The War on Terror /Central Asia/Mid East/Africa thread

[Fuck You Jobu]

If true, wow.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n01/seymour-m- ... o-military

He's the guy who broke the My Lai massacre. So there is a certain level of trust there.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

[LetMeSleep]

Did you enjoy the match, Thomas?

[nyquillyn]

Why is Obama even responding to all of this ridiculous GOP chest-thumping over Iran?

[b_i_revisited]

When the Palestinians are concerned.. you know there might be a problem.

[McParadigm]

When the Palestinians are concerned.. you know there might be a problem.

That's not our stance when their concern is directed at Israel, tho.

[BurtReynolds]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... _dt_tw_top

Worst Terrorist Ever Blows Self Sideways out of Plane Without Killing Anyone Else

[E.H. Ruddock]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/02/05/somali_airplane_bomber_was_only_victim_of_bomb.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

Worst Terrorist Ever Blows Self Sideways out of Plane Without Killing Anyone Else

You can't make this stuff up

[LoathedVermin72]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/02/05/somali_airplane_bomber_was_only_victim_of_bomb.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

Worst Terrorist Ever Blows Self Sideways out of Plane Without Killing Anyone Else

Turban Your Enthusiasm

[E.H. Ruddock]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/02/05/somali_airplane_bomber_was_only_victim_of_bomb.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

Worst Terrorist Ever Blows Self Sideways out of Plane Without Killing Anyone Else

Turban Your Enthusiasm

Fakes on a plane

[b_i_revisited]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/02/05/somali_airplane_bomber_was_only_victim_of_bomb.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

Worst Terrorist Ever Blows Self Sideways out of Plane Without Killing Anyone Else

At 35,000 feet this would have been a different headline.

[simple schoolboy]

I've seen bits here and there that the Saudi's are getting involved in Syria. They seem rather overstretched, and outside of US arms manufacturers, I can't imagine who is cheering this decision.

[b_i_revisited]

I can't imagine who is cheering this decision.

In 1994, an unassuming eye doctor in London got a call to tell him that his brother had died unexpectedly in a car crash and that he had to move back in with his parents. Why? His father was Hafez al-Assad, the internationally reviled dictator of Syria, and our humble eye doctor was now commanded to prepare for his new inheritance - the Presidency of Syria.

Bashar al-Assad became president upon his father's death in 2000. He married the charming British-born Asma Akhras in December. Hafez al-Assad's foreign policy had been against the Western powers, which he resented for the colonial occupation of his country, and pro-Soviet Russia, which had sent military assistance and arms to Syria. The Western-leaning young couple worked to thaw relations with the developed world.

The Assads were invited to the capitals of Europe and forged friendly contacts with world leaders. By 2010, with the ruins of Saddam Hussein's regime smoldering in Iraq and a peace deal signed in Palestine, suddenly the path was clear from oil and gas producers in the Middle East, all the way to Europe. There remained just one last country to bring onside in order to get oil and gas piped through to a high demand region. That country was Syria.

Qatar needed to get its "Qatar-Turkey" pipeline through Syria, and Europe looked forward to linking up with the world's largest gas producer because it was over-dependent on Russian supplies. Russia's unstable president Vladimir Putin had previously cut off gas supplies to Europe in the dead of winter 2009 after a dispute with Ukraine over gas royalties. The Russian military has since invaded Ukraine and given Putin's aggressive stance, Europe now urgently needs to find an alternate gas supply not controlled by Russia. This makes a middle-eastern pipeline coming through Syria a very attractive proposition.

The Assads soon realized that they were in a position of power. They decided to up the ante by creating an alternative source of fuel for a trans-Syrian pipeline. Most of the countries in the Middle East, including Syria are majority Sunni Muslim. The post-Hussein regime in Iraq was dominated by Shia Muslims, The Assads are Alawite Muslims - a Shia creed that the Sunnis from Qatar and Saudi Arabia would like to see wiped off the earth. So instead of the Qatar-Turkey pipeline, Assad stitched together a deal with the Shia administration in Iraq, together with Iraq's other neighbor, Iran - the largest Shia nation in the world. The Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline project was born.

Syria's economy was underdeveloped and the Assads needed oil money to keep their people placated. Their alternative pipeline plan would carry Iran and Iraq's gas to Europe, instead of gas from Qatar, and that option pleased Russia's Putin, because he already had long standing agreements in place with Iran, who were more amenable to gas price coordination with Russia. Moreover, as a long-term supporter of Syria, Russia had built up influence within the administration and the armed forces. Also Russia's only military base in the Mediterranean is located on the coast of Syria which would strategically allow Putin to control a second gas pipeline to Europe. Naturally this Iranian pipeline to Syria quickly became a top priority for Moscow. Assad and the Russians worked their contacts to dissuade the Qatar deal and promote the Iranian plan. Bashar and Asma thought they had forced Europe and the Gulf States to up their offer. Instead, they had made some very dangerous enemies....

[b_i_revisited]

Goddammit.

[Simple Torture]

What's so disheartening about this--besides the usual things that are disheartening about terrorist attacks--is that it seems like they've been anticipating this in Belgium, and in Brussels in particular, since last summer, and they couldn't do anything to stop it. Yikes.

[Biff Pocoroba]

I visited Brussels three years ago, I just had a couple pictures pop on FB's "on this date" feed. And I had a flown in/out of the airport before. Such a charming big little city. When something like this happens in a place you've been, when you recognize buildings that have been bombed, it feels more personal.
The world just is not as big as it used to be.

[Simple Torture]

If there's a terror attack of the Paris/Brussels variety between now and October--not a lone wolf thing, but a coordinated, multi-stage attack--in America, does that swing the election to the Republicans (probably Trump)?

[Norah]

If there's a terror attack of the Paris/Brussels variety between now and October--not a lone wolf thing, but a coordinated, multi-stage attack--in America, does that swing the election to the Republicans (probably Trump)?

Traditionary it would tilt things toward the GOP but I would throw assumptions like that out the window this time. I could actually seeing it push things toward Clinton unless Benghazi gets in the way.

[Simple Torture]

If there's a terror attack of the Paris/Brussels variety between now and October--not a lone wolf thing, but a coordinated, multi-stage attack--in America, does that swing the election to the Republicans (probably Trump)?

Traditionary it would tilt things toward the GOP but I would throw assumptions like that out the window this time. I could actually seeing it push things toward Clinton unless Benghazi gets in the way.

That's going to come up as a huge talking point after the primaries anyway (Benghazi, that is). If there were an attack, the easy line for GOPers would be: "If this happened under Clinton, she'd lie to us just like she lied about Benghazi!" I could see it being effective.

[Fuck You Jobu]

If there's a terror attack of the Paris/Brussels variety between now and October--not a lone wolf thing, but a coordinated, multi-stage attack--in America, does that swing the election to the Republicans (probably Trump)?

Traditionary it would tilt things toward the GOP but I would throw assumptions like that out the window this time. I could actually seeing it push things toward Clinton unless Benghazi gets in the way.

Trump has been super anti-immigration, esp with Muslims. This latest attack was by Muslim immigrants (they weren't born there I don't believe).

This will work out well for him.