I admit being wrong once this year, though the year is still young. I thought for sure that Assad would use chemical warfare, lest he be removed from office.
I guess, you use what you have when fighting to maintain a grip on power. Interestingly, the last reports I could locat of chemical weapons being used by either Syria or ISIS was in early 2019. What ever happened to all that good juicey Chlorine over the past 5 years?
Quote:
In February 2019, the German thinktank Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) published a report that “credibly substantiated” 336 uses of chemical weapons in the Syrian war, 98% of them by the government or allied forces (including several attributed to the Syrian Army's elite Tiger Forces) and the remainder by ISIL
Before we start popping open the champagne bottles now that Assad is gone perhaps, we should ask ourselves how Haiti, Iraq, Libya and other nations fared once their evil dictators were ousted.
Supporting the Mujahideen back in the 80s seemed like a good idea when Russia occupied Afghanistan and later, we saw how grateful they were on 9 11.
Remember how well Obama's "Arab Spring" worked out? But for General Sisi, the most powerful country in the Middle East might now be under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Celebrating too early. That is a problem. The US has been bogged down with many times in the past only to end up with egg on the face. Installing the next stable regime from inside a vanquished and many decades old power vacuum must be difficult, as it's seldom ever been smooth. Maybe the intelligence agencies have some help this time, with their new AI machines for determining the best of many choices.
That was the date that my first classmate was shot down and died in action in Syria. Mark Lange was an A-6 pilot. Shot down by the Syrian Army. His Bombardier survived.
Shot down by a Soviet made missile, Huh? Russians have been the root of trouble for a long time. As the media says that the Russian's have popped smoke and left Syria, maybe some of those Syrians that shot down that aircraft in 1983 will at the hands of the Free Syrian Army find their own demise very soon?
Quote: "On the afternoon of September 22, 2023, President Xi Jinping met at the West Lake State Guesthouse in Hangzhou with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad who is in China to attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games. The two heads of state jointly announced the establishment of China-Syria strategic partnership."
.
A wee-bit more than a a year later. What happens now? Seems those big shared plans have all but fallen to the wayside.
PS Salafis are are even stricter than Hannafi [Taliban].
Gertrude Bell helped draw the bounderies in middle east at 1921 Cairo conference. worked with Percy cox and TE Lawrence to install Hashemite monarchies in Iraq and Jordon
I admit being wrong once this year, though the year is still young. I thought for sure that Assad would use chemical warfare, lest he be removed from office.
I guess, you use what you have when fighting to maintain a grip on power. Interestingly, the last reports I could locat of chemical weapons being used by either Syria or ISIS was in early 2019. What ever happened to all that good juicey Chlorine over the past 5 years?
Quote:
In February 2019, the German thinktank Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) published a report that “credibly substantiated” 336 uses of chemical weapons in the Syrian war, 98% of them by the government or allied forces (including several attributed to the Syrian Army's elite Tiger Forces) and the remainder by ISIL
I did too. The stocks are there, no doubt before it is over some terrorist group will use them.
The RU may step in to hang on to Latakia bases.
Before we start popping open the champagne bottles now that Assad is gone perhaps, we should ask ourselves how Haiti, Iraq, Libya and other nations fared once their evil dictators were ousted.
Supporting the Mujahideen back in the 80s seemed like a good idea when Russia occupied Afghanistan and later, we saw how grateful they were on 9 11.
Remember how well Obama's "Arab Spring" worked out? But for General Sisi, the most powerful country in the Middle East might now be under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Celebrating too early. That is a problem. The US has been bogged down with many times in the past only to end up with egg on the face. Installing the next stable regime from inside a vanquished and many decades old power vacuum must be difficult, as it's seldom ever been smooth. Maybe the intelligence agencies have some help this time, with their new AI machines for determining the best of many choices.
Trump has it right. Stay out.
December 4th 1983.
That was the date that my first classmate was shot down and died in action in Syria. Mark Lange was an A-6 pilot. Shot down by the Syrian Army. His Bombardier survived.
https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/MARK_A._LANGE,_LT,_USN
I for one I’m happy to be the Syrian president gone and dead .
Shot down by a Soviet made missile, Huh? Russians have been the root of trouble for a long time. As the media says that the Russian's have popped smoke and left Syria, maybe some of those Syrians that shot down that aircraft in 1983 will at the hands of the Free Syrian Army find their own demise very soon?
Reading Seth's books are a _must_. Leadership 101. His Foreign Area background was key to his successful conduct of those deployments.
Quote: "On the afternoon of September 22, 2023, President Xi Jinping met at the West Lake State Guesthouse in Hangzhou with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad who is in China to attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games. The two heads of state jointly announced the establishment of China-Syria strategic partnership."
.
A wee-bit more than a a year later. What happens now? Seems those big shared plans have all but fallen to the wayside.
.
Source:
https://www.mfa.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xw/zyxw/202405/t20240530_11332273.html
Men make plans and God laughs.
“what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born”
Lesser of Two weevils!
PS Salafis are are even stricter than Hannafi [Taliban].
Gertrude Bell helped draw the bounderies in middle east at 1921 Cairo conference. worked with Percy cox and TE Lawrence to install Hashemite monarchies in Iraq and Jordon
And Sir Mark Sykes.