Syria | Assad flees to Moscow as rebels capture Damascus

Ducado said:
It's a massive victory for the Turks they will have a vassal state right in the heart of the Middle East it's been speculated that this outcome was engineered by them the weakening of Iran and Russian they aim to be the dominant power in the Middle East (which of course historically they always were, and we can't forget Qatar in all of this

It's a nightmare for israel to have a powerful country right on the border, the Iranians have been seen as a paper tiger (I expect the blowback from this to eventually reach Iran) I believe we are witnessing the partial reformation of the ottoman empire in all but name (and if you can get shares in Turkish Construction Companies because they will be doing all the reconstruction work in Syria and beyond)
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I’m unclear why a relatively secular, western-looking, more dominant Turkey that is part of NATO - in conjunction with a weakened Iran, is a bad thing for Israel.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
I’m unclear why a relatively secular, western-looking, more dominant Turkey that is part of NATO - in conjunction with a weakened Iran, is a bad thing for Israel.
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Turkey has become slightly less secular since the election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about ten years ago, but is still secular compared to most states in the region. But will that change if Erdogan remains in power?
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
I’m unclear why a relatively secular, western-looking, more dominant Turkey that is part of NATO - in conjunction with a weakened Iran, is a bad thing for Israel.
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Huge win for Israel. Cuts down the Iranian footprint and with it the supply of weaponry to hamas. I lose track of which islamist nutters are friends with which other islamist nutters tbh.
 
East Level 2 said:
Turkey has become slightly less secular since the election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about ten years ago, but is still secular compared to most states in the region. But will that change if Erdogan remains in power?
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He's not exactly popular, I don't think he can go much further to the religious side and retain much support in the big Cities.
 
East Level 2 said:
Turkey has become slightly less secular since the election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about ten years ago, but is still secular compared to most states in the region. But will that change if Erdogan remains in power?
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Yes, Erdogan is no angel, but I’ve never got a sense he (or Turkey more widely) is philosophically opposed to the existence of Israel (happy yo be corrected if I’m wrong).

I know Turkish-Israeli relations have worsened since October 7th but I don’t see that schism as permanent or irreparable. I think Isreal would certainly welcome a more dominant Turkey if it meant Iran’s influence waning. I think most of the middle east would.
 
Ducado said:
It's a massive victory for the Turks they will have a vassal state right in the heart of the Middle East it's been speculated that this outcome was engineered by them the weakening of Iran and Russian they aim to be the dominant power in the Middle East (which of course historically they always were, and we can't forget Qatar in all of this

It's a nightmare for israel to have a powerful country right on the border, the Iranians have been seen as a paper tiger (I expect the blowback from this to eventually reach Iran) I believe we are witnessing the partial reformation of the ottoman empire in all but name (and if you can get shares in Turkish Construction Companies because they will be doing all the reconstruction work in Syria and beyond)
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Not sure why it would be more of a nightmare for Israel to have a Turkish proxy on its border than an Iranian one. Unless Erdogan wants to do a Putin and rebuild the Ottoman empire to its maximum extent which would include Israel, the North African coast, Iraq, Greece and several other countries there should actually be a huge opportunity for Israel to improve relations on its northern border. Unfortunately with its current leadership that’s unlikely to happen but Netanyahu won’t be there forever.
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
Yes, Erdogan is no angel, but I’ve never got a sense he (or Turkey more widely) is philosophically opposed to the existence of Israel (happy yo be corrected if I’m wrong).

I know Turkish-Israeli relations have worsened since October 7th but I don’t see that schism as permanent or irreparable. I think Isreal would certainly welcome a more dominant Turkey if it meant Iran’s influence waning. I think most of the middle east would.
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Until recently Turkey and Israel had very good relations with plenty of trade and tourism links. Erdogan’s move to Turkey becoming less secular together with Netanyahu’s belligerence have caused relations to deteriorate but historically it was always quite a strong alliance to counter the fact that most countries in the area are Arab and traditionally have not been particularly friendly with either Turkey or Israel. Pre-1979 Iran was also an ally of Israel so things can certainly change for the worse.
 
Kippax Street 1880 said:
He's not exactly popular, I don't think he can go much further to the religious side and retain much support in the big Cities.
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Agree, Turkey is a high functioning economy for the region and has a strong tourist industry and links to europe. Lots of money and influence in politics to keep them somewhere reasonably moderate. If hardliners took over it would be a disaster for the country.

Other middle eastern countries are an economic disaster to start with so it makes no odds who is in power from that perspective.
 
Ducado said:
You don't believe that do you? The massive influence in the Middle East is Turkey it's long been suspected that they have been puling the strings, Syria is an important country for them historically and strategically they have just effectively extended their border right up to Israel
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No. No, I don’t believe it for a minute! :-)
 
Gareth Barry Conlon said:
Agree, Turkey is a high functioning economy for the region and has a strong tourist industry and links to europe. Lots of money and influence in politics to keep them somewhere reasonably moderate. If hardliners took over it would be a disaster for the country.

Other middle eastern countries are an economic disaster to start with so it makes no odds who is in power from that perspective.
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I’ve dealt with loads of Turks over the years and they are (almost exclusively) great to do business with. They are good at listening to and following advice. Prompt payers too. Love working with them.

They are far more western looking than most Kurds and Lebanese I’ve dealt with. tbf, most of the Iranians I’ve dealt with are more western looking than either of those folk!

And they are in NATO. Not perfect, sure, but a damn sight better than Iran.

So I’m genuinely struggling to see how Turkey gaining more influence in the Middle East is a bad thing. Might bring some much needed stability and relative moderation.

And most likely enables us to keep out of it.
 
Ducado said:
It's a massive victory for the Turks they will have a vassal state right in the heart of the Middle East it's been speculated that this outcome was engineered by them the weakening of Iran and Russian they aim to be the dominant power in the Middle East (which of course historically they always were, and we can't forget Qatar in all of this

It's a nightmare for israel to have a powerful country right on the border, the Iranians have been seen as a paper tiger (I expect the blowback from this to eventually reach Iran) I believe we are witnessing the partial reformation of the ottoman empire in all but name (and if you can get shares in Turkish Construction Companies because they will be doing all the reconstruction work in Syria and beyond)
Click to expand...
If anything Syria will go one of two ways, it'll become Taliban-esque militaristic Islamic led as per Afghanistan or it'll indeed become a more moderate Islamic country. Both would be preferable for Israel compared to before.

We'll probably now see either Syria get carved up or there will be continued war with the western backed Kurdish forces in the east... Where there are also many oil fields.
 
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TinFoilHat said:
Syria = Jihadists good

Afghanistan = Jihadists bad

I'm confused????

Assad was a ****. Is he being replaced by bigger cunts that are going to destabilise the country like Iraq whilst the yanks 'protect' the oil.

Meanwhile the Israeli fascist has taken over Syrian land protected by the UN and that's not a story.

This world is fucked up.

What's right or wrong anymore?

No wonder people go mad trying to comprehend everything that's going on the world.
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The Middle East will never be peaceful as you’ve got religious nut jobs and politically motivated nut jobs all fighting amongst each other. Like you said, one **** is being replaced by even bigger cunts.
 
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