| Talkback | |
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Title: | # 1 to mcqueen re: funding assad`s regime | |||
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| Name: | eric | | |||
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| City: | State: | nm | | ||
| you ask why the u.s. would fund assad`s regime? actually, i think what he wants is more a military alliance... but the answer to your question is simple... assad is just as much at threat from islamic fundamentalism as is israel. his peace negotiations with israel, his insisting the u.s. play a role, and few other subtle things over the last year, point to a very strong possibility that he wants OUT from under iran`s thumb...and it`s very likely that he HAS wanted out for quite some time. do you remember that immediately following 9/11, syria was one of the very first to offer the u.s. assistance, including the use of its air bases? but he can`t just do it unilaterally...and the u.s. demands that he do so as a prerequisite to dialogue have been unrealistic. he needs assurances, and most likely a military presense from the u.s., before he can risk openly defying iran. he IS, and he has been, stuck between a rock and hard spot. if you think that he`s an islamic fundamentalist or that he supports it in any way; you`re dead wrong. his ties with iran are more a matter of circumstances he inherited in the form of powerful hardliners in his father`s military and government, than it is any choice made by him; except maybe one of survival. his blackballing by the u.s., which has largely refused to have any dialogue with him, has left him little choice but to play the puppet to iran`s fundamentalist government and its revolutionary guard. he wouldn`t have lasted a week if he hadn`t. right now, syria may just be the key pivot point to a larger middle-east peace. but assad needs the u.s. in his lap before he can cut the strings with iran...or he`ll lose everything, including his life probably. and if the u.s. DOES come through, you`re likely to see a hushed iran with the u.s. parked right next door in syria...and you`ll see the avenue between hezbollah and its benefactor cut off(which is probably why assad suggested not long ago, that hezbollah and lebanon negotiate peace with israel)...and you`ll likely see a weakened hamas... and if israel would bury the hatchet and accept the arab peace plan, you`d likely see an eventual alliance formed between israel and its arab neighbors. don`t forget, iran isn`t arab, and it`s NOT just israel who`s worried about it`s nuclear endeavors and its intent on being a regional power. |
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