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Apparently the US just suspended diplomatic relations with Syria http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/03/us-suspends-diplomatic-relations-with-syria-2014318153828980578.html
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Mar 18, 2014 16:50
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BabyChoom posted:yeah that was debunked and MEMRI is a neocon zionist propaganda outlet. Congrats on being fooled by a propaganda front for Israel. debunked by whom? a source would be nice.
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Mar 18, 2014 17:51
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BabyChoom posted:yeah that was debunked and MEMRI is a neocon zionist propaganda outlet. Congrats on being fooled by a propaganda front for Israel. Debunked how? By whom? Who created the fake? Why? Did they also manufacture the facebook pages of the dudes that I've seen? You're a caricature. edit: and yeah, those dudes are Armenians from LA.
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Mar 18, 2014 18:31
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Radio Prune posted:Debunked how? By whom? Who created the fake? Why? Did they also manufacture the facebook pages of the dudes that I've seen? Don't worry about BabyChoom, he's one of our more entertaining resident crazies.
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Mar 18, 2014 18:34
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Muffiner posted:Don't worry about BabyChoom, he's one of our more entertaining resident crazies. Oh I'm fully aware; he was such an obnoxious idiot he got banned from another place I frequent. Kinda funny to see him turn up a few months later nuttier than ever 
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Mar 18, 2014 18:36
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Radio Prune posted:Oh I'm fully aware; he was such an obnoxious idiot he got banned from another place I frequent. Huh, I kinda just assumed he was someone acting out some kind of joke persona. I pretty much always laughed.
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Mar 18, 2014 18:42
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MEMRI is actually a zionist propaganda outlet though. They are run by a retired Mossad colonel and basically exist to provide selective quotation and the most biased possible translations that can be wrung out of anyone Israel opposes. They are also big on filing SLAPP lawsuits when called out, eg by scholars. They used to be pretty open about it but they went "legitimate" after 9/11. quote:MEMRI's original mission statement read: "In its research, the institute puts emphasis on the continuing relevance of Zionism to the Jewish people and to the state of Israel."[15] In September 2001, MEMRI replaced it with the current mission statement which states that the organization "explores the Middle East through the region's media. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu-Pashto media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East."[16][17] MEMRI's goals and emphasis have evolved over the years; it originally translated articles in both Arabic and Hebrew.[18] Treat it about like you'd treat quoting Fox News or ElectronicIntifada or a source like that: they're usually not making whole-cloth fabrications, but they have a very clear ideological bias and you should really cross-check with a less ideological source (one that isn't just quoting them verbatim, because a lot of places do that now that they're "legitimate"). Paul MaudDib fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Mar 18, 2014 |
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Mar 18, 2014 19:11
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I'd imagine most in this thread know who and what MEMRI is.
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Mar 18, 2014 19:21
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I think we've established that MEMRI's translations and context are accurate (this is what this guy said at location X at time Y). Their bias is in what content they choose to present. Basically they only translate speeches where a guy rants about how the holocaust didn't happen or some other antisemitism. LA gangbangers + Syria guerillas = pure tabloid fear, so of course they will put that up ASAP. That doesn't mean it isn't real.
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Mar 18, 2014 19:29
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One of the guys (Wino Ayee Peeyakan) had a pretty nice Facebook page full of photos.
