Syria deploys troops after protests

[oberliner]

Syrian troops have been deployed in the southern city of Daraa a day after an anti-government protester was killed when forces reportedly fired on a demonstration.

News agencies, citing residents, said that thousands of Syrians marched on Monday in the town following the funeral of Raed Akrad, the killed protester.

A resident told the AFP news agency that "mass of demonstrators started to march from the cemetery towards al-Omari mosque after the burial".

"Just God, Syria and Freedom," and "Revolution, revolution" demonstrators chanted, the resident said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201132112130110767.html

Thoughts and/or predictions on Syria?

[brooklynite]

1. I was in Syria two weeks ago, and everything seemed very calm...

Almost everyone we talked to was broadly critical of the Government but like President Assad, and didn't seem to see the need for protests.

[oberliner]

3. Where were you and in what context?

Be curious to know more about your insights.

[brooklynite]

5. 10 day Alumni history/culture tour

Aleppo, Damascus, Palmyra and Hama, plus a lot of rural archaeological sites. Very interesting country: no noticeable poverty, every flavor of religious/non-religious dress, muslims and christians got along peacefully, surprising fertile agricultural swaths of land, and 3,000+ years of historical sites.

[oberliner]

7. What do you think the opposition movement in Syria is all about?

How do you see things playing out there?

[Baclava]

2. Bomb the piss out of them!

Hell, our ships are right there in the Med - light off another couple hundred cruise missles...

Call it a targeting error.

Git er done.

[oberliner]

4. Bomb who exactly?

What the heck are you talking about?

[Hugabear]

6. Snark or not, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually did just that

Because Syria is on our "bad guy" list, so it's easier to justify military action against them. It's also why Yemen, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia are completely safe.

[oberliner]

8. Looks like Yemen is taking care of itself without outside assistance

Seems to be going the Tunisia/Egypt route over there with the military supporting the protesters.

[robdogbucky]

15. "Looks like Yemen is taking care of itself without outside assistance"

Huh?




"...US-based Human Rights Watch said the time had come for the United States suspend its military aid to Yemen, where it has sent special forces troops to help train anti-terror units in the fight against al-Qaeda. ”Time and again, President Saleh promises he will stop attacks on peaceful protesters and yet the number of dead keeps rising,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the HRW Middle East director.

“The United States should back up its words condemning the carnage with action, and halt military aid to Yemen...”

"...Washington has provided “more than $300 million in military and security aid to Yemen in the past five years,” the New York-based group said.

The US should make further military aid contingent on the government ending attacks on protesters and holding accountable officials and others, regardless of position, who are responsible for the unlawful use of force,” HRW said..."

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/yemen-seethes-as-death-toll-climbs-1.1044264



Cue the backup arguments: The army is key, they have not attacked the protestors yet; The rebels didn't ask for our help; The UN didn't pass a resolution; There haven't been so many killed there;........


Let' just show that good ol' diplomatic scorn. Yup, that's the ticket. We shall scold them into compliance.


"Many of the victims were shot in the head and more than 120 people were wounded, medics said, in scenes that shocked the world and drew diplomatic scorn from Western powers and human rights monitors."


Let's see, Egypt, a captive ally with our dictator in office for 40 years, no action, just scolding and diplomatic scorn
Bahrain, no brainer, Gates visits, Sheik complains, Saudis used to massacre protestors, more scolding and diplomatic scorn along with the visit from Gates. Yemen, with our dictator in place for many decades, our "anti-teror ally", dozens massacred, scolding and diplomatic scorn. Ivory Coast, even though women gunned down in cold blood by government forces and 296 protestors killed since December, no oil, hardly even any scolding or diplomatic scorn.

Libya, long-standing arch-enemy dictator faces unrest and rebels, which are attacked by dictators forces. Lots of oil. UN resolution sought and gained. Attack under way to "defend," the rebels. No end in sight, just a NFZ being enforced.



rdb

[oberliner]

16. Yemen Countdown: "It’s hard to see how President Ali Abdullah Saleh can hold on"

It’s hard to see how President Ali Abdullah Saleh can hold on. Only 45 minutes or so after Al Jazeera published the list below, Yemen’s Embassy in London, including its ambassador, flew the coop. Saleh dismissed his own cabinet on Sunday; three of his ministers had already resigned. Now senior military figures are turning on him.

List of defections:

8:41pm (Yemen time): An update of the rapidly growing list of defections and resignations in Yemen:

Army Officers:
Brigadier Ali Mohsen Saleh, head of the North Western Military Zone
Brigadier Hameed Al koshebi, head of brigade 310 in Omran area
Brigadier Mohammed Ali Mohsen, head of the Eastern Division
Brigadier Nasser Eljahori, head of brigade 121
General Ali Abdullaha Aliewa, adviser of the Yemeni supreme leader of the army
General Faisal Rajab, based in the southern province of Lahij
“Dozens of officers of various ranks” – AFP

Diplomats:
Abdel-Wahhab Tawaf, Ambassador to Syria
Mohammed Ali al-Ahwal, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Ambassador to Jordan
Ambassador to Egypt
Ambassador to Kuwait
Ambassador to China
Ambassador to Algeria
Ambassador to Indonesia
Ambassador to Iraq
Ambassador to Qatar
Ambassador to Belgium
Ambassador to Pakistan
Ambassador to Czech Republic
Ambassador to Spain
Ambassador to Germany
Ambassador to Oman
Ambassador to the UN
Charge d’affairs to Tunisia
Representative to the Arab League
All embassy staff in Washington except the ambassador

Local Officials:
Ahmed Qaatabi, Governor of Yemen’s southern province of Aden
Himyar al-Ahmar, Deputy Speaker of Parliament
Mayor of Aden
3 MPs
Advisor of Yemen’s premiership

http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/yemen-countdown/

[Baclava]

10. Who cares who they are - call them the enemy and bomb them anyway.

All this blood lust around here has got me fired up.

[oberliner]

12. Missed the sarcasm the first time through

Got it now.

[David__77]

14. It's quite a blood fever going around.

People are all fired up for bombs, missiles, assassinations, and using all these great gadgets! Woo hoo!

[Baclava]

17. OK - I'm better now.

Caffeine is a helluva drug.

[Hannah Bell]

9. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x705412

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4780388&mesg_id=4780535

[oberliner]

11. Thoughts? Insights? Predictions?

What is your take?

[leftstreet]

13. Libya, Syria, Iran.....

here we go

[PurityOfEssence]

18. Dangerous times.

They will be left alone pretty much regardless of what happens there. They're too much of a hot potato, being a traditional enemy of Israel; we'd never run the risk of angering the Arab world by intervening.

Syria also has very little oil, but that's just a snide aside...