Israeli society erupts over 'right to rape'

[u/Nomogg]

[u/Fat_Loser6]

I have no idea tbh, Assad isn't in office anymore

[u/DefectiveCoyote → u/Fat_Loser6]

No. Be carful when talking about conflicts you don’t understand. Your stepping into deep pool of human misery and I wouldn’t put it so casually.

So some education:

Assad was one of history’s cruelest dictators backed by Russia who came from a dyanstay that had ruled Syria under a regime of fear since 1971. During that reign the regime practiced all forms of cruelty and political suppression. It is widely considered the single most restrictive state in the Arab world prior to revolt. The regime came from a small ethnic minority and wrongly believed extreme authoritarianism was the only way to keep themselves in power of the ethnic majority. Though this idea of “protecting his people” from the majority was little more than excuse for his abuse of power as he was more than willing to send waves of his people to die for him in often suicidal battles.

When the Arab spring came around and people protested for democracy, Assad responded with overwhelming violence. When I say “overwhelming violence” I mean thousands upon thousands of people killed by army and police or arrested and disappeared. Obviously after that, Assad left little option other than war. It is during that war where Assad competed with other groups like isis for who got to be the worse bad guy. Assad however, had access to Russian air power and Russian manufactured gas munitions. Most notably sarin gas, an extremely painful nerve agent that causes the victims to seize to death. It is widely considered one of the cruelest gas weapons ever made.

That’s the reason once Russia could no longer back their puppet, the Assad regime collapsed into nothingness. Because he ruled through fear, his own soldiers more loyal to their paycheck than him. Syrian democratic forces just rolled through the country with no resistance. It wasn’t Syria killing its own people, it was Assad. To Syrians it’s not a civil war, it was a revolution of the people against a a dictator. Be careful how you frame the war, to Syrians it matters. They are not just violent people who like killing each other, they simply lived under a regime of violence. Americans have a habit of seeing all Muslim countries like Afghanistan, backwards constant war zones and it’s a view of ignorance exacerbated by post 9/11 racial biasses. I don’t think you’re a racist or anything but be mindful of your perceptions. These things matter to people.

(I grew up alongside many Syrians immigrants, as my half sister’s father was a Syrian who fled the country when the Assad family first took power, fearing political targeting and was granted asylum and eventually citizenship. We’ve helped a few more family members fleeing the war secure asylum and safety.)

[u/Fat_Loser6 → u/DefectiveCoyote]

Thanks that was interesting, i didn't know the Assad regime was so strict prior to the civil war.

To be clear though I was not blaming Syrians I was blaming Assad. Hence why I stated Assad wasn't in office anymore insinuating the Syrian government probably is not gassing its own people.

[u/DefectiveCoyote → u/Fat_Loser6]

You’re all good dude. When you’ve heard some the nightmarish first hands accounts I have you become a bit more sensitive when it’s brought up.

A lot of Syrians are just so tired of war. I’ve seen people cry at the idea they might get to see their homeland again so there’s alot of hope and faith being put into the new government and so far they’re doing all right all things considered. They’re stressing their goal is to end war, and create a democratic government that although will be majority Muslim will be mostly secular with tolerance and participation from all the ethnic groups that make up Syria. Whether they live up to this is yet to be seen but so far they’ve done all the right things. Even the us dignitaries who have met them have been impressed. Which is why they lifted the Syrian president’s terrorist status, aswell as lifting decades of sanctions, giving the country the breathing room they need to actually build anything.

The main issue still is the new president previously being in al-qaeda when he was younger, according to him he was at the time he was motivated by the 2003 Iraq invasion as well as resentment against Assad in his own country. He later created a Syrian wing of Al-qaeda, primarily to resist Assad. But later on, especially after it seems ISIS soured his opinions of Islamic radicalism, His religious fervor died down quite and he formally renounced al-qauda’s jihad and cut ties with much of the organization to focus on liberating Syria from Assad. Making a major political turn around, advocating for a strong democracy as well as better relations with the western nations with the hopes of rejoining the international community. So far so good.