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Mar 18, 2014 23:05
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Count Roland posted:I'm just wondering who is on board the tanker, and who organized and paid for the idea in the first place. "Bunkering" is the theft of oil from pipelines. It is a big industry in Africa. Previously, Nigeria had been the most-hurting victim of it. Any oil exporting nation with a weak government is susceptible to that theft. In some parts of the world it is as simple as connecting pipes to the pipelines and siphoning off gas (Russia frequently accused Ukraine of doing that during price disputes in past years, 2009 example). Here is some reading: http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2005/12/journal_nigeria.html http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2006/02/journal_nigeria.html http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2009/10/journal-retiring-guerrillas.html quote:The levels of violence are now increasing rapidly. As much as (or more than) 100/kbpd are either shut-in due to attacks on oil facilities or pipelines. The EIA has estimated that in 2004 139/kbpd of production were being disrupted on a daily basis due to attacks on oil facilities or sabotage. For example, the EIA states that "in December 2004, SPDC and ChevronTexaco suspended Nigerian oil exports of 134,000 bbl/d due to unrest in the Niger Delta. In January 2005, ChevronTexaco announced that it was losing 140,000 bbl/d of oil due to the closure of facilities in the Niger Delta". In other cases the oil is just bunkered (stolen) by militant groups to support their activities and buy weapons. quote:I predicted a year ago that MEND would increasingly focus on Nigeria’s offshore facilities for two reasons: 1) to differentiate their ideologically-grounded struggle from the privateers and criminal bunkering that is also interrupting Nigerian production; and 2) as a result of the innovation that naturally results from their decentralized structure. While this most recent attack showcases MEND’s ability to operate in the deepwater environment, it also shows MEND's potential to greatly increase the impact of future offshore attacks. MEND’s press release stated that their goal was to gain access to and destroy the facility's main control room, but that they were unable to do so. MEND's limited success, however, most likely identified to the group the specific capabilities, training, and equipment it will need to better succeed in the future. This process of tactical improvement forms a larger cycle of innovation (an OODA Loop). Where MEND had attacked an offshore oil rig. quote:The violence in the Delta is quite different. The vast profits available from illegal bunkering and from ransoming western oil workers have degraded the traditional tribal structures of the Delta peoples to the point that gangs now exert great social, political, and economic power. In the Delta it is a classic positive-feedback loop: a switch from political motivation to profit motivation is shifting the entire culture to one of guerrilla entrepreneurs. So while the strike and the ongoing attacks both impact the oil markets, one seems likely to be a short-term event, while the other is a growing and indefinite problem. MEND, the organization doing the stealing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_for_the_Emancipation_of_the_Niger_Delta I'm sure I could find some newer examples, but I'm at work and these are from 2 sites that I remember discussing the issue. There is a lot of money to be made in selling stolen/bunkered oil. MEND was almost exclusively funded by that until they branched out into kidnapping oil workers for ransom.
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Mar 18, 2014 23:11
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Regarding the gangbanger video, Wino is Armenian, while "Creeper" is Latino, according to the FBI. Both lived in LA, but neither are U.S. citizens and one was deported.
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Mar 19, 2014 06:39
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visceril posted:That would be nice, I think, to get an update on the situation. I follow this thread but honestly don't know what's been happening there since Qaddafi's corpse got molested. I'm less up and up on more modern stuff, actually.  So the short version sort of goes like this: Libya as it stands today is mostly the product or Italian colonial administration. Before that Libya was a term applied to all of North Africa in general and most discussions of modern day 'Libya' happened in terms of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. Any sort of unity between these areas mostly arose as a reaction to the Italian invasions. Even then Tripolitania- itself far to divided to actually gather around a single point of leadership- tried to form on of the first Republics in the area since forever and the Cyrenaicas turned to the Senussi, a Sufi order that, though relative newcomers to the area, had formed a sort of intermediary layer between the Ottoman government and the people living in the area. There's a very complicated moment as the Fascists take over in Italy and, no long bleeding in Austria and now better able to leverage chemical warfare and airplanes, they start making a concerted effort to bring Libya to heel. There wasn't much to get out of Libya economically, but the fact that brown people had beat up Italians and, you know, made had to negotiate and maketreaties became a sticking point for the Fascists. Those negotiations, btw, were between the Tripolitanian Republic and Italy and the Senussi and Italy, not Libya and Italy. By the 1920s it's pretty clear that the Senussi are having a better time resisting the Italians and, moreover, the Brits sorta like Idris, then the head of the Senussi.