The Syrian "Revolution": A Farce from Beginning to End

It will be interesting to see whether the inspectors find any fragments.
They might give information about the kind of shell used.
If they find no fragments, it would be evidence that an intensive clean-up job has been done.
 
Sacrifice of sanity or sacrifice of normality hopefully is the same,

Hardly. Taking a different route to work is a deviation from the norm. As is eating breakfast food for dinner (though it's somehow better at night, dunno why). Yelling "stop" at the top of your lungs to persuade a god you don't believe in is a deviation from sanity.

I was I see some have done it. It wasn't that hard was it? It is not God that has to be persuaded but the likes of all of the US Congress and Russian Government, Assad and the leaders of the opposition, the Hezbollah, Israel, China and Iran. There are a lot of human minds to change, to make them realize the path they were on was the one leading to destruction.

If the exercise isn't meant to invoke the power of God, then what's the purpose?
 
Hardly. Taking a different route to work is a deviation from the norm. As is eating breakfast food for dinner (though it's somehow better at night, dunno why). Yelling "stop" at the top of your lungs to persuade a god you don't believe in is a deviation from sanity.


If the exercise isn't meant to invoke the power of God, then what's the purpose?

Nothing else has worked. Over here NZ we all put on red socks to help win the America's cup the first time. Power of the mind??

The 'lucky' Red Socks became a craze in New Zealand with over 100,000 pairs brought and worn.
socks. On Christmas eve of 1994 it was a red pair which he wore for the first race, which they won - so it was decided that the socks were lucky and were worn throughout the campaign.
For my parents, it must have seemed a long way from the lemonade christening of my little dinghy Pee Bee they built for me forty years earlier and I know that they, in their own quiet way, were getting as much pleasure and excitement out of this as we all were.

It is an amusing and fitting paradox that the abiding symbol of national affection for Sir Peter Blake is a pair of socks. It would greatly appeal to his own sense of the ridiculous that someone who had absolutely no interest in fashion - as demonstrated by his often haphazard and rumpled attire - would be so closely associated with articles of clothing.

It began with Pippa giving Peter a pair of socks for luck, different ones for each campaign and usually as garish as possible. For the Steinlager 2 campaign, multicoloured horizontal bands ascended Peter's ankles. For the 1995 America's Cup, it was plain red socks.

Every time the black boats went into battle off San Diego, Blake, who controlled the mainsheet traveller, wore red socks. And, every afternoon, the team returned to shore victorious. Until one fateful day severe tendonitis in his elbows forced Blake off the boat. It was the only time in the entire 1995 series that Team New Zealand sailed without Blakey's lucky socks. And it was the only time the boat was beaten on the water.

Every time the black boats went into battle off San Diego, Blake, who controlled the mainsheet traveller, wore red socks. And, every afternoon, the team returned to shore victorious.

Later in the campaign, Blake's personal talisman became a national obsession. As the black boats swept to victory after victory in San Diego, New Zealanders backed the campaign by buying red socks by the thousands, with the proceeds going into the severely depleted campaign coffers. The Prime Minister and Governor General, priests, captains of industry, bus-drivers and cow-cockies, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker … everybody wore red socks.

And, it worked. Team New Zealand returned home bearing the fabled America's Cup and victory parades throughout the land celebrated both a great sporting achievement - and the potency of red socks.

Similarly, when New Zealand became the first country outside of the United States to successfully defend the Cup, national joy was expressed in appropriate footwear.

Then, as Blake left the world of competitive yacht racing to take up a new crusade for the environment, red socks were put away - only to be revived as a symbol of mourning. In the shocked aftermath of his murder on the Amazon, red socks blossomed once more, along with the flowers and tributes that for weeks arrived at the Team New Zealand compound.

- See more at: http://www.sirpeterblaketrust.org/about-sir-peter/americas-cup/red-socks/#sthash.y0tV1oaJ.dpuf
 
@DMOE This was the latter part of your post:



Reading those final three sentences, your point is NOT:
1. That countries or corporations have a vested interest. We'll have to ask them.
2. That you assume that countries or corporations are good, bad, or indifferent.

Your point is that they "make these sales for a "profit" of some kind."
Is that all you are trying to say?
That a business makes a profit?

I don't know what I did to deserve all the sarcasm you gave me.
I genuinely don't understand what you are getting at.

I would have thought that you meant that these corporations and countries had a vested interest in the prosecution of war,
but you expressly said that that was something you didn't mean.

