Syria

[Ecthy]

Edit: Coming from an anti-semitist in a place full of Israelis and Americans, too.

[Heresson]

Is being sceptical towards Israeli politics antisemite?
Please, define antisemitism for me.
And behave, anyway.

[Ecthy]

Yes, you tell me to behave. You don't use the term "zionist aggressor" if you don't want to be seen in a hateful position toward Israel and its people. Criticizing a country's policies doesn't involve hateful rhetorics.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Heresson

Brilliant pictures, especially the inside of some of those tombs ! Breathtaking!

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Heresson
It hasn't withdrawn from Sheba farms which belong to Lebanon.

It does?

Has Syria officially recognized this? Does Syria officially recognize the Lebanese border as that of a sovereign nation? Is there a Syrian ambassador in Beirut?

[lord of the mark]

Wiki

"The United Nations regards the Shebaa Farms part of Syria[1]. But the Lebanese government considers it part of Lebanon, as do Syrian authorities (in contradiction of the 1949 Armistice Agreements). As of yet however, Syria has refused to cooperate with Lebanon's and the UN's request to have the border in the Shebaa area officially demarcated as belonging to Lebanon. Israel considers it part of the Golan Heights.

Israel took control of Shebaa Farms during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, in which Syria but not Lebanon took part, and says the area is not covered by United Nations UN Security Council Resolution 425 that governs its withdrawal from southern Lebanon. This resolution asks for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon according to the line its forces were positioned at before the May 14, 1978 invasion. (See: Blue Line (Lebanon))"

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Brachy-Pride
syria looks more green and fertile than I imagined

Northern Iraq looks very similiar though it gets brown enough in the summer time.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Yeah, I think we have figured out what Syria looks like by now

The funny part is he was showing pictures of Turkey! Didn't catch that part, huh?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Heresson
And here's a mosque of Mevlana. Mevlana was of Afaghani origin, he was a muslim mystic, creator of bektashi order, you know, the spinning sufis and stuff.

I was lucky enough to see some of the spinning Sufis when I was in Iraq. Fantastic stuff especially when they starts stabbing them selves with long pins.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Heresson
here's the greek-catholic patriarch of Antioch and greek-catholic scouts. Only christians have scouts in Syria. It seems every denomination has its own organisation.

When you say Greek-Catholic I assume you are talking about either the Greek Orthodoxed Church or one of the eastern rites churches which are in communion with Rome such as the Chaldeans. Which is correct?

Of course if they really are Armenia then they'd be Armenian Orthodoxed.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Heresson
though in a sense the creation of Israel and its further policy brought instability to the entire region, not allowing it to prosper as it could, damaging it when it comes to that its states had to ally with SU to contain Israeli agressions, that the wars didn't allow foreign investments and decreased tourist activity.

Or then again maybe the various dictators of the region have just had crap policies which have resulted in the impoverishment of their people.

[Heresson]

Originally posted by Oerdin

When you say Greek-Catholic I assume you are talking about either the Greek Orthodoxed Church or one of the eastern rites churches which are in communion with Rome such as the Chaldeans. Which is correct?

Of course if they really are Armenia then they'd be Armenian Orthodoxed.

I was talking about Greek-Catholic (Byzantine) church, known as Rum-Kathuliki (Rum = Byzantium and Rome) in arabic. It has greek-orthodox rite, but catholic dogmas and sacraments and is in communion with Rome.

There is Armenian-Orthodox (Gregorian) church, one of the monophysite churches. But still, there's also Armenian-catholic church with headquaters in Antelias, Lebanon (after the katolikos of Cilicia was expelled from Sis, nowdays Turkey)

[Guardian]

Originally posted by Heresson


Peace between Lebanon and Israel is not fully "right" in my opinion, because
- I doubt Israel would return Sheba
- because it strenghtens Israel's position towards Palestine, which allows Israel to deal even more cruelly with them.
-because Israel would be even less willing to return Golan, which return I find right.

Right and wrong matters when it comes to my stand on Syrian politics. Annihilation of Israel would not be just today, not after all these years. Any attempt to do it I do not find "good". Any attempt to get back part of one state's territory from occupational forces that have no right to it I find justified, unless it harms civil population unnecessarily.

Peace not "fully right", huh?
Well, the problem with making peace is that peace can never be "fully right" after any war because war and the violent taking of life and land, etc. is - always and per definition - not right and not fair. There will always be people - on both sides - who have lost something that can never be returned to them. Thus, in a way, no peace treaty can ever really be "truely fair". So, if we were to follow this reasoning all the way, we would never have peace anywhere ever again.

Yes, right and wrong matters, but "fully right" is something we can never have after any war, so the question we need to ask ourselves is, how "right" does it have to be to be "right enough" and how can we make it "right enough" for both sides? It is not an easy question for anyone to answer and it's even harder to get any group of people to agree upon. But if we want peace, we will have to stop expecting the other side to make all the concessions and start looking for some answers.

[Heresson]

I am ýn Batman cýty rýght now, turkýsh Kurdýstan.
When ýt comes to Kurdýstan part ýt comes well, but a very very unpleasant suprýse met me ýn Syrýa. By eatýng only adas soup (1 dollar for a pack that lasts for at least a week) or fata,ýrs (less than a dollar for a couple) + ýce cream (0,1 - 0,2 dolar), and drýnkýng only water from the tap, I managed to collect money I found more than enough for my trýp. Iive dývýded ýt and hýded ýn several places. One of them Iive found decreased by almost all, 230 dollars, that,s almost half of my money. It,s a tragedy, especýally that there,s just 3 (ýn fact 2) people who could do ýt, and I can,t belýeve anyone would rob theýr guest, so ýt,s jost one guy. Stýll, I can not prove ýt.
I want to cry when I thýnk about ýt. It costed me a lot to gather thýs money, and ýt,s my only chance to výsýt places here, I,m not rých. And I,m dumb, I always take my bag wýth me, I even took money to bathroom ýn one hotel, but ýn these two cabs I wanted to go out for 2 mýnutes, ýt turned ýnto more, and so... Booo!

On the brýght sýde. Iive seen some nýce places. The nýcest thýnk ýs probably the výllage of Hasankeyf, beýng also one of the oldest and once most ýmportant cýtýes ýn thýs regýon. Unfortunatelly, turkýsh gouverment ýnsýsts on buýldýng a dam and destroyýng ýt

[VetLegion]

Where are the pictures?

Too bad about your loss, but have you considered getting one of those waist bags to keep the money in: