The Levant crisis.(Israel,SYRIA,Lebanon,etc) - II

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 11 Dec 2015 13:28

^^^ TSJ, while I commend the Coalition led by US in having killed 03 alpha rats of ISIS, it is really a sad commentary on how little they are doing with the money they are spending.

I will link some twitter handles here and if you have time and inclination you may scroll down those handles to check how many such leaders of Al Qaeda affiliates and ISIS are getting knocked off daily. These Jihadi / Takfiri tanzims will just replace the fallen rats with new one. They have at their beck and call the entire Sunni Islamic world.

The US is confused whether to support the agendas of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar UAE on one hand and Israel on the other vs. its commitment to wage a war on terror. The US military is being made ineffective by US govt.

Alternatively framed view- why the Iraqis are becoming more and more averse to US help in their war against ISIS? They have struck Ramadi and have taken large parts of the city while actively staying away from Coalition assistance. Troops on ground have lost trust of the Air Support?

Twitter handles:
https://twitter.com/Terror_Monitor
https://twitter.com/TheArabSource
https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Dec 2015 14:55

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/i-w ... 33311.html

head of sinaloa cartel furious with isis for burning his drug shipments.

habal · Post by **habal** » 11 Dec 2015 15:45

Anyone remember the burning jordanian pilot .. apparently still alive.

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940919000453

Former ISIL Hostage: Jordanian Pilot Still Alive

TEHRAN (FNA)- Moath al-Kasasbeh, the Jordanian pilot that ISIL captured and showed him burning to death in a video last December is still alive, a hostage who has recently been freed by ISIL claimed.

“Until I was freed from the ISIL jail, Kasasbeh was still alive,” Ibrahim al-Shimr, the goalkeeper of a Syrian football team who was in an ISIL jail in Raqqa, was quoted as saying by the Arabic-language channel of Russia Today on Thursday. “One month after the footages of the Jordanian pilot’s burning to ashes was released, I was freed from jail and Kasasbeh was alive at the time,” he added. The video itself, which was posted on social media appeared to have been a carefully staged production, shot from several angles

So burning of the Jordanian pilot was fake.
Ridiculously fake. terror tactics to scare Syrian civilian and soldiers.

Question of the day
does ISIL media dept operate out of hollywood studios ?

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 11 Dec 2015 17:17

Singha wrote: Now the Russians say that they activated air defense missiles, the famous S-400 I guess, to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Does that indeed preclude the Turks interfering with the Russians carrying out strikes in that area?

The answer is no, but it’s a hell of a threat. The longest range version of the S-400 is good for two hundred and fifty miles. The Russians are installing it at their base just south of Latakia, within fifty miles of the border. So conceivably they could shoot two hundred miles into Turkey. They may or may not be able to prevent a hidden Turkish fighter from firing at another Russian attack in the border area, but they certainly have the possibility of catching him or his friends on the way home. This is a real sword poised over the heads of the Turks now that the Russians have the capability to shoot deep into Turkey and can do so any time they want.

The one thing everyone seems to agree is that Israel is very nervous regarding the S-400 and this is exactly what Putin comforted Bibi when they two met. Cant say the same to Erdogan though. Turks have enemies inside NATO. This is what prevented Russians from attacking overtly. These hidden Russian friends inside NATO have ways and means to hurt Turkey's soft spots. Europeans have a voracious appetite for Russian energy and they dont want to feel the sting when push comes to shove.
I am however curious as to which side are the French. They cant seem to make up their minds as it is so crazy out there. Czecks are pissed off at Turks and cracks may appear visually inside NATO as time passes and people start to see more clearly which side is the bread buttered.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 11 Dec 2015 18:02

And the so-called "Christian" nations turn a blind eye and support the ISIS loving Turks!

https://www.rt.com/news/325568-terror-a ... mer-syria/
[/quote]Triple terror: up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town
Published time: 11 Dec, 2015 07:05
Three truck bomb explosions in the town of Tell Tamer in Syria's northeastern Al Hasakah province have killed up to 60 and injured more than 80 people on Thursday, a spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG said on Friday, Reuters reports.

