Syrians suppot Assad

[Unnamed island state]

Also, 100% of Russian LGBTs support Putin.

140%

[Kraylandia]

Also, 100% of Russian LGBTs support Putin.

140%

No mate, 500%.

[Kahanistan]

I voted "not if he has democratic support," but let me clarify. I don't think that Assad has democratic support. I'm not sure how reliable the poll results were, but the fact that over a quarter of respondents (28 percent of, according to the OP, 21,314 polled, or nearly 6,000 people) felt free to say they want Assad out suggests that the fear of the secret police may not be what it was in the past, or they have more important things to do than read mail to Le Figaro or monitor the internet, like rooting out Da'esh and al-Qa'ida. On the other hand, as was pointed out in the thread, the respondents are likely members of the upper classes in Syria just to have access to internet or a Le Figaro poll and the poll results may not be representative, which is why so many people are taking up arms against Assad.

Bush's approval rating wasn't any higher than 28% toward the end of his term. (Sauce.) The political situation in the USA didn't degenerate into Bush and his supporters engaging in brutal warfare to wipe out the religious fundidiots in our country (though if it had, he'd probably have had to face severe international sanctions like Assad is dealing with now - and no, the US veto wouldn't help him any more than the Russian veto shields them from boatloads of US/EU sanctions over Crimea.)

As for Assad, while his ideology isn't that extreme compared to those of the religious nutters he's dealing with, his government does wantonly disregard human rights. If it's determined by whatever fair and impartial international process for the purpose that the Syrian government's activities rise to crimes against humanity, then Assad should be replaced with whoever the Syrian Constitution (TLDR, but contrary to popular belief, it provides most of the same basic constitutional rights found in any Western democracy - too bad many Syrians are illiterate and even many who can read are poorly educated and thus don't know their constitutional rights, but that's also the case in the US) or codified law determines who takes over after most of the Syrian government is indicted for war crimes at The Hague or some other international tribunal. Of course, I'm assuming that the document doesn't say something else completely in Arabic.

[Costa Fierro]

can't see any methodology info, meaningless without it

Or the areas where this survey took place.

[Novus America]

If we remove Assad, who will we put into power?

What about a skilled and well-vetted administrator with a S.J.D., answering to the people of the United States?

It's time to stop playing "nice", which isn't nice to anyone anyway. Bring back the good old colonial system. Bring countries that can't take care of themselves to full subordination, govern them according to Western values, and progressively expand their autonomy when they show evidence of having embraced these values.

Besides the fact the colonialism has been one of the root causes of the problem...

NO! God NO! We do NOT. I repeat we do NOT, want Syria as a colony. Nobody in the US wants Syria of all places. We have wasted to much life and treasure on the Middle East with nothing to show for it. And Syria is the last place there we would want.

Britain and France and the Arab states, and maybe Turkey should deal with it. NOT the US.

[Conservative Republic Of Huang]

What about a skilled and well-vetted administrator with a S.J.D., answering to the people of the United States?

It's time to stop playing "nice", which isn't nice to anyone anyway. Bring back the good old colonial system. Bring countries that can't take care of themselves to full subordination, govern them according to Western values, and progressively expand their autonomy when they show evidence of having embraced these values.

Besides the fact the colonialism has been one of the root causes of the problem...

NO! God NO! We do NOT. I repeat we do NOT, want Syria as a colony. Nobody in the US wants Syria of all places. We have wasted to much life and treasure on the Middle East with nothing to show for it. And Syria is the last place there we would want.

Britain and France and the Arab states, and maybe Turkey should deal with it. NOT the US.

Indeed. We always end up mucking everything up, like in Iraq. We should adopt an isolationist policy.

[Farnhamia]

Besides the fact the colonialism has been one of the root causes of the problem...

NO! God NO! We do NOT. I repeat we do NOT, want Syria as a colony. Nobody in the US wants Syria of all places. We have wasted to much life and treasure on the Middle East with nothing to show for it. And Syria is the last place there we would want.

Britain and France and the Arab states, and maybe Turkey should deal with it. NOT the US.

Indeed. We always end up mucking everything up, like in Iraq. We should adopt an isolationist policy.

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