Did Bashar Al Assad gas his own people, or is that total bullshit?

Right, it took a decade to show that this attack wasn't Assad. It's going to take a lot longer for anything that's less obvious. I'm mostly showing that there is very little interest in investigation if it can't be pinned on Assad.

Sarin gas isn't hard to make by the way. A bunch of Japanese cultists were able to do it. They also made VX, phosegene, and hydrogen cyanide. Apparently money and dedication will take you a long way.

To engage seriously, any ""serious"" opposition party or parties in Syria are going to be much worse (see: Mujahideen vs Socialist Afghanistan, the Shah vs Iranian nationalists, the Nicaraguan Contras vs Sandinistas, etc etc) and much like in the past, the more parties more friendly to the US are going to get boosted in the media and the sitting parties will get a magnifying glass to their misdeeds to the point of atrocities being outright fabricated. Assad is anti ISIS but also not exactly friendly towards the west, which is why the west pushes for his demise. Same as with Muamar Gaddafi. The current state of Libya speaks volumes. An authoritarian nation with guaranteed housing, healthcare and food vs a free one that has open slave markets in the capital? Gadaffi wasn't a saint, no, but you can't argue that the average Libyan is better off now than before he was ousted.

To the point that ISIS terror attacks against Syrian civilian populations being attributed to the Assad government?

Authoritarianism.

Tell me you don't know what the fuck you're talking about without telling me you don't know what the fuck you're talking about

I dunno we have at least one poster in lebanon, idr where in the region theyre originally from but they have an interesting perspective in the news mega

What does authoritarianism mean in the Syrian context?

Syria won its independence from the Ottoman Empire, and then again from the French. They abandoned the monarchy that was put in place there, and Gulf State monarchies, with American assistance, have been trying to get footholds in the country with their proxies. These proxies are heavily fundamentalist, theocratic, and unfriendly to minorities, so it's not surprising when they have a continuity with groups like Daesh.

"Suppresses dissent" is not a good definition, we see that in most countries. "Conducts mass surveillance of citizens" is not a good definition, we see that in almost all countries. "Dynastic" is also a poor definition for the same reasons, as is "sham elections/democracy".

What we have is a remnant of the pan-Arab nationalist, social-democratic pole of the broader Arab conflict in the Cold War. It's been revised and watered down, and it picks up a lot of neoliberal policies, but it remains the best guarantor of a pluralistic and independent society in Syrian nationwide politics (not counting the regional entity that is in a permanent truce with the federal government).

"It's impossible to know one way or the other" is a weak stance. Recognize the dynamics of power in war and media, and decide which story you think is more compelling: the one that lines right up with the CIA and State Department, or some alternative to that.