Rolling MENA 2014 (Middle East)

also a lot of fighters from abroad iirc xp

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/558898-why-is-no-one-acting-against-isis

he doesn't really have an answer. everyone hopes they'll be someone else's headache?

political correctness gone mad imo

I'm starting to think Dexter Filkins is right. The fact that we never should have gone to Iraq in the first place doesn't mean it was a good idea to pull 100% of our presence out now. Even a small presence probably could have prevented this.

Of course, a small US military presence wouldn't fix our larger fuckups with regard to the structure of Iraqi government.

i'm starting to think dexter filkins has "gone native" with all the generals he hangs out w/all day

Maliki didn't want a US presence in Iraq so i'm not sure how viable it would have been. He also doesn't want the US to actively support the Peshmerga with a referendum on independence coming up.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Hypocrisy+over+Gaza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ugsv5u-sW0

not this prick again

Pat Condell ruining yet another perfect thread

Of course, a small US military presence wouldn't fix our larger fuckups with regard to the structure of Iraqi government.

― 'arry Goldman (Hurting 2),

Maliki and the Iraqi government told the US they could only stay if the US military was liable under Iraqi law in a way that the US military has never agreed to anywhere. As for the Maliki government, some of it may be 20/20 hindsight now, but was anyone in the US State department, pentagon or White House making noise earlier about Maliki's failures to create a more inclusive government and a less corrupt one? We can't get him to leave now, could we have forced changes earlier?

was anyone in the US State department, pentagon or White House making noise earlier about Maliki's failures to create a more inclusive government and a less corrupt one

short answer, yes

But I guess they had little influence...

Kurdish officials pleaded for international assistance as they appeared to be losing control of the 650-mile border that the semiautonomous region now shares with militants from the Islamic State, an al-Qaeda splinter group. The Kurdish forces were forced to pull out of the town of Qaraqosh overnight, the officials said.

The ancient Christian town had become home to thousands of displaced Christians from the northern city of Mosul after the extremists gave them an ultimatum with three choices: convert to Islam, remain Christian but pay special taxes, or die.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-state-militants-seize-christian-town-in-northern-iraq-thousands-flee/2014/08/07/942a553a-1e2b-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/month-long-war-in-gaza-has-left-a-humanitarian-and-environmental-crisis/2014/08/06/85772138-cad7-4812-90d9-6bdb21be1c63_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop

The scale of destruction and loss over nearly a month of war, Gazans and international aid workers say, is far more devastating than that left after the two previous Israel-Hamas battles, in 2009 and 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=buQ1C5RJ2Vk#t=1668

whole thing is good but start at 27:48 for "the Judaic attitude toward war" and then shortly after that for some commentary on Israel's political/military situation that will resonate pretty hard.

Poll: Huge majority in Gaza want lasting ceasefire. IDC survey finds that 72% hope for peace deal with Israel, 68% prefer reconstruction over rearmament

Hamas vows to restart attacks Friday if blockade not lifted. Terror group’s spokesman warns southern residents not to return to their homes; Israel says it is poised to respond as required

"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw ISIS forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/american-forces-said-to-bomb-isis-targets-in-iraq.html

US press sec denied it, but I can't see who else would do this.

Humanitarian droppings are in the works too, tg

shipping humanitarian supplies during bombings - sounds very familiar

Iraq dropped the bombs, US the aid

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/08/07/europe_proposes_un_mission_for_gaza

Major European powers have outlined a detailed plan for a European-backed U.N. mission to monitor the lifting of an Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip and the dismantling of Hamas's military tunnel network and rocket arsenals, according to a copy of the plan obtained by Foreign Policy.

The European initiative aims to reinforce wide-ranging cease-fire talks underway in Cairo. The Europeans are hoping to take advantage of this week's 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire to cobble a more durable plan addressing underlying issues that could reignite violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

Caution needed with Gaza casualty figures
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28688179

US has started bombing ISIS themselves now.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/roads/2014/08/need_an_isis_hoodie_the_world_s_most_notorious_terrorist_group_has_a_gift.html

http://media.vocativ.com/photos/2014/06/ISIS-Fashion_08-960x6501358463987.jpg

mujahideen around the world / don't speak the language / but that hoodie don't need explaining

no caution is needed, mordy, if you are working with the idea that killing one civilian for every combatant is unacceptable

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28731638

Northern Mali had been kinda quiet for awhile, but now:

French forces have bombed Islamist militant positions in northern Mali.
Four or five bombs were dropped in the Esssakane region, west of the city of Timbuktu on Sunday morning, the BBC's Alex Duval Smith in Mali reports.

The UN has said al-Qaeda militants were active in the area. Last month Timbuktu airport came under rocket attack.

France intervened in Mali in January last year to try to drive out al-Qaeda-linked groups, which had taken over the north of the country.

