Does anyone know

[j.sabourn]

What is the UN definition of a civilian. For the past 5 plus years now we have been seeing and hearing about innocent civilians being killed, this certainly to most of us stirs a lot of bitter feelings. But just what is a civilian. Some of us can remember the last war, and although some of us were civilians, we were still considered the enemy. The same as those on the opposing side were also. Also if you were in a country that was taken over by the enemy and you gave shelter and succour to the enemy, after liberation you received plenty of backlash by the people of your own country. A lot of French people will have memories. These middle east countries that are now being taken back from the so called rebels, who is to distinguish between collaborator, rebel and civilian who has remained neutral, of which the present victors will take some time in believing they were innocent byestanders. I think one has to be very naïve to consider that the present thousands that claim they are civilians is going to take some proving to the ones who the media claim are the villains. Like our Nuremberg trials I have visions of seeing similar, but maybe with short sentences being carried out within hours of the verdict. War is war it was never meant to be fair and never is. The civilian status is going to be hard to prove especially when you are guilty until proved innocent. JS

[Chris Isaac]

It's a great question, one that will take a wiser man than I to answer.

[Captain Kong]

I can remember many thousands of British civilians being killed in WW2 but today no one cares or gives a damn.
We were bombed out I had to help to dig my mother out, she was lucky, she was only Injured and to hospital.
Be the same in a few years, people will forget Syria, because the Politicians of the World or the Religious maniacs will be bombing some where else and Killing Civilians.
It is natures way of Culling people, there are too many.
I noticed these refugees who have been Bombed and shelled and shot at for six years, all have little babies and very small children.
It does not stop them from having Sex during air raids. Must turn them on.
Brian

[j.sabourn]

Maybe Brian that's where the term came from "did you feel the earth Tremble, my mother reckoned she was machine gunned by a messershmitt strafing down Richmond Park road, years later I checked up and the bullet holes were still in the concrete portal to the house. Mind she worked as a fitter in the Hawker Hurricane factory there so maybe the pilot knew that --- some hopes. JS

[Louis the fly]

In Syria there appears to be two types of terrorists , good terrorists and bad terrorists. The good terrorists are called rebels by the west and the U.S supplies arms to them which prolongs the war. The rebels have prevented civilians from leaving the hell of Allepo and have taken all the food stocks for their own use , if they were not there civilians would not be getting killed in air strikes. While western leaders and the U.N held meetings expressing their sorrow at the situation they did nothing to end the suffering until the refugees began flooding into Europe.
I suspect the peoples of America and Europe are being slowly brainwashed into accepting a war against Russia , everything from Olympic doping to rigging the presidential elections to the Syrian war has been blamed on them. Never a mention of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States or Turkey who are using Syria to fight their own wars with Iran.
The surprising result of Trump becoming the next U.S President may be a blessing in disguise , he has been heavily criticised for saying he wants to have talks with Putin and forge closer ties between the two countries. This is the only way to avoid a war which would quickly become nuclear and mean the end of us all.

[j.sabourn]

There you are Louis at least you can put some thought into it. Why in all these talks and shows by the pundits on TV why don't they ask the same question, shouldn't think it would get up the nose of all the intelligent people at the UN to give to the general public the answer to what is a civilian, then the newspapers and the media in general could then inform the public, and have it in writing if it is there, if not I am sure it is somewhere in the Geneva Convention of old fashioned days. Cheers JS

[Captain Kong]

When the Arab Spring started Syria was targeted by Saudi who arm, train all the terrorist factions, al Queda, al nusra etc, they started through out the Mid east. So when they started on SYRIA, Assad had no one to turn to for help as America is a great allie of Saudi, so Russia helped Assad,
America did not like Russia being in the Middle East so they assisted the "Rebels" with Billions of Dollars of war material, and training, some of the Rebel factions broke away and became IS, Cameron then got in on the act and gave the "Rebels" £512,000,000 of our Tax Payers money to the Rebel cause.
That war could have been over in weeks if America had backed Assad, It has now gone on longer than the WW2.
America hates Russia for some stupid reason, and that is causing all the trouble round the world. We will need Russia when the call for the great jihad starts,
I welcome Trump to make friends with Putin, I am sure the world will be a better place if that happens.
Obama and Clinton are itching for a war with Russia, they are so stupid by believing they are so invincible that they can do it.
Obama yesterday was saying he is going to sort out Russia and he accuses them of Computer hacking.

