I'd just as soon be left out of others' messages and thought an idiot until I can personally remove all doubt.

Talk amongst yourselves. Or Not.

Syria has been an interesting and significant place that to me has seen disproportionate abuse from inside itself and has been co-opted by more powerful neighbors because they have propped up one of the most self-interested and deadly SOBs since Sihanouk, Pol Pot, and whatever bad haircut sits on N.Korea. Time was Syria WAS the more powerful neighbor dominating Lebanon. I recall running into an Israeli in Europe in the 1980s and hearing a prediction of imminent warfare between Syria and Israel, but that did not happen. Israel did cross into Lebanon and engage with Hezbollah at the time, so it was a reasonable surmise, but, big surprise, it's complicated. (Happy?)

The other nearby people getting kicked around beyond all reason are the Yemenis. That has been going on damn near forever. Back in 67 they were being gassed. And as far as I know, this is even more pitiful than otherwise because they don't have any oil.

About fifteen years ago I found myself in a New York City cab driven by someone who by appearance was either an Arab or a Yeshiva student. Turned out to be an Arab, possibly a Syrian. I asked him about the language, which seemed to be all over the Mideast, but differently spoken in each country to the point of being a group of dialects. He was very talkative and planned to save enough money as a taxi driver to move with his wife to the Carolinas and buy a gas station. I found this very interesting because he was an example of how folks can come from ANYWHERE with any background and mix with EVERYONE in an environment which allows them to achieve for themselves in freedom from fear.

This was before the Israeli bombing runs in Lebanon (2006) which I have mentioned in other threads, and before the Syrian rebellion against Assad referred to earlier in this thread.