* The Tripolitanians offer Idris the amirship of Tripolitania as well, he accepts, and promptly flees to Cairo to support the resistance from exile, and Senussi led Cyrenaicans continue to fight until concentration camps (not death camps, the more traditional Boer War or Phillipean counter insurgency model) and tighter control of the Egyptian border cut the knees out from under the Cyrenaicans. The Tripolitanian local notables who didn't flip fled as well, some to Cairo, most to Tunis and Algeria. Anyway, so Idris is a pretty convincing leader of Cyrenaica, but his claim to all of Libya is pretty fragile and entirely dependent on his perceived ability to get British support for the Tripolitanians. For his part, his biggest concern seems to have been protecting Senussi autonomy (an issue they'd disputed with the Ottomans, the Italians, the Brits, sort whoever) but by this period he's coming to realize that that means buddying up to the Brits, and definitively removing the Fascists. He's not too concerned with ruling Tripolitania (which has, for the most part, pretty well rejected the Senussi brand of Sufism) but he doesn't want Italians on his doorstep either. Round WWII the Brits and the Italians are at war, it's a great time to play the 'play the Europeans off each other' card. Idris goes to the Brits offering them as much support as he can muster, in exchange for a guarantee that Tripolitania and Cyrenica will be given their independence. The Brits, with the shitshow that was the Levant after the last war on their mind, aim for a minimal promise: that Cyrenaica will not be returned to the Italians. Most of the Tripolitanians huff off and sit out the war (quite reasonably) while the Senussi take what they can get, providing auxiliary forces, important reconnaissance and intelligence, and assist British soldiers trapped behind enemy lines. What Tripolitanians do fight do so seperately from the Cyrenaicans. So again this East/West split is pretty deep. When the war ends each provinces' fate (Fezzan, a 'province' is basically 99% desert. It's not super important to this E/W split, though it is there) is passed to the UN. Cyrenaica, secured by British support, is 'safe,' but a vote to return Tripolitania to Italy is defeated by just one vote. Eventually the issue was kicked to the UN. Independence was, at this point, guaranteed, but unity wasn't. Eventually, in part because the Brit thought Idris would back their interests, an extremely federalized agreement is hashed out, with the Senussi at the head of the government, now as monarchs. Idris promptly disappointed the Brits by sort of puttering around and not really building a nation (to quote one observer "he seemed somewhat a reluctant monarch") so much as concerning himself with religious and Cyrenaican affairs. He also disappointed pan-Arabic nationalists by not siding with the Egyptians, socialists by not siding with the USSR, and Islam in general for not doing anything about Israel. Around this time oil is discovered (in Cyrenaica) and, surprise! there's gently caress all there as far as state institutions go to handle this sort of mad cash and rampant Dutch disease. All this opens the space for Gaddafi, hailing from the Western parts, to lead a coup. He's his own bundle of nonsense, but needless to say the Senussi and their Cyrenaican power base represented a pretty big threat to him and were duly at the top of the political enemies list. It's no surprise that the revolution started in earnest in Benghazi, nor that the old monarchist flag was a prominent symbol there, nor that some of the separatist groups have tried to set up a Senussi alternative to the national govt. (I think some of the other Senussi descendents were NTC and pro-unified Libya, but I haven't been keeping track...) Mostly I think a Senussi alternative is a bit of a red herring and that, absent the oil a regional split would be pretty reasonable overall. Sorta like sorting Czechoslovakia or something like that. There's no scary ulterior motives going on a la Crimea, and no enclave/cross border ethnic poo poo like Kurdistan. The oil makes it a lot more tricky, since it just happens to be under the smaller, would be breakaway group. Additionally, there's some more modern drama laid over top. Last time I looked into Benghazi, for instance, local but ex-Gaddafi forces were clashing with Islamists, who really don't give a poo poo about the regionalism so long as they get whatever version of sharia or whatever enforced, poo poo like that. The latest, in the news sort of development was the issue of the rogue tanker, that was topped up by separatists who are stepping their game up from 'stopping the flow of oil in protest' to 'selling that poo poo on the open market.' The national government's inability to deal with that, among many other issues, has led to Parliament voting no confidence for the PM, who has fled. Misrata militias from the west are currently contesting the port towns in the east, so... how that turns out could be pretty interesting. *Partly because Idris had kinda sorta taken over from the previous ruler, who had sided with the Turks against the Brits, because in WWI the Italians were fighting the Austrians who were allied with the Germans who were the enemies of the British and... well, poo poo's complicated. Idris, for his part, seemed to view the Brits as a sort of least bad option when it came to the European powers. France had destroyed Senussi loyal monarchies in Waddai, among other things, and threatened the Senussi oasis strongholds from the south, a much more accessible option. Idris seems to have recognized that the British, based out of Egypt, would have little motivation to interfere in the affairs of some desert people and would have a much harder time even reaching the oases. As of 1920 I think a grand total of two Europeans had made that journey from the northerly direction.
