7 ms·
Syria has become a narco-state
- MKais 5y agohttps://archive.md/cNeio https://archive.md/cNeio
- ReptileMan 5y ago>IN THE DUNES north of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, the sun sets and the party begins. Girls discard their abayas, the black shrouds that envelop them in public, and begin jiving to techno music with boys. A few swig from bottles, but most prefer Captagon pills, nowadays the Gulf’s favourite drug, at $25 a pop. They call it Abu Hilalain (Father of Two Half-moons), after the two letter “c”s (for Captagon) embossed on the pills. Part of the amphetamine family, it can have a similar effect to Viagra—and conquers sleep. “With one pill,” says a raver, “we can dance all weekend.” Can anyone that is on the ground please confirm this. Party scene in KSA outside of the state inside the state that is Aramco seems like fiction.
- Scoundreller 5y ago> Part of the amphetamine family, it can have a similar effect to Viagra I don’t think the writer knows what viagra does.
- elil17 5y agoThe drug is a vasodilator, whereas most amphetamines are vasoconstrictors.
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoHence the "unsafe drop in blood pressure" disclaimer.
- lyaa 5y agoI second the request for confirmation. It does sound like fiction to me too.
- Scoundreller 5y agoI’d have believed it if it were indoors, but out in the open seems excessively risky. At least that’s how it works in other “dry” countries. Though I dunno the living conditions of wealthy saudis outside of aramco compounds (or do the wealthy live there too?)
- jessaustin 5y agoAny M5M piece about Syria is automatically suspect. Recall how sure they were about Douma chlorine attacks, etc. Perhaps even worse than reporting fake crap are the true, relevant facts they leave out. TFA doesn't even mention the nation (USA) that currently occupies the resource-rich eastern third of the nation. Even the linked "War is Bad" article displays a map that pretends it's actually "Kurds" who are currently in control of all the oil and grain that Syria produces. These clowns weren't mad at Trump for the occupation, since Biden has continued it. They were just mad that Trump talked about the occupation.
- baybal2 5y agoGo, and look what you get on Tinder, say somewhere in Jeddah...
- Scoundreller 5y agoI won’t, but what?
- oh_sigh 5y agoThere are thousands of princes who each get millions of dollars per year stipend with absolutely no responsibility. So yes, there absolutely is a huge party scene in the kingdom, so long as you aren't poor or conservative/religious.
- pantalaimon 5y agoMakes me wonder why they would choose such an obscure substance
- Scoundreller 5y agoAvailability is usually the answer. Lots of overland routes available where it’s popular/legal/cheap within the Middle East. Though the APIs probably originate from China so you’d think more “western” choices would be made. Presumably the party culture had been adopted from EU/USA.
- Leparamour 5y ago> Though the APIs probably originate from China What does API stand for in this context?
- philipkglass 5y agoIt stands for active pharmaceutical ingredient. Meaning the actual drug in a complete pill. Many pills are mostly non-active ingredients because a pill containing e.g. 10 mg of API would be inconveniently tiny if the pill itself was only 10 mg.
- peanut_worm 5y agoAmphetamine tablets are extremely popular in Asia
- Scoundreller 5y agoAmphetamine sure, but captagon is a more complicated molecule without any real extra benefit. Théophyllines are meh unless you’re nearly dying of lung disease. However, Wikipedia reports: “ Many of these counterfeit "Captagon" tablets actually contain other amphetamine derivatives that are easier to produce, but are pressed and stamped to look like Captagon pills.” which makes a lot more sense if the chemistry is being done in Syria.
- 5y ago
- giardini 5y agoThanks, Obama! Now, in addition to screwing up Libya, which was once a fine little place to live, you've screwed up Syria and their neighbors. Do I see a pattern here? Did someone mention "Afghanistan"? What's next?
- reedjosh 5y agoSomebody get that man a peace prize!
- sonotathrowaway 5y agoSyria definitely didn’t have any problems before Obama. Al-Assad and his father were totally peaceful, definitely weren’t razing towns for decades.
- objektif 5y agoThis is another neo-liberal talking point. Its like Saying Libya under Gaddafi was horrible too blah blah. You know how it is like right now?
- thera2 5y agoIt's like saying China should have dropped freedom bombs on US during trump leadership so Americans can be saved.
