zubrach comments

@Aly Rustom Legitimate questions.

Then WHY did the Russians have to step in to save Assad's bacon?

My guess is because the so called uprising was basically militant fundamentalists factions, former part of Al-Qaeda heavily funded and supplied from the outside. Don't you find it interesting that Western media calls them just "rebels" (positve image) although they call themselves Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. Both internationally recognized terrorist organizations.

As you probably know, Russia has had vested interests in Syria since the time of Hafez Assad (military base, strategic partnerships, etc.). With no assistance from Russia, the end game for Syria would have been the same scenario as in Iraq, Lybia, Afghanistan, etc. (all states in past tense) where the ousting of the anti-US dictator resulted in a power vacuum immediately filled by fundamentalist factions or puppet government.  Also, don't forget that the Russians played a crucial role in defeating ISIS who were turning into a global and certainly a regional threat.

I am surprised the US military strategists still haven't learned their lesson that when you fund terrorists to serve your short-term interests, it inevitably evolves into a bigger problem later on (e.g. Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Al Qaeda was created to fight the USSR in Afghanistan and there are still news articles in Western media from those times praising Bin Laden as a freedom fighther. ). As the saying goes: "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

@Aly Rustom I am truly sorry about what happened to your family and your fatherland. Please understand nobody here is defending Assad. Just asking logical questions that remain unanswered. Believe it or not, I have also had contacts with Syrian refugees fleeing from this particular conflict and they hate both Assad and the terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra (the former Al-Qaida faction which the Western media calls "the rebels"). Your fatherland has fallen victim to foreign interests and there are no "good guys" among them.

@ Bintaro All the acts you mentioned, while truly horrible, can be explained (not justified, explained!) with his efforts to maintain his dictatorship. Nobody is arguing that Assad is incapable of such an act but it is also extremely naive to automatically blame him because "he is evil". I don't know how many of you have noticed that mature statesmen usually only talk about "interests" in international politics. It is only the US who uses Hollywood narratives as "good" vs "evil" (e.g. axis of evil, evil empire, etc.) and tries to simplify international politics to mobilize wider public support from an electorate the majority of whom do not even know where Syria is. If you read history you will find multiple examples proving that If interests are at stake, any state is capable of all kinds of atrocities (e.g. mutiple civilians have died so far from US drone attacks, missile attacks, etc.).

The million dollar question is always "Who benefits from this?" and it is usually a better starting point of a discussion.

What has Assad to benefit from such an attack? The pro-Assad coalition were winning already. FYI, it might be word remembering this warning by Russian Gen. Gerassimov from March 13:

“We have credible information that militants are now preparing to stage the use of chemical weapons on civilians by the Syrian government forces. For this goal, the militants have brought to eastern Ghouta people, including women, children and elders, from other areas. These people have to play victims of this staged chemical attack. The White Helmets with their cameramen are already there for live broadcasts,”

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/03/russia-military-warn-against-attacking-damascus-syria.html#ixzz5C8uB8Uuo that "https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/03/russia-military-warn-against-attacking-damascus-syria.html

@MarkX Spot on!

I think business owners should be free to decide whether they allow smoking indoors or not, and non-smokers should be free to avoid smoking establishments. Also, minors should not be allowed in smoking establishments. Simple as that. Why are total bans necessary? I don't get it.

Anyway why have 200,000 in a bag unless it's mostly coin? Good point. Japanese news (Mainichi) says it was a wallet which makes a lot more sense.

If you can hardly beat Iraq at home I think you'll be stuck with the fake trophy for quite a while...

Well deserved ratings too! A great finale to a great season.

I have no doubt that lots of people on FB will be putting the flag of Iraq on their profile pictures today. Haven't seen any yet but I am sure they will.

JT wrote about it and we are now talking about it, aren't we? Might just be a brilliant marketing strategy.

Need to wrap them in bacon and it will be perfection.

More Credit/Debit cards and free Wi-Fi. The rest are #firstworldproblems.

Why do extremists drive Toyotas?

For the same reasons they use AK-47. Cheap, durable and reliable.

And those vetted rebels are, in your mind, different from ISIS how exactly?

They are pro-American...for now. Just like Al-Qaeda and the Mujahideen were during the Afghanistan war with USSR and Saddam was during the war with Iran. We all know what happened after.

>The typical terroris image is a man with an AK-47, why is that? Bush's fault again?

Great logic indeed! (applause) Terrorist groups also tend to drive TOYOTA pickup trucks. What do you make of that?

>Honestly....what kind of person gets turned on my this thing?

Oh, you'll be surprised.

Bad news for ISIS.

I find it annoying. Not sure if it is the act itself or just that in my experience the people who tend to do it happen to be annoying.

Yes, otherwise people forget and some events should not be forgotten. There are many questions still unanswered about 9/11, 3/11, WWII, etc. It's worth renewing the debate every now and then.

Monday afternoon, rained a few times, Obon week..

Calling it pedophilia instead of kawaii names like "lolicon" would be some start

This US team can probably beat the Japanese men's team as well. They are getting their revenge big time...

@Yelnats I think you misunderstood me as you are referring to dropping the Rs at the end of English words. But when a native English speaker says "harakiri" for example, it's a sore for the Japanese ears.

There is no such thing as "deserved to win", "deserved better"... You win or you lose. It's that simple.

Most native English speakers do have a thick accent in most foreign languages (the "r"s are particularly telling) and so do French, Russian, German, Indian, Chinese...etc. etc. I think it's fine to make fun of accents and it is in no way racist. If only I had a penny for every time an American comedian made fun of a foreign accent (including Japanese), I'd probably be able to pay for that Olympic stadium.

I personally do not think Japanese people are more or less beautiful than others but they certainly dress well and have good taste.

A common excuse that the men's team makes whenever they lose. (Their diminutive stature) The Nadeshiko however, constantly put them to shame

@Christopher Glen Totally agree! In general, Japanese ladies do much better on the world stage in almost every sport compared to the men. Go Nadeshiko!

We used a clinic and my wife actually liked the extra stay. Got to rest and recover properly and the staff taught us many useful things while she was there. It did somehow ease the transition into a life with a baby. That said, five-six days might be a bit too long and yes, it is expensive.

What do you mean "can't afford funeral cost"? There are free cremations (no funeral service included) for cases where the deceased has no income or living relatives. Even if there are relatives, they have the right to refuse to pay for the funeral in which case the municipality cremates the body free of charge. I don't quite get the logic of getting rid of a body (i.e. committing a crime) to avoid paying funeral costs when that option is already available?!?