Cyprus-Forum.com

[B25]

Has all the hall marks of a 9/11. Any excuse to go in.

[kimon07]

The Sunni "democracy and plularism" which the west is supporting:

caution, graphic.

Murder of Alawite civilians cause they were not Sunnis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abcd-8sjyzY#t=134

(new link with english subs)

[Paphitis]

Simple fact is, some countries are just not ready for democracy and it is over rated anyway.

Democracy has nothing to do with it.

You're right in a way!

Democracy doesn't matter in the US or EU no matter what they say, so why would it matter in Syria?

It has more to do with the fact that some arseholes(Assad or rebels) are using Sarin Gas agaist civilians.

[B25]

May they RIP.

[kimon07]

Interesting opinion about what the USA should do. And a brief analysis of the role (or non role) of Turkey.

Below are some parts of it:

OPINION
In Syria, America Loses if Either Side Wins
A version of this op-ed appears in print on August 25, 2013, on page SR4 of the New York edition with the headline: In Syria, America Loses If Either Side Wins.

Reuters

WASHINGTON — ON Wednesday, reports surfaced of a mass chemical-weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs that human rights activists claim killed hundreds of civilians, bringing Syria’s continuing civil war back onto the White House’s foreign policy radar, even as the crisis in Egypt worsens.
But the Obama administration should resist the temptation to intervene more forcefully in Syria’s civil war. A victory by either side would be equally undesirable for the United States.

At this point, a prolonged stalemate is the only outcome that would not be damaging to American interests.

Indeed, it would be disastrous if President Bashar al-Assad’s regime were to emerge victorious after fully suppressing the rebellion and restoring its control over the entire country. Iranian money, weapons and operatives and Hezbollah troops have become key factors in the fighting, and Mr. Assad’s triumph would dramatically affirm the power and prestige of Shiite Iran and Hezbollah, its Lebanon-based proxy — posing a direct threat both to the Sunni Arab states and to Israel.

But a rebel victory would also be extremely dangerous for the United States and for many of its allies in Europe and the Middle East. That’s because extremist groups, some identified with Al Qaeda, have become the most effective fighting force in Syria. If those rebel groups manage to win, they would almost certainly try to form a government hostile to the United States. Moreover, Israel could not expect tranquillity on its northern border if the jihadis were to triumph in Syria.

Things looked far less gloomy when the rebellion began two years ago. At the time, it seemed that Syrian society as a whole had emerged from the grip of fear to demand an end to Mr. Assad’s dictatorship........It was also reasonable to expect that the fighting would not last long, because neighboring Turkey, a much larger country with a powerful army and a long border with Syria, would exert its power to end the war.

As soon as the violence began in Syria in mid-2011, Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, loudly demanded that it end. But instead of being intimidated into surrender, Mr. Assad’s spokesmen publicly ridiculed Mr. Erdogan, while his armed forces proceeded to shoot down a Turkish fighter jet, before repeatedly firing artillery rounds into Turkish territory and setting off lethal car bombs at a Turkish border crossing. To everyone’s surprise, there was no significant retaliation.

The reason is that Turkey has large and restless minority populations that don’t trust their own government, which itself does not trust its own army. The result has been paralysis instead of power, leaving Mr. Erdogan an impotent spectator of the civil war on his doorstep. Consequently, instead of a Turkey-based and Turkish-supervised rebellion that the United States could have supported with weapons, intelligence and advice, Syria is plagued by anarchic violence.

The war is now being waged by petty warlords and dangerous extremists of every sort: Taliban-style Salafist fanatics who beat and kill even devout Sunnis because they fail to ape their alien ways; Sunni extremists who have been murdering innocent Alawites and Christians merely because of their religion; and jihadis from Iraq and all over the world who have advertised their intention to turn Syria into a base for global jihad aimed at Europe and the United States.

