griz wrote:Some food for thought Per :
OK, watched it.
Terrible video. Terribly annoying. Extremely slow in getting to the point. Endless repitions.
No sources. Not a single reference to who we are listening to. Who are these people?
Who do they represent? We are left unknowing. As for what they say:l
A mix of truths, half truths and desinformation.
It clearly is a civil war. It started with demonstrations in Homs, demanding democracy.
These demonstrations were met with bullets. Military was sent in to quash all dissent. Brutally.
Then the protests spread. What happened next is that outside forces entered the game.
The anti-Assad side received help from (among others) the Saudis, Qatar and Turkey. They also attracted "help" from Al Nusra (which has ties to Al Qaeda) and ISIS. And Israel, of course, who would love to get rid of Assad, but who are naturally keeping a low profile.
There were also sanctions against the Assad regime by most western nations, including the EU and the US.
Assad then received help from Iran, Hezbollah and Russia.
So, when they say the war is mostly outside forces, they're correct.
But when they say all of Syria backs Assad, they're lying.
The Assad family, who have ruled Syria with an iron fist for some fifty years, are Allawites. Basically a Shiite subgroup, or sect. The majority of Syrians are Sunni. A large part of the Sunni population supported the uprising, which is why Assad started bombing their cities. This is also why eg the Saudis got involved, and then Iran on the other side. The US was reluctant to get involved, still not really having sorted out either Iraq or Afghanistan, so they hoped sanctions would be enough. When it became clear the US was not entering into this conflict, Putin decided to get Assad's back. The Assad family has been loyal to the Soviet Union over the years, and an arch enemy to Israel. Putin realised this was his chance to strengthen Russia's influence in the region, and went whole hog. In media reports they mainly claim to be fighting ISIS, but that is far from the truth. Their main targets are the rebel strongholds, and strategically they make sure to help Assad's forces gain as much ground as possible.
The war is complicated. It's not just everyone against Assad. It's also Rebels (I'll use this term for the democratic opposition) and Al Nusra against ISIS, because virtually all Syrians agree that they do not want ISIS there.
As for the toyotas, nothing strange there.
ISIS have controlled large oil fields and have been managing to smuggle oil out through both Iraq and Turkey. They have also imposed heavy taxes on the areas they control. They have lots of money. Or rather, they had. Further more, it's not a very well kept secret that many Saudis sympathise with ISIS. The money for the toyotas comes from black market oil, taxes and confiscations and donations from Saudis and other Gulf State Arabs. They are probably imported through Turkey or Iraq. Most likely both.
The video seemed to suggest that the US were involved in providing toyotas, but I'm not buying that. I suggest they bought them locally with their oil money and Saudi greenback.
Also, toyotas have been the popular choice among rag tag militias throughout the Middle East and Africa for decades. I keep getting offers for my old toyota picnic from people with Middle East accents...
