Meanwhile, In Syria
Discussion
Pesty said:
Surely that is an act of aggression, not sanctioned by the UNAssad should spend an equal amount and pay people in the US to bomb US locations? Fair?
What a difference a year makes. Just over 12 months ago America and Britain were set to bomb Assad out of power. Now we (well the Americans to start with) are bombing his enemies in Syria.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
BlackLabel said:
What a difference a year makes. Just over 12 months ago America and Britain were set to bomb Assad out of power. Now we (well the Americans to start with) are bombing his enemies in Syria.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
& then him.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
Mermaid said:
BlackLabel said:
What a difference a year makes. Just over 12 months ago America and Britain were set to bomb Assad out of power. Now we (well the Americans to start with) are bombing his enemies in Syria.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
& then him.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
The bombing for peace campaign has kicked off again, with the usual suspects, different target.
The UK has gone from being anti overt intervention in Syria to pro intervention.
Edited by QuantumTokoloshi on Tuesday 23 September 14:42
QuantumTokoloshi said:
The fun kicks off in ernest. A way needed to be found to get rid of Assad, and here we have it, bomb ISIS but bomb Assad too, 2 birds, one LGB.
The bombing for peace campaign has kicked off again, with the usual suspects, different target.
The UK has gone from being anti overt intervention in Syria to pro intervention.
In Syria, we Assad (legitimate government), ISIS (not so liked today) and the Free Syrian Army (liked today - but tomorrow?)The bombing for peace campaign has kicked off again, with the usual suspects, different target.
The UK has gone from being anti overt intervention in Syria to pro intervention.
In Syria, we did not like the Sunnis, then we did not like the Shias but we like the Kurds right now till they create havoc in Turkey.
Is the US/UK a legitimate target for Assad,ISIS, Saddam's Sunnis, Gaddafi's mates....
Bet Tony has made money from the parties mentioned above.
QuantumTokoloshi said:
Mermaid said:
BlackLabel said:
What a difference a year makes. Just over 12 months ago America and Britain were set to bomb Assad out of power. Now we (well the Americans to start with) are bombing his enemies in Syria.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
& then him.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/obama...
The bombing for peace campaign has kicked off again, with the usual suspects, different target.
The UK has gone from being anti overt intervention in Syria to pro intervention.
Edited by QuantumTokoloshi on Tuesday 23 September 14:42
Oh how 5 months can change everything.
23 / 09 / 2014 News Article
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the United States invoked Article 51 of the U.N. charter -- acting when a country is unwilling or unable to handle a threat itself -- as justification for carrying out airstrikes against ISIS and the al Qaeda-affiliated Khorasan Group in Syria.
"The Syrian regime has shown that it cannot and will not confront these safe havens effectively itself," Samantha Powers, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., wrote in a letter obtained by CNN.
"Accordingly, the United States has initiated necessary and proportionate military actions in Syria."
The airstrikes in Syria began early Tuesday morning local time. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan took part in airstrikes on ISIS targets, the U.S. military said. Qatar played a supporting role, the U.S. military said.
04 / 04 / 2014 News Article
U.S. allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have provided weaponry to various rebel factions during the conflict, including some Islamist groups now at odds with moderate rebels grouped under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army.
U.S. and European officials say the most powerful anti-Assad factions are militant groups such as the Al-Nusrah and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, some of which either have links to Al Qaeda or are so extreme that even Al Qaeda has denounced them.
23 / 09 / 2014 News Article
In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the United States invoked Article 51 of the U.N. charter -- acting when a country is unwilling or unable to handle a threat itself -- as justification for carrying out airstrikes against ISIS and the al Qaeda-affiliated Khorasan Group in Syria.
"The Syrian regime has shown that it cannot and will not confront these safe havens effectively itself," Samantha Powers, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., wrote in a letter obtained by CNN.
"Accordingly, the United States has initiated necessary and proportionate military actions in Syria."
The airstrikes in Syria began early Tuesday morning local time. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan took part in airstrikes on ISIS targets, the U.S. military said. Qatar played a supporting role, the U.S. military said.
04 / 04 / 2014 News Article
U.S. allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have provided weaponry to various rebel factions during the conflict, including some Islamist groups now at odds with moderate rebels grouped under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army.
U.S. and European officials say the most powerful anti-Assad factions are militant groups such as the Al-Nusrah and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, some of which either have links to Al Qaeda or are so extreme that even Al Qaeda has denounced them.
RedTrident said:
The Mozzam Begg story I personally think is all smoke. Be interesting to see how this plays out.