The blasts struck near a Kurdish militia forces field hospital and in the crowded Souk Al Jumla market square, where the majority of the fatalities occurred. Most of the affected people were civilians, but there were some Kurdish and Assyrian self-defense fighters among them.

The vehicles were allegedly packed with large amounts of explosives, which also inflicted significant damage to nearby buildings and infrastructure.

While no terrorist group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, Asayish, the Kurdish security force, blamed the attack on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in a statement, according to Reuters. The town of Tell Tamer is mainly controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters battling IS in this part of Syria.

The town, also home to an Assyrian Christian community, has become a target of numerous terror attacks and incursions by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants over the last months.

In September, IS militants organized a series of deadly terror attacks in the town of Hasakah, which killed 39 and injured more than 100. Terrorists targeted the headquarters of the Kurdish militia and pro-government forces, but most of the victims were civilians, according to TASS.

In February, IS terrorists took some 200 local Christians hostage and also destroyed five local churches. This caused most of the residents to flee to nearby Hasakah, the governorate’s capital city some 600 kilometers from Damascus. Kurdish forces and local fighters have temporarily joined forces with the Syrian Army and cleared the region of IS jihadists.

The Syrian conflict has taken the lives of more than 250,000 people, according to UN estimates. The humanitarian crisis has internally displaced over 6.5 million Syrians and forced 4.3 million to flee the country. They have sought refuge in neighboring countries and Europe.

READ MORE: Middle East attacks on Christians cause for concern - Russian ombudsman
[/quote]

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/325218-syria ... -iraq-war/
Exposing the truth of the neo-Ottoman incursion of Iraq.

Crippled in Syria, Turkey goes for a ‘Sunnistan’ in Iraq
Pepe Escobar
Published time: 9 Dec, 2015

Turkey’s “incursion” into Iraq is a cold, calculated move. And once again, the name of the game is – what else? – Divide and Rule.

Turkey sent to Iraqi Kurdistan – which is part of the state of Iraq - no less than a 400-strong battalion supported by 25 M-60A3 tanks. Now the Turkish boots on the ground at Bashiqa camp, northeast of Mosul, have reportedly reached a total of around 600.

The short breakdown: this is not a “training camp”- as Ankara is spinning. It’s a full-blown, perhaps permanent, military base.

The dodgy deal was struck between the ultra-corrupt Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and then-Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu in Erbil last month.

Torrents of Turkish spin swear this is only about “training” Peshmergas to fight ISIS/ISIL/Daesh.

Absolute nonsense. The crucial fact is that Ankara is terrified of the “4+1” alliance fighting Islamic State, which unites Iran, Iraqi Shiites and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), as well as Hezbollah, with Russia.

In Syria, Ankara is virtually paralyzed, after the “stab in the back” downing of the Su-24; the Russian revelations of complicity between Turkey’s first family and stolen Syrian oil (Bilal Erdogan, a.k.a. Erdogan ‘Mini Me’, denies everything); and the Russian Air Force relentless pounding of Turkey’s fifth column Turkmen. Not to mention the deployment of S-400s and even a third-generation submarine complete with Kalibr cruise missiles.

So Ankara now switches the attention to Iraq with a “counter-alliance”, made up of Turkey; the KRG (which – illegally – sells oil to Turkey); and Sunnis in northern Iraq under the supposed leadership of the sprawling Nuceyfi tribe in Mosul.

This is textbook neo-Ottomanism in action. We should never forget that for the AKP in power in Ankara, northern Syria and northern Iraq are nothing but former Ottoman Empire provinces, an eastward extension of Turkey’s Hatay province. ‘Sultan’ Erdogan’s (unstated) wet dream is to annex the whole lot.

Meanwhile, Daesh still controls Mosul. But Iraqi Sunnis – as well as the Iraqi Army - are slowly setting up an offensive.

