the hell we're trying to work with Russia.

They can't be trusted.

.

Maybe someone needs to supply the rebels with SA-7 manpads?

It's pure fantasy to think that we can push Russia out of the picture there and take control over it.

It's about increasing the cost of bullying. Same is true in the US by the way.

A HUGE problem now is that we are having a very difficult time separating the "moderates" from Al Nusra. You have to consider the very real risk that they weapons go to Al Quaeda or to ISIS.

How long before a US or allied plane or a commercial plane is downed by one of these?

The problem the US has is that we have very poor cards here. What are the alternatives:

1) Some here suggest just leave. However, that implies ending the fight against ISIS which controls an area that is in Syria and Iraq - crossing the border. "Just leave" is not really a viable alternative.

2) Follow the advice of the neo cons. I was to read one last night that suggested that it would be ok to have Al Nusra (yes, Al Quaeda) on our side. This after they explain that it is not easy to get the "moderate" rebels to separate from Al Nusra. They often share the same land. Additionally, "our" rebels see them as the best fighters against Assad, who they see as the main enemy. ( http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/21/obamas-syria-strategy-is-the-definition-of-insanity/ )

Diplomacy has been more successful than predicted at times ... because this is a real convoluted mess. Yet, I would say his ideas are insanity too. Who wins if we get Assad out and people currently with Al Nusra, ISIS and other extreme groups defeat the "moderates" and end up in control? Certainly not us, civilization or the world!

3) Read the very somber comments from the rest of the many countries in the ISSG - as both French and British foreign ministers have said - as fragile as the ceasefire was, it was the only show in town.

Additionally, none of the agreements rest on trust --- no agreements ever have. We did not give up anything that we had to get the agreement and there was a possibility that it could hold and that there would be a chance to get a diplomatic solution. As Kerry said the alternative is that Syria become like Carthage in Roman times.

We should never have gotten involved IMHO.

Obama was very reluctant to get involved, ignoring the people who argued for doing more to back opponents to Assad to get rid of him. Obama actually did try in the very early years of his administration to try to establish a better relationship and he did manage to put an ambassador there. No one back then could have foreseen how good it would have been had that effort succeeded.

It may have made sense to be involved early, when Syrian opposition was primarily a movement about Democracy. Waiting for a violent civil war to progress for a few years induced an evolutionary process in which only the ruthless survived. I think we actually made a similar mistake in Libya. Rebel forces were at the gates of Tripoli when Qaddafi hit them with everything he had, and beat them across the country. At the point where rebels were facing a massacre, the US intervened with air power and drove Qaddafi back. Of course, by that point, it was purely a military struggle rather than anything resembling a reform movement, and that's led to a collapse of Libya. An earlier intervention may have prevented that (along with saving thousands of lives). Of course, hindsight is 20/20.

why the hell would you trust a nation pumping billions of dollars in weapons to your country to overthrow the legitimate govt in the country. The same country that just destroyed another arab country on false pretenses. Considering that they just bombed Syrian army position helping ISIS to advance in Deir Ezzor position, why would they trust the US?

ISIS approaches strategic Deir Ezzor Military Airport
By Leith Fadel - 23/09/2016

DEIR EZZOR, SYRIA (10:50 A.M.) - The situation in Deir Ezzor is not in favor of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) at the moment, as the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) inches closer to the strategic military airport at the outskirts of the provincial capital.

On Wednesday night, the Islamic State terrorists managed to capture the Syrian Arab Army's last points at the Thardeh Mountains, leaving them within striking distance of the Deir Ezzor Military Airport's western perimeter for the first time in this war.

Making matters worse for the Syrian Arab Army at the Deir Ezzor Airport, the Islamic State's presence at the Thardeh Mountains has given them the geographic advantage in this battle because they are overlooking the government forces from the western flank

Assad is a ruthless barbarian and Putin is a slightly less barbaric fucktard.

We should NEVER have even gone to fucking Syria in the 1st goddamn place.


Oh, and I'm an atheist.

So "god have mercy on your soul" to me is akin to a Southern person saying "Well bless your little ol' heart."

It's an insult dressed in pretty words.

Why is that? what about the actions of the US in the last 30 yrs that makes you think they are trustworthy? how about you assess what is going on in Syria and think for yourself instead having an automatic response of "I trust my country"? You say we should never have gone into Syria, the same way we did in Iraq, Libya which we now know were done based on lies the US told to the public but after all of that you still "trust" your country? this is insane.

That's OK, I am an atheist too but it is a phrase that i carried over from my days as a Christian which I use to express disgust and pity on people that make me wish an asteroid would hit this earth and destroy everybody in it. Now you know how I feel and not because I think there is a God. Funny that seeing the actions of the US around the world was the trigger that made start doubting the existence of a God.

Also funny how you did not say anything about supporting racist and imperialist policies of the US. Not saying anything about you now, but I think I too would support wholeheartedly and without question the policies of the US if I had been born in the US, but I was born abroad. I lived in other countries before coming here and I still see these people living outside the US as human beings too who should have the right of self determination instead of being servants licking the boots of their western overlords.

Btw, this Assad is a ruthless barbarian meme is another lie told you by the same people who said that Gaddafi had viagra fueled rape armies and he used "African" mercenaries to attack his own people. The latter was used as a justification to kill black Libyans and African migrants (many of them Nigerians) en mass. The US and their allies wants to build a pipeline through the country and that is why he had to be demonized and sadly people like you eat it up.

May God continue to have mercy on your little ol' heart.

lily white backside.

Good day.

respond to that but thanks conversation. I will just end with this, please stop supporting policies that lead to the destruction of other countries America hates. These people living in those countries are human just like you, they bleed, laugh, cry etc just like you and if you don't displace them from their own homes with your weapons of war, then there wouldn't be any need to feel good about yourself by welcoming them over as refugees.

Btw it makes no difference to me that you are white, I would say the same thing to an African American, Hispanic or Asian who support US world domination via destruction of foreign countries.

also, too..

someone ran to their safe space as soon as he realizes that he lost the debate. Sadly, the people facing the American policies of nation destruction that you support cannot run to any safe spaces, that is a privilege you and I have that they don't have.

Your choice of words are very telling.

Very telling indeed.

As for why I went for ridicule instead of "debating" you, as it were, is because you started right off the get-go with assumptions and insults.
Why would anyone want to engage you in a collegial debate after that?

For the last time, good day. Now, bugger off.

off the way I did. Just so you know, this issue of war and peace is the policy that I am most passionate about. So reading all the anti Syrian and pro American war posts on this site makes me think that many liberals are in favor of warmongering policies and were only pretending to be antiwar because of partisan reason. The reality of this makes me really sad and I don't react well when I feeling this way.

Apologies again, I reply not just for you but for others who have similar opinions as you do and just have never been challenged or read an antiwar rebuttal to it. This is going to be my last reply to you

Have a good day

Says Dread Candidate Johnson

He cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith.

Something he and Trump have in common.

It seems not entirely clear.

Maybe the generals do need to be replaced after all.