Nobody expected this…The Assad regime that ruled Syria since the 70s is done. The winners are a Jihadist Sunni rebel group.
Syria was one of the few relatively stable Middle Eastern countries only because of that regime, oddly enough. Now, all hell will break loose.
Is today opposite day?
“For Syrians, it brought a sudden unexpected end to a war in deep freeze for years, with hundreds of thousands dead, cities pounded to dust and an economy hollowed by global sanctions.”
Just like every day is, since “1984”. “Stable” means the people complaining about oppression are being tortured in prison.
Of course the civil war was terrible, but the Assad regime was in power since 1971. For the first 40 years of that regime Syria was quite stable.
Oh, when Assad was a six year old? Makes sense. WTF
Daddy dictator was not stable.
Some fake news
Right. There has been no stability. I know that Jolani is seen as a terrorist by the US, but he is saying that he is a moderate who wants everyone to be free. We’ll see if there is any truth behind his words. But even if he is sincere, others around him can disrupt matters at any time. That’s the nature of sects.
I forgot that most here don’t know anything about the Middle East and don’t bother to know.
I’ll break it down Barney style for you –
Bashar Assad – the guy that ruled Syria until a few days ago – was the second leader of the Assad regime. His dad, Hafez, took over in the 70s and turned Syria from a medieval backwater into a fairly modern country. He died in 2000 and Bashar replaced him. The good times lasted until 2011 when the civil war began.
If you define modern as “Political dissenters were eliminated by arrest, torture, and execution”, which is kind of accurate, and put “stability” above human rights, then sure.
But it does not make a “modern” country.
I was being sarcastic. Obvs.
The Middle East can’t be judged by Western standards.
A strongman leader who kills his political enemies and puts his relatives into positions of power is Middle East 101. There’s never going to be a leader in the region who doesn’t do that. However, if that leader also builds infrastructure, clamps down on sectarian violence, educates the population and keeps his country open to the world, he can be somewhat forgiven for the other things he does.
A leader who acts so will get big trouble from his population.
Yes, that’s what the Inquisition was all about. Let me quote you from their manual.
The 1578 edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum (a standard Inquisitorial manual) spelled out the purpose of inquisitorial penalties: … quoniam punitio non refertur primo & per se in correctionem & bonum eius qui punitur, sed in bonum publicum ut alij terreantur, & a malis committendis avocentur
> (translation: "… for punishment does not take place primarily and per se for the correction and good of the person punished, but for the public good in order that others may become terrified and weaned away from the evils they would commit")
AI overview
An authoritarian personality is a personality type that is characterized by a tendency to respect and obey authority figures without question. People with an authoritarian personality may also:
Have strong allegiance to authority figures
*Work to maintain the status quo
*Have low self-esteem
*Display authoritarian attitudes
*Desire power
*Resist input from others
The term “authoritarian personality” originated from the writings of Erich Fromm. However, the concept was developed by psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley, who identified a cluster of traits associated with authoritarianism. These traits include: fascistic tendencies, anti-semitism, ethnocentrism, and political-economic conservatism.
Scholars believe that authoritarianism has a significant influence on public opinion and political behavior.
The fate that awaits the brutal/stable leader: Get dragged through the street like Ghaddafi or obscurity in Russia.
a leader who managed to commit the ultimate political sin: being both brutally authoritarian and unsuccessful
Apparently stability pays well too. But, you don’t get to use the stable system for the average everyone, you have maintain a secret one, with all your stable friends and stablely transfer it to your your new stable dictatorship home.
To sustain his stay in Russia, Assad will likely be able to tap into some of his reported $2bn believed to be hidden around the world in offshore accounts and shell corporations.
Sometimes. When that does happen it’s not for the reasons liberals would like.
Keep in mind the group who defeated Assad are not going to make Syria better than it was. Tyrants are almost always replaced by other tyrants.
I believe that is an argument against tyrants. I have not defended the future actions of the rebels who overthrew Assad.
True enough. It’s a shame for the people who can’t get away from tyrants. Then again, it’s also necessary for them.
I really liked Fromm’s book “Operators and Things” . It made me see the psyche in a new light.
