SYRIA

theballz

walshb wrote: »

Do people here genuinely give a fook?

I used to try read up on all this Middle East hostility..

It’s about as easy to understand as Shane MacGowan on a bad day!

Of course they are (or at least they should.) About 5.6 million Syrians are refugees, and another 6.2 million people are displaced within Syria. Nearly 12 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance. At least half of the people affected by the Syrian refugee crisis are children.

People should care about that.

theballz

theballz wrote: »

People should care about that.

Maybe, but I doubt that most do, beyond dedicating 20 seconds to saying "oh, that's terrible" or watching a news piece, and then switching over to EastEnders.

For others, we might care because of the amount of refugees that will want access to Europe or Ireland. That's my only real concern tbh. I've given up on giving out false sympathy.

Manic Moran

Deleted User wrote: »

What pro-china documentary? It's a common image used in many western news articles.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/10/08/small-rotations-to-far-flung-southeast-asian-countries-are-likely-the-future-of-indopacom-assignments/

"The Palau runway project was completed this summer and opens up that country — about 2,700 miles southeast of China — as a possible U.S. military transportation hub"

"This (Guam) has been in the works for years, with the construction of Marine Corps Camp Blaz, Guam. By roughly 2025, the plan is to move 5,000 Okinawa, Japan-based Marines to Guam.

The permanent base had been in the works since 2006, with a long process to get there. Carved out of the island jungle, it required first selecting and leveling a site."

And there's other sites which have been established over the last 30 years with the aim of combating China's influence, but have since been allowed to lapse, although the agreements are still in place should they need to be reactivated. Just because Trump sought to reduce the US presence in Asia, doesn't discount what happened previously, nor what Biden is likely to increase, as a way of improving their relations with foreign allies.

Now.. you could provide some links showing that the US doesn't have the bases in the image I provided, or that they don't supply/train the countries where those bases are located.

Of course you would.. since you're the one who said it. I certainly didn't. Did anyone else suggest it?

Those two examples, at least, don't help your case.

Guam is US territory, it already has a large naval and air force base. Moving 5,000 Marines from a base in Japan (670km from China) to a new camp in the US (3,000km from China) doesn't strike me as being a particularly threatening move where China is concerned.

Palau has, indeed, asked for the US to build a base there (They're no fans of China and are one of only four countries to recognize Taiwan), but thus far, the US has not done so nor indicated that it will.

The Angaur airstrip referred to above, a civilian field, is a gravel strip with room only for one parked aircraft under some 2,750km from China, see it in all its glory on Google Earth. If the Chinese feel threatened by this, or by the mighy Palauian military (which doesn't actually exist), then they need to have serious discussions about what their defense budget is getting them.

Manic Moran

Manic Moran wrote: »

Those two examples, at least, don't help your case.

What case would that be?

Think back to what I spoke of originally, not what the other poster chose to run with. I said that the US had bases all around China. He stated that no new bases had been created since Vietnam and I disagreed.

There seems to be a rather strong desire to run with objections that deal with what was written.

The examples I gave related to his claim. Simple enough really.

Gatling

Deleted User wrote: »

The examples I gave related to his claim. Simple enough really.

You made a claim and I stated you were wrong and I stand by it .

So China has been happily building bases in Asia , South America , Africa but America hasn't built bases to surround china ,
No not even gravel bush run ways

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

And what about the 800 military bases the US have around the world?

Gatling wrote: »

About 38 the rest aren't bases ,they could be anything from listening stations to other intelligence gathering operations to offices in buildings
There not the only ones who have similar set ups in foreign countries

Deleted User wrote: »

Ok. How about the bases, and the military hardware contained with them, that are dotted around China's borders? Just as they did the same around Russia's borders.

Gatling wrote: »

No new US or NATO bases have been opened since the middle of the cold war , plenty of new Russian bases have opened closer to us allies in eastern Europe than the other way around ,
No new bases in Asia that didn't exist since the Korea and Vietnam wars .
<snip>

Not going to continue with this, but it's obvious you've forgotten where this whole line of discussion started, and when I became involved. As I said, you made the claim that no new bases had been created, and then, when I disagreed, accused me of promoting Chinese propaganda.. and when asked to provide evidence to support you claims.. you provided nothing.. nothing at all, except more opinions.

In any case, this has gone circular, and you're obviously not going to deal in good faith.

Gatling

Gatling wrote: »

So China has been happily building bases in Asia , South America , Africa but America hasn't built bases to surround china ,
No not even gravel bush run ways

Did I say anything or dismiss/deny any Chinese behavior anywhere in the thread? Nope. I didn't.

Deflection. Pure and simple. Enough. I'm done.

Manic Moran

Deleted User wrote: »

What case would that be?

Think back to what I spoke of originally, not what the other poster chose to run with. I said that the US had bases all around China. He stated that no new bases had been created since Vietnam and I disagreed.

There seems to be a rather strong desire to run with objections that deal with what was written.

The examples I gave related to his claim. Simple enough really.

I have no idea if new bases have been created, but of the two you mention, one is not a base under any stretch of the imagination (Nor is it new, only expanded) and the other, while it is a new facility, is not really a new base either. The Navy already controlled a chunk of the land (Satellite view) next to Anderson Air Force Base (they adjoin), for Naval Computer and Telecommunications Center Guam, they just transferred control of much of it to the USMC (Department of the Navy, remember), built some barracks, and gave it a new name.. Indeed, to get to it, right now, you need to go in Navy gate and drive to the far side. For training, they’re actually using the an old part of the AFB.

Further, given it’s replacing Okinawa, which is “around” China, as opposed to being on US territory in another hemisphere, the underlying effect is to reduce, not increase, the US military’s ability to influence China.

theballz

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0315/1203565-syria/

theballz

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/28/suez-canal-ever-given-stuck-ship-syria-rations-fuel

Syria really feeling it now. Can’t catch a damn break

donaghs

theballz wrote: »

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/28/suez-canal-ever-given-stuck-ship-syria-rations-fuel

Syria really feeling it now. Can’t catch a damn break

So, what should be done?

(a) Provide assistance to Syria now?

(b) Or overthrow the government, and assume something better can be put in its place, and the people will all peacefully rally to it, and then provide assistance to this new improved situation?

(I don't think (b) would create a peaceful stable situation in Syria).

biko

The west needs to stop meddling.
Syria needs to find their own way.