World Politics

[blutto]

Re: Re:

just in...it is now official: the russian airliner was brought down by a bomb.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/russia-plane-sinai-brought-bomb-151117081851335.html

so, in the space of several weeks, we have 3 major players in the syrian conflict - turkey, russia and france - suffer horrible terror acts all of which according to both the victims and perps were accomplished by isil.

but of course, we are told, 'assad must go first'.

just like 'saddam had to go' and then 'qaddafi had to go' to see the tyrants formally monolithic fiefdoms disintegrate into militant 'autonomies', including the isil, that fight each other but really are the proxies of the various regional and not only players...

...can someone please explain the following...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFb5E22TvE

of course, the slaughtered civilians aren't guilty of that

I predict Turkey, France and Russia will step up. First with an expanded air campaign, then perhaps their boots on the ground. In spite of the saber rattlings from the inconsequential GOP presidential field,the people in the area(Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, others) had better put boots there way before the USA.

Once defeated, as they melt into the villages, we'll see what happens when Assad goes, and another vacuum created there. Russia/Iran occupying force? Becomes a 'state', protectorate of Iran? That woud be my guess..And gee..some stability in the region.

....they already do, they are called ISIS....seems like the Saudis snuck one by their Merikan allies, sneaky buggers....just like those ISIS truck convoys that keep sneaking past Merikan spy satellites and never ever get hit by all that bombing that "The West" has been doing in Syria....

...could someone please explain the following...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFb5E22TvE

Cheers

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Re: Re:

just in...it is now official: the russian airliner was brought down by a bomb.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/russia-plane-sinai-brought-bomb-151117081851335.html

so, in the space of several weeks, we have 3 major players in the syrian conflict - turkey, russia and france - suffer horrible terror acts all of which according to both the victims and perps were accomplished by isil.

but of course, we are told, 'assad must go first'.

just like 'saddam had to go' and then 'qaddafi had to go' to see the tyrants formally monolithic fiefdoms disintegrate into militant 'autonomies', including the isil, that fight each other but really are the proxies of the various regional and not only players...

...can someone please explain the following...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFb5E22TvE

of course, the slaughtered civilians aren't guilty of that

I predict Turkey, France and Russia will step up. First with an expanded air campaign, then perhaps their boots on the ground. In spite of the saber rattlings from the inconsequential GOP presidential field,the people in the area(Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, others) had better put boots there way before the USA.

Once defeated, as they melt into the villages, we'll see what happens when Assad goes, and another vacuum created there. Russia/Iran occupying force? Becomes a 'state', protectorate of Iran? That woud be my guess..And gee..some stability in the region.

....they already do, they are called ISIS....seems like the Saudis snuck one by their Merikan allies, sneaky buggers....just like those ISIS truck convoys that keep sneaking past Merikan spy satellites and never ever get hit by all that bombing that "The West" has been doing in Syria....

...could someone please explain the following...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFFb5E22TvE

Cheers

I'm afraid you are right. Pakistan's 'involvement' as well. SA has always been kinda hinky. SA also has to come to the realization that an economy based almost 100% on oil isn't sustainable in the long term.

BUT some strikes at the leadership and supply of ISIL..will hurt them.

 

[Echoes]

Re: Re:

Glenn, if you dissected the article, he was not making an apologia for muslims, nor was he pointing the finger at americans.

I am sure Juan Cole would say if technology was available to the Ottoman Empire they could have wreaked an equivalent havoc.

He is just putting the islamophobia into the spotlight

This Juan Cole looks like a semi-intellectual to me. Why does he insist - rightly so - on the Young Turks being secularists when afterwards he referred to the 20th century European nations as Christian. While it does not take a expert in geopolitics to see that both World War were waged among secular nations. The secular democracies have invented some large-scale institutionalised form of terrorism, Hiroshima being the epitome of that. Next the US of A would spread 50 million liters of Agent Orange all across Vietnam, is that not terrorism? Israel using white phosphorus against Gaza, is that not terrorism? US using depleted uranium against Serbia and Iraq, is that not an institutionalized form of terrorism? Lybia bombing, neither? We may even want to put the Bolshevik gulags in the mix. We may get back to the Vendean genocide during the French revolution, the massacre of the Indians by the US, the deportation of Acadians by the Brits in Canada, the whole colonization of Africa, etc. All of that was the work of secular regimes. How will history remember them?

