Thread 13 Starmer - facts are for lefties

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5214955-thread-12-starmer-from-prescott-to-rayner-working-class-grit?page=40&reply=140341929

I am trying to keep up with the developments in Syria and am realising how little I know about it.

There’s a good explainer as far as it had got on one of the Rest Is Politics recent podcast episodes. I knew zero. At least know I know a tiny bit…
it’s all very odd and confusing.

Look to what happened in Iraq Libya even Afghanistan to see what will happen next.
The main rebel group, but not the only one, is pretty much Al Qaeda in all but name.
If i was a Syrian Christian or an Alawite, i think i'd be getting out whilst i could.

Maybe it wont happen as in other countries but the Taliban came in promising to be different from their last iteration....

I will have a look at the Rest id Politics, thanks.

BlueSky is very informative too

For now, people celebrating the end of a brutal dictator is good to see.

Yes it’s terrifying. Even Iran won’t want Syria run by Al Qaeda.

The world is more unstable now than I have ever known. The UK has some stark choices.

It's just very dangerous to assume the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Irans horse has bolted, they backed Assad.

More interestingly is what will happen to the the Russian bases on the Syrian coast.

Russia clearly did not have the means to defend Assad, so can they defend their bases? and what can Russia offer the "rebels"

Ukraine may prove v costly for Putin & nothing the UK/EU/USA can do, they lost all influence years ago.

Curfew in Damascus just announced.

Well the good news - for now - is that Russia has been publicly shown to be a busted flush and a very unreliable source of backing.

The ancient wisdom of not interrupting an enemy making mistakes still holds true.

However if Putin abandons his Syrian distractions, it may mean a tougher time for Ukraine.

The logical - if unChristian and unsympathetic - course of action is to stay well out of it. Any attempt to provide aid will let the new regime off the hook, so to speak, and allow them to replace Assads reign of terror with their own. (See: Afghanistan).

However I suspect we're going to see are renewed cycle of aid, oppression, refugees and all that entails. Which is all more grist to the mills of the right wing agitators in the allegedly civilised west.

Trump has just said he’s having nothing to do with it. A rare moment where I think a lot of the West will agree.

I can foresee a lot of pressure to send humanitarian aid though. Which will need to be protected ...

It's not a modern issue. As I said, providing aid - which really is the responsibility of the state - basically lets the indigenous government off the hook for that, and gives them the space to buy arms and start all sorts of mischief. Safe in the knowledge that someone else will feed their poor.

You could apply the same view to foodbanks in the UK.

Foodbanks are a disgrace.

I don’t think there will be much pressure to send aid to Syria because it is seen as a client state of Iran and Russia, and thus the “investment” of aid by others is a waste. I would be disappointed if Starmer decides to give it.

The Rest Is Politics are doing a live stream on Syria at 2pm.

Foodbanks are a disgrace.

Their very existence tells us that we - as a society - are allowing some to evade their obligations to society.

I don’t think there will be much pressure to send aid to Syria because it is seen as a client state of Iran and Russia, and thus the “investment” of aid by others is a waste. I would be disappointed if Starmer decides to give it.

In a country where the media is in hock to Russia, it would be trivial to provide a few heart-wrenching pictures and push a narrative that the UK government with Starmer at it's helm is willing to let babies die. Anything to undermine any hope we might have of stable government.

I imagine it could start with an influx of anguished posts on these very forums.

Babies have been dying in Syria since Assad decided he would murder his own people with Russian support. That does not mean the UK sends aid when it collapses. Tbh we should be thinking about our own defence from Russia who have shown in Syria and Ukraine what they will do

Well, let's see what happens.

It's nearly Christmas and fruitcakes are a welcome treat this time of year

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdd60r4dr5jo

Maybe she could start with digging a moat?

Might not seem so attractive when they need to pay for everything like their own police force, roads etc etc.

It'll never catch on.

Good job I'm not PM because I would be "Go ahead but it's an expensive visa to get into the UK and you are on your own with everything" and slap up border controls/charge a fortune to use UK airspace.

Or simply invade it and occupy it. Which is probably the most British English thing you could do.

Send all asylum seekers through their borders...

Assad has been granted asylum in Russia

That's not really a surprise given he was a Putin lapdog.

Braverman's husband has joined Reform, guess that makes her the moderate one in their household