Syrian civil war

[Walsingham]

Well the irony is that in this day and age, revolutions tend to happen when things are getting better, not when they are at their worst. When people don't have to worry about scraping by anymore, they have the time and energy to organise and take stock of the situation, both past and present. I guess that's the perverse genius of Kim-il Sung and his progeny; keep the people starved of protein so that their bodies feed on their minds for sustenance, then they'll believe anything you say.

 

One must surely make the observation that power is not an end in itself. Having control of a people by starving them to docility is like taking ownership of a jet plane, disassembling it, crating it, and leaving it in your loft. It is the mark of a psychotic disposition, not greatness.

[Woldan]

Looks like Assad's troops have finally come to senses, now they use snipers on elevated positions to spot and identify the enemy and to give the tanks firing instructions.  

The rebels however seem to fire at tanks with barely aimed rifles and machine guns. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db7hCVzdZYQ

[Zoraptor]

Not entirely stupid if your aim is to get them to button up/ panic and then ambush them- and it worked fine, so long as the Syrian army insisted on charging their tanks into built up areas with no or incomplete support, which they did for a long time. What else can the rebels realistically try though, given their equipment?

 

(No doubt there's a fair amount of "inch'Allah" in the random fire as well, hoping that a miracle will send a bullet down the tank barrel and explode a shell or similar... unlikely scenario.)

[Rostere]

Well the irony is that in this day and age, revolutions tend to happen when things are getting better, not when they are at their worst. When people don't have to worry about scraping by anymore, they have the time and energy to organise and take stock of the situation, both past and present. I guess that's the perverse genius of Kim-il Sung and his progeny; keep the people starved of protein so that their bodies feed on their minds for sustenance, then they'll believe anything you say.

 

I really wouldn't restrict that to applying only to "this day and age".

 

 

Well the irony is that in this day and age, revolutions tend to happen when things are getting better, not when they are at their worst. When people don't have to worry about scraping by anymore, they have the time and energy to organise and take stock of the situation, both past and present. I guess that's the perverse genius of Kim-il Sung and his progeny; keep the people starved of protein so that their bodies feed on their minds for sustenance, then they'll believe anything you say.

 

One must surely make the observation that power is not an end in itself. Having control of a people by starving them to docility is like taking ownership of a jet plane, disassembling it, crating it, and leaving it in your loft. It is the mark of a psychotic disposition, not greatness.

 

 

I think that goes without saying.

[Walsingham]

I don't think it is self-evident. Far too many supposedly great men are just goddamn weirdos. Kim Jong il is just the creepy dude with rape victims tied up in his basement.

[obyknven]

Georgian (beloved Western ally) soldier participate in Syrian civil war as influential  Al-Qaeda leader.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=91a_1384971129#4V6KIsmvkQOmlGVA.99

 

 

Syria - Photo of ISIS commander Abu Umar al-Shishani during 2008 war in Georgia.

Tarkhan Batirashvili, Ethnic Chechen, Leads Group Deeply at Odds with Western-Backed Rebels in Syria

For months, Syrian government forces hunkered down at a remote air base north of Aleppo, deftly fending off rebel assaults—until one morning a war machine rumbled out of the countryside, announcing that the Chechens had arrived.

The vehicle was notable for its primal scariness: Rebels had welded dozens of oil-drilling pipes to the sides of the armored personnel carrier, and packed it with four tons of high explosives, according to videos released online by the rebels.
It was piloted by a suicide driver, who detonated the vehicle at the base, sending a ground-shaking black cloud into the sky in an attack that analysts said finally cleared the way for rebels to storm the airfield.

The jihadi commander has recently emerged from obscurity to be the northern commander in Syria of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), an al Qaeda-connected coalition whose thousands of Arab and foreign fighters have overrun key Syrian military bases, staged public executions and muscled aside American-backed moderate rebel groups trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
[....]
Fighting in tightknit groups, the men have awed and repelled fellow jihadists with their military prowess and brutality, talking to one another in Russian or Chechen and to outsiders in the formal Arabic of the Quran, according to accounts of fellow rebels. Some have carved out fiefdoms inside Syria, enraging locals by collecting taxes and imposing
Islamic Shariah law.
Even by the gruesome standards of the war in Syria, their rise has become notable for its unusual violence. One rebel from Russia’s Dagestan, for instance, was chased out of the country after he appeared in an online video where he beheaded three locals for supporting the Syrian government, according to analysts with ties to the rebel groups.

And just last week, Mr. Batirashvili’s group apologized for mistakenly beheading a wounded soldier who actually turned out to be an allied rebel commander.

