US government switches 180 degrees, now openly and publicly supports ISIS

[Ryokan]

I'm curious to know: What major right-wing figures are cheering Assad and Russia right now?

No major right-wing figures that I know, and I didn't say all - I said a lot. I consider myself on the right side of the political divide myself, so I wasn't attacking a side. I really meant far right wing, mostly of the anti-Muslim kind.

 

[dudalb]

I bet alex jones is cheering Russia

So is Pat Buchanan. He has a following among the religous right in the US because of his Anti Gay policy.

But then in the UK you have Jeffrey Corbyn saying the US is to blame for the Ukraine situation, a defacto support of Putin.


I will give Putin credit for one thing: He is able to get support from hard liners on both the left and right.....somethingthe Soviet Union never could have done.

 

[fuelair]

I've only seen left-wingers cheering Assad and Putin on, because they are anti-Israel and anti-Western.

Not sure you have seen that - and I know I don't support either of those ******** or their like!!! I am only anti-Israel when they try to tell the US what to do.

 

[Praktik]

So is Pat Buchanan. He has a following among the religous right in the US because of his Anti Gay policy.

Yes most recently but Buchanan also has long been opposed to NATO provocation of Russia, and has been hammering points on that on the McLaughlin Group and in his writings for over a decade - basically trying to get other people to realize there are Western actions that from a Russian perspective, look provocative.

Some people have very myopic conceptions of world relations and it's interesting to have an old hand like Buchanan be the corrective on points like that. This probably stems from the paleo/vs neo split.

In recent year or so he has been sympathetic to Putin's policies on gays and i've felt like throwing my remote at the TV when he says things like that!

 

[Polaris]

"Now"? When in the last 2,000 years were there good choices?

Mohammad's mother having an abortion would have been a good choice.

 

[Childlike Empress]

There's a new poll around by a British institute apparently associated with Gallup about the opinions of Syrians and Iraqis of the situation in their countries, including in IS-controlled areas. While I'm not sure how the latter can be conducted seriously and didn't read the fineprint (yet), the results are pretty interesting. Given multiple choice over a number of reasons for the existence of IS, by far the most-agreed-on reason is "ISIL is US foreign manufacturer" (sic) with a whopping 82%. Including no less than 62% of those polled in areas controlled by the group (page 26 of the Syria PDF).

Of course we as "Skeptics" can easily decide from behind our computers that those people have no idea what they're talking about, right? The "Arab Street" is silly like that as we all know. Nutters.

Polled on positive/negative influence of different actors, we find:

Assad 47/50
Iran 43/55
GCC 37/55
AQ 35/63
FSA 35/63
Opposition Coalition 26/72
IS 21/76

But but but he must go!!!!!eleven!

 

[Nihilianth]

Fine, follow your own directions if you think that:

1. with Assad gone, the remaining Arab christians will be secure.
2. with Assad gone, he will be replaced by a representative democracy in which all different political and religious factions will be properly represented and discuss their issues in a parliament or house of representatives, and this will magically work out.
3. opposing Assad somehow doesn't benefit ISIS

You'll fit in just well with the rest of the nutjobs.

Uuuummmmm....if you read any news outside of the idiotic erican media that purposely keeps you misinformed, you would realize there is a logical issue with the us and europe when RUSSIA is building a new airbase in the mid east.

You see, there is rhis country called "Ukraine," which was illegally invaded and had a chunk of land torn from it by....well....RUSSIA.

Not that the us has behaved any better since 2003. Still....

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Sunstealer]

I think the problem here is that you are assuming support for Assad is support for anti-ISIS.

The problem is, not all of Syria's miltiary is engaged against ISIS; much of it is concerned with fighting other rebels within the country who aren't ISIS, but still want Assad gone.

There was a guest on the Daily show a few months ago. Can't remember his name, but he was a journalist covering middle east affairs. He pointed out that while in theory Assad should be fighting ISIS tooth-and-nail, he is actually ignoring them.

Whilst you are right on the first and second points, on the third the journalist is wrong.

I think Assad's SAA, SyAAF, the NDF and HA are currently fighting on some 80 fronts. The journalist is completely wrong but that isn't surprising because there are very few people in the west who are actually following what is going on and know what is going on on the ground.

In the NE over the last few months the SAA has been battered around Hasakah by ISIL to the point they lost large amounts of ground. If it wasn't for the YPG stepping in then Hasakah would have fallen.