Given this depressing state of affairs, a decisive outcome for either side would be unacceptable for the United States. An Iranian-backed restoration of the Assad regime would increase Iran’s power and status across the entire Middle East, while a victory by the extremist-dominated rebels would inaugurate another wave of Al Qaeda terrorism.

There is only one outcome that the United States can possibly favor: an indefinite draw......

Read more here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/opini ... d=all&_r=0
<img src="http://meter-svc.nytimes.com/meter.gif"/>
Edward N. Luttwak is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the author of “Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace.”

[kimon07]

May they RIP.

What would have happened if the victims had been Americans and/or Europeans and the shooters were supporters of Assad? And I am not referring to just those three victims. I am referring to the 10ns of thousands that died like that in the hands of the Sunni "champions" of .....western values, secular system of governance and ....Democracy!!!

[Paphitis]

Shameful disrespect!

It is sick how some of you see this as another opportunity to embark on Football politics. This is not a game!

Innocent people were killed by Sarin Gas and I for one don't care who is responsible as long as the culprits are found out. America better do the right thing because I am losing patience with this wishy washy politics.

I would have no hesitation in killing those arseholes myself because when I see innocent children convulsing from the effects of Sarin nerve agent I actually thibk of my own kids. When I see them I see my own kids. Absolutely sick!!!

Niw bugger off sick people. I'm off!

[kimon07]

Shameful disrespect!

Go see a doctor!

[GreekIslandGirl]

Another reason the EU should kick out the Brits from their ill-gotten Bases ...

Warplanes and military transporters have begun arriving at Britain's Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus, less than 100 miles from the Syrian coast, in a sign of increasing preparations for a military strike against the Assad regime in Syria.

Two commercial pilots who regularly fly from Larnaca on Monday told the Guardian that they had seen C-130 transport planes from their cockpit windows as well as small formations of fighter jets on their radar screens, which they believe had flown from Europe.

Residents near the British airfield, a sovereign base since 1960, also say activity there has been much higher than normal over the past 48 hours.

If an order to attack targets in Syria is given, Cyprus is likely to be a hub of the air campaign. The arrival of warplanes suggests that advanced readiness – at the very least – has been ordered by Whitehall as David Cameron, Barack Obama and European leaders step up their rhetoric against Bashar al-Assad, whose armed forces they accuse of carrying out the chemical weapons attack last Wednesday that killed many hundreds in eastern Damascus.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/a ... s-damascus

[Schnauzer]

[quote="GreekIslandGirl"]Another reason the EU should kick out the Brits from their ill-gotten Bases ...


[quote]Warplanes and military transporters have begun arriving at Britain's Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus, less than 100 miles from the Syrian coast, in a sign of increasing preparations for a military strike against the Assad regime in Syria.

Two commercial pilots who regularly fly from Larnaca on Monday told the Guardian that they had seen C-130 transport planes from their cockpit windows as well as small formations of fighter jets on their radar screens, which they believe had flown from Europe.

Residents near the British airfield, a sovereign base since 1960, also say activity there has been much higher than normal over the past 48 hours.

If an order to attack targets in Syria is given, Cyprus is likely to be a hub of the air campaign. The arrival of warplanes suggests that advanced readiness – at the very least – has been ordered by Whitehall as David Cameron, Barack Obama and European leaders step up their rhetoric against Bashar al-Assad, whose armed forces they accuse of carrying out the chemical weapons attack last Wednesday that killed many hundreds in eastern Damascus.

A local taxi driver who wishes to remain anonymous, has stated that he overheard a conversation between two high ranking officials when he transported them from a meeting held at a government office to a secret location just outside Damascus, a comment made by the younger of the two as they exchanged views about gas attacks, was a definite accusation that the elder person was responsible for it and he readily agreed !.

He excused his involvement in the incident in question by placing the blame on the food they had just eaten at the meeting, apparently Garlic was prone to make him fart and he apologized to both his companion and the cabbie and left him a handsome tip. [\quote]



"I smell a rat!"