West Asia News and Discussions (YEMEN, gulf)

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Agnimitra
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Agnimitra »

shravan wrote:
Agnimitra wrote:^^ wow, is that for real?
yes :eek:

https://www.facebook.com/253083980614/p ... =3&theater
The mural looks completely Hindu. but it looks relatively recent also, from the style of saree. Perhaps they are conscious of some ancient Indian linkage, and someone recently painted that there?

The Muwahidoon (Druze) peoples are also conscious of an ancient Indian linkage. Some of their leaders visited Mayapur in West Bengal, whose Gaudiya Vaishnava "Panchatattva" they identify with an esoteric set of personages within their own tradition. One of their sons is an Iskconer.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by abhik »

satya wrote:Was watching a clip of Vice News piece on ISIS ( link via zerohedge ) and in very beginnnin of the clip clearly heard '' Idher bhi aa jao , aa jao , hum yahan per hein ( come here. here , we are here ).Very clear hindi/urdu sentence .
Link? TIA.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

one theory is they migrated to numerous places incl india and some moved back to their current location.
or they could be people from harappan civilization who moved west
http://www.scroll.in/article/673519/Kur ... with-India

they have some link thats for sure, because their chief god is a peacock god....peacocks native range is india-indonesia and a related variety is only found in congo.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Atri »

May be it is painted by Indian soldiers in British Indian army when they were stationed in mesopotamia during two world wars.. The murals look quite fresh..
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Singha »

peshmerga engaging in CQB with ISIS today it is claimed
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0c0_1407686376
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by rsingh »

There are books that claim that Jats of Haryana are actually Khurds who migrated long ago. IIRC it was Dr Karan Singh who first suggested this.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Supratik »

It is the Baloch who are from the Kurdistan area as the languages belong to the same family. I haven't read why Singh feels Jats are of Kurdish origin but there are many fantastic theories about Jat origins some of them proudly propagated by Jats themselves. At best they may be of Scythian origin.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by abhik »

Atri wrote:May be it is painted by Indian soldiers in British Indian army when they were stationed in mesopotamia during two world wars.. The murals look quite fresh..
Me thinks somebody there came across the picture from a South Indian Jewellery store Advertisement with the peacock (which apparently seems to be revered by them) lamp and decided to make mural out of it.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by kittoo »

abhik wrote:
satya wrote:Was watching a clip of Vice News piece on ISIS ( link via zerohedge ) and in very beginnnin of the clip clearly heard '' Idher bhi aa jao , aa jao , hum yahan per hein ( come here. here , we are here ).Very clear hindi/urdu sentence .
Link? TIA.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzCAPJDAnQA[/youtube]

At 32 seconds.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

Iraq crisis: 'It is death valley. Up to 70 per cent of them are dead'
On board Iraqi army helicopter delivering aid to the trapped Yazidis, Jonathan Krohn sees a hellish sight

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -dead.html
By Jonathan Krohn, aboard an Iraqi Army helicopter on Mount Sinjar
10 Aug 2014

Mount Sinjar stinks of death. The few Yazidis who have managed to escape its clutches can tell you why. “Dogs were eating the bodies of the dead,”
said Haji Khedev Haydev, 65, who ran through the lines of Islamic State jihadists surrounding it.

On Sunday night, I became the first western journalist to reach the mountains where tens of thousands of Yazidis, a previously obscure Middle Eastern sect, have been taking refuge from the Islamic State forces that seized their largest town, Sinjar.

I was on board an Iraqi Army helicopter, and watched as hundreds of refugees ran towards it to receive one of the few deliveries of aid to make it to the mountain. The helicopter dropped water and food from its open gun bays to them as they waited below. General Ahmed Ithwany, who led the mission, told me: “It is death valley. Up to 70 per cent of them are dead.”

Two American aid flights have also made it to the mountain, where they have dropped off more than 36,000 meals and 7,000 gallons of drinking water to help the refugees, and last night two RAF C-130 transport planes were also on the way.

However, Iraqi officials said that much of the US aid had been “useless” because it was dropped from 15,000ft without parachutes and exploded on impact. *(What cretins! )

'We are soldiers of the Caliphate state and we are coming'
10 Aug 2014

Handfuls of refugees have managed to escape on the helicopters but many are being left behind because the craft are unable to land on the rocky mountainside. There, they face thirst and starvation, as well as the crippling heat of midsummer.
Hundreds, if not more, have already died, including scores of children. A Yazidi Iraqi MP, Vian Dakhil, told reporters in Baghdad:

"We have one or two days left to help these people. After that they will start dying en masse."
The Iraqi Army is running several aid missions every day, bringing supplies including water, flour, bread and shoes.

The helicopter flights aim to airlift out refugees on each flight, but the mountains are sometimes too rocky to land on, meaning they return empty.

Even when it can land, the single helicopter can take just over a dozen refugees at a time, and then only from the highest point of the mountain where it is out of range of jihadist missiles. Barely 100 have been rescued in this way.

