The Free Syrian Army Doesn’t Exist

[Crux]

"Is the FSA losing influence in Syria? How many people are in the FSA? Is the FSA receiving enough guns from the West, or too many? Will the FSA participate in elections after the fall of Bahar el-Assad? What is the ideology of the FSA? What’s the FSA’s view of Israel? Is Jabhat el-Nosra now bigger than the FSA? What does the FSA think about the Kurds? Who is the leader of the FSA? How much control does the central command of the FSA really have over their fighters? (http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=18104)All these and similar questions keep popping up in news articles and op-ed chinstrokers in the Western media, and in much of the Arabic media too. (http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=18104)
(http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=18104)They all deal with important issues, but they disregard an important fact: the FSA doesn’t really exist." (http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=18104)

[Hexen]

Although I do notice that antisemitism is rampant in the comments below of the article though and it's disturbing in the way as in they're barking up the wrong tree.

[Paul Pott]

Anti-semitism is logically what you get when people who are confronted with a savagery like zionism, which claims to represent the interests of all Jews, lack class consciousness.

[Sasha]

savagery? :rolleyes:

[Paul Pott]

What term do you prefer? Barbarism, travesty, crime? What do you think that lebensraum colony is to the Arab people?

[Sasha]

wow, apparently even people "with class-consciousness" have some pretty obvious antisemitism.

yes, the occupation is a crime, yes current zionism is deeply ingrained with racism but barbarism, savagery and lebensraum??? dont embarrass us like that, you are helping no one.

[Ravachol]

What term do you prefer? Barbarism, travesty, crime? What do you think that lebensraum colony is to the Arab people?

Civilization. A quick peek at its historical record goes a long way there.

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

wow, apparently even people "with class-consciousness" have some pretty obvious antisemitism.

yes, the occupation is a crime, yes current zionism is deeply ingrained with racism but barbarism, savagery and lebensraum??? dont embarrass us like that, you are helping no one.

"judeo-communist conspiracy" Ha, I knew it! :laugh:

[goalkeeper]

Anti-semitism is logically what you get when people who are confronted with a savagery like zionism, which claims to represent the interests of all Jews, lack class consciousness.

Islamaphobia is logically what you get when people who are confronted with a savagery like Islamist suicide bombings, which claims to represent the interests of all Muslims, lack class consciousness.



Does this (outrageous) sentence work for you also?

[goalkeeper]

I just realised I'm in a thread on Syria, not the anti-semitism one. Weird, why the hell is this guy being an anti-semitic apologist in here?

[Crux]

Yes please, let's take the thread in this completely fruitful direction.

[Labor Aristocrat Killer]

Civilization.

"Israel Belongs to the White Man (http://electronicintifada.net/content/sudanese-face-expulsion-minister-declares-israel-belongs-white-man/11394)," eh?

jGJVX6jYjI0

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

"Israel Belongs to the White Man (http://electronicintifada.net/content/sudanese-face-expulsion-minister-declares-israel-belongs-white-man/11394)," eh?

jGJVX6jYjI0

Can we just go ahead and restrict you now before someone wastes a whole lot of their time being trolled by you?

[Crux]

Mhm, yeah I am pretty sure you're misreading Ravachol there. He wasn't using "civilization" in a positive sense, quite the opposite.
Aanyway...this thread is going down an Off Topic hole here. If no one is actually interested in discussing Syria I might as well trash the thread. Yeah, AntiNihilisT is wrong and out on some thin ice there. Noted. Done. Move on.

[Labor Aristocrat Killer]

Mhm, yeah I am pretty sure you're misreading Ravachol there. He wasn't using "civilization" in a positive sense, quite the opposite.

Maybe, but I still don't get why he would say Palestinians would see Israel as "civilization," as opposed to the barbaric Lebensraum it is. Is he saying Palestinians are politically primitivists or something?

[Sasha]

why don't we have a "smack face on keyboard in desperation" emoticon again?

[Paul Pott]

wow, apparently even people "with class-consciousness" have some pretty obvious antisemitism.

yes, the occupation is a crime, yes current zionism is deeply ingrained with racism but barbarism, savagery and lebensraum??? dont embarrass us like that, you are helping no one.

How is what I said antisemitic? How is criticizing zionism as a political ideology with a realized state bent on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine antisemitic? Why is pointing out that because of what the zionist state claims about itself, antisemitism is common, antisemitic? What makes you any different from right wing defenders of zionism?

[Ravachol]

Maybe, but I still don't get why he would say Palestinians would see Israel as "civilization," as opposed to the barbaric Lebensraum it is. Is he saying Palestinians are politically primitivists or something?

Yes, that is what im saying.

Also, I agree with Majakovskij. Perhaps a split of the thread?

[bcbm]

Maybe, but I still don't get why he would say Palestinians would see Israel as "civilization," as opposed to the barbaric Lebensraum it is. Is he saying Palestinians are politically primitivists or something?

i think he is making a point about the use of the word 'barbaric,' with its implications of barbarians brutally pillaging, when in fact this sort of behavior seems much more common within the 'civilized' world historically

[Sasha]

How is what I said antisemitic? How is criticizing zionism as a political ideology with a realized state bent on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine antisemitic? Why is pointing out that because of what the zionist state claims about itself, antisemitism is common, antisemitic? What makes you any different from right wing defenders of zionism?

Do I really have to explain what's problematic with the word lebensraum in combination with a bunch of words lifted basically from the eternal Jew? in this context?
No thanx.
Anyone remotely equalling the occupation of Palestine with the holocaust plays right in the hands of the "right-wing defenders of zionism", not me...

[hatzel]

Maaaaan Hexen inadvertently ruined this thread...what's that about Syria again?

[Murteza]

FSA is just a proxy pipe for EU and western imperialist with common goals, to destablish Syrian regime. nothing else

[hatzel]

FSA is just a proxy pipe for EU and western imperialist with common goals, to destablish Syrian regime. nothing else

...but doesn't this statement presuppose the existence of the FSA?

(Answer = yes)

[Brutus]

It is a Loose collection of fighters. It couldn't really be called an army.

[Crux]

...but doesn't this statement presuppose the existence of the FSA?

(Answer = yes)
Yeah, that would be the problem here both with those who would like to say "FSA is the popular resistance" and "FSA are just western backed puppets". If you read the OP you'll realize it's a bit more complex than that. The FSA brand seemed to have lost some support on the ground though, still to others it's just a generic term for the armed resistance to Assad.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

Ah, histrionic leftists who don't understand irony ... sigh :rolleyes:

So what's all this about the FSA "not really existing"? I want to talk about that.

[Paul Pott]

Do I really have to explain what's problematic with the word lebensraum in combination with a bunch of words lifted basically from the eternal Jew? in this context?
No thanx.

Yes you do, because I didn't say anything remotely resembling stuff from the eternal Jew, and calling zionism savage and an ideology of lebensraum isn't an attack on the Jews.


Anyone remotely equalling the occupation of Palestine with the holocaust plays right in the hands of the "right-wing defenders of zionism", not me...Only I didn't do that.

But I'm getting called antisemitic and compared to the nazis, no different than if I had gone on a conservative forum.

[slum]

FSA is just a proxy pipe for EU and western imperialist with common goals, to destablish Syrian regime. nothing else

This is also what I've heard, but it sounds like there needs to be more specific language when we talk about which groups in particular are receiving arms/training/intelligence/etc from western powers and/or their client states