Captain Kremmen, first off, I have to say that I must be very careful from now on of what I Post- apparently I am not allowed to not, not use certain words (?!?!?!) - and I am not allowed to say anything that might possibly be able to be misconstrued or perceived/believed to "mean literally anything" other than what I thought/believed I intended!?
Oh yeah, and if I somehow fail to toe that line - there may be pictures of some kind involved!

Captain Kremmen, no, that is not all that I am trying to say.

When I read your final three sentences, your point is what?

1. - That you do not know that calling a person rude names or directing false accusations at another person, may elicit a sarcastic response from that person?

2. - That you can twist my words, that you can read things into those words, you can purposely and selectively take them out of context - and then, Captain Kremmen, you can "genuinely" state that you do not understand what the person who used them is "getting at"!

3. - That by me expressly stating that - I do NOT "assume" nor "presume" anything at all about these countries or corporations. - means, instead, that I DO assume something about them?

Captain Kremmen, yours and other Posters puerile inane Posts full of accusations, false allegations, name calling and ignorance, are just that - puerile and inane! Is it at all possible that you can genuinely understand that point?
 
@dmoe
I haven't accused you of anything, or insulted you.
I was just asking what your post was about.

Your reaction is way over the top.
If someone asks you to clarify, you get really angry for some reason.

I'm not saying what words you can use, or not use.
I'm simply suggesting that you make your arguments plain.

I'll try for a last time, and then I give up.
What is your point?


@anyone else
Am I missing something?
Has he made a clear argument that I haven't understood?
If so, could you explain it to me.
 
While we're on the subject of notions we just don't get, why is it that people who don't participate in a behavior choose to feel personally offended on behalf of other people?

You're not about preaching and all that? Great. Then don't take offense because I think our neighbor came up with a really silly idea.

I've run into this before, and it never makes sense. Where in the original post you objected to is the broad brush jab? Is it the question of why people seem to think the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are some kind of democracy? That's what I don't get about your post. You choose to take offense, except it has nothing to do with you.

Really, I have no idea why people do that to themselves .

I wasn't offended on behalf of "our neighbor," your comment "why do people..." was a broad brush jab at people with a certain belief system. Robittybob's prayer might have been what you were directing your comment towards, but you chose a broad brush jab to make a point in reply to him. So, no it wasn't personal to me but it doesn't make sense to me, the need to take jabs at a group of ppl simply because you disagree with their beliefs. Above, you broad brush again saying "...I have no idea why people do that to themselves." Who is this collective "people" you are referring to? You're referring to me. :p Broad brushing with the assumption that I took offense to something that I didn't. Why not just ask..."hey, what did I say that offended you?" Simple and to the point.

But, I digress.

At the end of the day, you will continue to employ the same tactic with whomever, and choose to not understand (or not care) why people like me take offense to it. As far as notions go, that's mine.

No reply needed. I just wanted to offer you an answer to your question.
:cool:
 
And I'll say one thing about prayer and to ppl here who believe in God. There is a passage in the Bible that speaks about "noisy gongs and cymbals" when it comes to sharing your beliefs. It's one thing to gently and "lovingly" make a spiritual point, but another to take the thread OT and such. I'm not saying I'd be offended if I were an atheist reading it, but there is a time and place for such things.

As I wish to be respected, I respect others (try to) in a similar regard, when it comes to ppl who don't share my beliefs.

Just my final pennies.
 
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It will be interesting to see whether the inspectors find any fragments.
They might give information about the kind of shell used.
If they find no fragments, it would be evidence that an intensive clean-up job has been done.

They found 107mm rocket shells on the sites of the attacks, I'm given to understand.

http://www.spiegel.de/international...act-finding-on-syria-gas-attack-a-920123.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/...-and-incapable-of-flying-5-10-miles-to-target

I'm not sure, though, how the ones shown in the media could be the ones used in the attack. Surely even a gas shell would fragment in order to disperse the payload?
 
@dmoe
I haven't accused you of anything, or insulted you.
I was just asking what your post was about.

Your reaction is way over the top.
If someone asks you to clarify, you get really angry for some reason.

I'm not saying what words you can use, or not use.
I'm simply suggesting that you make your arguments plain.

I'll try for a last time, and then I give up.
What is your point?


@anyone else
Am I missing something?
Has he made a clear argument that I haven't understood?
If so, could you explain it to me.

