Latest Arab Spring thread

[Happy Monkey]

I'm not certain you do get it. You seem to follow each claim that you get it with something that is directly counter to it.

Originally Posted by classicman

The political spin and the other crap THEY keep spewing just boils down to one thing.
Lives are NOT equal in value.
Syrian Lives are not as valuable in this situation - Period.

No, the lives are as valuable, but the costs are higher.

Originally Posted by classicman

My opinion matters not. I'd rather discuss the original question. being "simple minded" and all.

(this is the point)

US analysis determines: Getting involved in Syria is not worth the potential risk. Therefore Syrian lives are not worth as much as Libyan's.

No matter how it is spun, the end result in this equation is that
Syrian Lives < Libyan Lives.

I also believe this may change drastically for any number of reasons. It is a fluid situation.

No, Syrian lives = Libyan lives, but the cost of intervening in Syria is higher.

Originally Posted by classicman

I understand that glatt. But Mr. Unbalanced cannot seem to grasp that basic concept.

Syria is not worth the risk for a multitude of reasons, correct?
Therefore, the lives that are being lost in Syria are not worth getting involved.

For WHATEVER REASON(s) (not important)
it has been determined that Libya IS worth the risk.
Therefore, the lives in Libya ARE worth getting involved.

"worth getting involved" is not a constant. The cost of getting involved is different in each case, so WHATEVER REASON is important.

Let's say that we get involved if the value is a "worth units (WU)". And let's say that the value of saving Syrians is equal to the value of saving Libyans, at b WU. The cost of saving Syrians is s WU, and the cost of saving Libyans is l WU.

If b-s > a, we save Syrians.
If b-l > a, we save Libyans.

Libyans and Syrians are worth the same, but the circumstances can still result in different outcomes.

Just because one thing is "worth it", and another isn't, doesn't mean that they have different worths, they could have different "its".