Displaced Yazidi people rush towards an aid helicopter (RUDAW)

The flights have also dropped off at least 50 armed Peshmerga, Kurdish forces, on the mountain, according to Captain Ahmed Jabar.
Other refugees have made their way through Islamic State lines, evading the jihadists to reach safety, or travelling through

Kurdish-controlled sections of Syria to reach the town of Dohuk. So far the Yazidi refugees left behind have survived by hiding in old cave dwellings, drinking from natural springs and hunting small animals, but with families scattered across Mount Sinjar, a barren range stretching for around 35 miles near the border with Syria, there are fears aid will not reach them all unless the humanitarian relief operation is significantly stepped up .

Hundreds can now be seen making their way slowly across its expanse, carrying what few possessions they managed to flee with on their backs. Exhausted children lie listlessly in the arms of their parents, older ones trudging disconsolately alongside while the sun beats down overhead.

The small amount of relief the peshmerga militia can bring up into the mountain is not simply enough.
One pershmerga fighter, Faisal Elas Hasso, 40, said: “To be honest, there’s not enough for everyone,” he said. “It’s five people to one bottle.”

The refugees who made it out described desperate scenes as they awaited help from the outside world.
“There were about 200 of us, and about 20 of that number have died,” said Saydo Haji, 28. “We can live for two days, not more.”

Emad Edo, 27, who was rescued in an airlift on Friday at the mountain’s highest point explains how he had to leave his niece, who barely had enough strength to keep her eyes open, to her fate.

“She was about to die, so we left her there and she died,” he said.

Others shared similar stories. “Even the caves smell very bad,” Mr Edo added. According to several of the airlifted refugees, the Geliaji cave alone has become home to 50 dead bodies.

Saydo Kuti Naner, 35, who was one of 13 Yazidis who snuck through Islamic State lines on Thursday morning, said he travelled through Kurdish-controlled Syria to get to Kurdistan.

He left behind his mother and father, too old to make the rough trip, as well as 200 sheep. “We got lucky,” he said. “A girl was running [with us] and she got shot.” He added that this gave enough cover for the rest of them to get away.

Mikey Hassan said he, his two brothers and their families fled up into Mount Sinjar and then managed to escape to the Kurdish city of Dohuk after two days, by shooting their way past the jihadists. Mr Hassan said he and his family went for 17 hours with no food before getting their hands on some bread.

The Yazidis, an ethnically Kurdish community that has kept its religion alive for centuries in the face of persecution, are at particular threat from the Islamists, who regard them as 'devil worshippers’, and drove them from their homes as the peshmerga fighters withdrew.

There have been repeated stories that the jihadists have seized hundreds of Yazidi women and are holding them in Mosul, either in schools or the prison. These cannot be confirmed, though they are widely believed and several Yazidi refugees said they had been unable to contact Yazidi women relatives who were living behind Islamic State lines.

Kamil Amin, of the Iraqi human rights ministry, said: “We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them.”

Tens of thousands of Christians have also been forced to flee in the face of the advancing IS fighters, many cramming the roads east and north to Erbil and Dohuk. On Thursday alone, up to 100,000 Iraqi Christians fled their homes in the Plain of Ninevah around Mosul.

Refugees said the American air strikes on IS positions outside Erbil were too little, too late. They said they felt abandoned by everyone – the central government in Baghdad, the Americans and British, who invaded in 2003, and now the Kurds, who had promised to protect them.


“When the Americans withdrew from Iraq they didn’t protect the Christians,” said Jenan Yousef, an Assyrian Catholic who fled Qaraqosh, Iraq's largest Christian town, in the early hours ofThursday. “The Christians became the scapegoats. Everyone has been killing us.”

The situation in Sinjar has irreparably damaged the notion of home for the Yazidis. For a large portion of them, the unique culture of the area will never return, and they will therefore have nothing to go back for.

“We can’t go back to Sinjar mountain because Sinjar is surrounded by Arabs,” said Aydo Khudida Qasim, 34, who said that Sunni Arab villagers around Sinjar helped Islamic State take the area. Now he as well as many of his friends and relatives want to get out of Iraq
altogether. “We want to be refugees in other countries, not our own,” he said.

*Additional reporting by Richard Spencer, Erbil
Philip
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

Ha!Ha! Tell that to many ex-pals of Uncle Sam who were used like a condom then discarded."The Puppet is dead,long live the (new) Puppet!"

US denies role in plot to oust Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki

American officials say US is merely supporting constitutional process in offering full backing in selection of new prime minister
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/a ... aliki-iraq
American officials have denied participating in a plot to oust Iraq prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, despite a series of phone calls made by Barack Obama and Joe Biden to support the appointment of his successor.

Obama welcomed the selection of a new prime minister by Iraq’s president Faud Massoum on Monday, describing it as a “promising step forward” toward a more inclusive government.

“Under the Iraqi constitution this is an important step toward forming a new government that can unite Iraq’s different communities,” said the US president in a statement from his vacation home on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

The Obama administration had become increasingly strident in its criticism of Maliki in recent weeks, accusing him of the current Islamic uprising by failing to govern in the interest of all Iraqis.

