Streetwise Professor

February 13, 2012

You Make the Call

Filed under: Military,Politics,Russia — The Professor @ 10:18 pm

Russian FM Sergei Lavrov claims there is “no proof” Assad is using artillery against opposition forces in Syria.

The US State Department posts satellite images of Syrian artillery “deployed in support of security operations.”

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27 Comments »

  1. Well we saw no such proof in Libya. Anyway, the proof is in the shelling.

    Comment by So? — February 13, 2012 @ 10:29 pm

  2. http://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/syria-russia-it-all-looks-different-from-out-there/

    Looks depressing if true.

    Comment by LL — February 14, 2012 @ 5:41 am

  3. There are no American tanks in Baghdad! No Americans!
    Unfortunately the poor Syrians, their society shattered by 50 years of Baathist divide an rule, will no see troops of any kind to save them and those that wish to believe the lies of each side will do so.

    Comment by sotos — February 14, 2012 @ 10:54 am

  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR6ADqzodLk

    Professor, don’t miss this when English transcript becomes available. A run-in between Putin and Krugman on economic issues must be nothing but pure fun.

    Comment by LL — February 14, 2012 @ 12:33 pm

  5. The Baath party rule is preferable to the alternatives. Just like the Shuravi were better for the Afghans than the clusterfuck that followed.

    Comment by So? — February 14, 2012 @ 7:15 pm

  6. Not really So?, they were mass murderers on an industrial scale.

    Comment by Andrew — February 15, 2012 @ 12:20 am

  7. “The Baath party rule is preferable to the alternatives.”

    Reminds me of the “good” old DDR. When people were dissatisfied with their Communist rulers, the conclusion of the powers that be was always the same…the people need to be changed…or “the fascists” will take over. So, everything is going well under the Assad dictatorship, except people being ready to risk their lives on and on again when demonstrating their discontent against the ruling clique. And therefore…the people need to be changed and this means LITERALLY.

    Comment by Dixi — February 15, 2012 @ 2:24 am

  8. Their choice is not between the Baath Party and liberal democracy. It’s between the Baath party and Koran thumping tyranny. I suppose as long as they don’t learn how to fly jet airplanes, the latter is preferable to some well wishers.

    Comment by So? — February 15, 2012 @ 5:40 am

  9. I suppose as long as they don’t learn how to fly jet airplanes, the latter is preferable to some well wishers. -My be Putin and his KGB-gang can fix the flight school ? A KGB- souverin – democratic -Islamic flight school ?

    http://www.opendemocracy.net/freeform-tags/ramzan-kadyrov

    Formal hostilities may have ceased in Chechnya, but civilians continue to be abducted, tortured and murdered by the authorities in the region. Igor Kalyapin, head of the Committee Against Torture, talks to Svetlana Reiter about the remarkable and dangerous work being done to seek justice for the victims.

    Comment by Anders — February 15, 2012 @ 5:53 am

  10. As with Assad, a dictator like Kadyrov is far preferable to Islamist crazies and/or warlords, which are the only entities capable of replacing both.

    Comment by Sublime Oblivion — February 15, 2012 @ 10:38 pm

  11. As with Assad, a dictator like Kadyrov is far preferable to Islamist crazies and/or warlords, which are the only entities capable of replacing both.

    This from somebody who complains about western “chauvanism” towards other peoples?!!

    Comment by Tim Newman — February 15, 2012 @ 11:29 pm

  12. There is no relation. My views are complex but internally consistent.

    The essence of Western chauvinism is its deep conviction that that it and only it knows what is best for other peoples with radically different social structures and cultural traditions.

    It takes many forms – neoconservatism, liberal interventionism, Marxist internationalism – but the guiding principles are identical.

    The most common form of Western chauvinism today is the armed propagation of “liberal democracy” by its chief proponents, namely the US, the UK, and France. Of course, not only is this usually a cover for fulfilling geopolitical objectives and establishing neocolonial exploitation with the aid of comprador elites (this process is called Western imperialism) – and hence profoundly cynical and hypocritical – but it is also frequently unsuccessful.

    That is because, contrary to Western universalist pretensions, many societies have no particular wish to be swallowed up by the Western Borg. This is a hard truth, and one that Westerners find very difficult to accept, because it is a dagger pointed at what they are brainwashed into believing from birth, a dagger that threatens to strike at the very heart of their own self-imagined identity.

    I do not condone interference in Syria’s internal affairs on EITHER side.

    That is not equivalent to loving Assad and his methods, or recognizing that Syrians, Egyptians, and Libyans – apart from a very thin liberal crust – reject Western universalism in favor of blood, clan and God.

    Comment by Sublime Oblivion — February 16, 2012 @ 12:54 am

  13. Russia is per se a colonial power, albeit a rottening one.

    Comment by TM — February 16, 2012 @ 2:03 am

  14. That is not equivalent to loving Assad and his methods, or recognizing that Syrians, Egyptians, and Libyans – apart from a very thin liberal crust – reject Western universalism in favor of blood, clan and God.

    Funny how they are all demanding the right to free and fair elections.

