What's your opinion regarding recent events and escalations in Iraq...and the middle east in general?
ISIS....
What's your opinion regarding recent events and escalations in Iraq...and the middle east in general?
Hope is the denial of reality
THANK YOU. The few people I know who follow this also don't watch Archer, so it's been really tough to talk about this with them.Originally Posted by Loki
haha?
We must be in some really deep shit when Loki, the forum's premiere Political Scientist and International Relations expert, uses cartoon humor.
Well, Archer did come up with the name first...
Are you expecting any controversy here? Is anyone going to say "gee, they're not so bad after all"?
Additionally, I don't think anyone really knows what the heck is happening on the ground. I've read quite a few contradictory reports about ISIS' strength and its role in the current Iraqi offensive.
Last edited by Loki; 06-17-2014 at 05:11 AM.
Hope is the denial of reality
Weren't the Egyptians a little earlier?
"Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen." - Helmut Schmidt
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27937868
I want to play..
838. Iraq crisis (6/14/2014)
All of a sudden,Iraq is in crisis. The second biggest city is fallen. Baghdad isthreatened.
Iraqisoldiers, police drop weapons, flee posts in portions of Mosul
CNN, Fri June 13,2014
"I only ...saw armed people, but not Iraqi military," said resident Firas al-Maslawiof his drive through Mosul on Tuesday. "There was no presence of anygovernment forces on the streets, the majority of their posts destroyed andmanned by (Islamist militants)."
The numerousreports of police and soldiers running from their posts in Mosul raised theprospect that the Iraqi government did not either have the will or resources towin this and other fights.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/10/world/...iraq-violence/
Iraqi securityforces, trained by Pentagon for years and well equipped with helicopters, tanksand armoured cars, vastly outnumber the jihadists, suddenly melted down in theface of ISIL rebels.
Consider Al Qaedajihadists are created and supported by the US to deal with its dislikes (suchlike Libya’s Gaddafi and Syria’s Assad) and the current Iraq government is apuppet set up by US in Iraq war, both sides are US’ assets. I think it’s adrama conducted by the US. You can see the leadership of Iraqi troops gave upthe city without any fight.
US inside groupused to create a case, with which to ask for more power and money. E.g. the 911attack has been created to get Patriot Act and two wars in Mid-East. What is itnow for this Iraq crisis?ISISbutchers leave 'roads lined with decapitated police and soldiers'
BySamGreenhilland Jill Reillyand Kieran Corcoran 12 June 2014
According tobitter Iraqi foot soldiers, their commanders slipped away in the night ratherthan mount a defence of the city.
One said: ‘Ourleaders betrayed us. The commanders left the military behind. When we woke up,all the leaders had left.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz34ZB9A5qo
839. Iraqi crisis created to save dollar(6/18/2014)
In early June,Russia switches the oil payment from dollars to Euros.
This is veryimportant news. If people starting to abandon the dollar, US will be hurtseriously in economy. Yet the news was little reported by the mainstream media.Several days later, the ISIL rebel in Iraq activates an offensive. The puppetIraqi government retreats without any resistance. As a result, the oil pricegoes up.GazpromSigns Agreements to Switch from Dollars to Euros
Global Research,June 07, 2014
Gazprom Neft hadsigned additional agreements with consumers on a possible switch from dollarsto euros for payments under contracts, the oil company’s head Alexander Dyukovtold a press conference.
“Additionalagreements of Gazprom Neft on the possibility to switch contracts from dollarsto euros are signed. With Belarus, payments in rubles are agreed on,” he said.
Dyukov said nineof ten consumers had agreed to switch to euros.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/gazprom...-euros/5386049
Since the moneyused in most oil trading is dollar, the higher oil price will force the buyerto keep more dollar in bank as purchasing power. It’s a big amount if futureoption is included. Manipulating oil price becomes a strategy to save thedollar. Iraq is a big country of oil production and exportation. Its politicalstability has huge influence to oil price. US has turned it into a switch toadjust the oil price.Oilprices spike as Iraq violence flares
By Mark Thompson @MarkThompsonCNN June 12, 2014
Oil prices spikedThursday to levels not seen in nine months as escalating violence in Iraqsparked worries about crude exports.
Light crude oilfutures touched $106 a barrel, up nearly 2% and the highest price sinceSeptember 2013.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/12/news/oil-prices-iraq/
Really not sure what you're trying to get at here. Fairly incoherent.
As usual, it was difficult for me to start a cogent thread.
Second attempt: what role, or responsibility, do you think other nations (particularly the US, but also its allies) has in this mess?
