Triipe

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In Assad's Syria, there is no religious coercion and minorities were not required to pay a jiziya tax because they weren't Sunni Muslims.

Homs, like all of the cities recaptured by the government, now belongs mostly to Syria’s victorious minorities: Christians, Shias and Alawites (an esoteric offshoot of Shia Islam from which Mr Assad hails). These groups banded together against the rebels, who are nearly all Sunni, and chased them out of the cities. Sunni civilians, once a large majority, followed. More than half of the country’s population of 22m has been displaced—6.5m inside Syria and over 6m abroad. Most are Sunnis.
from an Economist and a haaretz article

The whole goal of unseating assad would have been to balkanize the region along ethnic/religious lines.

This outcome means Syria hasn't become a Sunni monolith and will continue to be a place where people can practice their religions in "peace"
 

Duppy

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Also note that one of the core tenets of the Ba'ath party in Syria has been the arabization of the population :skip:Kurdish suppression has always had an ethnic reason behind it rather than a religious one. You do know that Kobanî is officially called Ayn Al Arab despite having a population consisting of nearly nothing but Kurds, and that you could get indefinitely detained in Syria pre-war for speaking Kurdish, right?

Don't cape too hard for Assad now, dude's biggest appeal in this war is being better than a bunch of genocidal takfiris
 

thatrapsfan

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Also note that one of the core tenets of the Ba'ath party in Syria has been the arabization of the population :skip:Kurdish suppression has always had an ethnic reason behind it rather than a religious one. You do know that Kobanî is officially called Ayn Al Arab despite having a population consisting of nearly nothing but Kurds, and that you could get indefinitely detained in Syria pre-war for speaking Kurdish, right?

Don't cape too hard for Assad now, dude's biggest appeal in this war is being better than a bunch of genocidal takfiris

The Ba'ath and Assad Family are a genocidal enterprise who were more than happy to strategically deploy the same takfiris before this war. The regime isnt "better" than anything and is the core reason behind the country's destruction.
 

Triipe

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Don't cape too hard for Assad now
:ehh:fair enough, but after Saddam and Gaddafi I get the feeling that the removal of Assad would have just led to further looting and destruction of Syria.

funny antidote, Assad used to be a practicing obstetrician in the UK. Possible that these "maniacal dictator" caricatures of him are off base and were created with malintent. :yeshrug:
 

thatrapsfan

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from an Economist and a haaretz article

The whole goal of unseating assad would have been to balkanize the region along ethnic/religious lines.

This outcome means Syria hasn't become a Sunni monolith and will continue to be a place where people can practice their religions in "peace"
If you think Kurds are a)Christian and b) protected by Assad, you should sit this one out.
 

Duppy

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The Ba'ath and Assad Family are a genocidal enterprise who were more than happy to strategically deploy the same takfiris before this war. The regime isnt "better" than anything and is the core reason behind the country's destruction.
Tell that to the Christians and Shias fighting in pro-government militias :mjgrin:I'm not defending Assad, just saying that if the opposition was any better he most likely would've lost the war. For us, there is little difference but for those minorities the takfiris want to slaughter, it's a matter of life or death.
 

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:ehh:fair enough, but after Saddam and Gaddafi I get the feeling that the removal of Assad would have just led to further looting and destruction of Syria.

funny antidote, Assad used to be a practicing obstetrician in the UK. Possible that these "maniacal dictator" caricatures of him are off base and were created with malintent. :yeshrug:
I'm sure some parts of the Syrian government's conduct are exaggerated for political purposes but he definitely is a dictator. Democratic leaders don't get 99.X% of votes in elections or run unopposed. Alternatively in the newest election you had Bashar versus an old friend of his who literally told people to vote for Bashar according to a Syrian on Reddit, a government supporter at that :mjgrin: 88%+ of the vote
 

thatrapsfan

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Tell that to the Christians and Shias fighting in pro-government militias :mjgrin:I'm not defending Assad, just saying that if the opposition was any better he most likely would've lost the war. For us, there is little difference but for those minorities the takfiris want to slaughter, it's a matter of life or death.

Making the opposition to his rule a black or white choice between Assad's police state on one hand or AQ/ISIS on the other was a key imperative of the regime - but its a fact that opposition towards Assad far extended far aside those narrow choices at the start of this whole affair. Of course, there is no credible alternative now, but thats exactly how the regime wanted it. Their survival was also a result of their international backers having far more skin in the game ( Russia, Iran, Hezb and IRGC militias).


In any case, the final outcome is a disaster for Syria and Syrian people. I expect the genocidal police state to even become more North Korea like in its latest incarnation. He's already setting the terrain for a greater cult of personality constructed around his family - the future rulers of Syria :heh: Its only a matter of time before their brutal suppression of the majority of the country will lead to another war.

 

The Odum of Ala Igbo

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Making the opposition to his rule a black or white choice between Assad's police state on one hand or AQ/ISIS on the other was a key imperative of the regime - but its a fact that opposition towards Assad far extended far aside those narrow choices at the start of this whole affair. Of course, there is no credible alternative now, but thats exactly how the regime wanted it. Their survival was also a result of their international backers having far more skin in the game ( Russia, Iran, Hezb and IRGC militias).


In any case, the final outcome is a disaster for Syria and Syrian people. I expect the genocidal police state to even become more North Korea like in its latest incarnation. He's already setting the terrain for a greater cult of personality constructed around his family - the future rulers of Syria :heh: Its only a matter of time before their brutal suppression of the majority of the country will lead to another war.



That’s life!

You have Saudis, Hashemites and the Assads in that region. They will be there until they’re removed by a powerful force
 

thatrapsfan

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That’s life!

You have Saudis, Hashemites and the Assads in that region. They will be there until they’re removed by a powerful force

The former dont pretend lead a republic, and are far behind on the brutality and repression scocecard thus far.

Its amazing how the same people who are outraged till their blue about the Sauds just shrug and move on when it comes to the Assads :mjgrin:
 
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