But officials rejected allegations on Monday that it was encouraging “regime change”, insisting instead that the US was merely supporting a constitutional process rather than favouring individual politicians in Baghdad.

“The US stands ready to support a government that addresses the needs and grievances of all Iraqi people,” added Obama, in a short address which did not mention al-Maliki by name.

He also dangled the prospect of direct US military support against the Islamic State, the separatists also known as Isis or Isil, if the putative new prime minister Haider al-Abadi succeeds in forming a lasting government. “Just as the US will remain vigilant against the threat posed to our people by Isil we stand ready to partner with Iraq in its fight against these terrorist forces,” Obama said.

US vice-president Joe Biden immediately telephoned president Massoum and Haider al-Abadi, whom the White House described as “prime minister designate”, to offer greater US military support in their efforts to defeat Isis.

Secretary of state John Kerry said a new government was “critical in terms of sustaining the stability and calm in Iraq,” urging Maliki not to “stir those waters” by obstructing Abadi’s efforts to form a new coalition government in the coming days.

The Daily Beast alleged on Monday that two senior US officials, the American ambassador to Iraq Robert Beecroft and deputy assistant secretary of state Brett McGurk, have been working to shore up Abadi behind the scenes for the past month.

It said that Obama had “instructed his diplomats in Washington and Baghdad to find an alternative” to Maliki. Obama has repeatedly stated in public that the US should not influence the choice for Iraq’s prime minister. “It’s not the place for the United States to choose Iraq’s leaders,” Obama said on 19 June.

Apparently stung by suggestions this might be another case of attempted US-led regime change in Baghdad, the State Department denied there had been any role, at any level by American officials in helping pick the new candidate.

“We support the process,” spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. “We have never supported anyone person or one party here.”

Asked about Monday’s phone calls by Biden, who also rang Massoum and Kurdish leaders last week but not Maliki, Harf added: “It’s not about who we speak to on the phone; it’s about who the Iraqis choose through their process, which they have done today, to be their next prime minister.”

A US decision to arm Kurdish fighters directly, confirmed earlier on Monday, is likely to have heaped extra pressure on Maliki’s government in Baghdad and Harf ducked repeated questions about whether the US has sought explicit Iraqi support for the shipment.

But the precarious situation in Baghdad was underlined by reports that Maliki had increased security forces on the streets and may be resisting efforts to oust him.

“He is still the prime minister, legally and under the constitution,” said Harf, when asked whether the US considered he still had political legitimacy.

Earlier Kerry said the US stands “absolutely squarely behind President Massoum”, but urged restraint amid reports that Maliki may resist what he called a coup against his government.

“What we urge the people of Iraq to do is to be calm,” Kerry said. “There should be no use force, no introduction of troops or militias into this moment of democracy for Iraq.”

Biden’s involvement was his fourth diplomatic intervention in as many days indicating that further American military support could follow swiftly if Abadi and Massoum succeed in their efforts to form a new government.

Pointedly referring to Abadi as the Iraqi prime minister-designate, a White House spokesman said: “The vice-president relayed President Obama’s congratulations and restated his commitment to fully support a new and inclusive Iraqi government, particularly in its fight against Isil.”

Former US officials in Washington also cautioned that the appointment of Abadi by president Massoum, though supported by White House, was not yet a definitive sign of the more inclusive Iraqi government that Obama has been calling for.

“The prime minister still has to be able to form a government, so I am not sure it is really game over,” said Jon Alterman, Middle East program director at the Center for Srategic and International Studies. “Nouri al-Maliki is a hard-knuckled veteran of all of this and he is not afraid to roll the dice ... he is willing to take risks.”
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by rajithn »

menon s wrote:Image

The temple at lalish valley in Iraq, where the yazidis are exterminated .
I have seen lamps like that in Tamilnadu.. jasmine flowers on the ladys hair... seems like a south indian woman?

Read the comments. It seems very possible it is just as one of the commentators say: that it is a picture of Sridevi or some Bollywood heroine.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by krishnan »

hmmm from this angle the face looks like sridevi
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by habal »

i think the prominence in that picture is given to the lamp peacock which is seen in many yezidi photos. It is their way of saying that the peacock lamp is worshipped in as far away as india.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Skanda »

The massacre of the Yazidis
Who are the Yazidi and why does the IS want to exterminate them? Although influenced by Christianity and Islam, the Yazidi religion has ancient roots that go back at least to the late Bronze Age. Interestingly, their beliefs have many similarities with Hinduism — for instance, they believe in reincarnation, say their prayers facing the sun at sunrise and sunset, etc. They also worship Tawuse-Melek, the peacock angel — a bird not found in Yazidi lands, but only in the Indian subcontinent.

