Astro Hacker News - The phone book that led us to Assad's spy chief in hiding

pseingatl |next [-]

The story is: they find the guy, call him and he doesn't talk. All they've discovered is that he, like many in the Assad regime, are now in Russia. Duh. This is a non-story.

duxup |next |previous [-]

I always wonder how reporters get folks who have these tangential connections to powerful / terrible people to talk after they refuse. It's an impressive skill.

chneu |root |parent |next [-]

They just keep trying. It's not uncommon for people to talk after 3 or so attempts. Humans want to talk.

mingus88 |root |parent [-]

I block numbers at that point. I don’t get how anyone would decide to open up after repeated attempts on their number.

cocoa19 |root |parent [-]

Emergencies. If you are responsible for children or needy adults, and they are not with you, you better respond after multiple tries.

At least that's what a regular Joe like me would do, I don't know what high in power people do.

zxexz |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Not relevant at all, but I find that interesting and funny. As a rule of thumb I tend to accept unknown callers after 3 missed calls in rapid succession. Everybody I know closely knows this, and its come in useful. Though tbh I’d it’s a recognizable localish area code I usually pick up on the 2nd call in rapid succession.

mhh__ |root |parent |previous [-]

I assume it's often parallel construction

LAC-Tech |previous [-]

Is anyone just overwhelmed by the propaganda and partisanship as you read this? I have no great opinion on this Syrian regime or the previous - like basically everyone on HN when it comes to geopolitical topics, I do not know much about it - but the bias in the article is almost comically ham-fisted.

PeterHolzwarth |root |parent |next [-]

It is distressing to hear someone on hacker news describe this, and the history of Syria over the last couple decades, as something that might be "propaganda" and "partisanship."

My god, man - do you even slightly follow the news? Are you really that unaware such that you feel there is some degree of question over just how horrific the Assad regime was for Syrians?

sulam |root |parent |next |previous [-]

You can't "both-sides" atrocities of the sort the Assad regime practiced, which are well-documented. Even if you want to grant an individual associated with Assad the benefit of the doubt, this is the the point of a trial, in international court, the same sorts of trials that were given to Hitler's associates post WW2.

aplummer |root |parent |previous [-]

These are allegations of war crimes / criminals it’s not bias to describe them accurately.