Syria

[KateLMead]

How much longer are the so called humanitarian civilised leaders going to stand by, allowing the murder and misery of innocents in Syria to continue?

[Workingman]

After Iraq part 2 why would the West want to get involved?

The Arabs and Islamists do not want us in "their" world so we might as well stay out until they beg us to step in. If they do they must be forced to provide a cast iron indication of what the outcome should be. If the outcome is not achievable or not desirable to the West we should walk away.

[TheOstrich]

I more or less agree with you, WM, but I don't think that American military guy (Dempsey, was it?) should have said earlier this week - effectively and bluntly - "well, if there's nothing in it for us, we're not supporting anyone".

Not the way to win hearts and minds, and there is (or should be) such a thing as humanitarian compassion. Some of the TV footage yesterday and today of the children was heartbreaking, even to a old cynical bird like me... I'm certainly with Kate in this respect.

Those UN observers should get off theur backsides and into the Damascus suburb like yesterday. Otherwise, (rhetorical question, I guess) what the hell use is the UN anyway?

[Workingman]

The "nothing in it for us" remark was crass, but the truth is that we cannot find a neutral way in, and that means taking sides. As soon as we do that the other side, and even some of those we could be siding with, will come down on us like a ton of bricks. We cannot win no matter what we do.

If the Arab League wants to go in and sort things out "in Arab Muslim lands" then nobody is stopping them. It is more their problem than ours; let them put boots on the ground for once.

[victor]

agree with WM on this,let the Arab world sort itself out

[Aggers]

I don't know what to think.

I have a feeling that if USA wants to step in, it is only because they have some ulterior motive.

It is certainly pitiful to see the suffering of the people, but I can't see what we can do about it.

[Suff]

To be totally honest, how many of us would know or care if the press didn't throw it in our faces every single day.

How many know or care about the murders and rapes in different African countries every day?

If we descended into civil war we would neither want nor brook interference from any other country in the world. Yet we moralise about other countries.

Yes it's horrible. People are dying, but it is their own mess to sort out. It's not like Bosnia which was a one former country of a union being attacked by another. This is one country trying to determine who is going to rule it when the dust settles. Whoever wins will live, whoever loses will die.

Already the whole playing field is skewed as radical Islamists, not welcome in their own country, are fighting to overthrow a regime. They are not doing this for the people and you can be absolutely sure that the people will not benefit if they win. Just look at Egypt. They thought they were removing a dictator and replacing it with a democracy. Only to find out that the "Islamist" version of a democracy looks worse than a dictatorship.

I absolutely refuse to be swayed by the press on this. I've been watching RT news to get some balance on this and I'm absolutely convinced that the rebels are no better, or probably even worse, than the regime.

The best thing the major powers can do (all of them), is stay out of this and stop feeding it with weapons.

[Aggers]

The best thing the major powers can do (all of them), is stay out of this and stop feeding it with weapons.

I'll go along with that.

[cromwell]

I absolutely refuse to be swayed by the press on this. I've been watching RT news to get some balance on this and I'm absolutely convinced that the rebels are no better, or probably even worse, than the regime.

I don't believe most of what we are hearing about Syria. The West and the gulf Sheiks are desperate to overthrow Assad, then move on to Iran.
So they / we are actively looking for an excuse to use western military force to help overthrow Assad, whether it be a no-fly zone or whatever. If Syria wasn't well in with Russia, I believe it would have already happened.
So maybe someone is manufacturing an incident which can be used to justify the West getting more involved in the war in Syria?
It all stinks, quite frankly.

[Workingman]

I have seen serious questions asked, and not by the usual conspiracy theorists, as to why the regime would carry out such an attack around the time UN inspectors arrived, why the inspectors did not demand access or walk back out, and whether it could have been perpetrated by the rebels and gone wrong? No answers, as yet.

I have no firm view, largely because I remain of the opinion that it is not our problem.