    Your description does however describe Russians to a T

    Though the Russians prefer to spill blood of those they conquer.

    Comment by Andrew — February 16, 2012 @ 2:57 am

  15. In other news, Paul Volcker opposes liquidity:

    http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Volcker_Rule_Essay_2-13-12.pdf

    “There should not, however, be a presumption that evermore market liquidity brings a public benefit. At some point, great liquidity, or the perception of it, may itself encourage more speculative trading…conservative institutional investors are tempted to turn over positions much more rapidly, at the expense of careful analysis of basic values….A consensus may be developing that beyond some point, little or no public benefit may be evident.”

    RTWT, it’s breathtaking. Is there a Nobel prize for achieving the highest logical fallacy to words ratio in a single page? Because he’s a shoo-in…

    Comment by Green as Grass — February 16, 2012 @ 9:21 am

  16. Why are so many Russian kids killing themselves?

    http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120216/171351844.html

    Comment by La Russophobe — February 16, 2012 @ 2:44 pm

  17. @Green. I know. There’s also the Occupy SEC comment, which is worse primarily because it’s a lot longer. I hope to get to that over the weekend, given the fawning coverage it has received, from Felix Salmon notably.

    Apparently Volcker is Goldilocks (despite having no hair) and wants just the right amount of liquidity, and knows that his meat cleaver rule is totally guaranteed to guarantee that we will produce that just right amount.

    The ProfessorComment by The Professor — February 16, 2012 @ 8:36 pm

  18. @S/O. “Complex but internally consistent”? Sounds like a wine review.

    The ProfessorComment by The Professor — February 16, 2012 @ 8:38 pm

  19. That is not equivalent to loving Assad and his methods, or recognizing that Syrians, Egyptians, and Libyans – apart from a very thin liberal crust – reject Western universalism in favor of blood, clan and God.

    And the black man is a primitive who, provided he is given adequate food and shelter, has little interest in external affairs and is better off in an environment where white men act on their behalf.

    Comment by Tim Newman — February 16, 2012 @ 11:29 pm

  20. “Their choice is not between the Baath Party and liberal democracy. It’s between the Baath party and Koran thumping tyranny. ”

    Uhm, let’s see if I substitute “Baath Party” for “Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED” and
    “Koran thumping tyranny” for “fascism” what do I get?

    Ach ja: “Their choice is not between the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED and liberal democracy. It’s between the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED and fascism.”

    Thanks for helping to make my point ever so clearer.

    Comment by Dixi — February 17, 2012 @ 1:44 pm

  21. Thank you Sublim Berkley boy . “Koran thumping tyranny” for “fascism” what do I get?

    Palestinian cartoonist Sabaaneh shows graphically how Russia and China are providing the life blood to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad as he continues a brutal crackdown on his own people.

    https://www.nytsyn.com/cartoons/cartoons/696538.html

    “Koran thumping tyranny” for “fascism” what do I get?

    The Kadyrov System

    The mix of Russian constitution, despotism, and sharia makes it virtually impossible to understand the rules of the game in Chechnya.

    http://www.tol.org/client/article/22814-the-kadyrov-system.html

    Comment by Anders — February 17, 2012 @ 2:40 pm

  22. Arrest of Vladimir Putin

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PfdIfrRFeM

    The arrest of Vladimir Putin reporting from the courtroom Russia Moscow “putin arrested” putin arrested “putin in jail”

    Comment by Anders — February 17, 2012 @ 3:04 pm

  23. Why do so many people on this blog have a chronic inability to distinguish between “So?” and “Sublime Oblivion”?

    Our views are fairly divergent.

    Comment by Sublime Oblivion — February 17, 2012 @ 6:53 pm

  24. The Russian and Chinese genocide supporters in Syria are afraid of the democratic plague .

    http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/18/195343.html

    Strong and universal condemnation of Russia’s and China’s cynical role in preserving the dictatorial regime of Assad should be followed by a global boycott of goods from Russia and China until they join in the efforts to change the genocidal regime in Syria.

    And on Friday, government forces were reported to have renewed their rocket and artillery attacks on Homs, killing 56 people

    Comment by Anders — February 18, 2012 @ 9:05 am

  25. How does it feel like to be in bed with Al Qaeda, Anders and Andy?

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9090324/Syrias-crisis-is-leading-us-to-unlikely-bedfellows.html

    Comment by Sublime Oblivion — February 18, 2012 @ 5:25 pm

  26. How does it feel for the Putin-mafia and the Pravda ,Russia Today propaganda apparatus making al-Qaeda and Hizb ut-Tahrir to enemies ?
    How can the Putin mafia support new terrorist in the west ?

    Russia and Islam are not Separate: Why Russia backs Al-Qaeda

    http://web.archive.org/web/20080627004546/http:/cicentre.com/articles/kpk_russia_islam.html

    Comment by Anders — February 19, 2012 @ 12:35 am

  27. LOL, Sublime retardation, is that the best you can do?

    Comment by Andrew — February 19, 2012 @ 12:55 pm

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