What's your opinion on Syria? Go to war, or stay?
I really do not think we should get involved. Like you said, Syria hasn't done America any harm. It just seems like Syria couldn't care less about America if America would stop threatening it. If we do strike, then we would just be making an enemy we don't need and turning other countries against us as well, and everyone will just go crazy. We have our own problems we need to face in the U.S., but our government is too busy turning its head toward Syria to solve those problems. Personally, the whole debate on whether to attack strikes me as more political than compassionate, as I find it difficult to believe that the government would send missiles into a country out of the goodness of its heart. I'll also add--and this might sound cold--that I've seen footage taken of people dying from the sarin gas, and I STILL don't think we should go. In my opinion, it won't matter if the U.S. gets involved. The people still won't like us, and they will forget what we did and their children will grow up hating us, just like their parents do. I think it's awful what is happening in the country, but in terms of what is at stake, is it worth it to strike? I don't think so. I really don't see any good coming from going to war. I'm from America, by the way.
What are the strategic interests that Russia and Iran have for their proxy war with the US in Syria?
The other answers to this question are good. I would just add that our military over the years has been trained to a very high degree in dealing with the Middle East. It is hard to let that experience and knowledge go to waste. Yet to try to defend the Kurds and Sunni’s against the Russians, Iranians and Turks is going to be very expensive. Clearly, we don’t really need the oil that much. We pretty much have our own for the foreseeable future. It seems there are other far more important things to spend our money on.If the Saudi’s and its neighbors don’t cut a deal to support our presense in the Middle East, then it’s time to leave them on their own.Israel can pull up its population of 8.5 million and emigrate them back to Europe and the US. or cut deals with the Russians for protection.If we pull out, we will be doing ourselves a big favor.The end result is that Europe will become somewhat dependent on Russian controlled oil coming out of Russian and the Middle East. But, they would just as soon not use oil anyway. France is heavy into nuclear energy and not so dependent on oil. The US can also supply oil and natural gas to Europe.What is best for America is to let Russia, the Middle East and Europe work things out among themselves; perhaps with the caveat of keeping a core presence in the Middle East, if the Saudis pay for it.Not to be too pessimistic, US industry can help the Russian economy expand - and further cooperation would smooth things out all the more.The US needs to focus on improving things within its own borders.UPDATE 4/12/2018It now looks like the Trump is going to go all out to ensure Qatar gets its pipeline through Syria:The one thing we’ve all missed in Syrian conflictThe primary reason for this is to greatly reduce Russia’s leverage over Europe going into the future.UPDATE: 4/13/2018Well not so - looks like I was kind of right to begin with. Our involvement is going to be limited to taking modest action to inhibit the use of chemical weapons. Of course nothing is going to be done about all the canisters of chemical agents stored in dozens of locations around Syria. I doubt more will be done in Syria until the North Korean problem is taken care of. Our potential ROI on doing any thing in Syria is limited at best - at least until the region stabilizes.
Could the U.S. beat Iran in a war? Despite the size, terrain and capabilities of Iran, could the U.S. still defeat its military and install a new regime if it really wanted to?
Miltarily? Yes. But because of a number of reasons, it is unlikely the US will ever attempt this. As I will now explain.It's plainly obvious that the US, with 10 aircraft carriers, thousands of aircraft, a massive population and massive economy, not to mention about 7000 nuclear weapons, could eventually overwhelm Iran with shear force of numbers and technology.And make no mistake, Iran is fully aware of this.But, it will never happen. The simple reason is that the US would never “really want to” go to such lengths. The last time they did, it was Vietnam, and we all saw how that went.Thing is, Iran is like Vietnam 2.0. It has a determined population, difficult terrain and climate, and asymmetrical warfare tactics that slow down a hulking power like the US.The difference is, Iran is larger, more populous and richer than Vietnam in the 1960/70s. It also has an indigenous military industrial complex and a large ballistic missile force that can evade most missiles in the US inventory, and once launched, is untouchable to the US's greatest strength, it's air force. Furthermore, Iran is one of the only 2 countries in the world (the other being China), fielding anti-ship ballistic missiles, which, combined with Iran's other assets, make it possible for Iran to take out a US aircraft carrier.What would happen, as in Vietnam, would be that the US would incur unacceptable casualties before it could complete the task, so much so that public pressure would demand a halt to the war. Iran, being the country under attack, would have a much higher tolerance.Let me put this into perspective. In the 1980–88 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq (in which Saddam used chemical weapons liberally), Iran suffered more casualties than America did in both World Wars put together.Look at this soldier. He is prepared to fight when Saddam's forces are using chemical weapons in something as common as artillery. Now multiply him by several million. That is how far Iran is willing to go to defend itself.
