Robin Hood wrote:Paphitis:
Your rabid, paranoid and irrational hatred of Putin and your equally incomprehensible admiration for all thing US/NATO ..... really do make your comments an irrelevance! I always considered you to have a rational and analytical approach to most threads ...... the various threads on Assad/Putin/US/NATO have blown that illusion and it really does make YOU look the dork!
In very simple terms; what Putin is doing in Syria is perfectly legal within International Law; what the US/NATO alliance, along with the participation and support of 60 other nations is doing, is illegal under International Law. It really is a simple as that.
Well isn't that a bit of a grey area now. We have not been operating in Syria. We have been hitting one of the Rebel Groups in areas not controlled by Assad and thus indirectly supporting Assad. We consider that fair game, especially when the Jihadists have threatened us directly.
We don't care whether we have his permission or not. Assad is very lucky we didn't go after him when he was Gassing thousands of Syrians. Very lucky indeed because we were headed that way at one stage.
As for NATO. there are 25 Nations that have signed the Treaty. There are another 3 in ANZUS. All pretty much the same thing, but of course I choose NATO and ANZUS every single time for the following reasons:
1) Both Australia and Greece are signatories and these 2 countries I care about very much,
2) Cyprus should have been a signatory but alas Cypriots have never been the sharpest tools in the shed,
3) I not only consider myself Australian, but a European and an EU citizen, and NATO is also part of the EU (and I generally like all European countries almost as much as Australia, Cyprus and Greece),
4) I would in fact be a dork if I supported Putin in any way shape or form,
5) Putin has been very aggressive towards Ukraine and broken International Law since you mention the legalities,
6) It shot down MH17 without any acknowledgement which would have been something to their credit,
7) they have behaved aggressively against Australia because they sent ships to violate Australian Territorial waters during the time when Australia was hosting the G20 summit,
8. There are many more niggly things about Putin such as his KGB past, his 200 Billion empire as kingpin in Russian crime syndicates, etc etc etc.
9) I generally like the USA far better than Russia. I also generally like Canada much better. Call me biased.
Russia violated Turkish Airspace and paid the price. Russia violated International Law in doing so and paid the price.
Oh, and my feelings about Putin are quite common in the West. They are not irrational. I have my reasons why I dislike him. The mere fact he supports Assad is another factor.