It's deja vu all over again, and somewhat similar to what's happening in Ukraine and Russia, and western Europe. Is trading fossil fuel energy resources (with dictators or despots) pretty much the same thing as funding or enabling "jihad terrorists"?
Only in GGT's world where everything is related to everything. The only way in which energy resources are relevant here is that ISIS gets part of its funding from selling it to the Syrian government.
Hope is the denial of reality
No, what's "relevant" is the degree that <fossil fuel> energy consumption plays in international trade and public policy...and how OPEC nations garner western support, including expectations of military intervention.
IMO, Kuwait and Desert Fox in 1990 wasn't about liberating the Kuwaiti people...but the US protecting its oil inflow. I'll go back further, and say the oil embargo of the 70's didn't have a damn thing to do with "promoting democracy or freeee market trade". We just wanted to continue our jones for "cheap" fossil fuels, no matter where it came from, or what long-term price came with it.
Erm, you do realize that we weren't the ones who implemented the oil embargo, right?
Hope is the denial of reality
Erm, you do realize that we weren't the ones who implemented the oil embargo, right?Never mind. I suppose we'll have to wait for some other, more 'reputable poster', to start a thread regarding Iraq and Syria, or middle east turmoil in general, before you can posit an opinion.
Is there a single sane person on earth who has ever claimed that the purpose of the Arab oil embargo was to promote democracy or free markets?the oil embargo of the 70's didn't have a damn thing to do with "promoting democracy or freeee market trade"
Don't say stupid and blatantly wrong things if you want to be taken seriously.
Hope is the denial of reality
Well, don't use the opportunity to criticize me....as a way to avoid addressing the larger, international, modern, political dilemmas surrounding energy resource powers, trade and financial policies, and diplomatic or military interventions.Is there a single sane person on earth who has ever claimed that the purpose of the Arab oil embargo was to promote democracy or free markets?
Don't say stupid and blatantly wrong things if you want to be taken seriously.
If economic sanctions worked according to political theory, then Europe would be telling Russia (and Gazprom) to fly a kite, and the US would be thumbing their nose at OPEC nations in the middle east.....and the financial markets would reflect that. But they aren't.
It's gotten hard to tell what's the dog or tail, and who's wagging whom.
What political theory is that?
Hope is the denial of reality
Again, it's your fault to begin with. You either post incomprehensible or wholly inaccurate statement like who started the oil embargo or you begin to dance all over the board like a benign version of Tourette's.
How the hell do we interact with this?
Brevior saltare cum deformibus viris est vita
Well.....you could begin by realizing this was my attempt to discuss what's going on in Iraq and Syria....and take it from there. Yeah, my thread titles usually suck, and they're often SO open-ended they appear to be incomprehensible at face value.
Pardon my habit of giving this forum's *frequent posters* the benefit of the doubt, but not beginning the thread like a fricking white paper or academic thesis.
Maybe titles like "WTF is going on in Iraq?"...or "What should the US do about Iraq?"....or "Is there a military solution to Iraq?" would have been better.Tackling a complicated, complex issue shouldn't rest on how I started the damn thread. That's the easy way out.
The theory systems I know indicate sanctions hurt both sides. Realism, market theory, liberal institutionalism. . . even communism held that, which is why it tries to weld neighbors, who pretty much always hold the majority of a country's trade, into an economic bloc. The closer the countries are, the more both are hurt. Large economic differentials can mean the larger side doesn't feel it as much, depending on the sanctions but both sides still get hurt by them. Which is precisely why Europe isn't doing much to Russia and the US doesn't thumb its nose at OPEC.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
What I get from GGT is that all of poli sci is a single theory, a theory that is held by all politicians.
Hope is the denial of reality
It totally is, though, Icky...
We're stuck in a bloody snowglobe.
A theory of anything and everything.
Hope is the denial of reality
You're confused with physicsA theory of anything and everything.
Keep on keepin' the beat alive!
ISIS? Is that the sister organization to SPECTRE?
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
My post had nothing to do with your OP, or the name of your thread.
You said something wrong, it was pointed out, and you whine that it was done to avoid talking about the topic. It was done to stop you from using the incorrect statement as launching point.
It's been done to everyone in this board.
Brevior saltare cum deformibus viris est vita
Now that it's launched....are there any opinions about Iraq and Syria, and what (if anything) should be done by the US?
Support an independent Kurdistan and cut their losses
Do you really think a majority of US voters see the situation that way?
I think were at war and we need to fight the war.
Islamic State needs to crushed to the point where it can no longer exist as an entity. I don't think the 1st world has stomach for that type of war anymore though.
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