- handrous 5y agoThe half-assed intervention leading to a protracted conflict in Syria has arguably been much more damaging to American interests than Iraq was, not to mention screwing up Syria a lot worse than it already would have been. Unless there was some pretty crazy stuff going on beyond the public eye to justify it, it's a strong candidate for America's biggest foreign policy blunder of the century (so far). Actually, I'm struggling to think of something definitely worse since Vietnam, in those terms. It's been (very) low-cost in American lives & money compared to Iraq and Afghanistan, but just horrible for US interests and for general international stability, in the Middle East and Europe, especially, and it hasn't even done Syria any favors to offset that. Iraq and Afghanistan—either one, on its own—surely did more direct harm to America itself, however, but in sheer foreign-policy terms? Our actions in Syria look really bad from that perspective. I write that as an Obama voter, and Iraq war protester.
- yellowfish 5y ago'hacker news'
- SonicScrub 5y agoHacker News Guidelines What to Submit On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.
- anigbrowl 5y agoSomewhat off topic (because the nature and direction of trade is main story here) but this illegal drug doesn't sound particularly terrible. Talk of the destruction of youth seems hyperbolic to put it mildly, though Islamic orthodoxy frowns upon intoxicants of any kind, not to mention loud music and dancing. The anxiety seems to be rooted in fears of cultural rather than medical harm. Of course, one might say the same of proscriptive drug policies everywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenethylline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenethylline
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoThe drug in question seems to be in the meth family so I'd be hesitant to say that usage in "high enough to get addicted" quantities is not harmful since it probably has negative side effects similar to meth at that point. At small doses it's probably similar to adderall which is pretty harmless. The article doesn't make clear what dosage the average recreational user is taking.
- anigbrowl 5y agoAs described it sounds more like MDMA (aka ecstasy or molly, and also part of the amphetamine family); while not harm free it's not nearly as strongly associated with abuse or negative health outcomes as methamphetamine. We have to guess about dose, but I'd say most party drug consumers aim to balance the pleasure of dancing all night with the ability to do so on an ongoing basis.
- satellite2 5y agoA french report debunked that contemporary captagon actually contains any Fenethylline, as most of the production capabilities have been dismantled in the 90s following its prohibition. Captagon varies in content but is most often plain amphetamine. https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2017/07/27/captagon-un-rapport-demonte-le-mythe-de-la-drogue-des-djihadistes_5165582_3224.html https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2017/07/27/captagon-u...
- ghurida-24 5y agoSyria has basically tacitely legalized both the production and the consumption of drugs. Drug export is also it's biggest income. More countries should follow their example. Imagine how much tax dollars would be gained if all drugs were legalized in US and let's say 20% of it's population started to regularly use them.
- gruez 5y agoBetter yet, let's export it to unwilling countries to balance our trade deficit! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
- Afforess 5y ago> Imagine how much tax dollars would be gained if all drugs were legalized in US and let's say 20% of it's population started to regularly use them. ...What? Is this a serious take? You think widespread recreational hard drug usage would increase tax revenue and not have any other negative externalities? Like... dead people don't pay taxes.
- stickfigure 5y agoQuestion for you: What percentage of the US population do you think regularly (say, once a month or more) consumes hard drugs? Include prescription painkillers and amphetamines in this count, even if they are prescribed by doctors. I'll bet it's not too far away from 20% already.
- throwaway98211 5y ago>Imagine how much tax dollars would be gained if all drugs were legalized in US and let's say 20% of it's population started to regularly use them. Maybe... Or, the same criminal underworld that controlled the drug trade still does, but now operates with more impunity (and still doesn't pay taxes.) https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Illegal-pot-invades-California-s-deserts-16316105.php https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Illegal-pot-invades-Cali...
- baybal2 5y agoI want to remind to our American readers of another narco-state flooding USA with fentanyl, and other synthetic opioids, about which the mighty country of America can't do anything about, but moan, complain, and keep calling for "security summits" for their amusement.
- Scoundreller 5y agoCanada? Mexico? China?
- underseacables 5y agoHow dare you! Now you’re just being xenophobic! Racist! /sarcasm
- 55555 5y ago(The answer is China.)
- 8note 5y agoI thought the sacklers were american
- pphysch 5y agoThe Taliban culled opium production in Afghanistan shortly before the US led invasion, after which production miraculously recovered and increased [1]. But sure, it's definitely "China", which has extreme cultural trauma around opiates (and zero tolerance policy toward them) and analogs since the Opium Wars devastated the entire country, that is the primary problem. No blame for the pharmaceutical companies and pill pushers who rely on Golden Crescent/Triangle opium exports! [1] - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47861444.amp https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47861444.amp
- srswtf123 5y agoI believe this was always the plan, from the US perspective? https://www.salon.com/2007/10/12/wesley_clark/ https://www.salon.com/2007/10/12/wesley_clark/
- crazy_horse 5y agoNo, the US did not plan to start a civil war which left the Syrian regime in place while destabilizing their own allies. The US has been involved in all of this, of course, but the Syrian civil war is largely a result of the a series of 2011 uprisings that started by accident.
