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    #26
    Mosul

    Rogin o adepto de sofá wrote: (Edit: in response to ad hoc above)

    Those are more economic factors than the judicial ones I was referring to, though. They'll still give people 18 months out there for having a beer and consensual extra-marital sex. It's not exactly Brighton yet.
    Aren't revolutions normally about economics rather than liberty though?

    Comment


      #27
      Mosul

      Blair goes "bonkers in the nut" claims
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      Boris Johnson

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        #28
        Mosul

        Bizarre Löw Triangle wrote: Aren't revolutions normally about economics rather than liberty though?
        I think that's fair. When everyone's got a job to go to, a house to live in and food in their stomach, you don't spend much time sweating perceived advantages that 'the other' has. It's when you've got a bunch of disgruntled young men (or old men, I guess) with lots of time on their hands and a sense of frustration, you've got trouble.

        As they say, when the watering hole shrinks, the animals look at each other a bit differently.

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          #29
          Mosul

          David Cameron has just said in PMQs that what is required [in these sorts of countries] is a democratically elected government that represents the whole of its people and is united, not divided along ethnic lines.

          That's a fantastic bit of chutzpah from a minority coalition leader who is facing a secession referendum from 10% of his people this September.

          Comment


            #30
            Mosul

            Not to mention his anti-EU, pro-Britain spin doctoring.

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              #31
              Mosul

              Old as anything but just as relevant as when it aired originally.

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                #32
                Mosul

                I'll add this from Harry Reid.

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                  #33
                  Mosul

                  It's depressing that the leader of Islamic State can suddenly declare himself Caliph of Islam, even if 99% of the faithful will deride his pretensions. Ataturk's abolition may merely have recognised a fait accompli, but it's surprising that al-Azhar didn't take up the Sunni spiritual reins, just as al-Sistani has displaced Khamenei as the de facto Shi'ite arbiter and moderator.

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                    #34
                    Mosul

                    I don't think Khamenei's religious credentials were ever taken that seriously by many. His elevation to the position of Supreme Leader was a political decision, no doubt carried out by those who thought a mid-ranking cleric with no real established power base and who lacked his predecessor's personality was advantageous for themselves.

                    When ISIS/ISIL hold the opinion of Al-Zawahiri and AQ central in contempt they're not going give a shit about the decrees of Al-Azhar.

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                      #35
                      Mosul

                      Well

                      Kurdistan news

                      and

                      The games Erdogan plays

                      It's like a perfect fucking shitstorm.

                      Comment


                        #36
                        Mosul

                        ISIS seizes Iraq's biggest dam, an oilfield and three more towns.

                        A map of recent activity.

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                          #37
                          Mosul

                          via vicaria wrote: Well

                          Kurdistan news

                          and

                          The games Erdogan plays

                          It's like a perfect fucking shitstorm.
                          On the Kurdish part, I am assuming you are pessimistic due to Turkey not recognising any Kurdish independence rather than any challenge from ISIL? Forgive me if that seems a stupid question with an obvious answer - I am just checking that ISIL haven't become more aggressive towards the idea of an independent Kurdistan (notwithstanding the gains that they have made in kevchenko's report).

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                            #38
                            Mosul

                            Well I don't doubt that ISIL dislike the Kurds as much as they dislike anyone else, but you're correct in that it's Turkey who I'm thinking of here, and specifically, Turkey under the AKP. (not that CHP would be any better in this kind of situation). I don't know whether ISIL would be that bothered about the specific political status of the Kurds.

                            Given Turkey's history with its Kurds, its policies and its strategic interests (both within and immediately outside of Turkey), there is no way they would allow an independent Kurdistan to come into being on their borders. I would imagine that the precedent (as they would see it) this would set for Turkey's own Kurds would be too dangerous for them to let pass.

                            Given how the AKP handles even its own people (and how Erdogan's "zero problems with neighbours" policy worked out - essentially problems with everyone, even fucking Georgia, who Turkey almost never wind up), they wouldn't hesitate to take the gloves off if it came to it.

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                              #39
                              Mosul

                              40,000 Iraqis stranded on mountain as Isis jihadists threaten death

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                                #40
                                Mosul

                                It gets worse still

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                                  #41
                                  Mosul

                                  The most worrying part is that Kurdish forces have been spread too thinly hence the abandoning of territory to ISIS.

                                  Comment


                                    #42
                                    Mosul

                                    And now the dam seems to have come under ISIS control.

                                    Sunni militants appeared on Thursday to have captured the Mosul dam, the largest in Iraq, as their advances in the country’s north created an onslaught of refugees and set off fearful rumors in Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital.

                                    An official in the office of Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish regional government, said Thursday afternoon that Kurdish forces, or pesh merga, were still fighting for control of the dam. But several other sources, including residents of the area and a Kurdish security official, said it had already been captured by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, a potentially catastrophic development for Iraq’s civilian population.

                                    Comment


                                      #43
                                      Mosul

                                      Reports from Erbil that US forces have bombed at least two ISIS targets. Obama is scheduled to make a speech later today.

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                                        #44
                                        Mosul

                                        Obama authorises airstrikes

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                                          #45
                                          Mosul

                                          Support for ISIS in Poplar, Tower Hamlets apparently. A black ISIS flag reportedly flying at the entrance to a housing estate. The right wing press are going to love this.

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                                            #46
                                            Mosul

                                            Well, the left wing press aren't exactly keen.

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                                              #47
                                              Mosul

                                              Antepli Ejderha wrote: Support for ISIS in Poplar, Tower Hamlets apparently. A black ISIS flag reportedly flying at the entrance to a housing estate. The right wing press are going to love this.
                                              Presumably, if it's the Black Standard it's not "an ISIS flag". They may use it, but it's not their flag.

                                              I don't feel qualified to talk about what it represents or owt, but it's normally associated with radical Islam more generally than just ISIS.

                                              Comment


                                                #48
                                                Mosul

                                                My default position tends to be that the US shouldn;t go around bombing people or even sticking its large feet into situations. But I'm prepared to make an exception here. Even if it's only to provide a safe corridor for people to escape the clutches of IS.

                                                (the fact that the power vacuum partly exists because of the US in the first place, and that much of the weaponry that IS has captured is from the US, is not the point here. The need is to protect people from almost certain genocide)

                                                This is a good on the ground report http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/sinjar-beginning-matthew-barber/

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                                                  #49
                                                  Mosul

                                                  Thanks, great article, and agree entirely - America has to act to prevent this genocide. It's just a shame that its political capital in the region is so damaged by the Blair and Bush years.

                                                  It's worth remembering too that ISIS is as strong in Syria as it is Iraq, and just as much carnage has unfolded it that country, where there was no US war.

                                                  Comment


                                                    #50
                                                    Mosul

                                                    With reference to the OP of this thread, Steveeeeeeee's "global colleagues" have just been evacuated from Irbil.

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