The Communist party was first integrated into the Baathis gov by Salah Jadid and sided with him when Assad Sr came on the scene.
(In 1957, in fact, the Syrian govt actually initiated a political union w Egypt called the United Arab Republic led by Nasser, b/c they were so afraid of the Syrian Communist party and banned the Communist party and killed a bunch of 'em)
When Assad Sr came to power in his coup in 1970(?), he started "opening" up the economy, and the Communists involvement in governing was significantly reduced (to like 8 members), but that didn't last too long, and the CP was basically in the wilderness until the 'Arab Spring' stuff (by wilderness: confined to 8 members when they could run in elections, periodic executions, mass arrests, they weren't allowed to participate in '81 election), but then w/ Assad Jr's constitutional reform and 2012 election, both parties got 11 seats.
Now both parties are in the governing coalition but supposedly w/ the constitutional reforms they have more independent power, they're allowed to arm themselves, and membership is open (Bakdash says they have 250,000 members, I don't know about United) and they've said their focus is on the defense of the country and unity until the conflict is over
HenryKrinkle posted:then you have people saying that Assad responded to non-violent protesters with brute force & jailed secular leftist dissidents and thus created the Islamist problem by giving Syrians no other avenues to express their grievances. thing is, from what i understand, the major Syrian communist parties sided with Assad from the beginning of the armed insurgency and there is practically zero evidence leftist, non-sectarian forces ever played a major role in the opposition. the most secular representatives of the opposition are all liberal and neocon expats living in the West and have deep ties to the US "democracy promotion" establishment.
sorry if i'm just restating what everyone already knows. but it's just disconcerting to see so many people swayed by these harrowing reports of Assad's barrel bombs & torture chambers that they forget how easily humanitarianism can be used to sell imperialist war and aggression.
any world leader brutal and savage enough to torture political dissidents in HIS OWN COUNTRY rather than farming it out to a dozen different foreign black sites doesnt deserve to call himself President
getfiscal posted:i looked it up today and the actual city of kobani has 40,000 people. i know syrian kurdistan has a lot but that's not my point there. it's basically a smaller town and it's being blown up into the 2015 zapatistas.
i'm not sure what point you're getting at here mate. kobani the city isn't the same thing as kobani the canton, which has a population that's at least ten times that of the city
i could be wrong here but i don't think when people celebrate kobani they're doing so in exclusion to the project for democratic autonomy in rojava generally. kobani is just singled out because of it being the first site seized by the ypg and something of an ideological and political centre or at least forerunner. i feel like it's missing the point to highlight the literal geographic region of kobani alone here because people are obviously discussing something much wider
i mean, unless there are people who celebrate kobani to the exclusion of rojava as a whole. but that would be weird and incoherent so i'd be surprised if anyone actually holds that position
if we include territory under the kurdish supreme committee generally, kobani is actually the smallest of the three cantons. afrin canton has about 1.3 million in population and jazira canton 1.5 million. this isn't just syrian kurdistan generally, these are explicit administrative divisions that are under the same direction as kobani
Edited by blinkandwheeze ()
blinkandwheeze posted:getfiscal posted:i looked it up today and the actual city of kobani has 40,000 people. i know syrian kurdistan has a lot but that's not my point there. it's basically a smaller town and it's being blown up into the 2015 zapatistas.
i'm not sure what point you're getting at here mate. kobani the city isn't the same thing as kobani the canton, which has a population that's at least ten times that of the city
i could be wrong here but i don't think when people celebrate kobani they're doing so in exclusion to the project for democratic autonomy in rojava generally. kobani is just singled out because of it being the first site seized by the ypg and something of an ideological and political centre or at least forerunner. i feel like it's missing the point to highlight the literal geographic region of kobani alone here because people are obviously discussing something much wider
i mean, unless there are people who celebrate kobani to the exclusion of rojava as a whole. but that would be weird and incoherent so i'd be surprised if anyone actually holds that position
if we include territory under the kurdish supreme committee generally, kobani is actually the smallest of the three cantons. afrin canton has about 1.3 million in population and jazira canton 1.5 million. this isn't just syrian kurdistan generally, these are explicit administrative divisions that are under the same direction as kobani
yeah i was talking bullshit sorry blonk
tpaine posted:sorry "blonk"? wow, you couldn't even be arsed to spell his name correctly. that is Blink182andWeezer dude. not some Blonk
i guess tthis is growing up
aerdil posted:what's been Russia's stance towards the Kurds anyway? been bombing them as well to help the regime or generally leaving them alone to fuck with turkey?
