rant · moment 2 of 14

Why Middle East Regime Change Never Works

from Drones, Mangione & Selling Syria | The Tim Dillon Show #421 · #421

6 min

He argues that as an older, wealthier man he's lost the naive excitement about Middle East regime change, describing the region as run by petro-dictatorships and religious fundamentalism with no democratic tradition, predicting the rebels will eventually become just as brutal.

In this bit8 moments
  • Tim didn't fuck up Syria and isn't going to fix it, despite what people in the country have been trying to do via proxy wars with Russia.
  • On the photo of a toddler released from an Assad prison: Tim questions what the child did and whether people are naive enough to think children can never be dangerous.
  • That 2-year-old walking out of jail is the hardest photo Tim has ever seen and will become a dictator or make major mistakes, but nothing sets you on a path of domination like that.
  • Tim says he hopes the rebels create a pluralistic society that respects human rights and women's rights in Syria, but the likelihood of that is low.
  • He's old enough to have seen this movie before and recognizes the pattern of Middle East regime change attempts.
  • The rebels didn't accidentally topple Assad a month before Trump's inauguration; this is not an accidental thing, though Tim isn't saying whether it's good or bad.
  • Tim warns listeners that if the U.S. is at war with the new Syrian government in a year or two, they shouldn't be shocked and should remember this prediction.
  • People around the world value different things and you cannot make them see things your way, certainly not at the barrel of a gun, and America has tried that approach before.
Mentioned here

Bashar AssadSyriaUkraineDonald Trump

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