Via Paul Mutter, here’s a must-watch BBC interview with the Syrian Support Group‘s lobbyist Brian Sayers. Stephen Sackur pulls no punches as he asks Sayer about the credibility of both the SSG and the overall Syrian opposition.
As Paul writes, “don’t you wish american journos were this pit bullish?” One of the main takeaways: the SSG has yet to send a single dollar to Syria because of “logistics” but is very clear that it is soliciting tax-deductible, charitable dollars in the US to buy weapons. Sackur points out that SSG protestations of “strict controls” on distribution are nonsense and those weapons will end up on the front lines in the hands of “commited jihadis”.
…know exactly what they’re in for. Most people I know don’t like him; which I completely don’t get. The guy just keeps drilling until there’s pay dirt, so-to-speak.
Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them,and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows,or with both~FDouglas
Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them,and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows,or with both~FDouglas
My reaction in a word. Thanks for what you’re doing with this group. It’s important to tell the whole story.
This poor flack had no idea what he was in for and he probably lacks any understanding of the beat down that he took.
What bothers me about this situation is that so many take as a given the fact that NATO is doing this at all. It is simply outrageous and a stain on the reputation of everyone in a position of power. Smug complicity is unacceptable.
The Money Party RSS
…was correct. This focus on whether donated American funds get shipped over there is entirely irrelevant given the billions flowing out of the pockets of the countries on Syria’s margins and the Gulf. Spending any time at all on this is like looking for one’s keys where the light is good, rather than where they were dropped – about the only thing that might be useful is reflecting on what the consequences are of ceding the field entirely to Arab “philanthropy” (I guarantee they don’t get wrapped around the shaft about lethal vs. non-lethal aid).
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
eom.
…unduly in foreign affairs. That’s how the neo-cons got where they ended up. Their initial focus on morality led them down some roads that, well, there ended up being a whole hell of a lot of dead people at the end of them. “The wisdom to know the difference” can be particularly hard to come by when one is fired up with moral certainty.
That said, moral structures can be really useful as means of tying together and binding reasonably like collections of nations and peoples (i.e., some aspects of “customary practice” in international law), where it breaks down is when there isn’t much unity across the nations and there is a significant discontinuity and flux. Unfortunately, I think we’re smack dab in the middle of one of those periods.
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs