[Unperson-K]

I for one am proud (if it is true) that Russian cluster bombs are used in the sacred war to exterminate the treasonous rats.

One can only hope that, if worst comes to worst, Assad won't tremble at employing Syria's vast stockpiles of chemical weapons. Nothing is too good not to be used against those terrorist barbarians.

...

Correct. You buy things on behalf not of your own countrymen, but of the parasitical liberal international finance-capital to which you proudly belong.

Does it hurt when FRS pulls your strings and makes you dance? Or is it just that you are bereft of any originality whatsoever?

[stalker]

Which rock did you crawl from under?

My views on the so-called "Arab Spring" and the alliance of Western neoliberalism / cultural Marxism (of which you are one representative) with radical Islam far predate my contact with FRS' posts on the matter.

[Il Duce]

Control of main highways would at least make it more difficult and take longer to send forces to Aleppo. Either way, it is good propaganda in the end.

[Canis_Lupus]

You've got to admire Israelis. Sitting on the fence, enjoying the show, while stupid Sunnis are doing the dirty job for them. What are they playing at? Not enough rebels? According to our genius Beirut and his friends almost entire Syrian Army defected. Wrong estimation or Syrian Arab Army has done rather marvellous job in exterminating vermin,eh?

http://www.debka.com/article/22440/New- ... rebels-don’t-have-the-numbers-to-win

New W. intelligence: Syrian rebels don’t have the numbers to win
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 15, 2012, 9:20 AM (GMT+02:00) Tags: Syrian rebels Bashar Assad Barack Obama Francois Hollande Iran Israel's MI Chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on Syrian Golan borderThe revised estimates compiled by US and French intelligence agencies on the relative strength of Syrian government and rebel forces have given Washington and Arab capitals backing the Syrian opposition pause. The Obama administration has built its policies around an estimated 70,000 rebel fighters, whereas the revised figure, according to debkafile’s intelligence sources, appears to be less than half - around 30,000. With some 3,000 jihadis, Al Qaeda-linked groups make up around one-tenth of total rebel strength.
Officials in Washington and Paris are trying to play down the revised estimates because it throws out the basic premise of the Obama administration’s Middle East policy that Bashar Assad can’t last more than six months against the rebel offensive. US military experts now admit, albeit without attribution, that the overall balance of strength – and not just the numbers - has radically changed in the Assad regime’s favor, due to direct Iranian military input: Military advisers of the elite Al Qods Brigades are conducting crash combat courses for the 70,000- strong pro-Assad Alawite militia and sections of the Syrian army still loyal to the ruler.
This qualitative injection into Assad’s military sources will substantially extend the life expectancy of his regime.

For now, US President Barack Obama does not appear to be affected by the new figures or about to change his firm position against direct Western or regional intervention in Syria. He is still pressuring Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to keep a lid on the escalating Turkish-Syrian hostilities. He is also holding Saudi Arabia and Qatar back from supplying the rebels with heavy anti-tank and anti-air weapons for withstanding Syrian assaults.
At the same time, the situation in Syria is incendiary enough to shoot into an unforeseen direction in the three weeks remaining up until the US presidential election and may force the president’s hand. The Syrian crisis will certainly figure large in his debate with Republican candidate Mitt Romney Tuesday, Oct. 16, along with the security issues raised by the murder of four US diplomats in Libya by al Qaeda on Sept. 11.

Our sources in Paris report that President France Hollande’s take on the new intelligence estimates counters the Obama position. He is urging direct intervention in Syria for the creation of safe havens for opposition forces and refugees, a no-fly zone and a supply of heavy weapons to give the insurgents a chance to retilt the tide of the war in their favor. He is galvanized by reports from the battlefield that the rebels face serious reverses in the face of the Assad army’s numerical superiority and Iranian, Russian and Hizballah aid. This could lead to a hopeless stalemate in the Syrian crisis, which the Syrian ruler would use to grind down the opposition’s strength and reassert his authority, helped along by the bitter divisions in Syrian opposition ranks.
For now, Israel’s leaders are lining up publicly with the Obama prediction of a foreshortened Assad reign and overestimate of rebel strength and prospects. They continue to assert that the Syrian ruler’s days are numbered. Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi is more reserved. During a visit IDF forces ranged on the Golan on Oct. 3, he spoke cautiously about “the eroding authority of the Syrian regime.”

[roxunreal]

So is that Aleppo taken yet by Assad or what? It's been almost 4 months of "the rebels being crushed".

[Social_Critic]

Roxun and the rest of you, why don't you stop being so sarcastic towards the other side? I think it would be better if you did agree this is going to take a long time, and the outcome is not certain.

I look at this as if it were one of those points in a RISK game where the players pile up huge armies facing each other and start rolling dice, over and over and over. It takes time, and the roll of the dice will rule the day. They have fallen into the same rythm as the European powers did during WW I, and they are likely to stay at it for a while.

I think think that, given their five to one numerical advantage, the rebels have a good chance. The question is whether they'll know how to leverage their numbers. It's a pity that Aleppo will be left in ruins when this is over. A real pity.