i don't think bombing rojava helps the regime really. the pyd are expressing a willingness to work with whoever opposes isis and an openness to assad staying in power in the short term pending democratic dialogue and reform. they're more of a strategic asset in that sense because you now have groups that were members of the fsa taking up arms against al-nusra and ash-sham and calling for open dialogue with the regime as opposed to immediate removal or whatever
apparently there are pro-regime groups in the syrian democratic forces too but i haven't heard too much about them so it might just be turkish conspiracy theories, i don't know
obviously a lot of this is out of the immediate political concerns of "not wanting to be ethnically cleansed" so it might fall apart in the future but they're nevertheless valuable the immediate sense. assad has seemed willing to cede rojava's burgeoning autonomy since the very beginning of the conflict
in general i think russian intervention is seen by the authorities of rojava as a necessary counterbalance to turkish efforts in the region. i have not seen any reports of kurdish positions being targetted by russia or the regime, and the ypg have been gaining ground while russian air strikes have been occuring. the kurds explicitly do not distinguish the al-nusra or ash-sham positions targetted by russian strikes - the so called "moderate rebels" being mourned by the west - as practically distinct from the islamic state
also it wouldn't make much sense really to open a conflict with a guerrilla front that is currently indifferent towards if not contingently supportive of your presence
Edited by blinkandwheeze ()
^ video of al nusra thanking FSA for their shipment of US-supplied TOW missiles
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syrias-al-nusra-terrorists-thank-washington-for-providing-them-with-us-made-tow-missiles/5491042
The Free Syrian Army, the Middle East arms dealers with the most terrific racket (get armed by the west for free, sell to ISIS and al-Nusra) long ago kissed & made it official with al-Nusra.
"There has long been a disconnect between those fighting and bleeding inside Syria and the political and diplomatic machinations of those in exile. What is new here is that at least three of the eleven groups—Liwa al-Tawhid, Liwa al-Islam, and Suqour al-Sham—are aligned with the military wing of the National Coalition, the Supreme Military Council, which is supported by the West and is what passes for the leadership of the loose franchise outfit known as the Free Syrian Army (F.S.A.). Now they have publicly thrown in their lot with Jabhat al-Nusra, which also signed on to the statement and is connected to Al Qaeda."
Edited by ayjawtts ()
littlegreenpills posted:Britain’s foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, has accused a Labour MP of being an “apologist for Russian actions” after questions were raised in Parliament about Turkey’s reliability as a British ally.
Skinner had asked Hammond: “Do you regard Turkey as a reliable ally in the battle against Isil ?
“When you consider that not only today that they’ve shot down a Russian jet - who are also trying to fight Isil - they’re buying oil from Isil in order to prop them up, they’re bombing the Kurds who are also fighting Isil."
lmfao
Hammond replied: “I see old habits die hard and you remain an apologist for Russian actions. On the question of Turkey, Turkey is an important Nato ally.
