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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   31658 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 2, 2024

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So apparently Syria is collapsing. Jihadists are near the capital and Assad is nowhere to be found. It looks to be so over for the Assad region.

Since this is the culture war thread, here's what Donald Trump had to say on X.

Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad. Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years. This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them. There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid. In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!

Cicero he ain't but I'm glad that this viewpoint represents the new foreign policy thinking. The U.S. doesn't need to have a finger in every pie. The international reputation of the United States was never higher than before WWII when we were mostly an isolationist country. In the decades since, we've spent trillions on our foreign misadventures and have only enmity to show for it. The Middle East is not "strategically important" anymore either, and we don't need to "contain" Russia or Iran in that area. Most countries are neither our friends nor our enemies so we should just stay out of their affairs.

Likelihood of genocide towards the mostly Assad-supporting minority groups? Alawites and Christians seem very vulnerable to militants with a serious chip on their shoulder.

Why is it America's responsibility to protect these groups?

You know what? Just once, I'd like to see Germany or France have a go at it.

Since that will never happen, more optimistically I'd hope the Alawites and Kurds can coordinate for their own defense in areas where they have a demographic plurality. Not sure about the Christians...

American government supported the "moderate" head-chopper rebels, so responsibility would be under "you broke it, you bought it" clause.

No. Syrians have agency and are responsible for their own country.

This blinkered thinking would lead to permanent US involvement in Syria.

More importantly, the Copenhagen Interpretation of Ethics is evil and you should be feel bad for espousing it.

It's "blinkered thinking" to think that a country has responsibility to limit damage it causes abroad? Nobody made US get involved under Obama but it did.

It's "blinker thinking" to think that a country has responsibility to limit damage it causes abroad?

It is when you project damage it didn't cause onto the tab out of American ethnocentricism and a dismissal of the agency and ability of other actors.

It may be self-validating in a way to believe American power is central to the cause and outcomes in other conflicts, but the Americans were never the biggest player in the Syrian civil war, or the most decisive, or the most responsible. Americans are not the hyperagent of the Syrian Civil War. Americans were never the hyperagent of the Syrian Civil War.

'You broke it, you bought it' depends on 'you' actually being the agent to break it. 'You' did not.

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