Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutt
I agree with most of this except the end, people are not much different country to country but their forms of government and leaders can be very different, it's not just 'perceived' and 'imagined'. The Soviet Union and The Third Reich were evil empires and for all the flaws and hypocrisy people can find in the United States and its allies there is no comparison to be made.
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As Reagan made that evil empire speech, more Soviets were cheering for him than against him. The people are not necessarily their government. Just as Syrians are not Asaad.. Putin is no better or worse than Bush or Obama. It is just one more nation protecting its own military and economic interests.
Any nation pretending to be on high moral ground is absurd. 100,000 dead. 1,4 million refugees and almost 3 years of fighting. Acting as if gassing a few men, women and children is somehow different simply because they weren't killed by snipers, stray rounds, artillery or air strikes is every bit as irrational as any other view. Believing a sensible solution is to weaken or eliminate a government where Hezbollah, Iran, Al Queda and others are waiting in the wings to fill the vacuum is naive.
To many in the world, the US is now the Evil Empire.... not a beacon of hope that it beloved itself to be.
The funny thing about Syria is that the best solution is as its always been. Let them weaken themselves, let foreign fighters get killed, let Iran waste money and hope that in the end, Asaad... who is the best of nothing but bad choices, wins.
Putin at least understands that the only outcome that doesn't thrust the region into further chaos (likely taking Jordan with it) is "business as usual" with Asaad. That's not evil, that's pragmatism and accepting a horrible truth for what it is.