[stalker]

I'm for the sunni majority because they happen to be an abused majority. They seem to have sufficient numbers and the Hassad regime is probably going to fall within months. As I said, it seems the key will be to introduce suicide bombers in much larger numbers and strike at the Syrian army supply lines feeding the troops in Aleppo.

Just highlighting the preferred tactics of the rebel supporters.

[Social_Critic]

Suicide bombing is quite effective in urban warfare. It increases the kill ratio, therefore it's acceptable as a tactic when the enemy is outnumbered and has superior weaponry. Are you opposed to it on religious grounds?

[stalker]

I'm opposed to it on the grounds that suicide bombing is almost always practiced by terrorist scum that are best exterminated without prejudice. It is a way of fighting utterly devoid of glory and honor, the exclusive province of manipulated clinical retards or absolute fanatics (for such are suicide bombers).

[pikachu]

So is that Aleppo taken yet by Assad or what? It's been almost 4 months of "the rebels being crushed".

Well geez, last time I checked the government didn't declare a "decisive offensive" in Aleppo and didn't commit to "taking Aleppo tonight or perish".

[Social_Critic]

suicide bombing is almost always practiced by terrorist scum

I guess you are right, it sure is used by terrorists. But they use it because they think it works.

As you know, this is a purely intellectual exercise on my part, I'm against violence, and I have always preferred to run and keep goading the enemy from a distance. From a purely military standpoint, it sure seems to work. Look at the Japanese kamikaze, they did a lot of damage to the US fleet - my father in law lost one lung at Okinawa thanks to one of those little guys.

[oppose_obama]

From a pure military stand point the kamikaze was an utter failure and wasted pilots and planes for almost negligible return. Not sure if you were being sarcastic.

[Social_Critic]

Huh, the kamikaze worked. It scared the crap out of the US fleet. Suicide warriors have always been quite effective. The US has a long tradition of suicide warriors, many of them are awarded medals for their sacrifice.

[oppose_obama]

It scared them so badly that they sunk the Japanese navy, shot down the air force and vaporized the army? I am talking about pure military value. "scaring" your opponent is nice and dandy but negligible military value, when you are losing. I'm sure it was scary to see a plane coming at your ship but not that much scarier then being shelled or over run by Germans in the battle of the bulge. People tryin to kill you is scary, but unless you follow up with military victory it's not really a great strategy. Good military strategies are ones that lead to military victory. Anything else is for the birds.

[Social_Critic]

Huh, I'm not Japanese. As far as i can tell they wanted the Emperor to stay Emperor, and they sent a signal they were going to die like flies. So we nuked them and even afterwards we decided to let the Emperor keep his job and everything. It seems to have worked for them.

What you forgot is that people fight for what they think counts. And you have a distorted sense of what counts from the jap point of view. The suicide warrior technique would have worked wonders for the Iraqis if they had figured it out before we invaded. Just imagine 2000 guys armed to the teeth and ready to blow up as our troops went in. They would have caused a huge amount of casualties. And this is what the Japanese let us know when they used the Kamikaze and committed suicide at Okinawa - they convinced our leaders to let the Emperor stay.

[oppose_obama]

Just a question so I understand your point. You think kamikaze attacks were effective because US policy makers allowed the emperor to stay behind as a figurehead?

Second point, what exactly do you think 2000 iraqis willing to blow themselves up would do exactly? Where would that have helped? Let's assume one person can strap 50lbs of explosives on themselves, do you think an m1 Abrams still wouldn't blow them up to Allah half a mile away?

[Social_Critic]

Answer to the first one is yes.

The second question is leading, you specify the amount of explosives and so on. I don't think it's sensible to discuss here how you, I, or anybody would go about doing anything to kill people, it's not sensible to give away information on the internet when we got these really weird 16 year olds running around who think they are Keanu Reeves wearing a black rain coat.

So if you get my drift I suggest you don't ever ask anybody anything regarding how to do anything in detail. Thank you very much.

[oppose_obama]

I would disagree with your first point.

Secondly, it's not leading. You said 2000 people being suicide bombers. Obviously then they would need explosives. There's only so much a person can carry/have strapped on and be able to move or even get up. So fine I'll withdraw the 50lbs and replace it with x lbs. X being under 100? I dunno maybe iraqis were super strong in 2003. But whatever number you want. Then what, they just run up to close proximity to a us tank brigade? What difference is this from the eventual IED the Iraqis adopted in 2005ish?

You aren't giving away military secrets. We are talking about military tactics. You said 2000 Iraqis with suicide belts would somehow have stopped the Americans from getting to Baghdad in 3 weeks. It's false right off the bat. It's not like iraqis didn't know about suicide bombing, many cars were loaded up with explosives and tried to ram into us tanks/humvees

[Social_Critic]

I'm not giving away military secrets, nor am I giving you anything else. Let's put it this way, either you got the maturity and brains to figure it out, or you don't. If you don't, that's real good. I've never been to keen on gving any ideas to people who could end up coming after me because I'm a liberal atheist and hate the GOP.

[oppose_obama]

I'm an atheist as well. I don't know why you are paranoid. No one is coming after you. I just figured it out for you. 2000 Iraqis willing to blow themselves up would have 0 effect on the 2003 us invasion. But you think kamakazi attacks convinced the us to let the emperor stay so I have no idea how to convince you!