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[PanH]

I was under the impression that the Saudi monarchs only rule because the church (mosque?) allows them to do so.

There's barely a hierarchy for Sunni Islam (as opposed to the Shia). You can be imam (and pretty much anyone can), and that's all.

[Helgoland]

The Taliban are by no means Shia. If anything, Iran would be actively opposing them.

Exactly. If Iran was some kind of Sunni theocracy then we'd probably be in a much worse position. But could you imagine the Vatican supplying radical Protestant rebels that murder and subjugate Catholics in Ireland? That is what it would be like for Iran to supply the Taliban with anything.

Naah, but why not because of an "enemy mine" reasoning? There Shia population in Afghanistan is marginal, these differences should be no problem.

[Owlbread]

The Shia population in Afghanistan is not marginal. A Shia theocracy like Iran would never support the Taliban when they treat the Hazaras like dirt. Remember, Iran's foreign policy doesn't purely consist of trying to piss off the United States and Israel as much as possible. Much of it is based around protecting their fellow Shias across the Islamic world, hence their meddling in Iraq and Syria.

[Culise]

Taliban in Afghanistan? The confessional divide shouldn't be that much of a problem if you're very far away from each other.

Actually my understanding of the situation in the mid to late 90s was that everyone expected Iran to invade Afghanistan and depose the Taliban. I think they were even being groomed by the West to do just that. My memory is hazy though.

Mostly correct, but the West wasn't best pleased by it.  Back in 1998, Iran mobilized around 70 thousand soldiers to invade Afghanistan after the Taliban supposedly attacked Iranian diplomatic staff in Mazar-i-Sharif (EDIT: that is to say, it was supposedly the Taliban behind it, not that they were supposedly attacked; the Taliban claimed it was renegades acting without orders), as a part of the general massacres against the Hazara of that city that took place after the Taliban victory.  The UN ultimately convinced them to back down then, but one wonders what would have happened if they had gone through with it and gotten themselves embroiled in that quagmire. 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Its not like they'd necessarily make Afghanistan worse. Just more organized. Same chopping off of hands and religious oppression, but without constant terrorism-related deaths. And we'd also probably have a Baluchistan.

[Culise]

Its not like they'd necessarily make Afghanistan worse. Just more organized. Same chopping off of hands and religious oppression, but without constant terrorism-related deaths. And we'd also probably have a Baluchistan.

Nah, it'd probably be a disaster, both for Iran and Afghanistan.  Iran charging into Afghanistan wouldn't even have managed what the American invasion did, and would have had difficulty matching the Soviets.  Other things would have probably happened similarly - for instance, we probably wouldn't be talking about sanctions due to an Iranian nuclear programme, but rather due to Iranian unwarranted and aggressive invasions of a neighboring state.  Though, I do agree that it couldn't have made things much worse for Afghanistan; Afghanistan never really left a state of civil war and internecine tribal feuding since the Soviet invasion.  Ironically, it might have justified continuing American support of the Taliban in order to tie down the Iranians, though, and definitely would have encouraged ongoing Pakistani support.  In the Iran-Iraq War, the Soviets may have been Hussein's biggest suppliers, but American allies were more than willing with a wink and a nod from Washington to support Hussein against Iran as well. 

I also strongly doubt there'd be an independent Baluchistan, unless Iran lost.  The vast majority of Baluchi people are in Iran or Pakistan, not Afghanistan; Iran wouldn't want an independent Baluchi country any more than they would want an independent Kurdish country.  While it would weaken their enemies, it would also weaken themselves. 

[Duuvian]

From the story:

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has systematically killed and tortured about 11,000 people, according to a reported based on the evidence of a defector and produced by three former international prosecutors.

The report, commissioned by the government of Qatar and released on Tuesday, examined thousands of pictures said to have been smuggled out by a former military police photographer.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/report-syria-tortured-executed-11000-20141211307452644.html

Also:

"Jabhat al-Nusra, and the even more extreme Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS), the two al-Qaeda affiliates operating in Syria, have both been financed by selling oil and gas from wells under their control to and through the regime, The Daily Telegraph quoted an anonymous intelligence source as saying.