Once, these cultural links would have been explained away in terms of an “Aryan invasion” from Central Asia. However, we now know that the great Harappan cities were abandoned due to climate change and the drying of the Saraswati river around 2000 BC. Most people moved on to the Ganga or went south, thereby seeding Indic civilisation. But, did some groups migrate west? There is a lot of evidence of Indian links with the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Iran and of their Parsi descendants, is clearly related to Vedic religion and the oldest Zoroastrian texts — the Gathas — are composed in a language very close to Rig Vedic Sanskrit.

Intriguingly, there is evidence of an Indian tribe that may have migrated even further west. We have details of a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni around 1380 BC. The Mitanni were a tribe that once ruled over the same area now inhabited by the Yazidi and the treaty invokes the names of Vedic gods Indra, Varuna, Nasatya and Mitra. We also know that the Mitanni were not locals but had come from the east. The names of their leaders and several of their military and equestrian terms also appear to be derived from Sanskrit. Most intriguingly, Mitanni art shows peacocks and peacock-like griffins.

Are the Yazidis descendants of the Mitanni? We do not know for sure, but it is certainly an intriguing possibility, especially since recent genetic studies show that certain lineages commonly found in northern India are also found in eastern Iran and among the Kurds (no specific data is available on the Yazidi).

Over time, the Yazidis were dubbed as “devil-worshippers” and subjected to constant persecution. It was especially extreme under the Ottoman Turks in the 18th and 19th centuries. A series of massacres killed thousands and almost led to their extinction. Under Saddam Hussain, they were not subjected to overt religious persecution, but remained under pressure to Arabise their culture. Matters have become much worse since the dictator was deposed. In April 2007, gunmen dragged 23 Yazidi men from a bus and shot them dead. In August that year, a series of coordinated car-bombs killed at least 300 more, including women and children.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Rony »

Rony
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Post by Rony »

This picture from metrography specifically mentions the painting as a "Yezidi women praying to the sacred peacock"


Image
member_22733
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by member_22733 »

There goes another Indic branch into the slaughter-houses of Abrahamic lunacy. I am now convinced that Israel's action in Gaza is the right approach and that should be the way to deal with these lunatics.

Consistently make the cost on Islamics for an attack so high and so brutal that they think twice before making another attempt. The only way to control Islamic lunatics is to hold them under the weight of an asymmetric war machine. Ironically, they need to be suppressed with horrific violence for any peace to occur.

Two years back I would have balked at myself for making that statement. I am now totally convinced that this is the only approach that is left with anyone wishing peace on this planet. Islamic lunacy will push non-Islamic people (including infidels like us) up the walls. We will have to make choices then, either scale up the wall and die like the Yazidis or fight back. If we have to fight back, the organizational structures have to be put in place soon. RSS can be a good starting point.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Suraj »

Skanda wrote:The massacre of the Yazidis
Who are the Yazidi and why does the IS want to exterminate them? Although influenced by Christianity and Islam, the Yazidi religion has ancient roots that go back at least to the late Bronze Age. Interestingly, their beliefs have many similarities with Hinduism — for instance, they believe in reincarnation, say their prayers facing the sun at sunrise and sunset, etc. They also worship Tawuse-Melek, the peacock angel — a bird not found in Yazidi lands, but only in the Indian subcontinent.

Once, these cultural links would have been explained away in terms of an “Aryan invasion” from Central Asia. However, we now know that the great Harappan cities were abandoned due to climate change and the drying of the Saraswati river around 2000 BC. Most people moved on to the Ganga or went south, thereby seeding Indic civilisation. But, did some groups migrate west? There is a lot of evidence of Indian links with the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Iran and of their Parsi descendants, is clearly related to Vedic religion and the oldest Zoroastrian texts — the Gathas — are composed in a language very close to Rig Vedic Sanskrit.
This article and specifically the second paragraph is fodder for the Out of India thread. Specifically, the writer seems to have turned their brains off. How is the Yazidis worshipping peacocks an indication of the Aryan Invastion theory ? People 1500kms away from India worshipping a bird that's not even native to their arid land is a very strong historical marker that they migrated out of India, not the other way around.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Prem »

Suraj wrote:
Skanda wrote:The massacre of the Yazidis
This article and specifically the second paragraph is fodder for the Out of India thread. Specifically, the writer seems to have turned their brains off. How is the Yazidis worshipping peacocks an indication of the Aryan Invastion theory ? People 1500kms away from India worshipping a bird that's not even native to their arid land is a very strong historical marker that they migrated out of India, not the other way around.
Some one should check Yazidian genetic link with both Roma and Yindian against OIT/AIT Shady-antar. Salahudin was Kurd , most probably carrying Khstrya blood.
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Post by Rony »

X-post from Nukkad
Ajatshatru wrote:"Yazidi and Hindu Similarity":

http://kiranasis.blogspot.in/2014/08/ya ... arity.html
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Rony »

Check out this Yezidi site

http://www.yeziditruth.org


The Yezidi Name
Since their founding many thousands of years ago in India, these people have always been known as the Yezidis or Yazidis. According to Eszter Spat in The Yezidis, the name is derived from ez Xwede dam, meaning “I was created by God.” Some Yezidis maintain that it translates as “Followers of the true path.” The term Yezidi or Yazidi is also very close to the Persion/Zoroastrian word Yazdan, meaning “God“, and Yazata, meaning “divine” or “angelic being“.

