• HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    The really ugly thing here is, al-Sharaa is the best thing to happen to Syria in decades. Most people have been urging recognition of his government and the relaxation of sanctions because he’s about as good we can expect a leader of Syria to be.

    And he is still bribing Trump.

    This isn’t merely corruption. This is the *normalization * of corruption. Even countries that abide by democratic norms and international law are going to need to grease palms to conduct regular diplomatic relations. The EU and UK and Canada might be able to weather his bullshit until he folds like he always does, but developing nations will be stuck trying to bid for American favor.

    Welcome to the Chinese century.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      al-Sharaa is the best thing to happen to Syria in decades

      Could we please stop? He’s a jihadist saying pleasant things to Europeans and Americans with nobody caring whether they are true.

      • HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee
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        23 hours ago

        He’s at least trying to put on a facade of meaning them, which is about as good as Syria has had it in my life time.

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          No, he isn’t. He’s worse than Assad, the reason nobody says Assad was better is because Assad directly caused this by killing opponents, disarming strong parties (which could have resisted jihadists) and in general destroying the country. So he’s worse than Assad, but a direct consequence of Assad.

          I’m certain he’s more consistent than Assad and eventually this leads to a more stable and economically viable Syria. Note how I’m not saying anything about human rights and civilization.

          • HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee
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            6 hours ago

            It’s pretty hard to be worse than the guy whose used nerve has on his own people and turned his country into a major producer for the international drug trade.

            • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              You just have to be the guy who turned a half-Sunni, half-Alawi city on the coast into half-Sunni, half-dead. Then after calls for stopping the murders and loads of videos with dead men, women and children he … forbid filming that.