Bharat Rakshak

Johann

^^^^ Johann, how can you possibly conflate crony-capitalism / kleptocracy / nepotism / family-army-controlled-monopolies, zero political rights, and unstable property rights with "neo liberalism". Just shocking! Because that is exactly how neo-liberalism actually ends up working in places...

Johann

Johann ji, As the Arab world was ripe for change .. It would have changed by itself - through violence or otherwise a new social compact between all its population could have been organically achieved. What was the justification for West and Wahabis to intervene with barbaric Ideology supported by ...

Johann

Johann, as I said before, Nasser was not merely culturally exhibiting his religious streak, but he was a card holding member of the MB and MB was (and is) known only by its ideological base; SS, this is simply not true. In the 1940s Anwar Sadat, already a member of what became the Free Officers got...

Johann

the gulf states will give nobody a free meal. they will extract their pound of flesh either way. if they support the regime, then sunni interests will need to be given #1 priority , I dont think gulf support to assad is possible in sect terms..atleast saddam was a sunni albeit not very devout but h...

Johann

Johann ji, You speak as if you never heard of Arab "Spring" - Suddenly a cart pusher on an Arab street of Tunisia is dispatched off and the whole Arab world rises up in protest against "Dictatorship" . Will any person believe this load of tripe West is peddling ? Facts are ..the...

Johann

SS, The Free Officers, and Nasser in particular were secular men whose Muslim identities were cultural rather than religious. Sisi is different - a clean shaven believer. He is part of a different generation that is the result of the deep Saudi support for the Mubarak state. The result of deepending...

Johann

So did Nancy change position or Assad is found in new position? Johann >> Wasn't Syria a paradise before badar and west meddling, compared to N Korea and back stabbing TSP but that didn't matter I guess Amy, The first and foremost responsibility for militarising this conflict goes to Bashar al-Assa...

Johann

In this case, continuance of Assad in power does not show immediate connections to existential threats for Israel, while it does irritate and bleed the Saudis. Hence I would wish the conflict to draw out. This conflict does not bleed the Saudis, it feeds the jihadis. Full scale NATO intervention in...

Johann

We must remember colin powell and many others lied blandly infront of the UN and many other forums on iraq wmd. There was no wmd and nothing was ever found . Later it was floated that hey it was a lie, but removing saddam needed such a crutch to go in. Powell desperately hoped he wasn't lying. One ...

Johann

Johann, the British government, by virtue of being an irrelevant third (heading for fourth) rate power, have the luxury of watching from the sidelines. Secretly, I bet Cameron is pleased as punch that Miliband got him out of a tricky situation. Cameron can tell Obama and Sam Cam, "look, I trie...

Johann

What exactly do YOU think the US should do in the face of this crime? Nothing? Would that make you feel better: 1,400 people gassed to death and do nothing? How will history judge Obama and the US if 1,400 people are gassed to death and they do nothing? Eklavya, There's two elements to the Assad's ...

Johann

Miliband has comprehensively demonstrated that he lacks the qualities of statesmanship. Basically, an opportunistic chancer. Can't see him becoming PM or any world leader treating him with respect. Why on earth would it be opportunism to act in line with 89% of the British population, and his own p...

Johann

I don't agree with your assessment of the US motivations. The US political class has had plenty of opportunity, which they have steadfastly refused to take, to intervene in Syria. Obama identified chemical weapons usage as a red line, and is intervening against all his instincts. Eklavya, if as the...

Johann

^ The US is working overtime to protect MB and discredit the Egyptian army. This article must also be seen in that context. Sisi was selected by Morsi (after Morsi fired Tantawi and the Chief of Staff) precisely because he believed him to be sympathetic to the Islamic project. Sisi himself made no ...

Johann

Johann, Ed Miliband got the politics right, but proved beyond doubt his insuitability for the post of PM. Harold Wilson kept the UK out of Vietnam (despite SEATO obligations that dragged Australia and New Zealand in), and got to be PM twice. He also happened to be the Queen's favourite prime minist...

Johann

Eklavya, the heart of the unclassified JIC assessment reads as follows It is not possible for the opposition to have carried out a CW attack on this scale. The regime has used CW on a smaller scale on at least 14 occasions in the past. There is some intelligence to suggest regime culpability in this...

Johann

Only 11% of the British public would support participation in an attack on Syria according to the polls. That's not surprising given the widely seen video footage of FSA cannibalism, the lingering widespread anger and disgust over Iraq, and the feeling that domestic priorities should come first in t...

Johann

Philip, An air campaign to topple the Assads or severely cut them down would have to be *much* larger and more complex than Libya. It would be on the order of the air campaign over Iraq and Kosovo given the size of the SEAD task required, and the size of government combat forces. NATO members force ...

Johann

Hi Ramana, Jagan's table on the BR page lists 17 Dakotas with military serial numbers used in the airlift. You've listed a source with 33 civilian Daktoas pressed into service. I'm not so much interested in the claims of Pakistani propaganda (100 a/c, etc) as the origin of these aircraft (who was op...

Johann

B, if you think ME societies have not gone through enormous upheavals - political, social, economic, and yes, religious in the last 600 years then you're presenting an enormously superficial view of the region and its peoples. The idea of an eternal unchanging Islam is a myth that appeals most of al...