There is no doubt that UK nationals are going off to Syria to fight, but then I remember the same being true of UK nationals off to fight in Libya. Don't remember this sort of attention when that happened.
You were right.There is no doubt that UK nationals are going off to Syria to fight, but then I remember the same being true of UK nationals off to fight in Libya. Don't remember this sort of attention when that happened.
It took over 7 months but it turns out the man was innocent of these charges.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/03/moazz...
Edited by BlackLabel on Saturday 4th October 10:07
Every once in a blue moon, Zero hedge has a good article.
A good historical perspective mixed with the current situation.
Turkey, Iraq and Syria
A good historical perspective mixed with the current situation.
Turkey, Iraq and Syria
Edited by QuantumTokoloshi on Wednesday 8th October 09:00
Listening to R4 this morning, summarising the papers and the general negative reaction to Turkey at present (sitting on it's hands etc)...
Now, if you're right next door to all this cr@p and probably receiving much intel from all parties and still you choose not to get involved, (or at least not yet) why do I have an uncomfortable feeling that we much further away may be reading it wrong and making things worse?
It's a mess. It'll probably get messier. But is it our mess?
Now, if you're right next door to all this cr@p and probably receiving much intel from all parties and still you choose not to get involved, (or at least not yet) why do I have an uncomfortable feeling that we much further away may be reading it wrong and making things worse?
It's a mess. It'll probably get messier. But is it our mess?
Erdogan has a dilemma; by not acting he is fomenting kurdish unrest and allowing IS to do what IS do. If he acts against IS, or removes his objection to the Peshmurga being armed with anything bigger than AK47s he risks;
1) Further agitation for part of Turkey becoming an autonomous kurdish region, or worse still seceding entirely and joining with the kurdish part of Iraq to form a greater kurdish nation.
2) getting stabbed in the back politically, as he is where he is because he leant toward islamification of the nominally secular turkish state. There does seem to be a town/country split not unlike Iran, the younger urban population wants more secular government and the older rural population want the opposite.
1) Further agitation for part of Turkey becoming an autonomous kurdish region, or worse still seceding entirely and joining with the kurdish part of Iraq to form a greater kurdish nation.
2) getting stabbed in the back politically, as he is where he is because he leant toward islamification of the nominally secular turkish state. There does seem to be a town/country split not unlike Iran, the younger urban population wants more secular government and the older rural population want the opposite.
The Don of Croy said:
Listening to R4 this morning, summarising the papers and the general negative reaction to Turkey at present (sitting on it's hands etc)...
Now, if you're right next door to all this cr@p and probably receiving much intel from all parties and still you choose not to get involved, (or at least not yet) why do I have an uncomfortable feeling that we much further away may be reading it wrong and making things worse?
It's a mess. It'll probably get messier. But is it our mess?
Of course it's our mess. Leave the dictatorships alone...these places (unfortunately) need them. Look what happens when we go in an remove them. Now, if you're right next door to all this cr@p and probably receiving much intel from all parties and still you choose not to get involved, (or at least not yet) why do I have an uncomfortable feeling that we much further away may be reading it wrong and making things worse?
It's a mess. It'll probably get messier. But is it our mess?
DrDoofenshmirtz said:
Of course it's our mess. Leave the dictatorships alone...these places (unfortunately) need them. Look what happens when we go in an remove them.
Is Syria / IS our mess? We may have culpability in Iraq (hard to deny) but this whole IS movement seems to have grown out of nowhere.Excuse my ignorance, but didn't it originate in the Syrian rebellion? Add on some tribal conflict out of neighbouring areas, pull a few strings to ignite old arguments, bring to the boil...
In the meantime, there was a large 'bang' out near Tehran over the weekend;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-295085...
- perhaps there's more going on than meets the eye. /conspiracy mode
The Don of Croy said:
Listening to R4 this morning, summarising the papers and the general negative reaction to Turkey at present (sitting on it's hands etc)...
Now, if you're right next door to all this cr@p and probably receiving much intel from all parties and still you choose not to get involved, (or at least not yet) why do I have an uncomfortable feeling that we much further away may be reading it wrong and making things worse?
It's a mess. It'll probably get messier. But is it our mess?
Of course it's our mess. Leave the dictatorships alone...these places (unfortunately) need them. Look what happens when we go in an remove them. Now, if you're right next door to all this cr@p and probably receiving much intel from all parties and still you choose not to get involved, (or at least not yet) why do I have an uncomfortable feeling that we much further away may be reading it wrong and making things worse?
It's a mess. It'll probably get messier. But is it our mess?
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