So what Ankara wants with this military base close to Mosul is to be part of the game, coupled with two “invisible” agendas; protect their fifth-column Turkmen, wherever they are, and having more boots on the ground to fight – what else – PKK Kurds taking refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan.

‘Sultan’ Erdogan’s whole rationale is that Baghdad does not rule northern Iraq anymore (he’s got a point). But the problem, for Ankara, is that the real powers in the region may turn out to be Shiites and the PKK (that’s far-fetched; but that’s Erdogan thinking.)

‘Sultan’ Erdogan has extremely close business deals with the KRG’s ‘Mobster-in-Chief’, Massoud Barzani – as in the oil exporting deal which, illegally, bypasses Baghdad. Barzani, predictably, has no problems with Turkish military designs; after all “his” oil is paid for by the Turks.

As for the clincher, follow geopolitical ace Mick Jagger: it’s a gas, gas, gas.

Ankara’s move plays straight into the ultimate ‘Pipelineistan’ war; the clash between two competing gas pipelines, Qatar-Saudi Arabia-Jordan-Syria-Turkey, or Iran-Iraq-Syria, at the heart of the Syrian tragedy.

Erdogan’s paranoia that Russia may cut off gas supplies to Turkey after the downing of the Su-24 – something that Gazprom simply won’t do – has led Ankara, in desperation, to force Baghdad, mob-style, to “accept” a Qatar gas pipeline crossing Iraqi, not Syrian territory.

Needless to add this far-fetched scheme is an absolute no-go for Baghdad, which is part of the “4+1” alliance. Moreover, expect Iran – and Russia – to go no holds barred exploiting divisions among the notoriously divisive Kurds to bomb Erdogan’s elaborate plans.

Erdogan’s bottom line is quite something; he is aiming for no less than an Iraqi ‘Sunnistan’ – jointly managed by the ultra-corrupt KRG and assorted Sunnis, but under Turkish security arrangements. As if Washington and Tel-Aviv would let him get away with that.

The fact is that at least for the moment, while his game in Syria may be going down the drain, Erdogan has decided to change the subject and turbo-charge his strategy for breaking up Iraq.

The gift

And that brings up the question, once again, of how Daesh was able last year to conquer Mosul – the second city in Iraq - without a fight. And this after their notorious convoy of gleaming white Toyotas crossing the desert from Syria to Iraq managed to evade detection by the most sophisticated satellite surveillance system in the history of the Universe.

Regarding the mystery, persistent intel rumblings across the Middle East and among the “4+1” coalition are bound to turn into a volcano.

According to the rumblings, the official - Pentagon - narrative that the Iraqi Army supposed to fight Islamic State in Mosul last year got scared and simply ran away is a myth.

As we know, the Iraqi Army, trained by the Pentagon, left behind a wealth of tanks and heavy weapons duly captured by IS. And IS couldn’t be luckier in collecting this almighty ‘gift’.

The new narrative rules that the Pentagon deliberately “instructed” the Iraqi Army to run away, as a sort of tactical retreat, leaving behind all that fabulous hardware.

So what we have here is the Pentagon fully protected by plausible deniability.

And Islamic State duly weaponized as a proxy/regime change army in Syria. A perfect chaos-provoking tool aligned with the strategic objective of the ‘Empire of Chaos’ in Syria. Which, by the way, does include, in the absence of full regime change, the formation of a ‘Sunnistan’ in Syria as well.

Oh, but the Pentagon would never engage in such practices, would they?

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 11 Dec 2015 18:11

deejay wrote:^^^ TSJ, while I commend the Coalition led by US in having killed 03 alpha rats of ISIS, it is really a sad commentary on how little they are doing with the money they are spending.

I will link some twitter handles here and if you have time and inclination you may scroll down those handles to check how many such leaders of Al Qaeda affiliates and ISIS are getting knocked off daily. These Jihadi / Takfiri tanzims will just replace the fallen rats with new one. They have at their beck and call the entire Sunni Islamic world.