The SAA have been fighting ISIL in and around Deir-ez-Zor for years but are now isolated because ISIL produced a major push around 4 months ago and cut the road between Deir-ez-Zor and Palmyra, taking all the villages in between. That was their prelude to the assault on Palmyra.

ISIL have also managed to push the SAA out of Palmyra too. Only yesterday did the SAA regain the town of Jazal and the oilfield, but they can't take it back.

ISIL last month took the town of Qaryatayn resulting in the kidnap of christians. They are also operating along the border with Lebanon in the Arsal region although they've suffered a large defeat at the hands of Hezbollah who've been backed by the SyAAF.

I could go on. And on.

Man power is in very short supply and Syrian government forces and militia are hard pressed. It simply is not possible for them to fight ISIL as much as the ignorant want them to when they are having to deal with JaN, ASH and the other assorted groups and factions of the FSA right from Daraa in the south to northern Latakia all the way up to Aleppo, whilst trying to contain large pockets of FSA along the Qalamoun mountains, East Ghouta, northern Homs and dozens of other places.

Couple this with the huge strain placed on the SyAAF, which remarkably is still functioning to a reasonable degree, the fact that combined arms warfare cannot be carried out by Syrian forces, the continual "fire-fighting" as forces are moved to halt rebel advances, means that there is no way for them to make any significant gains against ISIL or for that matter any other group.

SAA/NDF/HA can beat ISIL. SAA/NDF/HA can beat FSA. SAA/NDF/HA can beat JaN. However, it can't do all three.

ISIL is far from being ignored believe me.

 

[Sunstealer]

None of which changes the fact that Assad is an extremely nasty dictator, who shouldn't be supported by anyone.

His regime is the least nasty in the whole damn sorry mess. If the SAA crumble then all of the main population centres will be open to salafi islamists and they will butcher alawite, shi'ite/shia, druze, christians and whomever else before splitting into factions and fighting amongst themselves. Just have a look at what happened in Idlib when JaN took over. The casual killing of non-sunni civilians and POWs are available on the net.

That will spill into Lebanon and Jordon too because they wouldn't be able to cope with the refugees and the factions within. And no I'm not even including ISIL in that analysis. If that were to happen ISIL would laugh their heads off because they would then simply mop up the disjointed and ineffective FSA groups until they were sitting in Damascus, Homs, Hama, Latakia etc and then you'd see even more savagery and flight.

If you think the refugee crisis is bad now, then the fall of Assad would bring something truly horrific.

 

[Caper]

Assad himself seems very charismatic. A likable guy. If his brother didn't die, it seems he would have not been involved in politics and been an eye doctor. I'm sure that has all changed and what is widely reported is true. But it seems puzzling to me, because he doesn't seem like the typical ruthless dictator.

 

[Caper]

I've only seen left-wingers cheering Assad and Putin on, because they are anti-Israel and anti-Western.

No major right-wing figures that I know, and I didn't say all - I said a lot. I consider myself on the right side of the political divide myself, so I wasn't attacking a side. I really meant far right wing, mostly of the anti-Muslim kind.

I did just read this on Wiki.

International support[edit]
Far-right[edit]
Assad has attracted support from the far-right both before and during the Syrian Civil War. Former leader of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke hosted a televised speech on Syrian national television in 2005.[188] The Ukrainian far right figure Georgy Shchokin was invited to Syria in 2006 by the Syrian foreign minister and awarded a medal by the Ba'ath party, while Shchokin's institution the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management awarded Assad with an honorary doctorate.[189] In 2014, research by the Simon Wiesenthal Center concluded that Bashar al-Assad had, like his father Hafez al-Assad, sheltered Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner in Syria. Brunner was Adolf Eichmann’s top lieutenant and was believed to have advised the Assad regime on torture techniques[190] and on purging Syria's Jewish community.[191] Brunner is thought to have died in Syria of natural causes in 2010.

