[Wuli]

The Sunni cleric’s words simply reinforce what the whole deal going on in Syria is really all about - a proxy war between the two fundamentalist radical extremes of Islam, the Sunni with connections to the Wahabi of Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood versus the Shia clerics of Iran; it’s merely part of the global contest for supremacy within Islam, the dictator in Syria is an excuse and the people of Syria are pawns.

The best thing for the world will be a big reset button at the White House next January, with a president Romney who would join with the Russian mobster Putin to jointly wear antagonism with Islamists as a badge of honor.

Assad is a horrible dictator, but there are zero real allies of the U.S. in the leadership of the opposition, which is primarily funded and organized outside Syria and with most of the ground operations of the “rebels” organized by the Saudis, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and guns-for-hire terrorists.

[gandalftb]

Good points. I agree that the Shia-Sunni conflict is the driver of Mid-east tension.

It is disappointing that the media continues to drive the theme that Israel and and the West are the great oppressors of muslims.

Muslims extremists kill and dominate muslims, they are their own worst enemy. But every insult is directed elsewhere away from islam.

[Nowhere Man]

The best thing for the world will be a big reset button at the White House next January, with a president Romney who would join with the Russian mobster Putin to jointly wear antagonism with Islamists as a badge of honor.

I think we lost a lot of opportunities to work with the Russians in the 1990's and we have paid for it but maybe this could be a way to do it.

Assad is a horrible dictator, but there are zero real allies of the U.S. in the leadership of the opposition, which is primarily funded and organized outside Syria and with most of the ground operations of the “rebels” organized by the Saudis, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and guns-for-hire terrorists.

As bad as they were, Assad, Kadaffy and even Saddam Hussein (looking back I am beginning to think Iraq was a mistake), we were better off with them, at least they kept their radicals under control, now we are worse off. Nature abhores a vacuum.

[Tailgunner Joe]

We should make sure the conflict lasts as long as possible killing as many as possible on both sides.

To say that we should not pick either side makes sense. To say that we should make sure neither side wins makes even more sense.

To join Putin's side would be stupid and evil and would align us with Shiite terrorists waging jihad against Israel, as evil Putin has done. That is not acceptable in any way.