The US is confused whether to support the agendas of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar UAE on one hand and Israel on the other vs. its commitment to wage a war on terror. The US military is being made ineffective by US govt.

Alternatively framed view- why the Iraqis are becoming more and more averse to US help in their war against ISIS? They have struck Ramadi and have taken large parts of the city while actively staying away from Coalition assistance. Troops on ground have lost trust of the Air Support?

Twitter handles:
https://twitter.com/Terror_Monitor
https://twitter.com/TheArabSource
https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha

i
they want American air support and plenty of it. but they want to determine the targets and the scheduling there of. In other words, they want it to support their Iranian backed agenda. What they don't want is a lot of American troops on the ground in Iraq because they feel it would possibly cause conflict with Iran and their advisors currently serving in Iraq with Shia militias. They aren't hot about American support of the Kurds on their soil either. The Kurds are actively taking Iraqi oil and selling it as their own.

One thing the US does not want to do is to be Iran's cats paw by proxy of the Iraqi government.

And by the way, Shia and Sunni struggle predates the establishment of the US as a country.

There is nothing straight forward in the ME. It's all about tribalism and religion and control of resources.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 11 Dec 2015 18:48

TSJ, Iran wasn't there at the start. Iran came in as American support became ineffective. Iraqis were getting slaughtered. The country's institutions had long since (2003) evaporated and the rest was done in by the Shia - Sunni divide exacerbated by the ISIS. Reaching out to Iran became a matter of survival -literally since the Americans were ineffective.

If Iraqis are striking Ramadi to beat the ISIS and they give target coordinates of the ISIS, how is this an Iranian backed agenda? Why should targeting any ISIS position be an Iranian backed agenda and not an Iraqi agenda? It is not as if the targets presented by Iraqis to the US, place the adequately sized USAF in an either / or situation (We bomb their targets or bomb our targets - we can't bomb both). Essentially, US is using Iran as an excuse to not bomb ISIS and play to the cheers of Turkish galleries.

US was in place and in position with required assets to stop ISIS and yet it let ISIS grow stronger. Even today, the US can become effective and replace the dependence on Iran.

The Shia - Sunni divide always existed but Iraq was peaceful despite all this prior to the great American intervention. Creation of ISIS was a result of faulty US policies of encouraging armed rebellion using Sunni groups in Syria.

Add to that in the fight against ISIS, it does not matter who strikes but in a coordinated fashion just crush the rats. Stop playing the games. More the US tries to run away from Iran, more the Iranians get entrenched in Iraq. US needs to get these basics right and get serious in this fight against ISIS. Unfortunately, its too difficult to accept ones follies and mend ways.

Sad, that people who paid the price for US 'playing the Arabs' were Yezidis, Kurds, Iraqis etc.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 11 Dec 2015 18:55

The irony of world powers (US) and their instigation for democracy and freedom -

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha now2 minutes ago
Good thing you sent them the moderate mujahideen right?

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 11 Dec 2015 18:59

no what is sad is 4,000 American troops were killed and the Iraqi government is a stooge for Iran. the Iranians helped kill a number of Americans via Shia militias in iraq.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Dec 2015 19:08

which proves even the supposedly oppressed shias ( by saddam ) were none too keen on American oif and wmd play. I guess people just want to be left alone.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 11 Dec 2015 19:13

They have to be someone's stooge, either Iranians or Americans. Since there is no Saddam or leader with backbone, situation will remain like this. American 4K sacrifice should have been followed up with security guarantees backed by US military positioned in country. Instead they were pulled out in a hurry (people can still blame it on Iraqi PM for not extending their stay). But if US had insisted on their stay no one could have budged them. They stood by when ISIS took over the region.

End result? Now no one believes in security guarantees provided by US/West. Hence whole Arab world is taking matters into their own hands, weakening them even further then before. Their efforts will falter and ultimately they too will collapse due to some internal uprising.

