perestroika

Nope, do your research. You can only look down if you find a high enough horse.

Now try to determine my political allegiance. :)

If the plan becomes an actual amnesty, then something good has occurred.

how you’ve been scammed into another quagmire in West Asia

I love how you guess I'm American. :) Research my background to find the proper horse to look down from.

Thousands have been arrested for opposing genocide in Gaza under terrorism laws

Do you have a source for this claim?

And a note about their troops... the Syrian government had to specifically order their troops not to display other flags than the Syrian flag. Because some started displaying ISIS flags on taken territory. That's some very interesting army.

What the Kurds achieved from this compromise: their troops will be integrated into the Syrian army as units, not as individuals. So, they have the option to collectively rebel if things turn very dark. And some people from their political institutions will be integrated into Syria too. But very few.

True. I wonder what changed from his viewpoint.

This reply got me curious and I browsed your history a bit, finding this gem:

These “protests” are a CIA Mossad collaboration. Down vote me all you want but it’s true.

I will now also downvote you, thank you very much.

Rebellions, near-revolutions and actual revolutions occur for various reasons around the world. If you suspect external manipulation as the primary cause every time, you will be wrong most of time.

If you suspect external manipulation as a contributing factor at some times, you may be right.

People have ability to organize on their own (sometimes poorly and with catastrophic defeat as a result). They can be dead wrong about their chances of success, or know their chances and try anyway.

The biggest external influence in this case appears to have been Trump's promise of stepping in to protect the protesters (their mistake: they may have believed him) and his claim that "help is on the way" when they were already practically supressed. These words cost many lives.

Israel is, of course, intensely interested in the future of Iran, as their most dangerous regional opponent. But Israel cannot force the government of Iran to make so bad economic decisions that traders on a market close their shops and riot.

How did you arrive on that conclusion? I read several UK-based news sites and they criticize the government on a daily basis.

I appreciate the call for introspection, but I think human rights violations should be criticized regardless, and even more widely than currently. I don't care who does it - it's everyone's duty.

Special attention should be focused on severe and extensive violations.

Example: should we not criticize Iran for killing protesters? Should we not criticize Russia for attempting to conquer Ukraine and bombing civilians? Should we not criticize Israel for bombing civilians and starving Gaza's population? Those are severe and extensive violations. If nobody makes a fuss, they become normality.

As for China... violations in China are extensive. Millions of people are affected by detainment, coercive relocation or forced labour programs. National identities of minority peoples are being erased, people are relocated by force or imprisoned if they oppose. People's languages and customs are being banned from public life and education, religious minorities are discriminated against. Some violations are also severe (death penalty is meted out regularly for those who oppose too much).

I note: an average European country can criticize that without looking hypocritical.

Yesterday I criticized my own country, today I will criticize another country, and I expect politicians to meet the same standard.

Ai Weiwei hasn't been known as a wumao. He didn't appear out of nowhere, he has some history.

I'm not one of his downvoters, but I think he vastly overestimates the capability of a psyop to produce articles in The Guardian. These people know various ways of checking a claim, and they don't typically hurry, but lag behind other news outlets.

And I think he's not well informed about what life in Iran has been like since 1979.

As for manufacturing consent: Trump has shown well that he doesn't care about consent. It may eventually become a reason for his downfall, but rational arguments and credible evidence are not things the current US administration deals in.

As for the matter of whether military intervention could help someone in Iran, or help more than hurt - I don't know. Military interventions haven't previously revived the dead. If the majority of protersters were killed, they cannot be helped. If the majority went into hiding, they can be helped, but it may not work as intended.

There is also no reason to suspect Trump of genuinely wanting to help them. He has other motivations. If he was a humanitarian, he'd have ordered an immediate strike at Iran's government communications and unmanned weapons drops for protesters when the massacre was ongoing. He considered something and intelligence indicators were in the red, but did nothing.