What is going on in South Korea?
(Rest of the) World News
JazzG from what I've read, it's over a budget he sees as crippling to his administration and something like 20+ impeachment attempts led by the opposition that he claims is gumming up the works and holding the country hostage to a "legislative dictatorship". Accuses the opposition of being North Korea sympathizers and communists. Not sure how valid any of his claims are, and he's also massively unpopular.
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Sounds like the fall of Assad in Syria is imminent.
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Sigh. Sunni fundamentalist government incoming? It'd be a miracle if minority groups, who have been fighting this war as much as anyone, will get anything but more pain. Hope I'm wrong.
Unfortunately the trend of this period in time and maybe next decade a lot more instability and lots of geopolitical fall out ahead.
Coombs Yep be interesting to see what the "pro-democracy revolution" looks like this time. They've been pretty terrible everywhere else.
This all happened a lot quicker than anyone thought, when Aleppo fell recently some thought they’d put up a fight but with Russia + Iran not backing Assad all folded quickly.
Plenty of info out there about Jolani who leads the rebel group. It’s true there is plenty to celebrate about Assad being removed from power. But as highlighted in many other nations the transition from a dictator does not guarantee a better path forward for a country and its people.
Jolani is well known by western media and appears open to Western scrutiny. He and his rebels may be seen “favorably” as they’re Sunni. I’m curios to see how they pull favors from Turkey (in exchange for a return of Syrian refugees) and how they balance internal vs external (Palestine/Israel) interests.
The less local and international panic you have and the more Jolani seems like a responsible actor instead of a toxic jihadi extremist, the easier his job will become. Is it totally sincere? Surely not," he said.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/interview/abu-mohammad-al-jolani/
The speed of HTS taking Damascus has caught me way off guard, and reminded me I know bugger all about Syria. After the way Assad and the Syrian Army stood down the FSA and ISIS through to 2015/16, albeit with brutal Russian strikes in Aleppo, I'm surprised how quickly this has all happened.
I'm encouraged that Jolani has directed no damage to public institutions. It'd be a bloody shame if Syria got carved up. Back in 2015 or so I read Patrick Cockburn's book on the rise of ISIS and at the time, what was evident was that the "reconstruction" of Iraq and the civil war in Syria had led to a lot of very, very poor Sunni farmers. Keeping economic activity going is vital.
Speaking of which, I read yesterday that 85% of livestock in the Gaza strip is dead.
Coombs Michael Weiss is a massive arsehole so I'm not sure how that frame works for him
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JazzG I mean, al-Shar'a has already been up to purges and imprisonment of hundreds of people in his own groups. Doubt he'll have any qualms imprisoning children, especially if they are not religiously compatible. He's already said minorities will be fine...as long as they adjust their practices to align with his brand of Islam. I'm not sure there are any lesser evils, here.
Oh I don’t disagree with you, there is no ideal option here but I wont be mourning Assad’s collapse after what he’s done there.
Those prisons being emptied will have some nasty people but also good people who were imprisoned for political reasons.
Burnwinter — it wasn’t just HTS though. As they began to grow in stature a number of other groups committed to attacks and demonstration of power.
Kurdish groups and other Syrian rebels have been involved, and smaller local militias/groups.
Lots of players involved.
MistaT Yes, it's similar to during the civil war of 2011–2016 or so, when the "Free Syrian Army" had dozens of different groups and tendencies before IS appeared but we were initially told they were all democratic revolutionaries, at least until that became untenable.
Apparently al-Golani (or al-Sharaa now) is having to shut down other rebels as much as slam the door shut behind Assad.
Re-posting to a more appropriate thread:
Couldn't help but have an ironic chuckle that the accused guy's manifesto apparently rails against the evils of corporate America....yet he was seen just prior to the shooting at a Starbucks and then later arrested eating at McDonalds.
This one has definitely divided opinions on both sides of the political spectrum. Even people on the right while they don't condone the murder aren't exactly mourning his death either. A deeply flawed system in America that something like this would need to happen to bring it into the media spotlight.