For this reason scholars have theorized a Persian origin for the Yezidis. Other scholars have associated the name Yazidi with Yazid bin Muawiyah, a Moslem Caliph ofthe early Umayyad Dynasty. According to the current Yezidi belief, however, the Caliph Yazid was a Moslem ruler who eventually became disenchanted with his religion and converted to Yezidism.
The Peacock Angel
The Peacock Angel and the Sumerians

In the religion of Sumeria the Peacock Angel was manifest as Enki, the Lord of the Earth, who was also the Lord of Wisdom and the Serpent on the Tree of Dilman, the Sumerian Eden. The Sumerians may have adopted Enki from Yezidi emissaries from India who played a role in the fledgling Sumerian civilization. Or they may have received him from the gnostic sect of Mandeans who were also assimilated into Sumerian civilization after migrating from the East, specifically Sri Lanka, the island patronized by the Peacock Angel as the Hindu Murugan or Sanat Kumara.
The Peacock Angel in Hinduism

Since the Yezidis originated in India, the Hindus’ manifestation of Tawsi Melek is naturally very close to the Peacock Angel of the Yezidis.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Philip »

Will someone post/mail these details to PM Modi and SS? This is genocide.A few days ago I was talking to a Parsi friend in Bombay and he said that there were also similarities between the Yazidis and Zorastrians.Old timer mobike buffs will remember that most popular motorbike of the "70s and "80s,the Czech designed Jawa,built in Mysore by Farukh Irani,who launched a successor to the Jawa,the "Yezdi".

Pl. read also the Starfor piece on Turkey and the geographical factpr in Erdogan's ambitions.The Kurds whom the Brits are now arming,play a troubling role in Turkey.

UN warns Yazidis refugees trapped on Mount Sinjar facing imminent 'genocide'
Downing Street has confirmed it will be helping the supply lines of military equipment to Kurdish forces fighting the Islamists
James Cusick
political correspondent
Tuesday 12 August 2014

The United Nations has warned that a mass atrocity or genocide of refugees in the Mount Sinjar region of northern Iraq could still happen “within days or hours”.

The UN's special rapporteur who has been investigating the plight of 40,000 mainly Kurdish-speaking Yazidis who fled to the mountain fearing attacks from the extremist militants of the Islamic State (IS), said the world urgently needed to recognise the severity of the humanitarian crisis.

Following the decision to deploy Tornado jets from RAF Marham in Norfolk to Iraq to aid surveillance of the zone where the refugees are trapped, the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, after chairing another meeting of the government's emergency response committee, Cobra, announced that Chinook helicopters were also being sent to Iraq.

However there are no indications that Britain will be following the US and adding to air strikes against IS targets.

Downing Street confirmed it will be helping the supply lines of military equipment to Kurdish forces fighting the Islamist forces that now control a third of Syria. But it was made clear that the UK will not be supplying arms directly.

An image issued by the Department for International Development showing people on Mount Sinjar collecting aid dropped by the RAF over the weekend An image issued by the Department for International Development showing people on Mount Sinjar collecting aid dropped by the RAF over the weekend
The Yazidis trapped in sweltering conditions in the exposed mountain region, many of them surviving without food or water for days, are among the quarter of a million religious minorities who fled their homes after “convert or die” ultimatums from the IS militants.

A draft UN report on the humanitarian crisis has cited women being executed, captured, branded as slaves, and sexually assaulted.

Three RAF missions involving the dropping of essential supplies to the refugees have now taken place. More are being planned for the rest of this week and beyond.

The problems that led to an earlier aborted operation, cancelled out of fear that civilians on the ground could be hit, now seems to have eased.

The Department for International Development (DfID) said the latest missions involved dropping over 3,100 reusable water purification containers and 800 solar lamps that can be used to charge mobile phones that would aid direct communication with the refugees.

Downing St confirmed these air drops would be continuing, with a spokesman adding: “As part of our efforts to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Iraq, we are sending a small number of Chinook helicopters to the region for use if we decide we need further humanitarian relief options. Meanwhile urgent planning to get those trapped on the mountainside to safety will continue in the coming days between ourselves and US, the Kurdish authorities and other partners.”
"<a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/turkeys- ... ">Turkey's Geographical Ambition</a> is republished with permission of Stratfor."

Turkey's Geographical Ambition
Geopolitical Weekly
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Read more: Turkey's Geographical Ambition | Stratfor

Xcpt:
At a time when Europe and other parts of the world are governed by forgettable mediocrities, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister for a decade now, seethes with ambition. Perhaps the only other leader of a major world nation who emanates such a dynamic force field around him is Russia's Vladimir Putin, with whom the West is also supremely uncomfortable.

