Syria crisis forces World to clarify its thinking on Assad regime

[cthulu2016]

It appears to me that darn near the entire world is facing up to a conclusion it didn't realize it had made.

It seems that despite condemning Assad, the world wants Assad to hang onto power in Syria because the world very much fears the potential downside of the alternatives.

That's not what I think they should think or they should not think. It is just my read on what they do think... how the aggregate global government thought process appears to be going.

Once folks admit to themselves that they don't want regime change in Syria right now, the appeal of attacking the regime starts to fade.

It went from "how best to handle Russia" to "we lost the UK" in pretty short order. Cameron could have ignored parliament, but didn't feel it worth the political capital. Nobody is sticking their neck out.

It's not because people love Assad or love chemical weapons. It's because when they step through the possibilities following strikes, no strike being contemplated, in the overall context, appears to offer the reliable net effect of making the world a better or safer place.

[AZ Progressive]

1. Is Iraq really better now than before Saddam was toppled?

Dictators may be bad but in places like the Middle East, the alternative is worse.

Also, women have suffered in Libya since Gaddafi was overthrown.

[Scootaloo]

2. well, they're not worse off, either

It's a different kind of "fucking awful."

[David__77]

4. Depends on who you ask.

Shiites don't face as much state persecution, but they're being killed off by AQ. I think gay people had it better off under the Baathists: at least they didn't have death squads after them. If you're a communist, you'd prefer the new set-up, because they can operate in the open now (although they too get killed off by death squads at times). It is, as someone said, just a different sort of clusterfuck.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Politicians haven't made the case

Not that most people who don't pay attention know it, but over 100K people have died in Syria since 2011, more than half of them civilians. Now we're supposed to get involved based on what looks and sounds to most people like a technicality.