This power vacuum is being filled up by new coalition, led by Russia. Its hard to swallow reality but what can you do.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 11 Dec 2015 19:17

Frankly the only answer I can get to the question, exactly what is the US doing would be "Buggering about"

This is nothing new. The US need not have a game plan and does not have one. Currently the US is pulling out of both Afghanistan and Iraq - or at least that is what I think - having won the wars there and installed democratic governments.

But I think there is definitely one thing the US must do and is going to do - and that is support its NATO allies because they are in trouble

The Levant is a mess. Nothing will solve the mess for a long long time to come

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 11 Dec 2015 19:30

no what is sad is 4,000 American troops were killed

Oh yes... these on the other hand are mere statistics

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 11 Dec 2015 19:37

Triple terror: up to 60 killed, 80 wounded, 3 car bombs explode in Syrian Christian town - Dec 11, 2015
https://www.rt.com/news/325568-terror-a ... mer-syria/

Three truck bomb explosions in the town of Tell Tamer in Syria's northeastern Al Hasakah province have killed up to 60 and injured more than 80 people on Thursday, a spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG said on Friday, Reuters reports.

The blasts struck near a Kurdish militia forces field hospital and in the crowded Souk Al Jumla market square, where the majority of the fatalities occurred. Most of the affected people were civilians, but there were some Kurdish and Assyrian self-defense fighters among them.

The vehicles were allegedly packed with large amounts of explosives, which also inflicted significant damage to nearby buildings and infrastructure.

The Kurdish security force, blamed the attack on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in a statement, Reuters reports. The town of Tell Tamer is mainly controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters battling IS in this part of Syria.

Later on Friday, IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted online, saying three of its fighters driving three separate vehicles blew themselves up while targeting "bases" of Kurdish fighters in the town, according to Reuters.

The town, also home to an Assyrian Christian community, has become a target of numerous terror attacks and incursions by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants over the last months.

chanakyaa · Post by **chanakyaa** » 11 Dec 2015 19:44

Soodie Barbarians are such fools that they will not hesitate to use oil as waypon to mess with Roose, and in the process destroy their own economy. In the recent meeting they lifted production limit. Soodies are indirectly saying that we are open to be used, please come and screw us.

Crude Crashes 15% Post-OPEC To $35 Handle

What a buch of idiots...
Oil slump forces the Gulf to tax its citizens for the first time: Six countries including Saudi Arabia to introduce VAT as revenues plunge

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Dec 2015 19:56

if isis were confident of field battles they would not use vbied. seems like they have lost lot of their more well trained fighters or some deserted to other factions

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 11 Dec 2015 19:56

Any targets threatening Russian forces in Syria must be immediately destroyed - Putin - Dec 11, 2015

"Any targets threatening our [military] group or land infrastructure must be immediately destroyed," Putin said, speaking at a Defense Ministry event.

"The Islamic State area of influence is expanding," he said, “There is a threat that their actions will be transferred to Central Asia and the Caucasus.”

Further:

"Special attention should be paid to strengthening the combat potential of the strategic nuclear forces and implementing defense space programs," Putin said during the meeting.

Russia needs to "arm all the components of the nuclear triad with new armaments, raise the efficiency of the missile attack warning and aerospace defense systems,” the Russian president said.

Shoigu added NATO has significantly expanded in Europe.

The US has sited {positioned} at least 200 bombs in the Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Germany, according to the defense minister.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 11 Dec 2015 20:09

udaym wrote:Soodie Barbarians are such fools that they will not hesitate to use oil as waypon to mess with Roose, and in the process destroy their own economy. In the recent meeting they lifted production limit. Soodies are indirectly saying that we are open to be used, please come and screw us.

I remember Modiji saying despite all the dung heaped on him since his entry in politics, he considers himself lucky...somehow his worst of the problems gets solved some with his doing and some with him doing nothing.

This low crude prices is among those lucky things and is definitely helping total the fu(kup left over by #Congoons_of_India thereby reducing our biggest expense.