Western secular democracies have no moral lessons to teach the rest of the world. They invented a new form of terrorism, breaking all of the traditional rules of the war. Beside plundering this countries.

so, in the space of several weeks, we have 3 major players in the syrian conflict - turkey, russia and france - suffer horrible terror acts all of which according to both the victims and perps were accomplished by isil.

Beirut, that was still holiday on ice, as I see.

 

[python]

Re: Re:

just in...it is now official: the russian airliner was brought down by a bomb.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/russia-plane-sinai-brought-bomb-151117081851335.html

so, in the space of several weeks, we have 3 major players in the syrian conflict - turkey, russia and france - suffer horrible terror acts all of which according to both the victims and perps were accomplished by isil.

but of course, we are told, 'assad must go first'.

just like 'saddam had to go' and then 'qaddafi had to go' to see the tyrants formally monolithic fiefdoms disintegrate into militant 'autonomies', including the isil, that fight each other but really are the proxies of the various regional and not only players...

of course, the slaughtered civilians aren't guilty of that

I predict Turkey, France and Russia will step up. First with an expanded air campaign, then perhaps their boots on the ground.

(i excized the parts leaving those i'd like to comment on)

you say you are a military person, knuckle...let me ask you, what happens when one of the sides in any armed conflict gets its supplies of weapons, ammo and the means to procure those plus other logistics cut off ?

the answer of, course is a no brainer. that side will be quickly defeated by its armed enemy(s) with an intact supplies.

let me cut to the essence. i agree, france, russia perhaps the uk and even america with some token allies will likely to 'step up'. but all that means a diddly squat b/c it is turkey that has to mean business.. no, turkey's boots are not needed (besides being counterproductive b/c they will fight the kurds and kurds only).

explaining...i spent some time trying to understand the real situation in syria b/c ALL sides spin and misinform mercilessly. so, w/o crowding this post with maps, the majority of isis supplies (including weapons) get through a patch of syria-turkey border not controlled by the kurds. the same border is also used for smuggling oil, people, and most importantly $$. of course officially turkey does not allow this. thus the network of semi-legal intermediaries handle everything. it is simply unthinkable that a nato member, the ally of the us can't shut down this isis lifeline ! sure, the us is well informed having all sorts of assets in the area.

we can only reasonably speculate re. turkey's game, but until and unless the turks genuinely join the isis fight, the barbarians will take many more innocent lives..everything else is mostly posturing.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Re: Re:

just in...it is now official: the russian airliner was brought down by a bomb.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/russia-plane-sinai-brought-bomb-151117081851335.html

so, in the space of several weeks, we have 3 major players in the syrian conflict - turkey, russia and france - suffer horrible terror acts all of which according to both the victims and perps were accomplished by isil.

but of course, we are told, 'assad must go first'.

just like 'saddam had to go' and then 'qaddafi had to go' to see the tyrants formally monolithic fiefdoms disintegrate into militant 'autonomies', including the isil, that fight each other but really are the proxies of the various regional and not only players...

of course, the slaughtered civilians aren't guilty of that

I predict Turkey, France and Russia will step up. First with an expanded air campaign, then perhaps their boots on the ground.

(i excized the parts leaving those i'd like to comment on)

you say you are a military person, knuckle...let me ask you, what happens when one of the sides in any armed conflict gets its supplies of weapons, ammo and the means to procure those plus other logistics cut off ?

the answer of, course is a no brainer. that side will be quickly defeated by its armed enemy(s) with an intact supplies.

let me cut to the essence. i agree, france, russia perhaps the uk and even america with some token allies will likely to 'step up'. but all that means a diddly squat b/c it is turkey that has to mean business.. no, turkey's boots are not needed (besides being counterproductive b/c they will fight the kurds and kurds only).

explaining...i spent some time trying to understand the real situation in syria b/c ALL sides spin and misinform mercilessly. so, w/o crowding this post with maps, the majority of isis supplies (including weapons) get through a patch of syria-turkey border not controlled by the kurds. the same border is also used for smuggling oil, people, and most importantly $$. of course officially turkey does not allow this. thus the network of semi-legal intermediaries handle everything. it is simply unthinkable that a nato member, the ally of the us can't shut down this isis lifeline ! sure, the us is well informed having all sorts of assets in the area.

we can only reasonably speculate re. turkey's game, but until and unless the turks genuinely join the isis fight, the barbarians will take many more innocent lives..everything else is mostly posturing.