If I was him, I would be too embarrassed to admit to the world that my computers are Hackable, just recently two British teenagers were accused of hacking into the White House and Pentagon computers. so how good is American Security if kids can do it.

The sooner Obama is out of Office the safer this world will be.
Brian

[Ivan Cloherty]

Obama by his lack of understanding of International politics has singly handedly given Russia what it could not achieve on its own, a military base on the Mediterranean seaboard, because now the Russians are in Syria they are not going to leave and their bases will increase in size to help protect their 'friends' in the area.

The Western world (politicians) cannot grasp that allover the world though 'Democracy' may be spelt the same it means different things to different geographical areas, yes the world is changing, but it is changing because the west thinks that democracy means the same the world over, the man in the street could tell them that it does not. When I was doing business in Syria prior Assad, Damascus was on a par with Beirut as being thought of as the Monte Carlo of that area, people had a certain kind of freedom despite the regime's secret police, but the people lived with it and got on with their daily lives, sitting in cafes (men and women) going to the theatre, dancing, alcohol etc etc, they had restricted travel mainly because of Foreign Exchange currency regs, the same was true of the UK in the 50's (we couldn't take more than £50 out in Sterling no matter how long you were going for), in general the public accepted that, there was little crime and people could walk the streets in relative safety. When I lived in Pakistan it was pretty much the same situation, drinking, dancing, cinemas (and church going, as in Dubai also) all fairly acceptable, you were just asked to respect the Ramadan period, as we were when living in Dubai, all these places had strong rulers with strict rules in place, but the people lived in harmony, but it wasn't democracy as we knew it, but it was democracy as they knew it and a damn sight safer than it is now

[Captain Kong]

Our Politicians in the West think they have to go round the world Bombing countries into Democracy.
No Western Democracy in Iraq, lets bomb them, and kill Saddam, A million people have died and there is still war going on there.
Bush and Bliar still have a good nights sleep.
No Western Democracy in Afghanistan, lets Bomb them, still no western Democracy and hundreds of thousands of people have died. and still fighting. Bliar and Co still have good sleeps at night.
No Western Democracy in Libya, lets bomb them and kill Ghadaffi, Still no democracy, Thousands have died, and still fighting. Obama and Cameron still have good sleeps at night.
No Democracy in Syria, lets arm the Rebels so they can kill Assad and bring democracy. million dead an two million spread over Europe an the mid eat. Cameron and Obama still sleep good at night.
.
Wouldnt it be cheaper to get rid of Politicians who do all this in Our Name with our tax Payers money??? and keep the world in peace.
Brian

[j.sabourn]

It seems weird that most of these mid eastern countries and cultures existed when most in Europe were still putting wode on their faces, today it is tattoos, so nothing much has changed there. I tend to believe in what Brian says about politicians and the way they go about business and the attitude there has to be something in it for them, in most cases in the M.E. it is oil. In every war it is about something, the civilian tears are only used to distract. I await to see what the UN comes up with about the obvious trials of such, or will that be in camera like most things. It also amazes me how easy it is for these downtrodden people to communicate with the outside world via email, one would of thought ISIS or any other Rebel group would have made it fatal to be in possession of such. There is something that has never gelled about the troubles in the M.E. starting with the so called Arab Spring. It was all a local situation until it was built into something else again. I also would say by arming rebels was the most stupid thing imagineable. JS