Erdogan and Putin are ambitious because they are men who unrepentantly grasp geopolitics. Putin knows that any responsible Russian leader ensures that Russia has buffer zones of some sort in places like Eastern Europe and the Caucasus; Erdogan knows that Turkey must become a substantial power in the Near East in order to give him leverage in Europe. Erdogan's problem is that Turkey's geography between East and West contains as many vulnerabilities as it does benefits. This makes Erdogan at times overreach. But there is a historical and geographical logic to his excesses.

The story begins after World War I..........(read the full piece in the link)

Erdogan knows that he must partially solve the Kurdish problem at home in order to gain further leverage in the region. He has even mentioned aloud the Arabic word, vilayet, associated with the Ottoman Empire. This word denotes a semi-autonomous province -- a concept that might hold the key for an accommodation with local Kurds but could well reignite his own nationalist rivals within Turkey. Thus, his is a big symbolic step that seeks to fundamentally neutralize the very foundation of Kemalism (with its emphasis on a solidly Turkic Anatolia). But given how he has already emasculated the Turkish military -- something few thought possible a decade ago -- one should be careful about underestimating Erdogan. His sheer ambition is something to behold. While Western elites ineffectually sneer at Putin, Erdogan enthusiastically takes notes when the two of them meet.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

Will someone post/mail these details to PM Modi and SS?
Is there even a FaceBook page trying to convey these things? Looks like the only "mainstream" reports are in the UK Telegraph. Al Jazeera is predictably silent on Islamist genocide... CNN same..

A Petition?

It looks like Kali Yugam is really getting to its nadir. Wonder how many more such Hindu communities are out there. The Rakshasas certainly know, as they sharpen their knives.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Prem »

Funeral of Martyrs in Palenstine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdYa-lnSgaE
habal
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by habal »

so this ..
Image
was actually this
Image

now I am coming around to the opinion that Mubarak was taken out on western initiative because he didn't agree to Egypt sending in manpower for this new wave of bloodshed in ME which was given name of orange, spring, tahrir etc. After he was removed, how easily Egypt sends manpower to Libya, Syria etc.

checking the time line Tahrir Square happens before Libyan Spring.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... r-boy.html
member_28705
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by member_28705 »

Philip wrote:Will someone post/mail these details to PM Modi and SS? This is genocide.A few days ago I was talking to a Parsi friend in Bombay and he said that there were also similarities between the Yazidis and Zorastrians.
An interesting article about who the Yazidis, possibly, are:

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinio ... azidis/99/
The world has watched with impotent horror as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), since renamed the Islamic State (IS), took over large parts of Syria and Iraq and went about systematically erasing the region’s social, cultural and demographic past. Already, the IS has virtually eliminated the entire Shia Muslim and Christian populations from the lands they control. The city of Mosul, home to one of the oldest Christian communities, no longer has any Christians left. The IS has not even spared Sunni Muslims who do not adhere to their extreme interpretation of Islam.

Terrible as these may be, the worst persecution has been aimed at a tiny community that now faces extinction — the Yazidis. They are an ancient religious group that lives among the Kurds of northern Iraq. The Yazidi number less than half a million and two-thirds live around Mosul. The rest are scattered across Armenia, Turkey and Syria (there are also recent immigrant communities in Germany and the US).

The Yazidi heartlands around Mosul are now mostly under IS control. The Christians of Mosul were given the choice to convert, pay the jiziya tax or leave. The Yazidis were given no such choice and are often killed on sight as “devil-worshippers”. The small town of Sinjar, the only place in the world with a Yazidi majority, fell to the IS in August and there are several reports of massacres. News reports suggest that 500 Yazidis, including children, were massacred in the town in a single instance, many buried alive. Hundreds of young women have been enslaved, and dozens are said to have killed themselves rather than be captured. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of refugees have fled into the neighbouring mountains where they are trapped in encircled enclaves. When US-backed rescue operations finally broke through to one such enclave on Mt Sinjar, they found thousands who had died of thirst.

Who are the Yazidi and why does the IS want to exterminate them? Although influenced by Christianity and Islam, the Yazidi religion has ancient roots that go back at least to the late Bronze Age. Interestingly, their beliefs have many similarities with Hinduism — for instance, they believe in reincarnation, say their prayers facing the sun at sunrise and sunset, etc. They also worship Tawuse-Melek, the peacock angel — a bird not found in Yazidi lands, but only in the Indian subcontinent.

Once, these cultural links would have been explained away in terms of an “Aryan invasion” from Central Asia. However, we now know that the great Harappan cities were
abandoned due to climate change and the drying of the Saraswati river around 2000 BC. Most people moved on to the Ganga or went south, thereby seeding Indic civilisation. But, did some groups migrate west? There is a lot of evidence of Indian links with the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Iran and of their Parsi descendants, is clearly related to Vedic religion and the oldest Zoroastrian texts — the Gathas — are composed in a language very close to Rig Vedic Sanskrit.

