Volkerball posted:

I've heard anywhere from 500-1,500 Brits. One thing is that a lot of those guys burned their passports, so if ISIS did collapse (it won't) they'd be kind of stranded.

Gregor Samsa posted:

Given the way the Syrian revolution seems to be going, I have to think that putting up this picture (and the others like it that I've seen) puts these guys in line for an extremely unpleasant end.

Volkerball posted:

As opposed to everything else they've done for the last 3 years. People got tortured to death for protesting, yet there's still a full militant uprising against the government. I think their personal safety is largely secondary to their goal of getting rid of Assad.

i am harry posted:

I'm pretty sure they do this explicitly to counteract the loving crazies who say things like, "WE SHOULD TURN THAT WHOLE STRETCH OF THE DESERT TO GLASS"
It is a reminder to the outside world that there are people, just like them, inside this mess.

Gregor Samsa posted:

Yeah, I agree with both of these things. I was just emphasizing that it is a brave thing to do.

Libluini posted:

OK, do you have actual quotes backing this up, or are you just going by "I'm sure they sold them something during this time"-logic?

Rukeli posted:

- Did IS and Turkey fight yet? IS has attacked everyone else so far. If they haven't attacked Turkey, what's stopping them?

Lord Twisted posted:

Britain is a country of tolerance and we pride ourselves in this.

Small Frozen Thing posted:

I've known a few English folks, and I don't think "pride" is the right word to describe any of the feelings they had about their homeland.
Is there a term for the emotion of "vaguely ashamed, but adamant it's better than the rest"?

Volkerball posted:

Heavy fighting in Jaz'ah which has been the primary corridor for relief to Shinjar. Hasakah to the left is ISIS controlled, as is Rabia to the right, and Shinjar to the south. Qamishli to the north has been a huge refugee safe haven following the fall of Shinjar, so you can see why this is an important fight.

botany posted:

You mean quotes showing that they called it a war or sources for arms exports? All the official reports on arms exports are here. Finding sources for arms exports to Israel is easy, in 2006 they get exports to the tune of just over 2m euros, including four separate counts of designated "Kriegswaffen", which had to be allowed individually. Finding numbers for Afghanistan and Kosovo is more difficult due to the nature of the conflicts and the involved parties. What we do know is that during the Kosovo war Germany exported firearms to Georgia, and that later on Georgian soldiers showed up with German assault rifles. Croatia received stationary missile launchers, no idea how those got used.

The main problem is that Germany exports to allied states which end up using this equipment in active war zones. That's not quite the same as exporting directly to those countries, but it still means that German weapons show up there.

Xandu posted:

Notable for no discussion of further military action.

Mightypeon posted:

Now, I am sometimes optimistic and imagine a virtous competition between Iran, Russia and the USA on who blows up the most IS.

Wont exactly happen but one can dream.

Small Frozen Thing posted:

I've known a few English folks, and I don't think "pride" is the right word to describe any of the feelings they had about their homeland.
Is there a term for the emotion of "vaguely ashamed, but adamant it's better than the rest"?

Mightypeon posted:

Now, I am sometimes optimistic and imagine a virtous competition between Iran, Russia and the USA on who blows up the most IS.

Wont exactly happen but one can dream.

Gregor Samsa posted:

Russia is presumably divided between being happy that a number of Chechens have hosed off to the middle east and being eager to slaughter ISIS in its entirety just to get however many Chechens are involved.

Count Roland posted:

I think Russia will cheer from the sidelines and make sure everyone has enough bombs. IS makes for strange bedfellows.

Brown Moses posted:

errad posted:

I thought the same. Just a speech about how it was terrible and we don't like it. No mention of any response or continued action. He didn't even sound defiant.

edit: tone was somber, I guess I can't take issue with that. For those asking - he didn't say much other than that it was a terrible thing, ISIS is bad, and Jim Foley was a good guy.

Torpor posted:

Obama never misses a chance to not show leadership. I mean I'm not expecting him to level the middle east over this, but not even stating that the US wasn't going to be intimidated, that just seems dumb.

