The Middle East Problem

[safeorigin]

man, that hockeystick

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man, that hockeystick

[badkuk]

Why Islamic State Has All the Money It Needs


Something like US$500M annually from oil alone.

They also engaged in one of the most lucrative rackets in the world -- taxation :p

[safeorigin]

Definitely... spending more only makes matters worse. The idea that Obama's "inaction" is causing problems is the fundamental lie being fed the American public by Republican Presidentiables seeking an edge. Obama has definitely been taking too much of the wrong kind of action... though, to be fair... it's hard to tell what the right kind is.

Think the US and EU would be willing to drop another trillion or two dollars on a perpetual police action in Syria?

well, they have to because they're keynesians

[niky]

well, they have to because they're keynesians

:hysterical: Congratulations... I actually laughed out loud!

Yah republicans, seen that floating around for a long time. Not his fault, it's the republicans.

Did I say Obama did nothing wrong? I'm simply putting things in perspective. And if you want to know what's really going on and who's really pushing America back into the fray, I suggest you read safeorigin's link... very interesting that it's a conservative publication... taking a very sobering look at some of the worst dregs ever to be associated with the conservative party.

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Those neocons are real stand-up bastards. They had the American public hoodwinked into supporting the Iraq war, and many people to this day still refuse to believe that the excuses given for the invasion don't hold up to the facts.

Invading Afghanistan, THAT, I believe, was necessary. It weakened Al Quaeda by taking away its physical base of operations and source of materiel... but invading Iraq did nothing but give insurgents and terrorists a new playground to grow and fester in.

TL;DR - We're in this mess partly because the neocons and their military contractor buddies love wars and wartime spending. Keynesian economics, hurrah!

The rest of it is Arab Spring. And that's something no Western government had control over...

[ClaNker]

:hysterical: Congratulations... I actually laughed out loud!



Did I say Obama did nothing wrong? I'm simply putting things in perspective. And if you want to know what's really going on and who's really pushing America back into the fray, I suggest you read safeorigin's link... very interesting that it's a conservative publication... taking a very sobering look at some of the worst dregs ever to be associated with the conservative party.

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Those neocons are real stand-up bastards. They had the American public hoodwinked into supporting the Iraq war, and many people to this day still refuse to believe that the excuses given for the invasion don't hold up to the facts.

Invading Afghanistan, THAT, I believe, was necessary. It weakened Al Quaeda by taking away its physical base of operations and source of materiel... but invading Iraq did nothing but give insurgents and terrorists a new playground to grow and fester in.

TL;DR - We're in this mess partly because the neocons and their military contractor buddies love wars and wartime spending. Keynesian economics, hurrah!

The rest of it is Arab Spring. And that's something no Western government had control over...

The republicans are complaining because Obama is spending money on all the wrong strategy then he admitted he doesn't have a strategy at all hence he's not doing anything to address the problem of ISIS.

No need, I'm fully updated with what's going on between both parties and to say It's all republicans is just plain wrong. The idiot have spent over a billion in his "fight" with ISIS only to admit that he doesn't have any strategy at all.

Iraq have been stable until the idiot pulled out the forces, he essentially destabilized the entire region. Egypt thanks to El-Sisi is stable now but man that idiot in WH love Muslim Brotherhood, then follows Libya, & Yemen. Now he wants Asad.

Iraq war was approved by congress, you can't point your finger on Republicans alone on that one.

[safeorigin]

honestly, the timing could have never been so impeccable! just when countries are falling into recession and depression left and right!

[safeorigin]

haha, iraq never was stable to begin with after they've invaded the country. there's a reason why black water had such a lucrative business there

[safeorigin]

hahaha, who would have thought The Onion nailed what's going to happen back in 2003. This War Will Destabilize The Entire Mideast Region And Set Off A Global Shockwave Of Anti-Americanism vs. No It Won’t - The Onion - America's Finest News Source

George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, but the reality is, it will only serve to create far more.

This war will not put an end to anti-Americanism; it will fan the flames of hatred even higher. It will not end the threat of weapons of mass destruction; it will make possible their further proliferation. And it will not lay the groundwork for the flourishing of democracy throughout the Mideast; it will harden the resolve of Arab states to drive out all Western (i.e. U.S.) influence.