“It holds the key to a number of really very important questions, both in relation to the battle against Isil but also in relation to the migration challenge that Europe faces, and it will remain a very important partner for this country and for the European Union.”
question guy: heres a bunch of fact's
answer guy: Turkey is actually good, and an ally, and my friend
getfiscal posted:HenryKrinkle posted:the major Syrian communist parties sided with Assad from the beginning of the armed insurgency
most leftists (who aren't members of some allied CPs) don't care about that though. the reason is that when the ba'athists rose to power they were hostile to rival leftist forces. so they gutted the CPs and made them into bloc parties in the national front. it is not really an independent leftist force, it is integrated into assad's coalition. also in iraq i think the communist party essentially became an exile force for similar reasons and after the invasion of iraq they supported the new government.
ah okay, well fuck communists in syria then! What else did the Trotskyites say?
getfiscal posted:the argument the trots use about syria is more that the large protests got shut down and then activists started meeting in assemblies or circles to decide how to move forward. and many of theses assemblies did take on a sort of vaguely leftist hue. like they would talk about the need for direct democracy and social justice or whatever.
Ow yeah *Nods head vigorously* That is very important for communist stuff. Direct democracy.. *waves hand vaguely* social justice..
getfiscal posted:but that one moment gets sort of painted across everything that followed, which is silly, because those people didn't end up having an army, and without a people's army the people have nothing.
Wellm, hell, any Kick starter's we can fund to build a "peoples army" for these Sunni-revanchist assemblies with a "vaguely leftist hue"? Theyre talking about "direct democracy" in those fuckers! "Social justice"! . This is amaing information. Were gonna really kick the ass of those fucking Syrian communist fucks. Trotskyites ftw. *stares in to pond with Trotsky corpse floating just 'neath thee placid surface* Let me talk to him. Perchance
will this fuckup nato plans?
Russian pilot may have been killed by a literal Grey Wolf member, i.e. a Turkish fascist.
http://new.spectator.co.uk/2002/09/nothing-to-lose-but-their-chains-2/
A war against Iraq might destabilise the Middle East, says David Pryce-Jones, but that is precisely what the region needs
HenryKrinkle posted:http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-3bac-Grey-Wolves-Fascist-Killed-Russian-Pilot#.Vmh9UMqdXBIRussian pilot may have been killed by a literal Grey Wolf member, i.e. a Turkish fascist.
From Nov. 27th:
According to the Turkish sources, the convoys with "humanitarian aid" to Syria are addressed directly to the Turkmen batallions fighting SAA. Munitions and military hardware inisde the boxes. An unknown number of convoys reached the rebel's positions during the last weeks.
The Turkish government has never announced it was providing any kind of humanitarian support to Syria before a convoy was destroyed by the Russian aviation and Syrian artillery on Wednesday.
Is that a grey wolf i see 
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35048404
Crow posted:HenryKrinkle posted:http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-3bac-Grey-Wolves-Fascist-Killed-Russian-Pilot#.Vmh9UMqdXBIRussian pilot may have been killed by a literal Grey Wolf member, i.e. a Turkish fascist.
From Nov. 27th:
According to the Turkish sources, the convoys with "humanitarian aid" to Syria are addressed directly to the Turkmen batallions fighting SAA. Munitions and military hardware inisde the boxes. An unknown number of convoys reached the rebel's positions during the last weeks.
The Turkish government has never announced it was providing any kind of humanitarian support to Syria before a convoy was destroyed by the Russian aviation and Syrian artillery on Wednesday.
Is that a grey wolf i see
Elliot Higgins posted:- the box appears to be an ISO43600 60 litre Grade 7 Cardboard type. The Wikipedia article on "boxes used by the Turkish military" does not contain any reference to this model of cardboard box, or exist
- green plants are visible in the foreground, which is dubious considering the 1968 documentary "Laurence of Arabia"
- no stars visible in the sky plus unnaturally close horizon indicates this was filmed on a sound stage
“There is no way we can withdraw our soldiers from northern Iraq now,” Erdogan told a news conference. “There was a deployment, not for combat, but to protect soldiers providing training there.”
“We will continue the training process decisively,”
The training will proceed at all costs, brothers. *throws self on ISIS grenade to protect boxes of Soldiering 4 Dummies books*
US is accusing Assad's government of being primary recipient of ISIS oil because of course they are.