Comments by "Alan Friesen" (@alanfriesen9837) on "What future for Syria: Assad still in charge ten years after the uprising" video.

What's really sad is that none of this was necessary. Western support of opposition has predictably led to chaos which would still be present even if Assad had been removed early on (see Libya). Instead of pushing so hard for the removal of leaders we don't like we should be trying to help these leaders meet the needs of their people.
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But of course, this is France.
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@MacrobianNomad That's assuming "Assad's barrel bombs" were not a self-inflicted ruse to gain western sympathies. Conspiracy theories based on the fact (and backed up by the Syrian ambassador at the time) that there was no conceivable benefit to the Syrian military aside. Western support has always been more of the verbal variety than the physical. The western approach has always leaned more towards instigation than investment. And frankly, it's probably better that we don't go all out. The places we have recently (Iraq, Afghanistan) haven't exactly been unqualified success stories.
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@papajoeman23 I would have tried to improve things by working within the system.
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@papajoeman23 No, that's definitely outside the system, it's secret police activity and it's awful if true. I'm not trying to defend that. But if I were trying to stop it I would pursue as influential a position as I could attain in hopes of being able to order it stopped. I know this is not a perfect answer, but you asked what I would do. I'd probably lay low like everyone else if I were being completely honest. I know governments do terrible things, but so do revolutionaries, and with rare exceptions I fear the latter over the former. Chances of maneuvering into a position to make such a moral decision is no more easily achieved in the insurrection hierarchy than it is in the governing one. At least in a governed state there's some order.
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