If you thought Osama bin Laden was bad, just wait until the countless children who become orphaned by U.S. bombs in the coming weeks are all grown up. Do you think they will forget what country dropped the bombs that killed their parents? In 10 or 15 years, we will look back fondly on the days when there were only a few thousand Middle Easterners dedicated to destroying the U.S. and willing to die for the fundamentalist cause. From this war, a million bin Ladens will bloom.

And what exactly is our endgame here? Do we really believe that we can install Gen. Tommy Franks as the ruler of Iraq? Is our arrogance and hubris so great that we actually believe that a U.S. provisional military regime will be welcomed with open arms by the Iraqi people? Democracy cannot possibly thrive under coercion. To take over a country and impose one's own system of government without regard for the people of that country is the very antithesis of democracy. And it is doomed to fail.

A war against Iraq is not only morally wrong, it will be an unmitigated disaster.

the response is priceless

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hahaha, who would have thought The Onion nailed what's going to happen back in 2003. http://www.theonion.com/multiblogpost/this-war-will-destabilize-the-entire-mideast-regio-11534

George W. Bush may think that a war against Iraq is the solution to our problems, but the reality is, it will only serve to create far more.

This war will not put an end to anti-Americanism; it will fan the flames of hatred even higher. It will not end the threat of weapons of mass destruction; it will make possible their further proliferation. And it will not lay the groundwork for the flourishing of democracy throughout the Mideast; it will harden the resolve of Arab states to drive out all Western (i.e. U.S.) influence.

If you thought Osama bin Laden was bad, just wait until the countless children who become orphaned by U.S. bombs in the coming weeks are all grown up. Do you think they will forget what country dropped the bombs that killed their parents? In 10 or 15 years, we will look back fondly on the days when there were only a few thousand Middle Easterners dedicated to destroying the U.S. and willing to die for the fundamentalist cause. From this war, a million bin Ladens will bloom.

And what exactly is our endgame here? Do we really believe that we can install Gen. Tommy Franks as the ruler of Iraq? Is our arrogance and hubris so great that we actually believe that a U.S. provisional military regime will be welcomed with open arms by the Iraqi people? Democracy cannot possibly thrive under coercion. To take over a country and impose one's own system of government without regard for the people of that country is the very antithesis of democracy. And it is doomed to fail.

A war against Iraq is not only morally wrong, it will be an unmitigated disaster.

the response is priceless

[badkuk]

afaik there's a fair number of civilians living in ISIS-held territories, be it by choice, or "no choice". Do we expect a similar backlash should the US, Russia, etc. get involved the same way it did in Iraq?

Or will the people be more "understanding", given the atrocities that ISIS is committing?

[minicarph]

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[safeorigin]

here's a video of Nigel Farage ca. 2013. He is one of the few dissenting people labelled politically incorrect. hehe

[safeorigin]

Erdogan Says Will Resign If Oil Purchases From ISIS Proven After Putin Says Has "More Proof" | Zero Hedge

Erdogan is unlikely to resign even if he's proven to support ISIS. hehe

[safeorigin]

My belief is, we will, in fact be greeted as liberators.

– Dick Cheney on NBC’s Meet the Press, March 16, 2003

The fighters there insist there have been no strikes by the Americans at all. “We’d be better off without them,” said 1st Lt. Murtada Fadl, who is serving with the Iraqi elite forces in Baiji. He said that the only air support had come from the Iraqi air force and that he wishes the government would ask the Russians to replace the Americans.

“The image of the U.S. was damaged in the region, so they created Daesh in order to fight them and restore their image,” said Mohammed Abdul Khaleq, a journalist for a local TV station who was drinking coffee in a cafe favored by writers, most of whom said they agreed.

– From the Washington Post article: Iraqis Think the U.S. is in Cahoots With the Islamic State, and it is Hurting the War

The Iraq War will go down as the single greatest foreign policy blunder in U.S. history. It is simply the unmitigated disaster that keeps on giving.