I agree.. Some pressure on Turkey, in terms of 'most favored nation' status, some arm bending by NATO and their biggest benefactor-the USA, is needed. The whole area is completely FU.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Re: Re:

explaining...i spent some time trying to understand the real situation in syria b/c ALL sides spin and misinform mercilessly. so, w/o crowding this post with maps, the majority of isis supplies (including weapons) get through a patch of syria-turkey border not controlled by the kurds. the same border is also used for smuggling oil, people, and most importantly $$. of course officially turkey does not allow this. thus the network of semi-legal intermediaries handle everything. it is simply unthinkable that a nato member, the ally of the us can't shut down this isis lifeline ! sure, the us is well informed having all sorts of assets in the area.

we can only reasonably speculate re. turkey's game, but until and unless the turks genuinely join the isis fight, the barbarians will take many more innocent lives..everything else is mostly posturing.

Bingo. I have been arguing precisely this among the great uninformed, whose thought process stops at, 'but the Turks are our NATO allies..' Erdogan has oilfields of blood on his hands, and many important Turks are evidently making a lot of money with Daesh.

 

[VeloCity]

Brining it back around to cycling and France for a minute: I've always kind of brushed off riders' concerns for their safety, unfairly of course, but it's a legitimate concern - can't think of any other sporting event save maybe marathons (Boston comes to mind, of course) in which both participants and spectators are quite so exposed and vulnerable as a bike race.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/michael-rogers-concerned-about-tour-de-france-safety-following-paris-attacks/

Easy for us to say "hey stay the course or the bastards win" but we don't have to ride.

 

[Brullnux]

Just asking, what do we mean by "secularism"? France and Germany are the only main secularist states in my eyes, and UK classifies itself as "Christian". USA, despite the fact the say they are Secular, is a Christian state, especially as the opposition bases 99% of their social policy on what they believe the bible says; Israel is a Jewish state (borderline apartheid). Middle Eastern states are all Muslim states, bar Lebanon. This is all my opinion ofc.

Technically Syria is a secular state, although that is up for discussion.

 

[red_flanders]

Re:

Brining it back around to cycling and France for a minute: I've always kind of brushed off riders' concerns for their safety, unfairly of course, but it's a legitimate concern - can't think of any other sporting event save maybe marathons (Boston comes to mind, of course) in which both participants and spectators are quite so exposed and vulnerable as a bike race.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/michael-rogers-concerned-about-tour-de-france-safety-following-paris-attacks/

Easy for us to say "hey stay the course or the bastards win" but we don't have to ride.

I've been worried about this for years. Surprised nothing horrible has happened so far. Pure chance, as there's been no way to police this.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

The Rund um Frankfurt was cancelled this very year due to a terrorist threat. I do understand where the riders (in this case Mick Rogers, who I'd prefer to just retire and clear off regardless) are coming from on this, but 'twas ever thus. We've had riders escorted by the military to the finish before in the Giro, we've had angry mobs, we've had assaults on riders. The Boston Marathon bombing took place and this didn't become any larger an issue. Bike racing on the road covers too large an area - even on circuits (in fact especially on circuits, as the fans are more concentrated and the riders pass several times) - to be able to fully police constantly effectively (as opposed to the rolling method that has served the sport for so long) like that.

Now, more immediately the larger issue is the truck bomb we're now seeing reported to have been found outside the stadium in Hannover prior to the Germany-Netherlands match. The plot continues to thicken, as this would seem to be the second time a German football match has been affected in under a week.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Seems like Germany has caught themselves a bomber.

 

[frenchfry]

Re:

Brining it back around to cycling and France for a minute: I've always kind of brushed off riders' concerns for their safety, unfairly of course, but it's a legitimate concern - can't think of any other sporting event save maybe marathons (Boston comes to mind, of course) in which both participants and spectators are quite so exposed and vulnerable as a bike race.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/michael-rogers-concerned-about-tour-de-france-safety-following-paris-attacks/

Easy for us to say "hey stay the course or the bastards win" but we don't have to ride.