Yeah...God speed to $20 crude...Hope we get a situation where soothie barbarians are in such trouble they can even give all we want for phree in return for food and medical 'aid'

Y. Kanan · Post by **Y. Kanan** » 11 Dec 2015 20:11

One thing the US does not want to do is to be Iran's cats paw by proxy of the Iraqi government.

But you'll happily act as Saudi's "cats paw", despite the fact they're funding all the people trying to kill Americans.

Y. Kanan · Post by **Y. Kanan** » 11 Dec 2015 20:13

TSJones wrote:no what is sad is 4,000 American troops were killed and the Iraqi government is a stooge for Iran. the Iranians helped kill a number of Americans via Shia militias in iraq.

FACT: Most of the US KIA In Iraq were killed by Sunni militants, funded and supported by, you guessed it, Saudi Arabia.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 11 Dec 2015 20:17

FACT: US killed Saddam who could have saved those 4000 americans and had nothing to do with another ~3000 killed in NYC.

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 11 Dec 2015 20:22

TSJones wrote:no what is sad is 4,000 American troops were killed and the Iraqi government is a stooge for Iran. the Iranians helped kill a number of Americans via Shia militias in iraq.

Remind me something from Asterix and viking..........we kill your people,rape your wemen,we seal your animal,we take your kids as slave..........but still you are not happy.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 11 Dec 2015 20:27

Singha saar, Steve Jobs and the Syrian refugee crisis just won't go away:

Banksy hits the jungle in Calais - with a reminder of the benefits of migration from Syria #SteveJobs

New from Banksy: Steve Jobs... "the son of a migrant from Syria."

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Dec 2015 21:25

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 11 Dec 2015 21:33

word on street is that jisr-al-shughur is where the blackest of black bandicoot jihadis live...a kind of tower of sauron where only the most vile are allowed near.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 11 Dec 2015 21:38

Here is a nice blog on the list and some background on Syrian rebels in north Latakia only. Lengthy but well segmented.

http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/the-fa ... h-latakia/

...
Conclusion

The Latakia frontlines present a myriad of insurgent actors, with no single faction taking the lead across the entire front. In general, the dynamics seem to have shifted from the jihadist-led failed offensives of largely symbolic and diversionary value to a stalemate with constant localized back-and-forth, requiring insurgent groups of all stripes to coordinate their efforts. With the failure of the jihadist-spearheaded offensives, FSA-brand forces in particular also seem to have become better organized and better equipped to play a more serious role in the fighting, balancing out the playing field somewhat.

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 11 Dec 2015 22:07

I simply am unable to understand US policy that allows Saudi Funded Sunni Jihadis killing Americans all over the world and promoting fundamentalistic barbaric regimes. The only explanation is that Saudis have bought out American Elite Policy Makers ( Deep State?)

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 11 Dec 2015 22:22

They are exiting and are leaving chaos behind.
Read the Roman retreat after sack of Rome in middle 5th century AD.

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 12 Dec 2015 00:02

USA is very powerful and shall continue to be so for many decades to come. Obama can enforce a regime change or sub Division of Saudia Arabia any time he wants.

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 12 Dec 2015 01:10

Historically
Where Khan intervenes that country goes to dogs.
The only exception is Europe and Japan
Korea is not a success because the country is still not unified.

The American GIs killed in Afghanistan were all by Paki Sunni well trained terrorists of ISI who themselves are protege of culinary institute.

And then USTacpx money funds TSP to improve its efficiency of Killing Americans and mostly Indians

More importantly it's not those died it's those who live with loved ones disabled and life's stolen

That make my blood boil

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 12 Dec 2015 02:18

Gyan wrote:I simply am unable to understand US policy that allows Saudi Funded Sunni Jihadis killing Americans all over the world and promoting fundamentalistic barbaric regimes. The only explanation is that Saudis have bought out American Elite Policy Makers ( Deep State?)

To some extent that is true. Recall that in the aftermath of 9/11, the first thing the US administration did was to fly out the Saudi royal family members and Bin Laden extended family members on chartered planes when the entire US air space was in lock down mode.