Captain Kremmen, after carefully rereading too many pages of Posts - I may indeed owe you a sincere apology!

When you Posted this : -"btw...For your more extreme racist, Irish are Jews too. Lost tribe of Dan." - in Post #663, immediately after my Post #662 (where I had just tried to clarify, basically that same Point).
I may have made a mistake in thinking you were jumping onto the "dmoe is a Racist, Bigoted, Supremacist...Bandwagon".

When you later asked me to clarify the same thing...well you know what I had endured in previous Posts.

Captain Kremmen, I sincerely apologize to you for my Posts to you. I only ask that you can find a way to see fit to accept that apology.

When you said ; "If someone asks you to clarify, you get really angry for some reason."
I try my darnedest to usually be rational and reasonable when asked to clarify, and not be angry at all, in any response - but my only VERY POOR, and I repeat, VERY POOR excuse for my reaction is...I had had a rough few days defending myself to what seemed, to me, to be puerile attacks.

Hope all thee blah, blah, blah is out of the way. let me try to state my Point(s).

1. - The large and powerful global corporations own and control a very large portion of every industry on this planet.
2. - I believe they operate all of their enterprises for profit - this profit includes power over and control of resources - not just dollars and cents.
3. - I have, in my lifetime, witnessed companies/corporations throw any and all consideration of humanity to the wayside, just to maintain and increase their profit.
4. - If a corporation can use their media enterprises to shape the opinions of a people to go to war and then have their military industrial enterprises profit handsomely from that war - I believe that they probably would. Does the name Halliburton ring a bell?
5. - At some point the mass media somehow changed from being a reporter of actual facts and knowledge that people needed and deserved to know - to an advertising instrument that is only selling to the people what the operators of that instrument have chosen or decided are the facts and knowledge that the people need or deserve.

When Posters on here seemed to be stating that Russia was allowing only the profits of arms sales to guide its position on the Syrian "revolution" - I thought it only fair to point out that other countries/corporations may indeed be guided by the same or similar motives - and that other countries/ corporations stand to Profit much more.

If I seem to take a while to get to my Point(s)- it is because I feel that : The Syrian "Revolution": A Farce from Beginning to End, is not a simple mediocre thing that can just be explained by saying: It's Billshut!"

Captain Kremmen, again I sincerely and profusely apologize for my earlier Posts to you.

If you still do not understand my Point(s) or what I am trying to say, I promise to be more cordial and impart no sarcasm in further clarification if you need it.

P.S. I noticed after rereading this Post, that I only used one of the words that I was not supposed to not use in my Posts - and even then it was a quote of your usage of only one of those two words.

Do you suppose I will get another "cease and desist" Post or possibly Pictures?

What the heck...I suppose it is probably best that I intentionally not not use them so here goes :
"-" and "-"!
 
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"We don't kill our people ... no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person."

– Bashar al-Assad
 
@Wegs, Trooper and Bells

All of you seem pretty good at telling males to "stop!". How about endorsing my prayer, make it a viral prayer , send it out on Twitter , on YouTube, basically everywhere till it is heard.

"Lord Jesus,

The people all around the world would like an end to the fighting in Syria. Tell them to stop before it is too late. Tell them to stop. Both sides Lord, tell them to stop.

Amen."

Hell, you know us misguided Americans. We are God blessed, a city upon a hill for Christ's sake. It’s not about killing civilians. It’s how you kill them that counts. Besides, we still reserve the right to use chemical agents in retaliation and in defensive military modes ourselves.

Kill them the American way or else. :mad:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/army/fm/3-9/fm3-9.pdf

How’s that?


P.S. Invoking God…careful, that fucker is shady.
 
Hell, you know us misguided Americans. We are God blessed, a city upon a hill for Christ's sake. It’s not about killing civilians. It’s how you kill them that counts. Besides, we still reserve the right to use chemical agents in retaliation and in defensive military modes ourselves.

Kill them the American way or else. :mad:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/army/fm/3-9/fm3-9.pdf

How’s that?


P.S. Invoking God…careful, that fucker is shady.


Where was the international community when American's were using Agent Orange in Vietnam!

May be the Bonobo's have it right, instead of might makes right we could do a little of the ol' in and out to make it right!

[video=youtube;KagyO9zS_ro]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KagyO9zS_ro[/video]
 
@ dmoe

I thought post #616 is pretty plain, as to your views. Just saving ya the trouble of having to repeat yourself.
;)
 
I'm not sure, though, how the ones shown in the media could be the ones used in the attack. Surely even a gas shell would fragment in order to disperse the payload?