Israeli Vs Iran War?
Israel would take the initiative, and deal crippling blows to the Iranians. However, it would seal it's fate. Israel is surrounded by "less than freindly" neighbors. You cannot just look at technology or numbers when deciding ability in war. You must look at the political situation. If Israel launched even one nuclear weapon, it would spell it's destruction as all the Middle Eastern States would declare war. Israel won the Six Day War, due mostly to poor coordination and poor military intelligence on the part of it's enemies. That, however, is not to say that their leaders had no skill, but logisticaly, it was a nightmare for their opponents. "When dangerous, appear complacent" Sun Tzu Israel will try to draw the David and Goliath reference in a war with, well, all it's neighbors. But David won through strategy, not simply becasue he was an underdog. The "righteous" do not always win, the "evil" do not always lose. Don't believe me? Take a look at the wars in Africa. "A much smaller army that persists in fighting larger enemies will be destroyed." Sun Tzu The truth is, an attack by Isreal will likely be condemed by the international community, even against Iran. This is because the international community sees the United States army struggling against not an army, but a group of insurgents in Iraq-a much smaller country than Iran. Israel will be destroyed in such a case, as no nation will come to it's aid. With the nuclear age up and running, no sensable nation wants another World War. Iran, if they want nuclear weapons, wants them for the deterrent principal, not for vaporizing Israel-which would spell their destrution as well, as Western nations will feel obligated to counter attack with their own arsenal. I have read many people supporting, even applauding Nuclear War on this site. They do not understand the Ramifications of such an act.
What is syrian civil war all about?
Syria is a country which has a major population of Sunni Muslims, whereas the Assad government is a Shitte Muslims. Assad's party therefore favors the Shitte more than the Sunnis and thus leading to abuse of Sunnis. Also Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE which are uled by Sunni leaders but have huge majority of population as Shittes but are afraid of Shittes rulers such as Iran and Syria, so they tend to do everything possible to have to, for staying the dominant force such as trying to increase the population of their Sunnis by either making it easier for Bangladeshi people to get job visas or support revolution in other countries. Also the USA and Israel believe that the departure of Assad regime will guarantee Israel much more safety. But like many more countries where democracy doesn't exist, Syrian people are also oppressed and there is a lack of freedom for people as those countries don't have fancy equipment such as Western governments to monitor people's movements. The Syrian rebels consists of a small amount of government defector, young people, local militia, vast amount foreign fighters and Al-Qaeda linked militias. Therefore the suicide bombing and car explosions have increased in Syria. The departure of Assad regime will bring more freedom to people but it will also lead the country to the state Iraq is as of now. People will loose security and death tolls from car explosions will rise as Al-Qaeda linked militias are generally terrorists and try to force a blatant cause. So, Syrian people will either have to be in the rule of a dictator or that of terrorism.
Is Saudi Arabia going to declare war on Iran/ Have a proxy war in Lebanon?
Highly likely. The US, Saudis and Israel look like they’re preparing for a joint war with Iran. Each of the governments of these countries stand to benefit from such a war. Trump, to try and avoid impeachment. Crown Prince MBS (Mohammed bin Salman) will obtain the legitimacy he needs to implement his plans to reform Saudi Arabia and Islam itself. Israel, which in return for joining the war (without it Saudi Arabia could never hope to defeat Iran) will get Saudi and Sunni backing for a very favorable peace treaty that will leave the Palestinians with two choices, remain under Israeli rule without political rights, or leave.This will be a war that was right, despite being fought for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes history works that way,