The Syria Analysis Thread

10 posts

Angocachi
It's an example of a country that was snatched from the red camp and incorporated into the blue. You're agreeing with me.

As if an Arab country with Islamic law can't succeed?

"DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is expected to emerge as the sixth richest economy of the world in terms of per capita GDP by 2050, surpassing Canada, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, a Citibank forecast has said.
According to the report, the oil-rich kingdom will be the Middle East's richest economy in terms of GDP per capita by 2050, with Saudis earning USD 98,311 per annum on average by 2050."
-The Economic Times
Nationalization of natural resources, a guarantee of free commerce and private property ownership, abolition of usury and speculation, state subsidies to the poor, orphaned,widowed, elderly, and students are all points of Sharia drawn from the Quran and Hadith. An Islamic state could succeed. It's secularist regimes that have failed in the Muslim world.
Once the Sunni Mashriq is sentried by Islamist militias and administered by Islamic courts, they can work toward toppling Jordan. Next stop, deposing Saud. An Islamic Arab Union, given the high support for such an Islamic state and pan-Arabism among locals, it is a given once these juntas and monarchs are out. Muslims have spent most of their history with Islamic law, this post-colonial misotheism is washing away now that the masses know how to riot and run insurgencies.
Angocachi
Of course they won't make a deal with the regime. I'm saying they'll make a deal with whoever's representing the Shia Syrians if the Assad regime falls.

He needs a secular regime because Islamic law precludes the state from acting as a proxy. The US would have immediate problems with the implementation of Islamic economics, for example, in such a country as Egypt. Islamic law would also obligate whatever state is fully administered by it to wage Jihad on behalf of their fellow Muslims, which would spell war with Israel, the US, and whoever else is currently killing or occupying Muslim populations.
He certainly does need a secular regime, or he would not be hesitant about backing the FSA until it can prove it's not Islamist or tied in with Islamists.

The US was behind the anti-Ikhwani coup in Egypt against Morsi. The US wants all colors of Islamism out.
SweetLeftFoot

Leaving aside your ridiculously ignorant example in Timor, no, I haven't seen an Arab country with Islamic law (sans oil) succeed.

Dubai went bankrupt two years ago.
Angocachi
You're suggesting East Timor wasn't placed in the sphere of Western approved governments and kept out of the camp of nations represented by Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, etc?

A country's success is dismissed because it profited from its natural resources?
Many countries have oil but fail. Some don't even tap it. That these Arab Gulf states had the capacity to stand to build on their resources, as any country that succeeds does... is testament to the validity of their societies.

I'm not fan of the UAE, it's hardly Islamic... but;

Dubai is the 27th richest city in the world. Abu Dhabi is the richest city in the world. The UAE's GDP per capita is among the highest in the world.
"The emirate was bailed out by Abu Dhabi, an oil-rich fellow-member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the UAE’s central bank.
Dubai has come a long way since then. The IMF estimates that GDP was up by 4.1% in the first half of 2012 compared with the same period of 2011. Trade, transport and tourism are buoyant. Imports of food and vehicles rose by 20% in the first half of 2012; in the year to August the number of passengers at Dubai International Airport was up by nearly 14%; and occupancy rates of Dubai’s hotels reach 80%, among the world’s highest. The property market is showing signs of renewed exuberance. In September Emaar put a 63-storey tower with 542 flats on the market and sold them all on the first day.
But Dubai is more than a story of skyscrapers built on sand with borrowed cash. Because the emirate’s oil reserves were limited, its rulers decided decades ago to diversify. Emirates Airline is the best-known result of this strategy: it started in 1985 and now ranks among the world’s leading carriers. The Jebel Ali Free Zone is one of the world’s biggest transit ports and the Dubai International Financial Centre the Middle East’s financial hub.
This role as a regional hub—and a policy of being open to almost any kind of business—explains why Dubai has been, at least economically, the main beneficiary of the Arab spring. Instability in the rest of the region has diverted capital, commerce and people to the emirate. When neighbouring Saudi Arabia upped its social spending to pre-empt protests, for instance, much of the cash ended up in Dubai’s shopping malls. More important, the emirate has clearly established itself as the region’s safe haven. “Dubai has created an environment where companies and expatriates want to be based,” says Monica Malik of EFG Hermes, an investment bank."
http://www.economist.com/news/finan...-flashy-ever-it-still-has-structural-problems

BTW, I didn't mention Dubai... but Saudi Arabia.

What is it about an Islamic State that suggests to you it can't succeed? Banning interest?
Longface
In this case, the Salafists will implement crooked Saudi Shariah, where trade with America, usury, idleness, and Jihad alnafs will flourish.
The anti-Assad, pro-FSA, and promotion of western intervention in the media manifests that he is definitely not hesitant.
Anti-Ikhwan sentiments were instigated by Saudi Arabia and the Mubarrak beneficiaries, the US intervened in the end when their fall was imminent.
No, US wants threats to its and Israel's interests out.
Angocachi
If they're Al Qaeda or Al Nusra, then no.
With the exception of Qatar, I don't know of any government supporting Salafists in Syria. The rest of them what the secularist FSA to take Damascus.

That means media Jews are eager to see an Iranian ally fall.
If Obama weren't hesitant, he would have already bombed Syria and established a no fly zone. His administration and supporters have expressed reluctance to arm Jihadists in Syria because the FSA is filled with hardcore Muj and even sell to the Salafis.

The Al Jazeera feature tells a story of long term support for Morsi's rivals and his ouster.

Of course. An Islamist regime would be a threat to Israel and American firms that profit in the Muslim world.
Longface
Longface
Angocachi

Don't you think its strange that salafists like Alnusra only popup in countries that the US needs turmoil in. These "Jihadist" have no purpose but money and power, they are thugs. To think that they desire building a just caliphate which provides protection and aid for muslims is preposterous.
Niccolo and Donkey
Yes, it's quite odd how they pop up in all the opportune places like the Balkans or in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan shortly after those countries turn away from the USA.
Mike

I think it's safe to say that Salafis are generally present in Sunni territories regardless of US meddling. They do become more active when a non-Islamic regime is destabilized or overthrown.

Algeria is an example of how Salafis can come to the fore even absent a lot of outside meddling (to the best of my knowledge the West didn't have a hand in that conflict -- correct me if I am wrong).