Cyprus-Forum.com

[Robin Hood]

One useful source:

http://www.yasa-online.org/reports/The% ... denied.pdf

Thanks for this source Tim. I am very careful what I read these days and this includes some posts from certain deluded nut-jobs on this website.

Very Insightful link.

Reply from a '.... delude nut job'!

I have to admit I didn’t read all, I just read a few pages, as it is not something of any real interest to me personally and I am therefore in no position to pass comment on the detail. But I did check it out to see just how credible it was and yes, as a document covering Kurdish history in Syria it is credible. It does not claim to be an authoritative source.

But just to show Paphitis up as the supreme bull shi**er he is:

• He didn’t read it! 24 pages, most of it heavy going .... he read the Header only – The Kurds in Syria.... that is enough for Paphitis to claim he read it and all he needs to form an opinion!

• The student’s thesis was written in partial fulfilment of an MA in Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden.

• It was written 12 years ago by a female student and about her nothing further is known.

• It was released by The European Centre for Kurdish Studies, Berlin ..... not clear when.

• The thesis preceded the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011 by 7 years.

• Since then of course there were many changes made to the Syrian Constitution to redress the grievances of the Kurds and other ethnic groups in Syria.

• Paphitis does not know the difference between a ‘source’ and a ‘thesis’!

• The source is not ‘yasa-online’ ... it is The European Centre for Kurdish Studies which can be found at http://kurdologie.de/about-us/

24 Pages of what is a student thesis and Paphitis has speed read the linked document and found it '... insightful'.

Yeah .... I am sure he did!

[Paphitis]

Trump's already talking about an American ground offensive to liberate Raqqa, isn't he? Many people thought Trump wouldn't go through with some of his zanier campaign promises, but it looks like they were wrong. The man is really as stupid as he sounds.

Here you go Tim.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... SKBN1310GX

Coalition backed rebels announced the Raqqa offensive back in November 2016.

My understanding is that it will still go ahead after Mosul and Fallujah.

Worst case scenario for ISIL's comprehensive defeat is apparently 6 months without Coalition Air Support. About a month with Coalition Air support according to the Iraqi military.

In other words, Iraq Military seem confident they can do the job even without Coalition support which means they have come a long way indeed.

[Tim Drayton]

No, I think I heard somewhere that there was a plan for actual American boots and tanks on the ground.

[Paphitis]

No, I think I heard somewhere that there was a plan for actual American boots and tanks on the ground.

Well it better not include Australian boots and tanks on the ground.

The only thing Australia will entertain is the SAS to work with Peshmerga and YPG units in Northern Syria. These troops will not be anywhere near regime or Hezbollah forces nor is Australia interested in a 10 year adventure which will rub the Sunnis up the wrong way and cause tremendous damage to peace and stability.

Trump is an idiot and his administration will fail if he does that.

Even Pootin isn't stupid enough to do that, unfortunately.

[Tim Drayton]

What do you know! It is promoting an autonomous Kurdish region with the Kurdish language having official status there in the new republic, to be known as the 'Republic of Syria' (not the Syrian Arab Republic). This of course flies in the face of Assad's long-standing Kurdish policy - he even denied citizenship to the Kurds living on Syrian territory, and will not come as music to the ears of the Erdoğan regime in Turkey, either. This scotches the theory that Turkey has done an independent deal with Russia whereby Assad stays but the de-facto automous Kurdish entity in the north of Syria gets annihiliated. It strengthens the theory I have promoted before that the Americans and Russians brokered a secret deal a few years back. The fruits of this deal now appear to be coming to light. How about a really wild conspiracy theory? Trump has been brought in to spare the USA any embarrasment over its U-turn in abandoning its demands for Assad to go. Instead, it can be explained away as the radical new policy of the new administration that claims to be making a clean break with the past.

What are you talking about? It was Assad himself that granted the Kurds autonomy early on once the 2011 debacle began!

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/26/assa ... om-turkey/

It was just a temporary tactic, as the shown by the man's own words:

Question 11: Do you envisage, or do you allow Syria to turn into a federal state? If yes, what would be the form of the Kurdish self-rule? How extended would it be?

President Assad: Geographically speaking, Syria is too small for a federal state. It is probably smaller than most of the republics in the Russian Federation. Socially speaking, a federation needs social constituencies which cannot live with each other. This does not exist in Syrian history. In principle, I do not believe that Syria is prepared for federalism. There are no natural factors which might lead to federalism. Ultimately, of course, we as a state say that we agree to whatever the Syrian people agree to. The question of federalism is linked to the constitution, and the constitution needs popular endorsement.
But there is a concept which needs to be corrected in relation to Kurdish federalism. Most Kurds want to live in a unified Syria, under a central system, not in a federal system, in the political sense. So, we shouldn’t confuse some of the Kurds who want a federal system, on the one hand, with all the Kurds on the other. There might be other very small constituencies, not only the Kurds, who seek federalism. But the idea of federalism is not a general proposition in Syria; and I don’t believe that if it was put to the vote, will be endorsed by the Syrian people.

http://www.presidentassad.net/index.php ... Itemid=468

[Tim Drayton]

And, more recently (notice the words I have placed in bold text):

Question 21: Okay, and how do you assess the emerging coalition between the United States and Kurdish units? Have you taken steps to prevent the establishment of self-ruling region in the north of the country?

President Assad: We don’t have control in that area, in the meantime, but talking about self-control or confederation or anything like this, when you don’t have war, when you have a normal situation, it’s going to be related to the constitution, because Syria is a melting pot of different cultures, different ethnicities, religions, sects, and so on. So, not a single part of this social fabric can define the future of Syria; it needs consensus. So, regarding what you mentioned, it’s better to wait to discuss the next constitution between the different Syrian shades of our spectrum, let’s say, and this is where we can tell how’s it going to be there. Our impression today is that the majority, the vast majority of Syrians, never believe in self-governance or confederation or anything. In this time, it’s being used as an excuse because there’s no government in that area. They say “we are governing ourselves because there is no government.” It’s an excuse for today, but when you have stability and the government taking control of the country, of course there’s no excuse to deal with such a situation unless there’s a constitution that allows a certain area to have its confederation or federation or any other way of governance.

https://syria360.wordpress.com/2017/04/ ... l-21-2017/

[Tim Drayton]

Just a side-note. To those who say secularism is incompatible with Islam, the hero of many here, Assad, seems to think differently:

Question 23: And what is the most contentious issue, according to you?

President Assad: To the constitution?

Journalist: To the constitution, yes.

President Assad: Being secular.

https://syria360.wordpress.com/2017/04/ ... l-21-2017/