As I mentioned earlier, the Syrian army is known to make use of homemade improvised munitions to augment its shortages, and in some of the earlier gas attacks it was accused of having developed a new munition specifically designed to release the gas without any explosions or other visible indicators. Supposedly you just hear a hissing sound coming from the shell, and then you get the symptoms. I don't think the type of munition used will prove things one way or the other, but it could constitute a useful piece of evidence when constructing a plausibility argument together with other forms of evidence. Ultimately we can't reasonably expect to prove things beyond any possible doubt one way or the other and find the smoking gun, anymore than we've been able to prove or disprove that the dinosaurs took off in UFOs and left for the moons of Jupiter.
 
So what is actually going on, then?

Wegs said:

I wasn't offended on behalf of "our neighbor," your comment "why do people..." was a broad brush jab at people with a certain belief system.

I know you didn't want a reply to this, but still, I don't get why you included yourself with people who share a certain belief that isn't yours in order to complain.

No, really, this is one of the dumbest things I see in American political culture. My father used to do it; you couldn't criticize big business around him because he was a small business owner, and if you thought LA Gear was bad for firing its workers in order to afford a multimillion-dollar bonus for its workers, you were also badmouthing the small business owner in Sumner, Washington, with a staff of three, who paid his employees reasonably well. The connection never made sense. But it's not just my father. Listen to twenty-first century morons complain that you can't criticize Obama without being called a racist. Given that there are plenty of critiques of the president that has nothing to do with race, why should they throw themselves in with the Birthers and White Supremacists? Really, why would they choose to stand with the racists? Well, the nearest I could ever figure was some sort of partisan stupidity; you stand with the people on your team just because they're on your team. An example I noted recently is buried in a long post:

Are Christians advocates of child sexual abuse? Setting aside overworn jokes about the Catholic hierarchy, we might consider the case of a preacher from the Seattle area. The pastor of a megachurch, his congregation was horrified when a local newspaper ran a story alleging that he had been arrested in Florida for sexually accosting a young boy in the restroom at Disney World. The outrage among local Christians was overwhelming: How dare the newspaper report on this! If it was real, there would be a record! The record emerged. Local Christians were outraged: How dare the newspaper report this! If it really happened, and the evidence is real, why wasn't he prosecuted? Evidence of a cover-up emerged. How dare the newspaper report this! Can't you see this is a family issue? Dude! He got caught trying to molest a little boy! It can't possibly be that all these outraged Christians are actually supporting his attempt to molest a child. But that's what they did. This wasn't just his congregation screaming at the P-I. This was regional outrage at a newspaper's invasion of a pious, religious man's private life. Whatever divisions might exist between Catholic and Baptist, Lutheran and Missouri Synod Lutheran, or whatever, diverse Christians came together under the banner of the corpus Christi in order to defend one of their own by asserting that the public had no right to know that this man, who leads a congregation of thousands, with regular access to children, was arrested for attempted child molestation. The damnedest thing, I tells ya.​

Now, here's the thing. Imagine I'm sitting in a room with several people and, as we talk about this case, I say, "What is it with Christians and rallying under the corpus Christi to protect an accused child molester?" If anybody in the room actually thinks that's a broad-brush jab at all Christians, it will be a Christian. (Sorry, that one's predictable, testable, valid, and reliable.) You can call it a broad-brush jab if you want, but just like the small-business owner my father was, or any number of my conservative neighbors and associates who don't get that there is a difference between political argument and racism, there is a consistent effect whereby one will throw fact aside and stand with an identity label.

(A Note on Irony: When you've been around long enough, you'll see people complain about the length of my posts. Hell, people have even complained about the length of words I use, before. But it doesn't really matter; I cannot possibly cover all the bases, disclaim all the potential misunderstandings and vulnerabilities to exploitation by dishonest people—which doesn't specifically include you, but as such a disclaimer apparently needs to be made, you now have an example. I think you're aware, in this specific case, that Robbity isn't the only Christian on the face of the planet who thinks if only enough people will pray to God, He will decide He has made a mistake and change His Will. To my recollection, the biblical assertion of God has only ever admitted one mistake, and nobody was praying for Him to do so.)

And you are welcome to reply or not; we can even make a general exploration of the notion in another thread, as I would dearly love to figure out why people choose to throw their lot in with others in order to be offended.

