4 ms·

I don't mind the positive messaging, and to be precise the number of refugees is still small. There are millions that have been driven out of syria in neighbori

by return0 11y ago

I don't mind the positive messaging, and to be precise the number of refugees is still small. There are millions that have been driven out of syria in neighboring countries like jordan. However the european media are doing a bad job at telling people the whole story in simple terms about how syria got in this mess and what are the ways to end the crisis where it began (military intervention? who knows). It shouldn't have to take horrible pictures of refugees and children for the people in europe to start talking seriously about this crisis. Focusing on who's going to take more refugees is short-sighted politicking that is benefiting only the far-right parties. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186 http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186

acqq 11y ago
> the european media are doing a bad job at telling people the whole story in simple terms about how syria got in this mess The BBC text linked "conveniently" ignores some influential players and even the recent history: Compare: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-begins-weapons-delivery-to-syrian-rebels/2013/09/11/9fcf2ed8-1b0c-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-b... The Washington Post, September 11, 2013: "CIA begins weapons delivery to Syrian rebels" And: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_... "The group gained prominence after it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in western Iraq in an offensive initiated in early 2014." Also note, the state as of October 2014: http://www.quora.com/Where-is-ISIL-getting-their-ammunition http://www.quora.com/Where-is-ISIL-getting-their-ammunition (which refers to: http://www.conflictarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Dispatch_IS_Iraq_Syria_Ammunition.pdf http://www.conflictarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Dispat... ) "Iraqi and Syrian government forces and moderate rebels now face a significant number of ISIL fighters equipped from huge stocks of captured American-made weapons. The report states that the majority of ISIL ammo recovered in Iraq appears traceable to these stocks."
- return0 11y ago
  All true, but you rarely find an article that mentions the whole story in simple terms, instead of artifacts.
  - acqq 11y ago
    The actual simple terms would be too inconvenient to state them directly and certainly not many people would be prepared to even consider the story: For example starting with this ("Remembering 1960s Afghanistan"): http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2013/01/28/podlich-afghanistan-1960s-photos/5846/ http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2013/01/28/podlich-afgh... and then this ("Zbigniew Brzezinski Taliban Pakistan Afghanistan pep talk 1979"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvO3qAlyTg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvO3qAlyTg Zbigniew Brzezinski was the National Security Advisor to the US President Jimmy Carter at that time. http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2003/04/2008410113842420760.html http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2003/04/2008410113842420760... "When former US National Security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski bragged about prompting the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan so that it could get its "Vietnam" he was not making an empty boast." "Brzezinski said he convinced Carter to sign the first directive for secret aid to opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul on July 3, 1979 in an effort to goad the Red Army into invading, in a 1998 interview."
- acqq 11y ago
  Related, a little better covered: who are the people trying to enter? According to some estimates there are 12 million (!) people who had to flee from the places where they lived just in Syria. More than half of all the people in the country! Probably out of 4 asylum seekers 2 are from Syria, 1 from Afghanistan and 1 from other areas, often Africa. Also note that most of the original inhabitants of Syria are very young, as around 25 years ago there were twice as less people there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Syria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Syria The demographics of Afghanistan is comparable.

by return0 11y ago

acqq 11y ago

> the european media are doing a bad job at telling people the whole story in simple terms about how syria got in this mess The BBC text linked "conveniently" ignores some influential players and even the recent history: Compare: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-begins-weapons-delivery-to-syrian-rebels/2013/09/11/9fcf2ed8-1b0c-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-b... The Washington Post, September 11, 2013: "CIA begins weapons delivery to Syrian rebels" And: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_... "The group gained prominence after it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in western Iraq in an offensive initiated in early 2014." Also note, the state as of October 2014: http://www.quora.com/Where-is-ISIL-getting-their-ammunition http://www.quora.com/Where-is-ISIL-getting-their-ammunition (which refers to: http://www.conflictarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Dispatch_IS_Iraq_Syria_Ammunition.pdf http://www.conflictarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Dispat... ) "Iraqi and Syrian government forces and moderate rebels now face a significant number of ISIL fighters equipped from huge stocks of captured American-made weapons. The report states that the majority of ISIL ammo recovered in Iraq appears traceable to these stocks."

return0 11y ago
All true, but you rarely find an article that mentions the whole story in simple terms, instead of artifacts.
- acqq 11y ago
  The actual simple terms would be too inconvenient to state them directly and certainly not many people would be prepared to even consider the story: For example starting with this ("Remembering 1960s Afghanistan"): http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2013/01/28/podlich-afghanistan-1960s-photos/5846/ http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2013/01/28/podlich-afgh... and then this ("Zbigniew Brzezinski Taliban Pakistan Afghanistan pep talk 1979"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvO3qAlyTg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvO3qAlyTg Zbigniew Brzezinski was the National Security Advisor to the US President Jimmy Carter at that time. http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2003/04/2008410113842420760.html http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2003/04/2008410113842420760... "When former US National Security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski bragged about prompting the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan so that it could get its "Vietnam" he was not making an empty boast." "Brzezinski said he convinced Carter to sign the first directive for secret aid to opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul on July 3, 1979 in an effort to goad the Red Army into invading, in a 1998 interview."
acqq 11y ago
Related, a little better covered: who are the people trying to enter? According to some estimates there are 12 million (!) people who had to flee from the places where they lived just in Syria. More than half of all the people in the country! Probably out of 4 asylum seekers 2 are from Syria, 1 from Afghanistan and 1 from other areas, often Africa. Also note that most of the original inhabitants of Syria are very young, as around 25 years ago there were twice as less people there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Syria https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Syria The demographics of Afghanistan is comparable.