Other stuff

[darrelljs]

Me too!

Darrell

[darrelljs]

So, what's the take on the French elections?

Darrell

[MJW (ya that one)]

Preu President has a 5% approval rating.

[AdrienIer]

So, what's the take on the French elections?

Darrell

It's a mess, but OMG what a relief.

[MJW (ya that one)]

Preu President down to 4%. I don't think she is going to beat Yeltsin's 2% though...

[darrelljs]

So all it took for Assad to fall was Russian to get bogged down in a protracted war and Israel to obliterate Hezbollah? Man the Ayatollah must be pooping his pants.

Darrell

[Mjmd]

If anyone has found a good article on how in the world Syria collapsed so fast I am curious for multiple view points. I get less foreign support, but I just didn't think the rebel position was good enough even still.

Edit: obviously the big question is what happens now? Can hope for stability, but who knows.

[darrelljs]

Given the who is leading the rebel groups, bad things will likely happen...especially for the 10% of Syrians who are Christian.

This is a good article.  An ancillary benefit of living in Ireland is Google returns higher quality search results.

Darrell

[AdrienIer]

If anyone has found a good article on how in the world Syria collapsed so fast I am curious for multiple view points. I get less foreign support, but I just didn't think the rebel position was good enough even still.

Edit: obviously the big question is what happens now? Can hope for stability, but who knows.

I read a few good articles in french, but not sure a link would be useful... Basically hezbollah left and the syrian army tried to reorganise quickly to fill in the gaps but failed to do it fast enough, then it was too late. In a way, similar to the conquest of France in 1944 when one weak spot in the defense lead to utter defeat.

[greenline]

The HTS rebels aren't armed with just sticks and stones. Turkey is their main benefactor and has a fairly sophisticated drone program (I would not be surprised if it comes out later that the CIA was helping them too). It wasn't just that government forces were demoralized and giving up, but that they couldn't effectively respond without Russia to give them air support.