If I want to say all Christians are child molesters, make your stand. But if I want to know what is this tendency to rally 'round the Christian identity regardless of facts, instead of giving me your insight as a Christian, why would you throw yourself in with that lot and take offense?

I really don't get this behavioral outcome. Well, okay, I have an assortment of arguable theses, but since so many Christians have apparently triumphed over human psychology, there really isn't any point in psychoanalyzing the meaning of the history, is there? And, to be specific enough to hopefully prevent any misunderstanding: There is a strong coincidence between people who don't believe that psychology is real and those whose behavior would not be described in an admirable fashion according to a psychoanalytical meaning of history according to the dialectic of neurosis. (There is a reason that a century later, historians still don't want to undertake that particular dialectic.)
 
And I'll say one thing about prayer and to ppl here who believe in God. There is a passage in the Bible that speaks about "noisy gongs and cymbals" when it comes to sharing your beliefs. It's one thing to gently and "lovingly" make a spiritual point, but another to take the thread OT and such. I'm not saying I'd be offended if I were an atheist reading it, but there is a time and place for such things.

As I wish to be respected, I respect others (try to) in a similar regard, when it comes to ppl who don't share my beliefs.

Just my final pennies.
Moi??? Me???? Is Syria at Peace this morning?
 
I know you didn't want a reply to this, but still, I don't get why you included yourself with people who share a certain belief that isn't yours in order to complain.

No, really, this is one of the dumbest things I see in American political culture. My father used to do it; you couldn't criticize big business around him because he was a small business owner, and if you thought LA Gear was bad for firing its workers in order to afford a multimillion-dollar bonus for its workers, you were also badmouthing the small business owner in Sumner, Washington, with a staff of three, who paid his employees reasonably well. The connection never made sense. But it's not just my father. Listen to twenty-first century morons complain that you can't criticize Obama without being called a racist. Given that there are plenty of critiques of the president that has nothing to do with race, why should they throw themselves in with the Birthers and White Supremacists? Really, why would they choose to stand with the racists? Well, the nearest I could ever figure was some sort of partisan stupidity; you stand with the people on your team just because they're on your team. An example I noted recently is buried in a long post:

Are Christians advocates of child sexual abuse? Setting aside overworn jokes about the Catholic hierarchy, we might consider the case of a preacher from the Seattle area. The pastor of a megachurch, his congregation was horrified when a local newspaper ran a story alleging that he had been arrested in Florida for sexually accosting a young boy in the restroom at Disney World. The outrage among local Christians was overwhelming: How dare the newspaper report on this! If it was real, there would be a record! The record emerged. Local Christians were outraged: How dare the newspaper report this! If it really happened, and the evidence is real, why wasn't he prosecuted? Evidence of a cover-up emerged. How dare the newspaper report this! Can't you see this is a family issue? Dude! He got caught trying to molest a little boy! It can't possibly be that all these outraged Christians are actually supporting his attempt to molest a child. But that's what they did. This wasn't just his congregation screaming at they P-I. This was regional outrage at a newspaper's invasion of a pious, religious man's private life. Whatever divisions might exist between Catholic and Baptist, Lutheran and Missouri Synod Lutheran, or whatever, diverse Christians came together under the banner of the corpus Christi in order to defend one of their own by asserting that the public had no right to know that this man, who leads a congregation of thousands, with regular access to children, was arrested for attempted child molestation. The damnedest thing, I tells ya.​

Now, here's the thing. Imagine I'm sitting in a room with several people and, as we talk about this case, I say, "What is it with Christians and rallying under the corpus Christi to protect an accused child molester?" If anybody in the room actually thinks that's a broad-brush jab at all Christians, it will be a Christian. (Sorry, that one's predictable, testable, valid, and reliable.) You can call it a broad-brush jab if you want, but just like the small-business owner my father was, or any number of my conservative neighbors and associates who don't get that there is a difference between political argument and racism, there is a consistent effect whereby one will throw fact aside and stand with an identity label.

(A Note on Irony: When you've been around long enough, you'll see people complain about the length of my posts. Hell, people have even complained about the length of words I use, before. But it doesn't really matter; I cannot possibly cover all the bases, disclaim all the potential misunderstandings and vulnerabilities to exploitation by dishonest people—which doesn't specifically include you, but as such a disclaimer apparently needs to be made, you now have an example. I think you're aware, in this specific case, that Robbity isn't the only Christian on the face of the planet who thinks if only enough people will pray to God, He will decide He has made a mistake and change His Will. To my recollection, the biblical assertion of God has only ever admitted one mistake, and nobody was praying for Him to do so.)

