McCain: 'They cry out for our help

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

I think I agree with Russians here. Bashar al-Assad maybe ruthless, cruel, blood thirsty dictator but still he is better option than chaos that most likely will follow if foreign nations intervene against him.

Except ofcourse if United States Army is willing to spend next 10+ years playing police in Syria...

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by kraznyi_oktjabr

I think I agree with Russians here. Bashar al-Assad maybe ruthless, cruel, blood thirsty dictator but still he is better option than chaos that most likely will follow if foreign nations intervene against him.

The Russians don't mind chaos, and they give %§$"$& for Assad or the Syrian people.

Syria is their only remaining military base in the Mediterranean. That's all they are after.

And if the current status is not already chaos, then I may have a wrong understanding of the term.

[AVGWarhawk]

War is the economic backbone of America.

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The Russians don't mind chaos, and they give %§$"$& for Assad or the Syrian people.

Syria is their only remaining military base in the Mediterranean. That's all they are after.

And if the current status is not already chaos, then I may have a wrong understanding of the term.

I don't disagree with you. You are absolutely correct on Russians ultimate motive. What I mean is that for Russian Federation status quo (= al-Assad in power) is currently best option. They want to keep their naval base there (priority one) and they want to make sure that there is atleast somewhat friendly regime in place. If west removes al-Assad from equation without putting boots into ground there will be struggle for power. In such situation nobody can say for sure what will be an outcome and thats last thing Russians want. In worst case scenario Russia could end up losing its base and having new hostile islamist stronghold to worry about.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by kraznyi_oktjabr

I think I agree with Russians here. Bashar al-Assad maybe ruthless, cruel, blood thirsty dictator but still he is better option than chaos that most likely will follow if foreign nations intervene against him.

Excellent point. One can't assume that a rebellion will result in an improvement. It may be a case of "we just want OUR sob in charge, not YOUR sob.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Excellent point. One can't assume that a rebellion will result in an improvement. It may be a case of "we just want OUR sob in charge, not YOUR sob.

Can't see we have a SOB of our own in the match there. Not Assad. Not the opposition. And Israel probably only hopes for Assad, if it does, due to predictability of the status quo with him. Another Egypt is the last thing that they want, which is understandable.