Johann

Progress requires consensus on a set of values, goals and methods. Most Middle Eastern societies are *deeply* divided on all three of these things in part because while most people can agree that Islam is a good thing, but have barely any consensus on what that actually entails - not only are there ...

Johann

Ok. The problem is Islamist meme is like a dormant virus and reinfects when the conditions are appropriate. Its there in the Old Church also. Mass political mobilisation on the basis of religious identity is unfortunately a big part of modernity, side by side with secularism. They are two competing...

Johann

He claims: With covert British assistance in the form of an airlift involving British transport planes , :shock: Indian troops eventually drove back the Pashtun tribesmen. Does anyone need a more solid proof than the above to questions the credentials of this guy ? This is so blatantly a falsehood ...

Johann

Domestic American support for the Israel project has been a major factor in international politics for almost a century now, and its only grown. Back in the day the support was mostly Jewish, but since the 1970s it has increasingly come from the much larger group of evangelical Christians. The Balfo...

Johann

Ramana, I wouldn't put Ataturk or the Shah or Enver Hoxha into the category of superficial secularisation. They were determined to remake their countries identities entirely and de-Islamicise their societies. In that sense they were as radical as the communists and the first stage of the French revo...

Johann

Israel keeps bombing key facilities deep inside Syria on the pretext of it could be transferred to Hezbollah , It provides no evidence of it to UN even after bombing mission , they act like judge & jury on this and expect each time they bomb the world should take its word for what it is. The ai...

Johann

Irish can go nuclear overnight and the region can become the most dangerous place on earth. The Irish have about as much interest in nuclear energy of any sort as Bhutan or Nepal does. The Irish and British governments don't have a territorial dispute with each other. The UK, NI Ireland and the cha...

Johann

2) Funny that the RAPE is obsessed with Urdu, it was never the language of the Elite / court. That language was Persian in the Mughal Durbar or with the Nizams and Nawabs of Yore... Urdu was the language of the the unwashed Abduls (which is anyway what the Paki RAPE is). My only worry is, our WKKs ...

Johann

Pranav, The Americans were in no position to prevent Morsi's removal after the largest demonstrations in human history, but its clear they are very afraid of Egypt turning into Algeria 1992-97. However the Americans are pressing to make sure the Egyptian military does not launch a full scale suppres...

Johann

Protestants colonizing catholic lands. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/ireland/map_of_ireland.jpg Ireland(catholic) needs to man up and take northern ireland back from england(protestant). The Protestants of NI are of Scots, not English descent. But if you go back earlier Western Scotland a...

Johann

Hi Pranav, I don't think the 'axes' are that coherent here - The Obama administration and the Saudis have had a very different positions on the MB in Egypt. If anything Iran and the US have more in common than they do with the Saudis on that issue. The MB has survived for 85 years through multiple r...

Johann

CRS, Race is both your primary and default analytic prism. The mistake you seem to be making is assuming that is everyone else's as well. You are in fact so unable to conceive of any other way of thinking that entire crises must be dismissed as 'charades' and the responses as 'codes.' The Obama admi...

Johann

Saudi Arabia re-emerges as powerful Middle East player. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/10178117/Saudi-Arabia-re-emerges-as-powerful-Middle-East-player.html It is curious to see both the Saudis as well as Assad cheer Morsi's departure, at a time when Saudis are back...

Johann

always wondered why morsi appeared in public in western suit and tie - wasn't necessary, and he didn't look totally at ease Its quite normal for the Brotherhood, going all the way back to the founder Hassan al-Banna. Its sort of their trademark and their core brand appeal - modernity on Islamic ter...

Johann

I am sure Al Nour, the salafist party, though it appears to be on the side of the Army at present does not have noble intentions. It is there to sabotage from within. It has already ensured that ElBaradei was not nominated. The Army is also probably aware of that but may not want to exacerbate matt...

Johann

If really Bush wanted to prosecute some family feud with Saddam as was peddled in some circles he wouldnt have to wage a total war and completely destroy all those institutions which hold Iraq together - just dispatching Saddam through some usual means would have done the trick. Hi Lilo, It wasn't ...

Johann

They have always been acutely aware of their gross mis-match with India, and that was why they became opportunists and liars to gate-crash into big league or have the support of the big players through treaties etc. But the over-reach was always due to bravado, swagger and miscalculations. If they ...

Johann

any better, it now looks like the West is using the Middle East as an enormous training ground for blooding the next crop of Jihadis. The current sectarian chaos in Iraq as a logical outcome to the US invasion looks to be its real goal. Even a novice to geopolitics could have sensed the inevitabili...

Johann

From conversations my impression is that the Pakistani Army leadership believes that; - The rank and file of the PA have stayed loyal despite many Deobandi (mostly Pashtun) clerics calling for mutiny and refusing to offer Muslim funerals to soldiers who died fighting the TTP. They're very pleased an...

Johann

TSP will think its cut and run. Could be pressure tactics on Karzai to give into the 'good' Taliban talks. If US leaves, Karzai then will be forced to take steps to protect his country from TSP machinations. They are pressure tactics but they are primarily about the 'Status of Forces Agreement' or ...

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