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Afghanistan has almost always been a handful for everyone who's tried(the border region with Pakistan is essentially a barely-enforceable claim on both sides); the Taliban are still an active force, but since nobody's propping them up, they're nowhere near the trouble they were.
Syria, on the other hand, is just a clusterfuck of a civil war. The biggest opposition force is ISIS, which has proven a willingness to establish and honor lengthy ceasefires with the Assad regime. The US is arming rebels as well, but they have by and large either joined or associated with ISIS; the latest batch that are being prepared as specifically anti-ISIS are having trouble getting a foothold. Meanwhile, the Assad regime has managed to hold elections even when the fighting's closed in on the capital.
[–]ShinyVoater0 points
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The Tunisian one was almost certainly organic, but there's some wiggle room for most of the rest of the Arab Spring events, given the precedent of the Color Revolutions(that the rest all backfired is also highly suggestive). Assad definitely pulled the trigger the way Gaddafi did, with the crucial difference of Russia realizing what was going on the second time and putting a stop to NATO's plans to fell the regime.
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[–] ShinyVoater ago
Afghanistan has almost always been a handful for everyone who's tried(the border region with Pakistan is essentially a barely-enforceable claim on both sides); the Taliban are still an active force, but since nobody's propping them up, they're nowhere near the trouble they were.
Syria, on the other hand, is just a clusterfuck of a civil war. The biggest opposition force is ISIS, which has proven a willingness to establish and honor lengthy ceasefires with the Assad regime. The US is arming rebels as well, but they have by and large either joined or associated with ISIS; the latest batch that are being prepared as specifically anti-ISIS are having trouble getting a foothold. Meanwhile, the Assad regime has managed to hold elections even when the fighting's closed in on the capital.
[–] Maxcactus ago
Someone on another Voat post insisted that the Syrian war is aUS creation as were the rest of the Arab Spring revolts. I don't think so.
[–] ShinyVoater ago (edited ago)
The Tunisian one was almost certainly organic, but there's some wiggle room for most of the rest of the Arab Spring events, given the precedent of the Color Revolutions(that the rest all backfired is also highly suggestive). Assad definitely pulled the trigger the way Gaddafi did, with the crucial difference of Russia realizing what was going on the second time and putting a stop to NATO's plans to fell the regime.