Interesting reading here on the grand plan

WPR Article | Jihad 2020: Assessing Al-Qaida?s 20-Year Plan

@ Toadstool

The Economist: Syria?s chemical weapons: Distrust and verify | The Economist

Just this week he denied having chemical weapons, even as his foreign minister admitted it. He is not a man to be trusted.

Daily Mail: Syria denies it has chemical weapons | Mail Online

Bashar Assad's Foreign Ministry flatly denied the American charges.

"Of course Syria has no chemical weapons. They (Americans) have been talking for years about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But so far, the presence of these weapons has not been confirmed," said ministry spokeswoman Bouthayna Shaaban.

"I would like to say that there are biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East region. They are in Israel, not in Syria," she said .


As for: They both said that chemical weapons had not been used.

This was for a brief time period of a day or two before it became irrefutable. I really cannot be bothered searching through all the news items to find it.

Thank goodness.

Now can you remind us what you think should happen?

Unleash the hounds of war or wring hands piously and tell them to stop killing each other?

If anyone's looking for the definition of "Kicking an issue into the long grass"- well, here it is.

So, the US and Russia are insisting that Assad destroys all his chems by some time in the future, if you don't mind.

And if you don't- well, we're going to be horrid to you.


Yawn.....

Straightaway...............nothing happened.:rolleyes:

Extracted from the link provided above.

"BRITAIN cannot hear enough about the Syrian conflict and has urged the media to report it in greater detail."

Ok pedant mode on here - how the hell can "Britain" urge anything never mind the media? Whenever I read statements like that I can't help but think what follows has been entirely made up just to suit the authors agenda. Or maybe I missed something maybe there was a referendum last week and we did urge the media. Sorry I ramble,,,,,,,


Yep I just went back and bought one of their tee shirts:E

Lol read some of the other articles and you will get your answer, did you buy this one

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/015...x1024.jpg?9844

Man so many to choose from, but I rather thought this one was appropriate - I'll wear it when posting on the forum;)

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/015...large.jpg?9844

Now that I've got my head round it, it's actually quite a good site - bit like the Dufflbag site. Thanks for sharing it NutLoose:ok:

I've been out for a while....

I expected that Eclectic wouldn't still be spouting the same ill-informed, armchair drivel as he was a couple of weeks ago.

Sadly I am wrong.

BFB

nope, unfortunately Bibi, I mean Eclectic, is still hand picking his unbiased news articles without being so brave to come up with his solution.

I'm not an unkind man but mightn't we be thinking of sending him to Coventry? Oh - no, he's there already. :eek:

I have stated my solution several times and even provided a map.

The Russians and the Americans have common interest in Syria. They both want the chemical weapons out of the way and they both want to sort out radical islam, which is causing them problems.
Russia has a unique problem. They need a Mediterranean port. This is Tartus, in Syria.
USA has a unique problem in that they have to look after Israel and that means handling the Iranian (Shiite) nuclear threat.

The Syrian solution is partition into three states. A Sunni state mainly up the Euphrates valley and the area around Allepo. A Kurdish state in the north against the Turkish border and an Alawaite/Shia state in Damascus/Homs and along the coast. This is the reality on the ground and has been for some time, the front line does not move much.

Once the states are up and running they need support. To be secular, to not be extremist, to have the rule of law. The UN can do this. Then the refugees will return.

The real problem is what to do with Assad. He has used WMDs against civilians which is behaviour not tolerated by the international community. The Russians are protecting him and the USA want to punish him.

Partition is a runner, it worked in Northern Ireland so lets go with that.

Have we lost our senses ?

"The real problem is what to do with Assad. He has used WMDs against civilians which is behaviour not tolerated by the international community. The Russians are protecting him and the USA want to punish him."

Nothing will happen to him.

He won't allow it to happen to himself either and if the International
community try he will just lay waste to everything they want.

Eclectic

What do you propose for the 2 million Christians in the Ethnic carve up of Syria?

500

Run that by the former leaders of late who met their fate.

But they didn't have Russia on side like he has.

Just my HO.

Should the US arming of the opposition turn the tide, I see two paths forward. Assad meets his fate in Syria or he retires to a nice dacha on the Caspian Sea as a guest of Putin. I suppose Putin could put boots on the ground to stabilize (from his perspective) the situation. Time will tell.

@ 10Watt

Partition worked well for the Austro Hungarian Empire, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Where the differences between groups of people in different parts of a state are great it is the ultimate solution.

Partition would defuse the conflict, making the states more likely to be secular (as I put in my last post) so that the minorities would be OK.

Syria is (all very -ish and a simplification) :
74% Sunni (10% Kurds)
13% Shia (11% Alawites)
10% Christian
3% Druze

They tend to live in segregated communities/enclaves/neighbourhoods/ghettoes. The level of integration is low. Which is part of what makes partition so feasible. It also explains why the front lines in the conflict are so static. It also explains the Ghouta sarin attack. Ghouta being a Sunni enclave in Damascus.

I beg to differ.

What's to stop there being a never-ending series of border disputes?

The radical elements of all shades need to be damped down, by force or whatever, for any prospect of a stable outcome.


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Action deferred, maybe not a bad idea.

The next step is for it to go into deadlock in the UNSC while working out excruciating details. Assad has at least a year's lease on life, unmolseted beyond current levels of molestation.