When I was on vacation in 1995 an RER was blown up at the St Michel station in the center of Paris. I took that RER every day to go to work but never worried too much about my safety. My daughter is currently living in Paris, not too far from République, yet I am not particularly concerned for her safety. Of course it is better not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[Merckx index]

I'm in the Philippines, and a few hours ago in the city where I'm staying, a bomb went off in a van that arrived from a known Muslim area (actually the entire area, including the city where I stay, has a large population of Muslims). The van was parked or located near a large shopping mall and apparently in front of a condominium complex next to the mall. I bike past that mall every week, and until recently, I biked down that road. Last I heard, the mall was on lockdown, no one allowed in or out. However, I also heard that no one was killed, and only the driver of the van was injured. The mayor, a law and order type who makes Trump look like a pu$$y, is on the scene.

We're not new to terrorism here, about a year and a half ago, when I wasn't here, bombs went off more or less simultaneously in the movie theaters of two malls. And back in 2003, a bomb went off in front of the airport, killing almost two dozen.

I don't know if Isis has a presence over here, I wouldn't think it would be high on their list, other than the U.S. embassy (and there is none in this city where I stay) about the only places where a large proportion of foreigners would be among the victims would be in certain bars, and maybe the largest hotels. But this might have been inspired by the Paris attacks. The Philippine government has a long-standing conflict with Muslim groups in this region over control of certain areas, and the latter periodically bomb, kill and kidnap in order to resist.

 

[del1962]

For those that are negative towards the refugees coming from Syria they should remember that for the large part they are as much the victims of Isis as anyone else and that Isis wants europe to turn against these people.

 

[blutto]

....speaking of refugees and that passport that was found "at the scene ".....just like the Atta passport, and the passport tied to Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks seem to need a passport angle to make the story even more incomprehensible....find below a interesting take on the passport theme in the latest , "oh look, a terrorist attack, and look, there's the passport" chapter of modern history...

...and this one may end up bedeviling the fans of terrorist conspiracy story till the end of days...because this is just too weird , way too far out there....somewhere in this there is an SNL skit on passports that is just waiting to burst on the scene...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Police believe attackers used forged passports to stigmatize refugees

Source: CTV News (Montreal)

There is evidence the Syrian passport found near the body of one of the Paris attackers is a fake.

Following Friday's deadly assault which left 129 people dead, French authorities found a Syrian passport near the body of one of the perpetrators.

That passport, with the name Ahmad Al Mohammad, was found beside the body of a man who blew himself up outside the stadium where a soccer match was taking place between France and Germany.

In the days since the attack multiple copies of that passport have turned up.

=snip=

Islamic State has frequently said one of its goals is to stop refugees from fleeing Syria by any means possible, and tells refugees they are committing "a major dangerous sin" by attempting to flee the war and entering countries where they will be assimilated or integrated into "Christianity, atheism or liberalism."

Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/police-believe-attackers-used-forged-passports-to-stigmatize-refugees-1.2662167

Cheers

 

[52520Andrew]

Police raid in Paris last night(still wrapping up). Apparently they have 7 people in custody. I would link where I got the info but just seeing it on the news right now.

 

[blutto]

....authorities working diligently to patch all the leaks in the dikes and make sure we are really, errr, safe....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Calls grow for government back doors to encryption

The deadly terror attacks in Paris and Beirut have stirred up political tensions in an unlikely locale: Silicon Valley.

Terrorists may have take advantage of encrypted messaging services to avoid surveillance, reports said, raising the stakes on an already tenuous issue between lawmakers and technologists. Technology companies largely oppose creating government "back doors" in their end-to-end encryption, while regulators and law enforcement have pushed for power to monitor communications systems for potential threats to national security.

Just like 9/11 and whistleblower Edward Snowden shifted the debate over balancing individual liberty versus national security, experts are now wondering if Friday's attacks will alter the balance again, forcing tech companies to re-examine the widespread attachment to end-to-end message encryption. "

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/16/calls-grow-for-government-back-doors-to-encryption.html

....and as we all know that "widespread attachment" is a oft studied and deep rooted psychological problem that leads directly to the edges of a slippery slope that will lead directly into a cauldron of evil not unlike Islam and other stuff ....so we should all throw off the shackles of widespread attachment and become truly free, errr, safe...the authorities say so and they are good...

Cheers

 

[python]

i thought the following article's attempt at using an objective analysis of isis was worthwhile.

