Meanwhile in Iraq & Syria

[BjornP]

That's right folks... Friedman thinks "Trump should let ISIS be Assad’s, Iran’s, Hezbollah’s and Russia’s headache — the same way we encouraged the mujahedeen fighters to bleed Russia in Afghanistan."

Because the mujahedeen never came back to bite us in the ass...

This is the same tactic as was used against the non ISIS/al-Nusra, US-backed rebels by Assad early on. If Assad could turn the only choice in the Syrian civil war into a question of either ISIS or Assad, he's not only assured of Russian support, but de facto Western tolerance of the old status quo. Otoh, the more options there are for foreign powers to pick and choose from as their puppets, the less likely he's guarenteed to stay in power either if someone can offer his ally a better deal or if pre-existing enemies get some foreign allies that can outmatch his current allies.

[TheReal_ND]

CNN is not going to air any portion of Assad interview because Assad did not give full tape to AFP, instead chose to release on youtube.
https://twitter.com/camanpour/status/852584603902541824


Rebels in Syria call boy's beheading a 'mistake'
(CNN) — Gruesome video footage has emerged of Syrian rebels beheading a young boy, in what leaders of the group involved called an "individual mistake."
The video that emerged on social media showed a visibly frightened boy lying in the back of a truck alongside what appeared to be several rebel fighters.
The rebels claimed the boy was a prisoner from Liwa al-Quds -- a pro-regime militia force made up mostly of Palestinians in Syria -- and that he was captured from an unofficial refugee camp north of war-torn Aleppo.
http://archive.is/LiiOb

[BjornP]

Iraqi Kurdistan has enjoyed semi-independence for a long time now.

Yet basically there's something wrong with the Kurds. If you have 30-32 million people, perhaps even more, one should have an independent country by all logic.

The most likely reason is simply that the other countries have simply been successfull in keeping Kurds in separate factions.



If you meet a kurd, it's a great opening line: "Why don't you have your own independent country?"

I know, but it seems they're pushing more aggressively for actual independence now. And yeah, your average Joe Kurd is not excatly going to be a Marxist-inspired secular nationalist. Not sure if I'd attribute that to deliberate political maneuvering or luck, though.

[kybkh]

Christiane Amanpour...LITERALLY wat is sche?

[Speaker to Animals]

CNN is not going to air any portion of Assad interview because Assad did not give full tape to AFP, instead chose to release on youtube.
https://twitter.com/camanpour/status/852584603902541824


Rebels in Syria call boy's beheading a 'mistake'
(CNN) — Gruesome video footage has emerged of Syrian rebels beheading a young boy, in what leaders of the group involved called an "individual mistake."
The video that emerged on social media showed a visibly frightened boy lying in the back of a truck alongside what appeared to be several rebel fighters.
The rebels claimed the boy was a prisoner from Liwa al-Quds -- a pro-regime militia force made up mostly of Palestinians in Syria -- and that he was captured from an unofficial refugee camp north of war-torn Aleppo.
http://archive.is/LiiOb

Oh, those are Bjorn's good guys.

[BjornP]

CNN is not going to air any portion of Assad interview because Assad did not give full tape to AFP, instead chose to release on youtube.
https://twitter.com/camanpour/status/852584603902541824


Rebels in Syria call boy's beheading a 'mistake'
(CNN) — Gruesome video footage has emerged of Syrian rebels beheading a young boy, in what leaders of the group involved called an "individual mistake."
The video that emerged on social media showed a visibly frightened boy lying in the back of a truck alongside what appeared to be several rebel fighters.
The rebels claimed the boy was a prisoner from Liwa al-Quds -- a pro-regime militia force made up mostly of Palestinians in Syria -- and that he was captured from an unofficial refugee camp north of war-torn Aleppo.
http://archive.is/LiiOb

Oh, those are Bjorn's good guys.

They're Rojava Kurds, members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or members of the Syriac Military Council? No? They're not "my" good guys, but they're what comes closest to it in terms of Western values. So unless they them, then no. You're free to feel more in common with Hezbollah, Alawite Islam and pan-Arab nationalism, though. You got a couple of things in common with them already, don't you? Do you even drink?

Hey and anyway, odds are the boy's Muslim, right? Soooo.... isn't that just one less Hajji to get in a truck and mow down a crowd or rape our women? What better way to get fewer Muslims in the world than let them all murder each other, right? (Since we're strawmanning for sport...) We could share a celebratory glass of akvavit! What say you?

[BjornP]

Drone wars in Mosul, Iraq:

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/dro ... ne-threats

(oh and check out that one comment beneath the article.. )

[TheReal_ND]

Bullet mitigation lol

[Speaker to Animals]

He has really good body language skills or he might be telling the truth.

[TheReal_ND]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dhhWt51ws ... e=youtu.be

AP: Published on Apr 13, 2017Following an in an interview with Agence France-Presse where Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad denied any chemical weapons attack took place, US State Department officials are calling the remarks 'vintage Assad.' (April 13)