sound awake wrote:ok, so what does generational dynamics predict would be the after effects (not just in syria but in the entire region) of al assads army collapsing
The answer to that is mostly political, so it's impossible to predict.
The only outcome we can be sure of is total chaos. Beyond that, the
following is my rambling guess:
Right now, ISIS is in the lead to become the major power in Syria, and
indeed, they're closing in on Damascus from the south.
So let's suppose ISIS takes over in Syria. What they would like is a
Sunni version of Iran's 1979 Great Islamic Revolution, where the
country's entire population unified behind the hardline Shia clerics.
But "unified populations" are only possible during generational Crisis
eras. Syria today is in a generational Awakening era, and if you
think back to America in the 1960s-70s, then you can imagine how
unlikely it is that Syria's population will be unified behind any sort
of government. In fact, the whole point of today's article is that
even the Alawites aren't unified behind the current al-Assad
government.
So what would happen to ISIS in such an environment?
One analogy is deadly viruses. If a virus wants to create a pandemic,
it can't just kill the infected person, because then the infected
person won't be around to spread it. It has to ameliorate its
functions by becoming less severe and less deadly, letting more people
live comfortably so that they can spread it.
So, applying that analogy to ISIS, they'd have to ameliorate their
behaviors in order to make themselves acceptable to the larger Sunni
population. In doing so, they would also make themselves more
acceptable to the Saudis and other Sunni nations.
But even so, the existence of an ISIS government would panic Iran,
Russia and the West, leading to increased secular tensions in the
Mideast, and possibly a secular war within Syria itself.
In the meantime, a secular war in Yemen is worsening every day.
All we need now is some triggering event to make the whole thing
explode. One example would be an attack on an oil tanker the Bab el
Mandeb strait or Strait of Hormuz. That's one of many examples of
events that would FORCE retaliation, and could spiral into a larger
war.
[quote="sound awake"]ok, so what does generational dynamics predict would be the after effects (not just in syria but in the entire region) of al assads army collapsing[/quote]
The answer to that is mostly political, so it's impossible to predict.
The only outcome we can be sure of is total chaos. Beyond that, the
following is my rambling guess:
Right now, ISIS is in the lead to become the major power in Syria, and
indeed, they're closing in on Damascus from the south.
So let's suppose ISIS takes over in Syria. What they would like is a
Sunni version of Iran's 1979 Great Islamic Revolution, where the
country's entire population unified behind the hardline Shia clerics.
But "unified populations" are only possible during generational Crisis
eras. Syria today is in a generational Awakening era, and if you
think back to America in the 1960s-70s, then you can imagine how
unlikely it is that Syria's population will be unified behind any sort
of government. In fact, the whole point of today's article is that
even the Alawites aren't unified behind the current al-Assad
government.
So what would happen to ISIS in such an environment?
One analogy is deadly viruses. If a virus wants to create a pandemic,
it can't just kill the infected person, because then the infected
person won't be around to spread it. It has to ameliorate its
functions by becoming less severe and less deadly, letting more people
live comfortably so that they can spread it.
So, applying that analogy to ISIS, they'd have to ameliorate their
behaviors in order to make themselves acceptable to the larger Sunni
population. In doing so, they would also make themselves more
acceptable to the Saudis and other Sunni nations.
But even so, the existence of an ISIS government would panic Iran,
Russia and the West, leading to increased secular tensions in the
Mideast, and possibly a secular war within Syria itself.
In the meantime, a secular war in Yemen is worsening every day.
All we need now is some triggering event to make the whole thing
explode. One example would be an attack on an oil tanker the Bab el
Mandeb strait or Strait of Hormuz. That's one of many examples of
events that would FORCE retaliation, and could spiral into a larger
war.