How Many Fighters Does the Islamic State Really Have?
http://warontherocks.com/2015/02/how-many-fighters-does-the-islamic-state-really-have/

a personal comment.
despite the article being 9 months old, its data is still applicable. very curious was that of the numerous estimates, the lowest estimate of the isil fighters was ...by the most powerful spy agency - the cia. reading the author's reasonable arguments on the isis structure, controlled population, territory and the numeric parallels to afghanistan, it is becoming abundantly clear that the cia estimate is laughable.

why would it be ? the billions of $$ wasted ? hardly...imo, it is just another example of a govt agency tasked to objectively and competently advice the president being in fact used to protect and promote what is obvious - the failed anti-isil policy of containment via airstrikes only.

 

[blutto]

...so here is a tale about how the natives of Soviet Canuckistan deal with the troubles that often seem to accompany "evil" Mooselims in "The West"...

...just after the Paris horror a mosque in a smallish outback town in Ontario was fire bombed...

...this was of course followed by a great hew and cry and a gnashing of teeth ....and amid this tumult a website was set up to take donations to help rebuild the damaged mosque....

....after about 30 hrs the site was closed down....

....it was closed down because in 30 hrs the $110,000 that was estimated to repair the damage had been pledged....and life will happily go on for the Mooselim community and the hate driven work of some forking arshole has not only gone for naught but in an wonderful ironical twist has also helped form a stronger bond btwn the Mooselim community and the greater community within which it resides...

Cheers

 

[blackcat]

Re:

i thought the following article's attempt at using an objective analysis of isis was worthwhile.

How Many Fighters Does the Islamic State Really Have?
http://warontherocks.com/2015/02/how-many-fighters-does-the-islamic-state-really-have/

a personal comment.
despite the article being 9 months old, its data is still applicable. very curious was that of the numerous estimates, the lowest estimate of the isil fighters was ...by the most powerful spy agency - the cia. reading the author's reasonable arguments on the isis structure, controlled population, territory and the numeric parallels to afghanistan, it is becoming abundantly clear that the cia estimate is laughable.

why would it be ? the billions of $$ wasted ? hardly...imo, it is just another example of a govt agency tasked to objectively and competently advice the president being in fact used to protect and promote what is obvious - the failed anti-isil policy of containment via airstrikes only.

its a symbiosis.

major powers need major enemies, and the ME needs their villains (West/Israel, aka little brother West)

now, you could well assert they aint a major power, nor, are they a major existential threat. That I agree. But the manipulation of the populace and the messaging is anything but.

If it aint in the ME, the next turf war will be Africa. It wont be Asia, no one wants a hot war. America are already laying the groundwork. see Nick Turse and Jeremy Scahill's work on Africa and AfriCOM

 

[Amsterhammer]

I have a request/suggestion for regular users of the politics topics. It seems that the word 'Daesh' is an Arabic acronym, something that is rare in the language. It also seems that the black pajama brigade absolutely hates the acronym, which seems like a splendid reason for it to be widely adapted. Even Kerry is using it now. So, can we kick IS, ISIS, and ISIL into the dustbin of history, and agree to use Daesh when referring to these ****tards?

Two dead in a Paris suburb after a massive dawn police assault - one man killed by a grenade, woman blew herself up, seven people in custody.

 

[Amsterhammer]

So many Muricans are just so awesomely, pathetically ignorant about the world outside of their backyard.

 

[Irondan]

I agree, It's rather embarrassing tbh. Traditional and Social media prop up the myth, leaving a lot idiots screaming to close the borders...

 

[blutto]

Re:

I agree, It's rather embarrassing tbh. Traditional and Social media prop up the myth, leaving a lot idiots screaming to close the borders...

....know exactly what you mean, we here in Soviet Canuckistan are very much most looking forward to the proposed wall on our southern border and the assumed subsequent closing of the borders ( and yes some of our more desperate citizens have been heard screaming about this...why just this morning I did done some screaming myself....and I don't believe I'm an idiot though ymmv on this which may be quite undestandable..or not... )....in fact we are already in the planning stages of launching a new national holiday to celebrate the erection of the huge long thick wall snaking along our southern border that Merika seems, uhhh, unnaturally obsessed with, and the all important closing of said border...

...thank you, thank you very much, eh ...

Cheers

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Re:

So many Muricans are just so awesomely, pathetically ignorant about the world outside of their backyard.

Right on man.

These Radical Muslims are way out of control and people seem to not understand there is a difference. But why just pick on Murikans?