barbos
Contributor
It does not affect opinion in the west which is Assad is always to blame. And in this particular case chemical weapons accomplished nothing for him and could not have possibly.Yes, repeatedly. Any reports are claimed to be "false flag" operations by the rebels, or orchestrated by foreign intelligence agencies even if there is footage.
He gets blamed anyway. even evidence clearly points that he neither gave an order nor was aware. And rebels who used it too somehow never get blamed.Chemical weapons have been used multiple times in Syria, without barely any repercussions. There is no reason for Assad to fear the international community's frowning any more than the previous times. Besides Assad isn't necessarily himself in charge of deciding tactical choices like when to use chemical weapons.
I know about Sunni-Shia. I just think that Western help just prolongs the war, so my question is why? We know that "rebels" lost already, why prolong the massacre?No, the civil war is due to Sunni-Shia conflicts that predates Assad. His dad had to deal with sunni extremists in his day as well. But my point is that paying off dictators isn't an on-off switch. After 2005, when Assad withdrew from Lebanon there may have been an opening to improve ties, and with Iraq becoming a clusterfuck and ISIS raising its head it wasn't realistic to just bribe Assad to make a 180 degree turn on a dime. I don't think anyone even seriously considered that option.So the whole country is in ruins because of Hezbolla/Iran? That must do the wonders for the long term success of US in the Middle East.Iran and Hezbolla are the main sticking points, not Russia. And US track record with Libya and Iraq doesn't bode well for mutual trust either.I don't know about Iran, but you can buy Assad without making Russia sad. Russia has no problem with Israel and if US offered Assad a deal where he stops being nice to terrorists and he gets off the list plus some economic assistance he might as well take it. Iran is not going to invade Syria. And US has bought a lot of their Middle East allies (Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan).
But I agree West does not instill much trust if you are a dictator trying to reform.