't have credibility among the majority of Syrians, including moderate Sunnis.

there needs to be an opposition that speaks to every segment and every geographic part of Syria."

And this acknowledges the fact that there is a danger of Greater Syria being broken apart if a political solution is not reached.

This move by the US should provide a little impetus to the groups trying to topple the government that they need to at least represent a semblance of a united front that is fighting on the basis of the values of modern civiliation.

Note that there is no article in today's issue about the draconian moves by the government of Bahrain to outlaw all protests yesterday.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The "homegrown" rebellion in Syria is a typical American regime change operation, and had been so from the outset. The style may be a little bit different (using local proxies instead of an invasion) but the substance is the same. The main motive: Keeping lands that have been captured in the past by America at the south of the country.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

the therapists of some of these contributors must despair that we keep replying to their posts. I imagine the tinfoil hats remain on even during therapy these days.

Attacking the personality of your opponent instead of coping with his/her arguments is not civil, and should have been out of the game here.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Those arguments have been debunked time and time again. I have no respect for someone who brings nothing but falsehoods to the table, and even less for someone that has recently inversed their position of a NATO / CIA conspiracy, to a Jihad conspiracy and somehow thinks no one has noticed.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Oh, and call me crazy but I actually find this tinfoil hat agenda pretty insulting to all the people dying and/or in misery because of yye conflict. But that's just me.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I'm not going to fall for the childish name-calling trap. I stopped playing that game in elementary school.

The topic here is Syria, if anything is diminishing this debate and forswearing justice for the victims of this war it's the attempt of some on this board to continuously try to ridicule other posters and move the argument from one based on facts to one based on ridiculous name-calling.

Personally I ignore posters that disparage or demean other posters or myself and I suggest you do the same.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I'm not feeling very optimistic about the future of Syria. Will the violence end after Assad and his regime are gone? Or will the three sects who are barely cooperating with each other begin vying for supremacy? Magic eight ball says "outlook not so good"

0 ( +0 / -0 )

NeverSubmit: The topic here is Syria, if anything is diminishing this debate and forswearing justice for the victims of this war it's the attempt of some on this board to continuously try to ridicule other posters and move the argument from one based on facts to one based on ridiculous name-calling.

Still not going to say why you're so heavily invested in protecting Assad? At this point I figure it's either money or religion.

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A nice move by Clinton. This signals greater support is coming for the rebels.

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In case some who support Clinton's meddling think those who oppose the meddling are tinfoil-hatters, consider the voices of actual Syrians as elsewhere reported,

"Members of the Syrian opposition have given an icy response to Washingtons calls to revamp the movements leadership, slamming it for attempting to dictate its will on Syrians. "This direct tutelage and these dictates are not acceptable to the Syrian people anymore,'' said Zuhair Salem, the London-based spokesman for Syria's banned Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, which is a part of the Syrian National Council, AP reports. A defected Syrian army general, Faiz Amru, told AP that "any transitional government or body created abroad, cannot possibly represent those dying in Syria. Everyone is trying to push their own agendas,'' he said. "The big powers have hijacked the Syrian revolution.''

Further, Adrian Salbuchi, an international consultant and author, believes the revamp of the Syrian opposition proposed by Clinton will lead to even further violence. Salbuchi claims that the US needs Damascus to fall quickly, to pave the way for an attack on Iran.

What they need is to have overall turmoil throughout Syria. Lets not forget that the road to Iran from the American point of view goes through Damascus. So they need Syria to fall quickly before the Israelis go ahead and unilaterally attack Iran.

So, it's fair to say that US meddling is not for humanitarian purposes.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Well, at least the US is acknowledging that the "opposition" that is fighting Assad in the name of "freedom" doesn't have credibility among the majority of Syrians, including moderate Sunnis.

Good point. The dialog has most certainly changed over the past year. 8 months ago the mere mention that the rebels were foreigners generated ridicule. Now it's mainstream news and openly discussed in the media.

Moreover, the mainstream thread was that the whole country was against the government but now the Western press is begrudgingly admitting that Assad has broad support among Moderate Shia Muslims, Kurds and most especially Christians and that the rebels are primarily funded and supported by fanatical Sunni Muslims.

Assad and his partners have offered to hold free and fair internationally monitored elections as long as all parties are allowed to participate.

Hillary has consistently denied this and she has never fully explained why she's afraid of actually allowing the Syrians for vote for their leader. Perhaps she knows that an election would result in Assad winning yet again and that would be a big pie in the face for her and the rebel insurgents.

Hillary and I can agree on one point though. Last week I noted that the "Syrian National Council" was nothing more than a talking club and that the Islamic fighters on the ground are a total different breed and have no interest in Democracy or Western values, much to my surprise, Hillary has come out saying the exact same thing.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

At least 36,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011. Why this? they are all muslims who died. They had to pray more every day.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The US acknowledge no such thing in this article.

The Secretary of State's change of tact would seem to represent an implicit recognition that Assad has widespread support among the general populous, including moderate Sunnis. People may want some reforms, but they are more interested in maintaining stability and their general modern lifestyle in a secular state not governed by Islamists.

That is a new acknowledgement on the part of the USA.

It should be borne in mind by the dogmatic posters railing against "the dictator" here that Assad married a Sunni woman that was educated in the West; moreover, he himself is a Western educated doctor.

Those factors would tend to indicate that he is a moderate that would have adopted a progressive disposition toward reform if the conditions had afforded such an opportunity for the country to further evolve into a modern polity with a pluralistic population.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Assad doesn't need all this aggravation.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Meddle, meddle, meddle. We will end up with another "succes story" a la Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt etc.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

All this fancy diplomatic talk can be summarized frankly in two words;

Puppet Government

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Ms Clinton is messing up in many countries, this should be the job of UN. No wonder, american are not safe in many parts of the world.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Anyone claiming they all were or are foreigners should generate at least questions of credibility if not outright ridicule.

Are you claiming that there are no foreign elements among the rebels?

Even the article notes that the rebels are foreigners.

There are disturbing reports of extremists going into Syria

Clearly, going into Syria implies that they're not from Syria in the first place.

The presence of crack (and very expensive) Croat and Serb mercenaries in the rebel ranks are always widely available. So who is paying their salary and what is their business interfering in another country.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

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