Last month the French government said it was setting up a new military operation to stop the emergence of jihadist groups in the Sahel region of Africa.

incredible that Maliki thinks he'll be able to retain power. this fuckin guy

he probably noticed that his patrons have kept that other guy in power in syria

right but anybody who looks at Assad and thinks "hmm that looks like a good deal, I'm gonna cop his style" is certifiably bonkers. Assad's holding onto power but the war ain't over yet and the costs are insane.

2014 in Iraq

More over here

@DennisThePerrin

It's Bomb Iraq season already? Time flies.

Thanks to high ratings for cable news channels, the US has renewed Israel's war for another season.

Glad to see he's still pointless.

http://southasia.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/08/12/amnesty_international_no_justice_for_afghan_civilians_killed_by_us_or_nato_forces

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/13/us-iraq-security-islamicstate-wheat-idUSKBN0GD14720140813

Exclusive: Islamic State militants grab new weapon - Iraqi wheat

(Reuters) - After seizing five oil fields and Iraq's biggest dam, Sunni militants bent on creating an Islamic empire in the Middle East now control yet another powerful economic weapon – wheat supplies.

Fighters from the Islamic State have overrun large areas in five of Iraq's most fertile provinces, where the United Nations food agency says around 40 percent of its wheat is grown.

Now they're helping themselves to grain stored in government silos, milling it and distributing the flour on the local market, an Iraqi official told Reuters. The Islamic State has even tried to sell smuggled wheat back to the government to finance a war effort marked by extreme violence and brutality.

US Suspends Hellfire Missile Shipment to Israel in Revised Arms Policy

Having not paid close attention for a few years and taking a close look at the current Knesset make up I was kind of surprised at just how far right the politics have turned:

(out of 120 seats)
Political groups
Coalition members (68):
Likud (20) (historical main rightwing party, has at times opposed a two-state settlement)
Yesh Atid (19) (don't know much about this party tbh, some kind of "centrist" party headed by a pretty boy news anchor)
The Jewish Home (12) (extreme right - probably the most openly fascistic party in Israel - Ayelet Shaked etc.)
Yisrael Beiteinu (11) (extreme right, xenophobic, demagogic, party of Avigdor Liberman)
Hatnuah (6) (Tzipi Livni's current party, "moderate" I guess).
Opposition (52):
Labor Party (15) (traditional left-center party)
Shas (11) (primarily a religious party, has sided with both left and right and focuses on religious issues, basically "leave me alone and let me study my torah")
United Torah Judaism (7) (sim to Shas, does not tend to take a position on Palestinians)
Meretz (6) (legitimately left party)
Hadash (4) (socialist jewish-arab party)
UAL-Ta'al (4) (arab party)
Balad (3) (arab party)
Kadima (2) (relatively recently founded "centrist" party that briefly got a lot of attention but now seems to be fizzling)

So over 1/3 of Knesset is now what I would consider hard right wing, and "centrists" are forming coalitions with them even though they have the numbers to bring a left coalition into power. Not a hopeful outlook.

it will be more "hard right wing" after the next election

meanwhile in Syria:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/15/opinion/syria-aleppo-isis-threat/

At least six villages north of Syria's largest city of Aleppo fell Wednesday to militants from ISIS, according to AFP. The jihadist group has seized large swathes of land in Iraq and consolidated control over considerable territory in northeastern Syria in the past year.

ISIS fighters are now just 30 miles from the rebel-controlled northern suburbs of Aleppo and within striking distance of key opposition positions leading to the Turkish border.

The situation for the opposition may be even worse inside Aleppo city, where forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are gaining ground after a brutal months-long campaign against opposition forces.
....
The rebels in Aleppo fighting to topple Assad and beat back ISIS' advance have long been a melting pot of different groups, including various Free Syrian Army (FSA) units, the al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, and the Islamic Front (IF). While core moderate FSA-linked factions benefitted from an influx of Western support in late 2013 to facilitate their anti-ISIS offensive in January, this support has since dwindled.

http://forward.com/articles/204174/islamic-jihad-says-cease-fire-agreement-will-be-si/?

look at islamic jihad - leaking w/ the big boys

i thought the harpers cover round table about I/P was good this month. it's behind a paywall but for MENA eyes only....

rumor is that a deal has been signed in cairo?

Wow, so Islamic Jihad is leaking to you! Who would have guessed that...You must be using another alias...

But seriously, that would be good if a deal was signed (I think)

lol obv i'm not hearing the leaks directly from the source

My Fox News (! This came up first in google) sources are reporting:

In a possible move to pressure Hamas to soften its positions, Norway's foreign minister said Monday that his country and Egypt were planning to co-host a donor conference in Cairo for the reconstruction of Gaza. Boerge Brende said invitations would be sent out once there is an agreement in the Egypt-mediated truce talks with Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel's Shin Bet security service said Monday it had thwarted what it described as a Hamas coup attempt in the West Bank aimed at toppling Abbas, though it offered few details. The security agency said Hamas operatives had tried to stir up an uprising that would have led to the collapse of Abbas' Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

haaretz reports that talks have been extended for an additional 24 hours

fascinating stuff here: http://jewishphilosophyplace.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/palestine-the-question-of-israel/