Intriguingly, there is evidence of an Indian tribe that may have migrated even further west. We have details of a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni around 1380 BC. The Mitanni were a tribe that once ruled over the same area now inhabited by the Yazidi and the treaty invokes the names of Vedic gods Indra, Varuna, Nasatya and Mitra. We also know that the Mitanni were not locals but had come from the east. The names of their leaders and several of their military and equestrian terms also appear to be derived from Sanskrit. Most intriguingly, Mitanni art shows peacocks and peacock-like griffins.
Are the Yazidis descendants of the Mitanni? We do not know for sure, but it is certainly an intriguing possibility, especially since recent genetic studies show that certain lineages commonly found in northern India are also found in eastern Iran and among the Kurds (no specific data is available on the Yazidi).

Over time, the Yazidis were dubbed as “devil-worshippers” and subjected to constant persecution. It was especially extreme under the Ottoman Turks in the 18th and 19th centuries. A series of massacres killed thousands and almost led to their extinction. Under Saddam Hussain, they were not subjected to overt religious persecution, but remained under pressure to Arabise their culture. Matters have become much worse since the dictator was deposed. In April 2007, gunmen dragged 23 Yazidi men from a bus and shot them dead. In August that year, a series of coordinated car-bombs killed at least 300 more, including women and children.
The Yazidis now face their greatest crisis. Hopefully, US-backed air-drops and air-strikes, together with a renewed push by Kurdish forces, will help rescue the survivors. However, it remains unclear if and when they will return home. So, who will give refuge to the Yazidis?

For centuries, many persecuted minorities have found refuge in India: Jews exiled after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Zoroastrians who fled Iran in the 8th century, and Tibetan Buddhists in the 20th. Perhaps, 21st century Indians should consider providing refuge to their distant cousins.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Arjun »

KrisP wrote:For centuries, many persecuted minorities have found refuge in India: Jews exiled after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Zoroastrians who fled Iran in the 8th century, and Tibetan Buddhists in the 20th. Perhaps, 21st century Indians should consider providing refuge to their distant cousins.
Also add Syrian Christians to the list of persecuted minorities that found hospitality in India.

Providing refuge to Yazidis would be a terrific modern-day reiteration of the values India stands for. Modi should definitely pursue this.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by member_28705 »

Arjun wrote:
KrisP wrote:For centuries, many persecuted minorities have found refuge in India: Jews exiled after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Zoroastrians who fled Iran in the 8th century, and Tibetan Buddhists in the 20th. Perhaps, 21st century Indians should consider providing refuge to their distant cousins.
Also add Syrian Christians to the list of persecuted minorities that found hospitality in India.

Providing refuge to Yazidis would be a terrific modern-day reiteration of the values India stands for. Modi should definitely pursue this.
Based on what I've read about Yazidis and the fact they refuse to convert even on the face of massacre for 2,000+ years - these are very hardy souls. Thus, even from a pragmatic perspective, they would become valuable and contributing citizens in 10 odd years. See how much the parsis have contributed to India.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Jarita »

Arjun wrote:
KrisP wrote:For centuries, many persecuted minorities have found refuge in India: Jews exiled after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Zoroastrians who fled Iran in the 8th century, and Tibetan Buddhists in the 20th. Perhaps, 21st century Indians should consider providing refuge to their distant cousins.
Also add Syrian Christians to the list of persecuted minorities that found hospitality in India.

Providing refuge to Yazidis would be a terrific modern-day reiteration of the values India stands for. Modi should definitely pursue this.

For goodness sake. India is not even on their radar.
We should start with beleaguered Hindus in Pakistan first if we want to be so charitable. Mungheri laal ke haseen sapne.
I bet if we offer them asylum and Europe does too, they will run to Europe without looking back. We cannot even look after Kashmiri pandits, please.
Let us keep our shreds of dignity and keep our traps shut.
The rustic Indian is also following what is happening but none of the
Ate coming up with pie in the sky ideas like this.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Arjun »

Jarita wrote:For goodness sake. India is not even on their radar.
We should start with beleaguered Hindus in Pakistan first if we want to be so charitable. Mungheri laal ke haseen sapne.
I bet if we offer them asylum and Europe does too, they will run to Europe without looking back. We cannot even look after Kashmiri pandits, please.
Let us keep our shreds of dignity and keep our traps shut.
The rustic Indian is also following what is happening but none of the
Ate coming up with pie in the sky ideas like this.
Idiotic mentality. I am focusing on the geopolitical and strategic benefits of the offer and for India to make known its values globally as refuge for pagan & non-proseletyzing faiths.

I certainly don't expect more than 50 K odd to actually take up the offer - and it does not matter if not many of them do.

Your argument could have been applied just as well by India in the case of Tibetan refugees and I am glad Nehru had the minimal sense to not listen to such drivel.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by member_28705 »

While I am all in favour of granting Bangla and Pakistani minorities entry into India - such a thing will not go well with our SLIME or WKK media. Plus, from a foreign policy perspective it might not be the best move. This must happen, sooner or later - but perhaps this is not THE moment to do it.

Inviting yazidis, irrespective of whether or not they take up the offer, seems to be a win-win deal.

