I know this is The Narrative™, but I find it so hard to believe the first part. The drought was real but I find it hard to believe people were upset enough to go out and protest.
Any sane Syrian would have known what was coming. Anyone old enough would absolutely still remember Hama 1982. I just don't like how this narrative presents the protests as being so organic, especially with it being well documented that the West had longed for the destruction for Syria for decades.
I think I can believe it just given the nature of the protests sweeping the Arab world during 2010-2011. There's a lot of overeducated, frustrated, unemployed Arab youth across the region that absolutely had reason to protest the shitty state of their lives, whether than anger was directed at Assad or capitalism or imperialism or whatever was up for grabs. The median age in Syria is 25 (similar to many states across MENA), so yeah over half the population in Syria wasn't even alive in 1982! I think the propaganda being pumped out by the West directed the anger towards Assad specifically, but I have no doubt that the anger and frustration boiling in Syria was real.
I know this is The Narrative™, but I find it so hard to believe the first part. The drought was real but I find it hard to believe people were upset enough to go out and protest.
Any sane Syrian would have known what was coming. Anyone old enough would absolutely still remember Hama 1982. I just don't like how this narrative presents the protests as being so organic, especially with it being well documented that the West had longed for the destruction for Syria for decades.
I think I can believe it just given the nature of the protests sweeping the Arab world during 2010-2011. There's a lot of overeducated, frustrated, unemployed Arab youth across the region that absolutely had reason to protest the shitty state of their lives, whether than anger was directed at Assad or capitalism or imperialism or whatever was up for grabs. The median age in Syria is 25 (similar to many states across MENA), so yeah over half the population in Syria wasn't even alive in 1982! I think the propaganda being pumped out by the West directed the anger towards Assad specifically, but I have no doubt that the anger and frustration boiling in Syria was real.