Quote (Skinned @ 20 Jul 2017 02:55)
Letting them in was the only moral thing to do. Germany was already responsible for one Holocaust, if they failed to prevent another one....they wouldn't deserve to exist.
And they did something similar with the refugees from the Balkans....they came for awhile, until the genocidal causes of the war were arrested, and then they went home. The only difference is that the genocidal cause of the war remains so it might be a little harder to convince them to go back this time around.
But the people from the Balkans were a little...lighter complected than Syrians, so there was a lot less fuss about it....the sky didn't fall then...but circumstances are different, as the causes are still there and there are many more Arabs than people from the Balkans.
It is amazing considering Saddam Hussein didn't destroy his own cities or use chemical weapons on Iraqi children, like Assad. He used them on the Kurds though, and he was executed by Iraq for much less than Assad has done.
For real though, Saddam was a fucking saint compared to Assad.
How can you say this and support Assad again? Just cognitive dissonance?
wow. pretty much every single thing you said in the post is wrong.
Quote (Santara @ 20 Jul 2017 03:34)
The size of the Turkish army isn't relevant. Their ability, or lack thereof, to project that power isn't substantial, and several European NATO members have superior militaries. Turkey has the power to close down the Bosporus, but in the grand scheme of things, the ability to restrict the world's access to the Black Sea is trivial. The Russian navy based there isn't a true blue water navy in the first place, so the USN wouldn't have much difficulty in keeping them in check even without the threat of closing the strait.
On the other hand, creating a genuine ally in the Muslim world should be a matter of strategic importance to the west, as Kurds generally do not adhere to the doctrine of Istihsan and thus are not susceptible to the issuance of fatwas by irrational zealots. On the other hand, Turkey is rapidly falling into a militant religious state, as evidenced by the power grabbing by Erdogan.
I agree that the kurds would probably be our best allies in the middle east. but I also agree with goomshill that the geostrategic importance of turkey still outweighs those considerations. but if the NATO doesnt find a way to reign in erdogan and his transformation of turkey into an islamo-fascist dictatorship, turkey might very well become a net liability that isnt worth the effort anymore.
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