KrishnaK · Post by **KrishnaK** » 12 Dec 2015 03:28

TSJones wrote:
Samay wrote:Steve jobs was a Syrian too.
Jobs was a back stabbing thief who cheated Woz in a deal when they were just starting out. Woz is the real deal not Jobs.

Jobs also stole all his Mac ideas from Xerox. For some unfathomable reason Xerox never sued. Mouse, windows, icons, pull down tabs/windows, everything.

Notice what Apple did to Samsung for copying look-alike cell phones.

Sorry to digress, no more from me.

Everyone copied GUI from Xerox. Apple makes superior products. Jobs was the best product man seen so far.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 12 Dec 2015 03:39

There is a news of Gaddafi's son kidnapped from Lebanon today but meanwhile here is video of Gaddafi speaking about US/Obama etc. Good for the record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2737QUBxFY

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 12 Dec 2015 03:43

Gaddafi’s son (Hannibal Gaddafi) kidnapped in Lebanon – security forces
https://www.rt.com/news/325665-gaddafi- ... d-lebanon/

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 12 Dec 2015 03:49

Gyan wrote:USA is very powerful and shall continue to be so for many decades to come. Obama can enforce a regime change or sub Division of Saudia Arabia any time he wants.

Not anymore.

KrishnaK · Post by **KrishnaK** » 12 Dec 2015 04:00

deejay wrote:TSJ, Iran wasn't there at the start. Iran came in as American support became ineffective. Iraqis were getting slaughtered. The country's institutions had long since (2003) evaporated and the rest was done in by the Shia - Sunni divide exacerbated by the ISIS. Reaching out to Iran became a matter of survival -literally since the Americans were ineffective.

Iran has been meddling in Iraq right from the beginning, of the US invasion. Moqtada AlSadr and his militia were a prime example.

If Iraqis are striking Ramadi to beat the ISIS and they give target coordinates of the ISIS, how is this an Iranian backed agenda? Why should targeting any ISIS position be an Iranian backed agenda and not an Iraqi agenda? It is not as if the targets presented by Iraqis to the US, place the adequately sized USAF in an either / or situation (We bomb their targets or bomb our targets - we can't bomb both). Essentially, US is using Iran as an excuse to not bomb ISIS and play to the cheers of Turkish galleries.

The Iraqi Shia are only interested in killing Sunnis.

Some of the worst sectarian strife ever has occurred after the start of the Iraq War, steadily building up to the present.[8] Deaths from American and allied military collateral damage[101] have become overshadowed by the cycle of Sunni–Shia revenge killing—Sunni often used car bombs, while Shia favored death squads.[102]
According to one estimate, as of early 2008, 1,121 suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Iraq.[103] Sunni suicide bombers have targeted not only thousands of civilians,[104] but mosques, shrines,[105] wedding and funeral processions,[106] markets, hospitals, offices, and streets.[107] Sunni insurgent organizations include Ansar al-Islam.[108] Radical groups include Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansurah, Jeish Muhammad, and Black Banner Organization.[109]

from Iraq War. It has links that you can explore if you don't believe wiki quality.

Having gotten rid of Saddam and put into power, it was very much the responsibility of the shiites to keep the country from disintegrating this bad. But that would require a genuine effort at rapprochement with the Sunni tribes.

US was in place and in position with required assets to stop ISIS and yet it let ISIS grow stronger. Even today, the US can become effective and replace the dependence on Iran.

The Shia - Sunni divide always existed but Iraq was peaceful despite all this prior to the great American intervention. Creation of ISIS was a result of faulty US policies of encouraging armed rebellion using Sunni groups in Syria.

Iraq was peaceful before the great American intervention ? Saddam never slaughtered the Shia in his country you mean ? You only have to google that info up. America seriously overestimated its capacity to understand how fractured the society in Iraq was AND its own capacity to rebuild Iraq. That was the error in judgement. The place is f*ed up beyond redemption. The US can't fix it.