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Mar 19, 2014 08:28
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Radio Prune posted:I'd imagine most in this thread know who and what MEMRI is. I didn't, so thanks for the replies. So they are zionist, biased and probably selective and disproportionate with what they choose to report on. To say that the gangbanger video was "debunked" still seems like an overstatement. Especially in this conflict, where legitimately fake videos have been released.
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Mar 19, 2014 09:09
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It looks like rebels have actually taken a regime prison, this one being the central prison in Daraa. Below is a video of a rebel commander addressing newly freed detainees. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg99x2HNMxg
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Mar 19, 2014 10:07
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Is Assad still holding on securely?
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Mar 19, 2014 10:11
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I think so. Daraa seems to be the only front where the opposition has made significant gains in the past few months. In other areas, including greater Damascus and Aleppo, the SAA is either in a stalemate or has made slight gains. I think Assad's offensive in Aleppo might have stalled, though.
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Mar 19, 2014 10:24
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MothraAttack posted:I think so. Daraa seems to be the only front where the opposition has made significant gains in the past few months. In other areas, including greater Damascus and Aleppo, the SAA is either in a stalemate or has made slight gains. I think Assad's offensive in Aleppo might have stalled, though. Supposedly he has made some gains West of Damascus, taking Yabrud. Ultimately looking at the situation it is still a stalemate but strategically some of the gains Assad has made might be relatively important if it only means Assad will create more contiguous territory for himself. Also, ISIL still is around and almost certainly they are distracting other efforts since it looks like most of the fighting they do is with the opposition.
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Mar 19, 2014 10:33
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OwlBot 2000 posted:Is Assad still holding on securely? I don't know, his recent announcement of constructing a Moon Base sounds ominous... (seriously, wtf?)
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Mar 19, 2014 11:46
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the JJ posted:Good stuff Thanks for the recap. So, it seems like the zeitgeist over there is "Cyrenaicans tired of tripolian oppression" "tripolian so want dat oil money" and "praise Allah". It sounds like a more severe situation than Czechoslovakia, but not as bad as Sudan. I think it could be like the latter if only we lived in a world where one country could join the west-aligned world, and the other could join (stand-in for USSR). Iran and Saudi Arabia aren't ready to give life support to a fledgling nation with low wealth/industrial capital, though, so it's going to suck.
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Mar 19, 2014 13:39
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In what is a very big scoop, Channel 4 has scored an interview with a former wife of King Abdullah and details the situation of his four daughters who are under a thirteen year long house arrest:- http://www.channel4.com/news/saudi-arabia-king-abdullah-alanoud-al-fayez-daughters-Jeddah
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Mar 19, 2014 16:19
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I'm not sure what horrifies me more about KSA, the actual society that the Sauds have established or how brazenly we'd support a crackdown if their regime began to look unsteady. Saudi Arabia is always trying to knock North Korea off the top of the "most ridiculous nation" list.
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Mar 20, 2014 02:08
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visceril posted:Thanks for the recap. So, it seems like the zeitgeist over there is "Cyrenaicans tired of tripolian oppression" "tripolian so want dat oil money" and "praise Allah". Kinda, only there's a lot of other overlays. The tribal element is not one I'm super familiar with, and the role that might play is pretty up in there air, in the west there are some Berber/Arab tensions, and East vs. West isn't the only centralized/decentralized question going on. The Misrata militias currently on their way to retake the oil wells, for instance, were just a few months ago pulled out of the capital after they shot some protesters rallying against the influence of the militias.
