Anatoly Karlin dissects the stupid rhetoric on Syria

I can't say I know much about Mr. Karlin other than guessing he is a Russian living in the US.  Always interesting, but this time superb.  His dissection of the rhetoric could be a primer on the subject.  His introduction to the post Game of Homs is dead on,

What striking about Syria is how so many people insist on speaking about it in profoundly moralistic, Manichaean terms. This is complete nonsense, given that its civil war isn’t a showdown between democracy and dictatorship, but an ethnic and religious conflict.

His explanation of what the regime is doing is also worth reading.

The Assad regime 

The rhetoric: He kills his own people! He is the Evil Overlord (TM)! 

The reality: That’s kind of what happens in a civil war. Abraham Lincoln also “killed his own people,” you know. It is obvious why the “regime” fights on: That is what regimes do  – as a general rule of thumb, they’re fond of surviving. The rather more interesting and telling question is: Why do key elements of the population continue to back them?

As far as the Alawites and Christians are concerned, it’s pretty clear: The Sunnis have never been particularly well disposed to them, and the past few years haven’t made them any fonder. The last time the Sunnis revolted in Hama in 1982, one of the slogans of the Muslim Brotherhood was “Christians to Beirut, Alawites to the graveyard.” 

In the game of Homs, you win or you die – and the “you” is in its plural form. No wonder Assad has a solid support base. 

there is more to it and everyone should read it.  Unfortunately, the web being what it is, only folks who have heard of him will notice.  The vast sea of my incurious countrymen will never see it.

Fortunately, other than the Obamanots, few still buy the idea that another war is the ticket.

Syria, beyond the beyond!!!!

I have no way of describing what is happening now as we hurtle to a war for no reason.

Except,

there has to be a reason.  The Saudis and Qataris, the Israelis, whatever.  Whomever is getting something it ain't the American people. There is absolutely no reason any American should want to be involved in Syria.

It should be self-evident that interventionism has reached its reductio ad absurdam long ago.  chem weapons, WMDs, Kuwaiti incubators, War to end all wars, Remember the Maine.

The Neutralist is slightly encouraged by the fact that polls show the the citizenry are not buying it.  On the other hand, the administration is completely disregarding popular opinion in the matter.  At least Bush sent Powell to fib to the UN.

Anyway, it's sad and discouraging, but expected.  The Neutralist has links that my few readers probably know about.

Anatoly Karlin is Russian, so one supposes that makes him suspect in some circles.  Then again, there are some of my countermen who would abandon the idea that 1+1=2 if it could be shown the devil himself believed in it.  I am passing on something he passed on as it does not sound unreasonable.  That does not mean I absolutely believe it, but Mr. Mercouris might not have less credibility than John Kerry.

If you aren't already reading Col. Lang at Sic Semper Tyrannis, you should be.  Let me give you a taste:

Kerry informed the world that he and the president were absolutely sure that the Syrian government had used CW en masse against people in the Damascus suburbs.Evidence?  He said that he had seen the videos and pictures on the internet and that they tore open the wounds of his heart once again.  That was all the evidence that he mentioned except to claim that the US Government has more information that it will make available at some future time. 

So, it has been decided.  If I were more aggressive and had more readers, I would run a contest, what will be our first post Syria aggression.