To recap, the people who the U.S. government supposedly “liberated,” now hate Americans so much that most of them are convinced the U.S. is in cahoots with ISIS. Not that you could blame them for coming to this conclusion, considering the indisputable role the U.S. government played in the creation of ISIS.

From the post: Additional Details Emerge on How U.S. Government Policy Created, Armed, Supported and Funded ISIS

Telling Hasan that he had read the document himself, Flynn said that it was among a range of intelligence being circulated throughout the US intelligence community that had led him to attempt to dissuade the White House from supporting these groups, albeit without success.

Despite this, Flynn’s account shows that the US commitment to supporting the Syrian insurgency against Bashir al-Assad led the US to deliberately support the very al-Qaeda affiliated forces it had previously fought in Iraq.

The US anti-Assad strategy in Syria, in other words, bolstered the very al-Qaeda factions the US had fought in Iraq, by using the Gulf states and Turkey to finance the same groups in Syria. As a direct consequence, the secular and moderate elements of the Free Syrian Army were increasingly supplanted by virulent Islamist extremists backed by US allies.

It should be noted that precisely at this time, the West, the Gulf states and Turkey, according to the DIA’s internal intelligence reports, were supporting AQI and other Islamist factions in Syria to “isolate” the Assad regime. By Flynn’s account, despite his warnings to the White House that an ISIS attack on Iraq was imminent, and could lead to the destabilization of the region, senior Obama officials deliberately continued the covert support to these factions.

Not that the reality of Iraqis thinking the U.S. is allied with ISIS is anything new. For example, read the following from the post, Accusations Emerge That the U.S. Is Aiding ISIS – The Latest “Conspiracy Theory” Circulating in Iraq, published in March:

But that enmity for the United States circulates beyond the militias that once fought U.S. soldiers, surfacing also in parliamentary debates and Iraqi media reports and even at the highest ranks of the national armed forces that the United States is aiding.

“Everybody knows that the Americans are dropping supplies to Daesh,” said Brig. Gen. Abed al-Maliki, a senior Iraqi army commander based in the city of Samarra, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, using another term for the Islamic State.

What’s more, he said, during some of the fiercest fighting around Samarra last year, U.S. Special Operations forces dropped behind enemy lines to assist Islamic State militants.

“They came in with parachutes, and they were helping to bomb the city,” he said.

U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State, he contended, are probably just a cover for efforts to support the group.

“It’s just a show,” he said, sitting in the city’s army command headquarters. “If the Americans want to finish something, they will finish it. If they wanted to liberate Iraq, they could.”

Epic Foreign Policy Fail ? Most Iraqis Think the U.S. Government Supports ISIS | Liberty Blitzkrieg

[safeorigin]

Here's a long and in-depth picture of what's going on in Syria and Iraq:

NEO – Damascus Counter-Terrorism conference – One year later | Veterans Today

by first hand accounts of people with high level inside knowledge.

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in other breaking news: Breaking: Turkey Sets Up ISIS Airbase Outside Mosul | Veterans Today

[minicarph]

Hi, gusto mo ng company , mukang Ikaw Lang kumakausap sa thread na to. Nag-Aral ka ba ng criminology, psychology, behavioral stuff nun college?

[n_spinner06]

i wonder why news like this doesn't get airtime here. ang gulo na sa middle east...

[safeorigin]

meh. doesn't matter if anybody else reads it or responds.

already serves its purpose for archiving news

i wonder why news like this doesn't get airtime here. ang gulo na sa middle east...

it never makes it into mainstream news because it doesn't fit their narrative/agenda.

the way "actors" are depicted in mainstream are removed from what really happens on the ground.

they'll never admit it, of course.

if they did, there'll be a civil war.

[minicarph]

meh. doesn't matter if anybody else reads it or responds.

already serves its purpose for archiving news



it r.

Don't change bro

[Juan Martinez]

doesn't matter if anybody else reads it or responds.

i check every link you posted here.
i am also a student of world politics .
keep it up. a good work never passes unnoticed.

[badkuk]

i do check on this thread regularly . i just don't know how to respond intelligently ^_^