First, media will praise the move.
Second, our national-esteem will be improved.
Third, our prestige in international fora and community will be enhanced.
Fourth, it would be a display of Indian values.
Fifth, we can expose whichever Yazidi comes over to some skill development programme, resettle them - and I am sure that they will be a valued contributing community very soon.
Sixth, this will add to the racial diversity of India - which can only do us good.

We are a nation of SDREs, so let us welcome the 'devil-worshipping' Yazidis into our fold. I hope sarkaar thinks on this seriously.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Supratik »

The two i.e. tackling jihadis in the sub-continent and providing refuge to a persecuted minority with ancient links need not be mutually exclusive.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by Jarita »

Arjun wrote:
Jarita wrote:For goodness sake. India is not even on their radar.
We should start with beleaguered Hindus in Pakistan first if we want to be so charitable. Mungheri laal ke haseen sapne.
I bet if we offer them asylum and Europe does too, they will run to Europe without looking back. We cannot even look after Kashmiri pandits, please.
Let us keep our shreds of dignity and keep our traps shut.
The rustic Indian is also following what is happening but none of the
Ate coming up with pie in the sky ideas like this.
Idiotic mentality. I am focusing on the geopolitical and strategic benefits of the offer and for India to make known its values globally as refuge for pagan & non-proseletyzing faiths.

I certainly don't expect more than 50 K odd to actually take up the offer - and it does not matter if not many of them do.

Your argument could have been applied just as well by India in the case of Tibetan refugees and I am glad Nehru had the minimal sense to not listen to such drivel.

The tibetans asked for help, not the other way round. Infact, they were knocking on our border. The parsi's asked for help. At that time India was haven for the persecuted.
The yezidis the last I looked are specifically asking EU and the US for refugee status.
Thodi khair karo, until they ask specifically, keep quiet.
Infact the only bleating I see about yezidi Hindu connections is from Indian's. The Yezidis keep talking about their monotheistic religion which is syncretic of the western faiths. On social media, it has become a real embarrassment.
The Yezidis have not approached India for anything. They want to go to places where their faith is safe and where there is prosperity.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by TSJones »

Maliki will step down:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/world ... .html?_r=0
Mr. Maliki’s decision came after days of negotiations with his former Shiite allies, who urged him to abide by growing international opposition to his rule, including from the United States and Iran, and the sense among most Iraqi leaders that his removal was necessary to bring the country together in the face of an onslaught by Sunni militants with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

The newspapers in Ulan Bator are saying that the siege of the mountain has been broken, and that the Yazidi have mostly broken out and got to safety. Not enough ppl to evacuate using US Special Forces, so the SF cancelled their mission.
US Air strikes found to have done a Shomali Plain to the ISIS.
Victory for BO, hain?
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by TSJones »

UlanBatori wrote:The newspapers in Ulan Bator are saying that the siege of the mountain has been broken, and that the Yazidi have mostly broken out and got to safety. Not enough ppl to evacuate using US Special Forces, so the SF cancelled their mission.
US Air strikes found to have done a Shomali Plain to the ISIS.
Victory for BO, hain?
Sort of. Why didn't he do this when that insane clown posse first appeared in Iraq several months ago? He wanted to get rid of Maliki, that's why. That is sacrificing a lot of innocent victims for geopolitical strategy. I understand that Maliki was not the right choice for Iraq and he had to go. But I have experienced government aims and goals from the pointed end of the stick for four years so I am a straight forward thinking kind of guy. To my way of thinking sacrificing 1000's in order to enact a regime change is a horse sh*t way of doing things. Of course who am I but a former lowly Marine expendable. What do I know? I personally would have made mincemeat out of those lowlifes and then set up a hot dog stand to sell the meat. To have allowed those murderous scum to set up road blocks, drive around heavy equipment, set up mortar emplacements, and then commit murder and rapine was sheer lack of compassion. Especially when all it would have took was some extra satellite and drone surveillence and some JDAMS and hell fires promptly applied and problem is solved. Would it have been harder to get Maliki out of power? Sure would have. But we could of forced the issue.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by UlanBatori »

In that case I hope Boner & Co win and manage to take the impeachment all the way. This is nothing short of genocidal. All those poor people!! No forgiveness for that, ever. How can the &^*^ sleep? As for responsibility, unfortunately it was the US of A that destroyed all the protections that all those people had by destroying the Iraqi Army, and then walking out leaving them completely exposed to any savages coming by! Wonder what the US troops in Eyerak, and those recently there, think of letting these ******** run rampage there, after all the sacrifice the soldiers put in.
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Re: West Asia News and Discussions

Post by sanjaykumar »

Are the Yazidis descendants of the Mitanni? We do not know for sure, but it is certainly an intriguing possibility, especially since recent genetic studies show that certain lineages commonly found in northern India are also found in eastern Iran and among the Kurds (no specific data is available on the Yazidi).

I would like to see these genetic studies.

I do recognise a kinship of sorts with these peoples. Certainly if one goes by the innate preference (extended kinship) bias humans possess (or are cursed with):I find these groups to be more physically attractive than the Semitic populations of the area.
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