Rolling MENA 2014 (Middle East)

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/

good stuff, thanks for posting

Protective Edge part 2

Isis just beheaded an American photojournalist

2014 in Iraq

Whoops thanks

despite claims to the contrary from hamas, i've been hearing rumors that Deif is dead - and i kinda believe it considering the huge barrage of fajrs being launched right now. it's not the kind of response you'd expect for a failed targeting...

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, in a Hamas TV interview earlier Wednesday had described Deif as “the dead man” in an apparent slip of the tongue.

if you were a Saudi, w33d might get u beheaded

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/saudi-beheads-four-men-smuggling-drugs-2014818184317907443.html

somehow i think there's something else about me that might get me beheaded if i were saudi...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israeli-airstrikes-kill-3-top-hamas-commanders-in-gaza-strip/2014/08/21/627e90b8-2930-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html

They got these 3, but still nothing more re Deif

except for the zuhri slip of tongue. i think he's dead.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/08/21/hamas_israeli_teen_kidnapping_militant_group_claims_responsibility.html

thought you'd be talking about this.

well sure, but i knew that from the beginning :P

well I guess they got what they wanted

Hey, finger pointing is counterproductive. I think it's very important to keep the focus on Israel for its disproportionate response to the actions of Hamas designed and intended to provoke just such a disproportionate response.

it was always kinda bizarre bc obv the family that did it was a hamas affiliate. the organization is too decentralized to believe that meshaal himself gave the order. this is just a confirmation about what ppl already knew -- that a hamas affiliate did it, and that hamas approved (at least after the fact).

What a mess.

the real mess are all the ppl who refused to accept that hamas might've had something to do w/ it until hamas themselves told them. is that where we're at now? we only believe things when hamas tells us them?

hmm yeah that link doesn't really say it was directed from the top-down (agree w mordy that Hamas doesn't appear to be an organization that really works that way). is this actually new info?

I thought the culprits had been identified pretty early on as Hamas-affiliates