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Mar 20, 2014 08:09
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Interesting video from the recent capture of Daraa central prison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB7C2e48Wwk This shows the Omari Brigade using a Chinese HJ-8 ATGM during the battle. Why is that interesting? Well the Omari Brigade was one of the first groups to receive Croatian weapons, they belong to the Southern Front, who along with the Syrian Revolutionaries Front recently took over the SMC, and it seems fairly apparent that was linked to the new supply of Chinese weapons arriving in the south of the country.
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Mar 20, 2014 11:12
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SedanChair posted:Saudi Arabia is always trying to knock North Korea off the top of the "most ridiculous nation" list. Well to be fair at least you can live a full and comfortable consumer lifestyle in Saudi without harassment, you can travel freely and all the international brands can be found etc. It's when you open your mouth or write something critical about something the government is doing is when the 'DPRK' resemblances rears it's head. but in terms of day today living if you're apolitical and dont care about human rights, then as long as the dice roll doesnt hit snake eyes for you it's absolute heaven when compared to DPRK. Of course if you're a lady then it's a whole different and heartbreaking issue.
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Mar 20, 2014 11:19
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Al-Saqr posted:Well to be fair at least you can live a full and comfortable consumer lifestyle in Saudi without harassment, you can travel freely and all the international brands can be found etc. Or if you're a foreign worker.
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Mar 20, 2014 20:46
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Speaking of ridiculous nations:quote:
e: edit to reflect the updated article! Zohar fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Mar 21, 2014 |
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Mar 20, 2014 21:03
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 That is going to go down wonderful with the young, indeed. Oh well, his constituency doesn't care nor use the webs, I guess.I know he means "close down access to Twitter in Turkey" when he says "close down Twitter", but the mental image is amusing.
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Mar 20, 2014 21:17
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ecureuilmatrix posted:
My money is on some horrible poo poo going down in the aftermath of that election. If he wins again there will probably be blood. If he loses then there will probably be even more blood considering he is a maniac who will stop at nothing to hang onto power. I'd like to see the faces of everyone in this forum who didn't believe me and all the other Turks back when we were arguing that this man should have been forcibly removed from power. Here is the democratic president you've all wanted I guess.
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Mar 20, 2014 22:15
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"We’ll eradicate Twitter". Haha that's great.
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Mar 20, 2014 22:31
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SBJ posted:Here is the democratic president you've all wanted I guess. Still better than Sisi, until he claims to have find a cure for rear end cancer.
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Mar 20, 2014 22:43
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Count Roland posted:Or if you're a foreign worker. Or if you're a women.
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Mar 20, 2014 22:48
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ecureuilmatrix posted:I know he means "close down access to Twitter in Turkey" when he says "close down Twitter", but the mental image is amusing. Until I'm proven wrong I'm going to assume Turkish F-16s are on their way to Twitter HQ in San Francisco.
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Mar 20, 2014 22:58
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Currently a DNS block on Twitter in Turkey according to tech sites, IP based one soon to follow I imagine.
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Mar 20, 2014 23:29
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Erodgan you dummy. You're just trying to provoke riots against you at this point
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Mar 20, 2014 23:54
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Big report out of Reuters on how both Sunni militants/ISIL in Iraq and the Iraqi army are engaging in some pretty nasty extrajudicial killings. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/20/us-iraq-anbar-specialreport-idUSBREA2J11720140320
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Mar 21, 2014 00:13
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Dusz posted:"We’ll eradicate Twitter". Haha that's great. Dictators are so funny. It's too bad this will literally end in blood 
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Mar 21, 2014 00:21
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New Division posted:Erodgan you dummy. You're just trying to provoke riots against you at this point Is it possible that's really his intention? Maybe he wants to draw out his enemies so he can crush them with police again, as a show of dominance before the elections.
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Mar 21, 2014 00:48
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TheBalor posted:Is it possible that's really his intention? Maybe he wants to draw out his enemies so he can crush them with police again, as a show of dominance before the elections. Surely he wouldn't be that deluded...
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Mar 21, 2014 00:52
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Munin posted:Surely he wouldn't be that deluded... He does seem to be following a Rovian strategy of polarizing the electorate in Turkey, but he has to realize that even a lot of his core supporters use Twitter and other social media.
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Mar 21, 2014 00:54
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