The National Front in France has been a prominent supporter of Assad since the civil war,[192] as has the former leader of the neo-fascist Third Way (Troisième voie) organization.[188] In Italy, the far right parties Forza Nuova and CasaPound have both been supportive of Assad, with Forza Nuova putting up pro-Assad posters and the party's leader praising Assad's commitment to the ideology of Arab nationalism in 2013,[193] while CasaPound has issued statements of support for Assad.[194] Syrian Social Nationalist Party representative Ouday Ramadan has worked in Italy to organize support movements for Assad.[195] The National Revival of Poland also has a positive view of the Assad regime.[188] The Greek Neo-Nazi political party Golden Dawn has spoken out in favor of the Assad regime,[196] and the more radical Strasserist group Black Lily has claimed to have sent mercenaries to Syria to fight alongside the Syrian regime, specifically mentioning their participation in the Battle of al-Qusayr.[197]

Far-right politician Nick Griffin, the former leader of the British National Party, has been chosen by the Assad regime to represent the United Kingdom as an ambassador and at regime-held conferences; Griffin had been an official guest of the Assad regime three times since the outbreak of the civil war.[198] The European Solidarity Front for Syria, representing several extreme right political groups from across Europe, has had their delegations received by the Syrian national parliament, with one particular delegation being met by Syrian head of parliament Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, Prime Minister Wael Nader Al-Halqi and Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.[195] Most recently, Assad met with Filip Dewinter of the Belgian far-right party Vlaams Belang.[199]

Left-wing[edit]
Left-wing support for Assad has been split since the start of the Syrian Civil War;[200] the Assad regime has been accused of cynically manipulating sectarian identity and anti-imperialism to continue its worst activities.[201] Before the Civil War, British Member of Parliament George Galloway said of Bashar al-Assad, and the country he leads, during a visit to the University of Damascus in November 2005: "For me he is the last Arab ruler, and Syria is the last Arab country. It is the fortress of the remaining dignity of the Arabs,"[202] and a "breath of fresh air,"[203] Galloway later criticized the Assad regime at the outset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, dismissing its "gross distortions" regarding the uprising.[204] In April 2007, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syria's leader Wednesday despite White House objections," according to USA Today.[205] The New York Times reported that Representatives Henry A. Waxman and Tom Lantos of California, Louise M. Slaughter of New York, Nick J. Rahall II of West Virginia, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and David L. Hobson Ohio joined Pelosi's trip.[206] Pelosi called her visit to Syria the "road to peace," according to the Associated Press.[207]

Hadash has expressed support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.[208] The leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, reiterated his full support for the Syrian people in their struggle for peace and reiterates its strong condemnation of "the destabilizing actions that are still in Syria, with encouragement from members of NATO".[209] The leader of the National Liberation Front, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has sent a cable of congratulations to President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, on the occasion of winning the presidential elections.[210] The leader of the People's Progressive Party, Donald Ramotar, said that Assad's win in the presidential election is a great victory for Syria.[211] The leader of the African National Congress, Jacob Zuma, congratulated Assad on winning the presidential elections.[212] The leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, Daniel Ortega, has said that President Assad's victory [in the presidential elections] is an important step to "attain peace in Syria and a clear cut evidence that the Syrian people trust their president as a national leader and support his policies which aim at maintaining Syria's sovereignty and unity".[213] The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine supports the Assad regime.[214][215] The leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, has said that electing President Assad means "preserving Syria’s unity and sovereignty and that it will help end the crisis and confront terrorism, wishing prosperity and safety to Syria".[216][217][218]

 

[Puppycow]

The U.S. has been against Assad for a long time. How is that a 180-degree switch?

 

[Toontown]

Some of us in Europe are getting fed up of the mess the US creates and which floats all the way over here.

And some of us in the US are getting tired of being your scapegoats.

So what do you plan to do about it? Start another world war and drag us into it? Or just continue with your usual nagging and finger pointing?

 

[Praktik]

..and you know the worst of it?

We saved their asses in WWII

Old Europe just continues to disappoint

 

[Darth Rotor]

Assad himself seems very charismatic. A likable guy. If his brother didn't die, it seems he would have not been involved in politics and been an eye doctor. I'm sure that has all changed and what is widely reported is true. But it seems puzzling to me, because he doesn't seem like the typical ruthless dictator.

Compared to whom?

 

[Praktik]

What about all the good things Assad did?

 

[WildCat]

What about ISIS ally turkey? They are providing them with aid by bombing the Kurds after all. When will we start bombing Turkey?

On Thanksgiving?

 

[catsmate]

I've only seen left-wingers cheering Assad and Putin on, because they are anti-Israel and anti-Western.

Really Richard Black is a "left-winger"?

 

[WildCat]

Really Richard Black is a "left-winger"?

No idea who he is, but all the Putin supporters on this site are left-wingers.

 

[Belz...]

There are people supporting Putin???