And you are welcome to reply or not; we can even make a general exploration of the notion in another thread, as I would dearly love to figure out why people choose to throw their lot in with others in order to be offended.

If I want to say all Christians are child molesters, make your stand. But if I want to know what is this tendency to rally 'round the Christian identity regardless of facts, instead of giving me your insight as a Christian, why would you throw yourself in with that lot and take offense?

I really don't get this behavioral outcome. Well, okay, I have an assortment of arguable theses, but since so many Christians have apparently triumphed over human psychology, there really isn't any point in psychoanalyzing the meaning of the history, is there? And, to be specific enough to hopefully prevent any misunderstanding: There is a strong coincidence between people who don't believe that psychology is real and those whose behavior would not be described in an admirable fashion according to a psychoanalytical meaning of history according to the dialectic of neurosis. (There is a reason that a century later, historians still don't want to undertake that particular dialectic.)

Not as much broad brushing :D ...but, you make interesting points.

Okay, sure. If you would like to erect a new thread, or copy & paste this post into one of your currently open threads, I'll share my thoughts there.

PS: Regarding your father and his defense of big business owners, probably because he looked at a big business owner as once starting out as a small business owner like he was, so perhaps he felt a certain affection for "all" business owners.
I'm just guessing.

As an aside, I'm against broad brushing an entire group of people based on the actions of a smaller subset, within that larger group. As another aside, you won't ever see me defend child molestors, christian or not...

Are Christians advocates of child sexual abuse? Setting aside overworn jokes about the Catholic hierarchy, we might consider the case of a preacher from the Seattle area. The pastor of a megachurch, his congregation was horrified when a local newspaper ran a story alleging that he had been arrested in Florida for sexually accosting a young boy in the restroom at Disney World. The outrage among local Christians was overwhelming: How dare the newspaper report on this! If it was real, there would be a record! The record emerged. Local Christians were outraged: How dare the newspaper report this! If it really happened, and the evidence is real, why wasn't he prosecuted? Evidence of a cover-up emerged. How dare the newspaper report this! Can't you see this is a family issue? Dude! He got caught trying to molest a little boy! It can't possibly be that all these outraged Christians are actually supporting his attempt to molest a child. But that's what they did. This wasn't just his congregation screaming at they P-I. This was regional outrage at a newspaper's invasion of a pious, religious man's private life. Whatever divisions might exist between Catholic and Baptist, Lutheran and Missouri Synod Lutheran, or whatever, diverse Christians came together under the banner of the corpus Christi in order to defend one of their own by asserting that the public had no right to know that this man, who leads a congregation of thousands, with regular access to children, was arrested for attempted child molestation. The damnedest thing, I tells ya.​

^^ Pulled this out to illustrate the broad brushing. To start off stating....''Are Christians advocates of child abuse,'' based on the actions of a smaller group of Christians who act in foolish and deplorable ways, is tantamount to me saying...''Are men advocates of sexism,'' based on my own personal encounters with a very small group of men who employ such douchebaggery. Not all men are sexist. Not all Christians think alike. Broad brushing is what I take offense to honestly, nothing more or less.

I understand your point with it though, to show how some Christians 'came together' and rallied in unison, regardless of the fact that what they were rallying against (or for) was wrong. I don't agree with what they did, but they probably felt that 'Christianity' was going to be blamed and persecuted over the actions of one of 'their own.' Again, I'm guessing. (And I don't condone or approve of that type of ''team effort.'') Thing is, your point is still somewhat straw-manish, because I was still a pretty active Catholic when the priest 'sex scandals' were making front page news, and MANY Catholics were turning their backs on the RCC, because of how poorly the whole thing had been handled, in the past to present time. But I remember the headlines...'Why do Catholics support the Church's protection of pedophile priests?' There's an implication that Catholicism itself is the problem, and not the individuals who committed the crimes.
And many other such comments were made, that simply were falsehoods. But, broad brushing sells newspapers. ;)
 
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Poor baby.

I sense your pity is not exactly earnest.

Are you claiming to know more or better than the intelligence agencies of the world who have been watching and observing the war in Syria? Yes or no.

