Politics

Out of context: Reply #25708

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  • IRNlun6-1

    It's an understatement to say this is an incredibly complex conflict. This has been an ongoing war for the past 5+ years. There are no good guys in this at all; all sides responsible for horrific inhumanity. Having said that, this is my admittedly amateur take on the significant strategic positioning of this strike. I don't support war, I'm just trying to understand the motivations behind this.

    This is not an invasion. This strike signals support for a larger regional strategy. The US is no longer leading this, but rather a consortium of regional allies. Albeit in a more clandestine fashion. I see this as the beginning of the end of the Syrian war. But just the start of the larger regional conflict which has the Iranian mullahs in their crosshairs.

    In the past few weeks, President Trumps administration has met with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, The King of Jordan, the Israeli Prime Minister, and the President of Egypt. This is an ongoing part of an effort to modernize the region and move away from the radicalized politics of recent decades.

    One figure of note that should be paid attention too is the Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and his efforts to modernize the kingdom.

    Trump just showed the world his redline, and it was already crossed. Everyone knows it would be suicide for Assad to do this and Russia vehemently denies any deliberate use of chemical weapons. Doesn't matter. The previous administration would have waited. This placed the responsibility to determine how this happened squarely on those who committed it, with one less airbase.

    I could go on but I'll keep this short. It is wild to see how from one day to the next support for Trump has completely flipped.

    • Syria was the least radicalized most modern muslim country in the arab region before the war. Now it's a hellhole. This was a deliberate effort I thinkBeeswax
    • I agree. I see many of these countries struggling internally to prevent a pronounced conflict between Sunni and Shia hardliners.IRNlun6
    • Which is why I think there's a more clandestine effort to modernize.IRNlun6
    • Agree with Beeswax... After visiting many arab countries in the 90's, Syria, was by far the safest and easiest one... Then, we decided to bring'em democracy...gonzalle
    • Jordania was cool also.gonzalle
    • Central Africans used to go to Libya for work until it was bombed to dust. now they take boat trips to the EU. Thanks HillaryDillinger
    • I've read some wild stories about the secretive Arab League commandos. Lightning quick raids that focus on arms and weaponry with no loss of life.IRNlun6
    • Devastating to moral when the opposition is so quick they just destroy your weapons and leave you alive. They save the killing for the real bad hombres.IRNlun6
    • So by meeting with a few leaders and bombing an airport he is "modernizing the region"? That doesn't make sense at all.yuekit
    • If you have a link to the actual plan or reporting on it, would be interested to see.yuekit
    • But I'd just be very surprised if Trump, with zero foreign policy experience and understanding of the issues, was able to pull that together. It seems likeyuekit
    • people keep reading plans and motivations into Trump's actions that just don't exist.yuekit
    • It's allies in the region who are modernizing with or without Trump. No longer for the US to say otherwise, just to decide its level of support.IRNlun6
    • Can't take Trump as Trump right now, as much as I like to give him credit. It's more like channeling General Mattis through Trumps public persona.IRNlun6
    • lol, so the 1st time Trump does something you don't like, he's just channeling someone else you don't like? he owns all kinds of bullshit, but not this?monospaced
    • Conflicted. Because I don't want war but think the way these strikes where carried out was brilliant. And I give all credit to Mattis.IRNlun6
    • or blame it on Obama ... :/monospaced
    • Take it from their people how they feel about President Obama. His legacy in the region will not be a positive one.IRNlun6
    • gotcha, so it was Obama then, but now it's just Mattis ... that's what I thought, you just don't see any faults in Trump, but you've got it out for the black gumonospaced
    • Take it from most people on the planet now, Trump's legacy is basically the worst in the nation's history, alread and likely to be unmatched in in our lifetime.monospaced

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