Sad, that people who paid the price for US 'playing the Arabs' were Yezidis, Kurds, Iraqis etc.

The US isn't playing the arabs anymore than they are playing India/Pak. They cant' get out of the middle east, can't replace Saudi Arabia, can't fix the insecurity, hatreds, bigotry. It is for the arabs to find statesmanship which isn't forthcoming. It somehow seems easier to conjure up conspiracy theories to explain things though.

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 12 Dec 2015 04:35

In the 20th century, miltant Islam ebbed after the defeat of the Ottoman empire. Partially by design and partially by accident, the British and French mandates in Iraq and Syria cobbled together disparate ethnic/religious parts into whole countries. By accident, the British/French installed monarchies were overthrown by secular Baath party in both countries. Egypt was a military dictatorship. All 3 countries backed by the Soviets.

In the mid 1960s and 1970s terrorism related to these countries was motivated by pan Arab causes, the Palestinians wanted a country. It looked like militant Islam had been quietly buried for 50 years. Even the Shah of Iran wanted to bury Islam and make Iran into a modern country.

And then the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and the US decided to play the Islamic card via training/arming Afghan/other Arab fighters in conjunction with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. And the genie has been out of the bottle ever since i.e. those trained Afghan fighters seeped into Kashmir in 1989 after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and battled India for the next few years. And then the first GW, the continuing presence of US troops in the Arabian peninsula, the escalating series of attacks on the US, Khobar Towers, the East Africa embassy, the USS Cole, finally culminating in 9/11 and the rest is history. Today we have a crisis of global militant Islam.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 12 Dec 2015 05:34

Putin provides air cover to Flee Sylian Almy when they are fighting the ~~NATO-Turkey Terrorists~~ ISIS

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 12 Dec 2015 05:42

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-st ... d-art.html
Syrian antiquities chief says Turkey refuses to return looted art

Syria’s antiquities chief has accused Turkey of refusing to return looted objects from ancient heritage sites in Syria or to provide information about them, allegations denied by the Turkish government.Damascus and Ankara have been at odds since the start of a rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, with Turkey supporting armed groups fighting Assad's government.
More recently, Islamic State militants have declared a caliphate in territory they hold across Syria and Iraq and have destroyed monuments they consider pagan and sacrilegious.One museum at the 2,000-year-old Roman city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site the jihadi militants took over in May, has been turned into an Islamic State prison and courtroom, Syria’s antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters.Even more destructive for Syria’s archaeological heritage are illicit excavations at sites such as Palmyra and the even older site of Mari, near the Iraqi border, he said.

The Turkish government refuses to register (the seized objects). There is no information, no pictures. It's not transparent,” Abdulkarim told Reuters in an interview in Vienna.“They should change their approach. They told us, we cannot (do this) because our law (prohibits) us from declaring what we have,” he said.A Turkish Culture Ministry spokesman said Abdulkarim’s allegations were “baseless.”“Whenever we seize such antiquities we return them to the related country’s institutions. We trained our border police on the issue very recently. I think those allegations are politically motivated,” the Turkish official said.He said that the absence of relations between Syria and Israel meant no information about looted objects found there was reaching him either.Abdulkarim described permits issued to looters by Islamic State, also known as Daesh, in exchange for a cut of their profits. Equipped with these documents, looters could trawl sites such as Mari or nearby Dura Europos with bulldozers in search of artefacts to smuggle to Turkey.“Last month we received these documents (that say) ‘State of Daesh’, the Department for Archeology gives this person the permission to do whatever excavation he wants at this site,” Abdulkarim said.Looting began on a large scale in 2013, and nothing has changed on the ground since a United Nations resolution protecting Syrian and Iraqi heritage sites passed in February, he said..”

Y. Kanan · Post by **Y. Kanan** » 12 Dec 2015 09:22

Curious: in the event of war between Rus & Toorkee, can the Russian army pass through Azerbaijan unmolested? And what about Georgia?