Of course I am. The Americans were watching the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan for years and years, and never truly knew enough about them to beat them. In this case, the BND - and I assume you know who they are - doesn't seem to think that the Syrian rebels possess the Type 63 rocket launcher. This, BTW, is the rocket launcher system that was used to strike Ghouta, firing 107mm rounds. It's widely available and sources indicate that the Syrian rebels do indeed have them, as one would expect for a standard second-world insurgency.

No wonder such a varied lot, be it Libyan or Syrian rebels, Taliban fighters or Iran, keep taking to what could be called the Perfect Explosive with such aplomb. It’s at the point now that all the drones and recon blimps that the U.S. can chuck (China’s) money at can do little to stop the barrage of 107 attacks on its bases. Sure, it’s not hard to reverse-course an attack ‘ and then in the U.S. and NATO’s case, immediately pummel suspected mountain outposts to high Hell. Only with ease-of-use comes an equally cunning, almost hilariously facepalmed blast-craft ‘ when America and its allies turn their leading-edge firepower toward the hills from whence 107s rain, the culprits are likely long gone.

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/107

That the BND does not apparently know this is curious. I would be in no doubt whatsoever that such arms are available to them - nor should anyone with a "functioning brain cell", as you say.

Secondly, it is abundantly clear to anyone with even half a functioning brain cell that the rebels are very much outgunned and outarmed by the Russian armed Syrian army.

Okay, what is meant by this sentence? I think the Syrians certainly do outgun the rebels - but so what? Does this mean that the Syrian rebels could not have launched these attacks? Or that they would not? They certainly have the rocket arms, and sarin is relatively easy to make as your WMDs go. Even the Tokyo terrorists could manage it. Arms don't randomly go off at the opposition just because you have them.

Coming from the retard who is such a conspiracy theorist that you twist yourself into knots trying to blame a Saudi for the Boston bombing, even as the police and FBI were involved in a gun battle with the actual bombers, you are really one to talk about taking arguments seriously.

I found it a curious happenstance, and I still find it curious, ass-clown. It might well be just some rich kid getting the rich kid treatment, but you'd be a fool to believe in the ethics of the international political process uncritically.

The manner in which you asked about the political disposition made it look as if it matters. It does not.

It doesn't matter in any sense other than the selection of targets: the Syrians would presumably be more likely to hit rebel-controlled or rebel-supporting areas, and vice versa. Don't run with an imagined intent for my arguments just because you want it to be so. Oblique apology accepted.

If you must know, the rebels have advanced into Damascus, hence Assad, as the Hezbollah have advised Iran, panicked and used chemical weapons. He has been doing it for months in much smaller doses, however this time he went with more, either by mistake or with deliberate intent to kill as many of the rebels and their supporters as he could in that region of Damascus.

This may well be true. Let us be sure it is true.

Nice try trying to divert it away from what I had asked you. Now perhaps you can explain how and why you missed it in the French dossier, especially as you claim, French is a very easy language to learn and you can read it so well?

Again: they "are disposed to think" that the Syrian Army carried out the attack, based on correlated activity times and capability - which they only actually report for the Syrian Army side. They are not "sure".

In French:
L’analyse des renseignements dont nous disposons aujourd’hui conduit ‘ estimer que, le 21 ao’t 2013, le r’gime syrien a lanc’ une attaque sur certains quartiers de la banlieue de Damas tenus par les unit’s de l’opposition, associant moyens conventionnels et usage massif d’agents chimiques.

In English:
The analysis of information that we have today leads us to believe that on 21 August 2013 the Syrian regime launched an attack on certain areas of the Damascus suburbs held by opposition units, using a combination of conventional weapons and the massive use of chemical weapons.

‘Nous disposons [a penser]’’ (‘We are disposed to think’’) is not ‘Nous sommes presentement certaine que’’ (‘We are certain that’). Go back and read the report again ‘ there’s no hard connection between the event and the Syrians, only i) a history of Syrian CW development, ii) a short order of battle (for the Syrian Army only), iii) an account of a previous heli attack using CWs (probably sarin; and I go so far as to definitely believe this one, simply for the fact of the heli being included), iv) an account of the attack on Ghouta as experienced by those there without reference to solid evidence of culpability (included to demonstrate the use of sarin), v) a description of concurrent conventional and chemical attacks in Ghouta East and other suburbs/municipalities followed by attacks by land forces, and the ascertainment that the deployed rounds were chemical rounds. The chemical rounds are connected to the Syrians only in time; the French don’t say that they were known to be from the Syrians. I agree, the timing is highly suspect (against the Syrians, to be clear), but it’s not known if there was fighting generally before or after. Did the Syrian troops advance into the struck areas? Did they wear CW gear during their advance? To what extend did this advance overlap with CW-strike zones? And so on, and so forth. I think, again, that it’s more likely the Syrians did it, but without at least some kind of unequivocal ‘smoking gun’, I can’t commit intellectually to the suggestion of counter-attacks against Assad; or at least not specifically for events at Ghouta.