"The regime is paying al-Nusra to protect oil and gas pipelines under al-Nusra’s control in the north and east of the country, and is also allowing the transport of oil to regime-held areas,” the source was quoted as saying. “We are also now starting to see evidence of oil and gas facilities under ISIS control."

The Daily Telegraph also reported that Syrian military defectors and rebels said that the government "deliberately released militant prisoners" who joined the extremist groups that are combating moderate rebel forces.

http://www.aljazeera.com/humanrights/2014/01/assad-accused-boosting-al-qaeda-syria-201412111174791389.html

[LordSlowpoke]

From the story:

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has systematically killed and tortured about 11,000 people, according to a reported based on the evidence of a defector and produced by three former international prosecutors.

The report, commissioned by the government of Qatar and released on Tuesday, examined thousands of pictures said to have been smuggled out by a former military police photographer.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/report-syria-tortured-executed-11000-20141211307452644.html

About as reliable as listening to... oh, I don't know. To what Palestine says about Israel would be a good comparison.

Qatar is one of the heaviest suppliers of arms for Syrian rebels, and does not care in the slightest who takes over as long as an ally of Iran is removed from the region. The choice of wording, notably "industrial-scale killing" really makes you wonder what bias it has even disregarding the former, huh?

This is coming from someone who at this point of time would rather have al-Assad win the civil war just to be done with all the bloodshed and let power be consolidated by something that can be considered the beacon of secularism (compared to who will take over if his government collapses), so you know. Salt.

[Helgoland]

LordSlowpoke, you can't fake pictures in those amounts. They are real.

And there's one reason we have to get rid of Assad at all costs, even if the country drowns in blood afterwards: If we don't, we tell all the little dictators around the world that violence is a good way of staying in power, as long as you're friends with Russia. Letting Assad live means instigating violent reactions to peaceful protests around the world.
Do you think Yanukovych is not watching Syria?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm not sure why anybody is particularly shocked by Assad's actions. People are acting like this is some separate, meaningfully worse thing than your normal indiscriminate warfare and police state. I'm not impressed by "tortured and executed rebels".

[Zangi]

LordSlowpoke, you can't fake pictures in those amounts. They are real.

And there's one reason we have to get rid of Assad at all costs, even if the country drowns in blood afterwards: If we don't, we tell all the little dictators around the world that violence is a good way of staying in power, as long as you're friends with Russia. Letting Assad live means instigating violent reactions to peaceful protests around the world.
Do you think Yanukovych is not watching Syria?

We shall get rid of Assad, in the process setting the up the groundwork for a massive genocide of the former ruling culture... then fail to do anything about it afterwards, finally leaving them to fend for themselves as we turn a blind eye... for the greater good!

I'm not sure why anybody is particularly shocked by Assad's actions. People are acting like this is some separate, meaningfully worse thing than your normal indiscriminate warfare and police state. I'm not impressed by "tortured and executed rebels".

On a technicality, most of them are there on the suspicion of harboring rebels, not exactly rebels themselves...

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I'm not sure why anybody is particularly shocked by Assad's actions. People are acting like this is some separate, meaningfully worse thing than your normal indiscriminate warfare and police state. I'm not impressed by "tortured and executed rebels".

I am.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm not sure why anybody is particularly shocked by Assad's actions. People are acting like this is some separate, meaningfully worse thing than your normal indiscriminate warfare and police state. I'm not impressed by "tortured and executed rebels".

I am.

Then perhaps you can better make the case as to why this is significant, because thus far mass media is not doing a good job of it.

[10ebbor10]

Yup, pretty much everyone knew this was happening.

Besides, timing is not insignificant. It's clear that it has been arranged to discredit the government at this moment.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Then perhaps you can better make the case as to why this is significant, because thus far mass media is not doing a good job of it.

An unstable Syria means an unstable middle east. Supporting noone led to extremism taking root in the revolt and otherwise ostracizing the moderate opposition. Is that not proof enough that doing nothing leads to worse situations? Now if we got involved it'd be choosing one of three sides instead of backing the moderate opposition and keeping Iraqi jihadis out.