- thera2 5y agoThey underestimated Syria and Assad leadership, they hoped they could take over the country. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/middleeast/cia-syria-rebel-arm-train-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/middleeast/cia-syri...
- 9999px 5y agoNailed it. The US is only concerned with imperialism and maintaining a stranglehold in the region. Syria was meant to be Libya Part 2: Electric Boogaloo, but it was just a royal mess from the beginning.
- srswtf123 5y agoWell, this seems an entirely fair point. Starting a civil war is not the same as toppling a government. From my perspective, the difference is irrelevant. The broader plan seems to have been to throw the Middle East into chaos by upending every government of consequence in the region -- except Israel. Did the US government succeed in the broader plan? Perhaps mostly? As a US citizen, it sure doesn't feel like a win, or even remotely the correct course of action.
- showerst 5y agoGenerally speaking, the US prefers stability over chaos, even among its enemies. Plans with respect to every country have changed over time and author, but I think it's safe to say that many in the US had a vision of the middle east's various leaders being replaced quickly and 'cleanly' by more US-friendly alternatives, hopefully supported by the people who they rule over. In many cases we did things, overtly or covertly, to encourage that. I don't think it's reasonable to assume some hidden master plan to cause chaos. It is however, valid to question what stupid choices we made to get to this point, and if they looked just as stupid at the time.
- frandroid 5y agoOkay, the Kurds who control the Iraq/Turkey border, but aren't the PKK, trading through the mountains?? Also I want to know if the drugs in the photo were hidden in the pomegranates
- YinLuck- 5y agoWith 1/3 of Syria occupied by the USA, I'd say they are in total-war mode so anything goes. The USA is behind yet another miserable state of affairs.
- slownews45 5y agoThe whole Syria thing - what was the US end goal? I mean, seriously - even in best case? You've got a country where women are educated, the economy sort of works etc. A bunch of guys with guns takes over and....
- thera2 5y agoTo install a US puppet dictator. They don't care about the people.
- nate_meurer 5y agoWhich dictator is that?
- objektif 5y agoISIS.
- nate_meurer 5y agoSo, the puppet dictator that the US wanted to install in Syria was... ISIS?
- jessaustin 5y agoUSA is not a monolith. I didn't want that. However, my government took many steps that caused that event. ISIS only existed in the first place because USA invaded neighboring Iraq under false pretense and deposed Iraq's government. ISIS was strengthened in Syria by USA's attacks (both through sanctions [0] and through other violent means) on Syria's government. ISIS was armed by USA parachuting thousands of weapons into the conflict zone. [1] Perhaps the people making these decisions are morons who can't predict the obvious results of their own actions. I suspect they are not that sort of morons. [0] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/16/is-syrias-sanctions-hurting-the-population-more-than-the-regime https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/16/is-syrias-sanctions... [1] https://thehill.com/policy/defense/364917-study-shows-us-weapons-given-to-syrian-rebels-ended-up-in-isiss-hands https://thehill.com/policy/defense/364917-study-shows-us-wea...
- ghgh23235 5y agoThis is just globohomo Biden regime warmongering bullshit. Can we please, for the love of god, keep the motherfucking politics off of Hacker News?
- ghgh23235 5y agoHacker News is the new /r/politics. Change my mind.
- forz877 5y agoIt's starting to become heavily political, I agree. Seeing debates about Trump/Pelosi on here is very saddening. Anecdotally it seems that discourse on politics here has become much less of seeking understanding and much more snarky comments and evangelizing beliefs.
- soco 5y agoIt's interesting to see that the only account complaining about HN politics was created 20 minutes ago. Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere.
- forz877 5y agoYes, I think more and more we are seeing that. The post was flagged, but it's worth a discussion. Anecdotally, under previous names, I've noticed that before on HN thoughtful conversations could happen when it came to politics. I'm finding less and less of that to be true, and more posts are becoming flagged/flame wars.
- soco 5y agoStill, labeling and name calling is rather the exception and as you too observed, gets flagged quickly as such. My point was that some accounts seem to be created for the sole goal of name calling. Oh well, I'm happy they're only a few.
- ghgh23235 5y agoReal Hacker: Let's talk about software! Poser: Nah, let's push the Biden/CCP agenda instead!