And now Obama is backpedaling on his plan, defusing his own initiative with the system; all this and the above indicates to me that maybe the best and brightest are not ascending into politics after all, as everyone used to suspect. Honestly, if you wanted to prove all this stuff, it really wouldn’t be hard at all. I’ve outlined a half dozen ways in which you could build up sufficient circumstantial evidence to generate reasoned support for taking action. Why in the hell the BND fell down in their assessment I have no idea ‘ I had general respect for them, since I hadn’t heard of them fucking anything up, unlike some other organizations I could name.

Well seeing that the area was being held by the rebel forces, what do you think?

And that was the point I was making above. The question is whether rebel forces might strike their own areas in order to generate international outcry. That’s a strange prospect, but war is deceit as they say and it’s been done before, though not on this scale. You have to understand: the Nazis faked Polish atrocities to start their invasion of Poland; how much more would a religious fascist who really believes in a sky-god that will punish him for not being enough of an asshole be willing to do? Wars are begun and outrages staged often enough that I’m suspicious of a case like this.
Or do you support Assad so much that you are willing to make excuses for him?
So I, a Canadian of English and Welsh descent living in Pennsylvania, am such a radical supporter of Assad, an Alawite dentist-dictator over Syria and war criminal on various other counts whether culpable in the chemical attack on Ghouta, that I am willing to make excuses for him.
Take a second and think about that, tovarisch.
(Actually, since the breakup of the USSR, tovarisch wouldn’t exactly be the right word, but I think you take my meaning.)

Still making excuses for Assad and his use of chemical weapons I see. What next? You are going to blame Saudis for the attack? After all, that's your style isn't it? Conspiracies everywhere.

:yawn: Well, conspiracies certainly occur. Fool me once, cain’t git fooled agin. Oil, blood, etc. We can't claim on the one hand that my Supreme Overlor- I mean, the Russians! :eek: - are getting involved to protect their arms sales and not consider that the Americans and French might be doing exactly the same thing. (The Russians recently forgave the Syrians a huge weapons trade deficit, so I don't actually know how well their business is doing. Don't ask me how I know - in-house secret. ;))

The only sources that have claimed the rebels have used sarin in the past have been Russia and Assad, wow, no surprise there.
And the only sources to claim it was Assad do not presently definitively connect his forces to the attack. There is no direct evidence, only coincidence and some supposition. Hell, the BND didn’t even know the rebels had 107mm rockets. After a while, coincidence does indeed become overwhelming, but we aren’t there yet and I don’t know why. Surely it would be easy enough to them to find out even using some of my suggestions above. What I want is a critical, complete and rounded report.

I was born in Mauritius, you dumbarse. My first language was French. I migrated here when I was just shy of 9 years of age. I spoke only French at the time. It took me years to learn to speak English fluently, because my parents only spoke French at home and they still do. My children also speak French as a result, albeit broken French, to speak to my parents and my family, because they believe that it is vitally important to be bilingual.
Well then I congratulate you, ass-hat. I think it’s genuinely commendable and more than I have been able to do. My kids moan and whine when I speak to them in French. I think they’ve inherited their non-existent language talents from her, the French one. Anyway ‘ check the document again and you’ll see what I mean: they are disposed to think that blah blah. No authors’ names on the report either. That might be innocuous, and it might not. If the Russians were run out of Syria (via the installation of a US/French-friendly regime of secularist/Islamicist rebels, shortly thereafter to be Islamicist rebels only), how many Exocets do you think the French could sell them? Trust no one, Mr. Bells. Or at least not until you have seen the whites of their eyes.
 
@CptBork

Good day. May I inquire as to whether or not Robert Parry @ a site called consortiumnews should be considered trustworthy? I ask because I read an article written by him today Titled : "Congress Denied Syrian Facts, Too".
There seem to be quite a few articles at the site with views that do not seem to come across my T.V.(just local OTA HDTV - no cable).
I did not detect any abhorrent or off color content at the site.

If you get the chance...any views thoughts will be appreciated.
 
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