The prominence of the rebels on the battlefield has turned the
conflict into a geopolitical struggle between the U.S. and Russia, whichhas long accused the West of ignoring the danger of Islamists in the troubled Chechen region, where an insurgency has been active for decades.

Until recently, Mr. Batirashvili had few outward religious
convictions, former colleagues said. But like many Chechens he wanted tofight the Kremlin wherever he had the chance. “He had that kind of hatred for them,” said Malkhaz Topuria, a former commander who has watched his onetime subordinate’s stardom grow in videos posted on the Internet. “It was in his genes.”

[Walsingham]

Er... that quite clearly says he's a Chechen.

[BruceVC]

Er... that quite clearly says he's a Chechen.

 

He is and you notice something else. From the article most of the extremists fighting for the rebels come from countries that Russia has suppressed, like Chechnya and Dagestan. So well done Oby for Russia has created brutal extremists !!! No wonder Russia doesn't want the rebels to win, any new Syrian government would be influenced by anti-Russian sentiment

[kgambit]

   Don't let the facts get in the way of Oby's spin  ....  

Edited November 27, 2013 by kgambit

[BruceVC]

   Don't let the facts get in the way of Oby's spin  ....  

 

Yeah, but you would expect him to at least understand his own article

[Walsingham]

 

   Don't let the facts get in the way of Oby's spin  ....  

 

Yeah, but you would expect him to at least understand his own article

 

 

Expect and require are two very different things.

[Zoraptor]

There's a difference between ethnicity and nationality, guys. I wouldn't know this guy from Adam, but 'Batirishvili' is definitely a Georgian form name (see, for example, Mikael Sakashvili). Since the Chechen and Georgian regions border each other it's eminently plausible to have an ethnic Chechen who is also a Georgian national and hence, Georgian every bit as much as he'd be British if a British citizen.

 

It's pretty silly point making anyway since there are plenty of jihadis of all nationalities and a lot of ethnicities too.

[obyknven]

It's pretty silly point making anyway since there are plenty of jihadis of all nationalities and a lot of ethnicities too.

It's not about nationality or ethnicity. It's about participation of NATO military advisors in training of Georgian military forces, and in training of this jihadis also. Nothing new actually, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and many other places NATO do such things constantly.

[Zoraptor]

And how many Chechens were trained by the Soviet army?

 

I don't have much doubt that the Georgians and west are being and have been hypocritical about the whole freedom fighter/ terrorist divide, but at this point OMG Georgian in Syria! means very little even in those terms.

[obyknven]

And how many Chechens were trained by the Soviet army?

By your logic any Chechens are religious fanatics? Just a bit of info, most of Chechens trained by the Soviet army are Atheists. They actively participated in 1993 Russian constitutional crisis on side of socialists. This crisis ended when pro-West capitalist Yeltsin overthrow government and supress socialistic rebellion. After this Chechens stop obey to Federal government and reject privatization. In this time Chechnya stay last remnant of USSR and Soviet society. Obviously after this supported by West Yeltsin begin war against them. During this war most of these Soviet Chechens are killed and sponsored by West religious fanatics take their place. It's common pattern for whole world, just remember of creation of Hamas for war against Fatah, or how West support Taliban in Afghanistan against socialistic government in later 80 's, or modern Western support of Syrian jihadists against secular government.

 

In other words trained in Soviet army old school secular rebels is not same thing as created by West modern jihadists.

[Walsingham]

 

It's pretty silly point making anyway since there are plenty of jihadis of all nationalities and a lot of ethnicities too.

It's not about nationality or ethnicity. It's about participation of NATO military advisors in training of Georgian military forces, and in training of this jihadis also. Nothing new actually, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and many other places NATO do such things constantly.

 

 

Mask slipping there. Wot no spelling mistakes?

[Rostere]

50 years ago:

 

 

So do you think Syria will languish under dictatorship for another 50 years?

[Malcador]

http://www.vice.com/read/syrian-jihadist-selfies-tell-us-a-lot-about-their-war

[obyknven]

Meanwhile in Columbia US help to Colombian mafia (aka Colombian government) fight against rebels. What a bloody bastards!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/21/covert-action-in-colombia/

[Mor]

I still think that either Oby is paid troll or re-posting his stuff from some right wing Russian blog.

 

As for that video, titled ~execution of christian, I don't know what he think it proves. I suppose he is banking on the Sectarian divide in the conflict, and our aversion for radical elements it drew from the east such as Al Qaeda. Neglecting that the whole sectarian struggle was forced and used as strategy by Syria\Iran, an effort\conflict that Russian has been fueling with its arms\money\support, so in this regard their support back fired.