Torpor posted:

Obama never misses a chance to not show leadership. I mean I'm not expecting him to level the middle east over this, but not even stating that the US wasn't going to be intimidated, that just seems dumb.

Volkerball posted:

May 2013.

quote:

After 162 days with no information about his whereabouts, GlobalPost announced Friday that James Foley, an American journalist who went missing on November 22 in Syria, is almost certainly being held by the Syrian government in a detention center near the capital city of Damascus. Surrounded by Foley’s family during a speech in Boston marking World Press Freedom Day, GlobalPost CEO and President Philip Balboni said:

With a very high degree of confidence, we now believe that Jim was most likely abducted by a pro-regime militia group commonly referred to as the Shabiha and subsequently turned over to Syrian government forces. We have obtained multiple independent reports from very credible confidential sources who have both indirect and direct access that confirm our assessment that Jim is now being held by the Syrian government in a detention facility in the Damascus area. We further believe that this facility is under the control of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence service. Based on what we have learned, it is likely Jim is being held with one or more Western journalists, including most likely at least one other American.

http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/james_foley_globalpost_syria_k.php?page=all#sthash.ojTS3He8.dpuf

Brown Moses posted:

Mechafunkzilla posted:

It was a murder with the intent of provoking a response, Obama's approach in not taking the bait was the correct one.

Mightypeon posted:

It is not as if Russia is very fond of non Chechen Islamists either.
Something some Russians are worried about is that the USA and Iran get a genuine reapproachment going.
A number of Anti Western Russians I know see Iran as a huge huge hornets nest in which the West will invariably insert its dick, with the resulting fuckups giving Russia a freer Hand elsewhere.

Most however, believe that such a reapproachment would end the Saudi-US alliance and well, "gently caress the house Saud and especially Prince Bandar" is a prominent Statement in Russia, so it would be a net benefit.

Seriously, if you want to really troll Russian authorities, create a big rear end Picture/statue of "Superman-Putin" anally loving a Saudi Sheik. They will be divided on "hej, thats a great patriotic thing" and "no, its Homo Propaganda" which will make hilarity ensue.

Wall Street Journal posted:

During a victory tour for journalists on Tuesday, Kurdish fighters, known as Peshmerga, scuffled with Iraqi military forces, and both tried aggressively to claim most of the credit.

When two black Humvees—one flying the Iraqi flag—ferried Iraqi special forces back from the battle site to a checkpoint connecting the dam with the northern city of Dohuk, the soldiers caused a commotion, jumping out of the vehicles and yelling. "We are the Iraqi army!" said one, forcefully patting his special forces badge. "They say they liberated the dam? Long live the Iraqi army!"

Another officer stamped on a black flag of the Sunni insurgent group Islamic State while jamming an index finger in the air as cameramen swarmed his vehicle.

"We liberated the dam," he said, as an even angrier comrade approached and repeated the message more loudly: "We liberated the dam, not the Peshmerga."

Peshmerga forces guarding the checkpoint fired two shots in the air and the small crowd around the vehicles dispersed as they drove away.

Mightypeon posted:

Most however, believe that such a reapproachment would end the Saudi-US alliance and well, "gently caress the house Saud and especially Prince Bandar" is a prominent Statement in Russia, so it would be a net benefit.

quote:

Another officer stamped on a black flag of the Sunni insurgent group Islamic State while jamming an index finger in the air as cameramen swarmed his vehicle.

"We liberated the dam," he said, as an even angrier comrade approached and repeated the message more loudly: "We liberated the dam, not the Peshmerga."

Phlegmish posted:

Why do they have such strong feelings about Saudi Arabia and that one person in particular?

Brown Moses posted:

Three years ago, right about now, the first reports of the Battle for Tripoli started coming in, the beginning of the end for Gaddafi, and the end of the beginning of Libya's post-Gaddafi problems. If you want to look back at that night you can skip to this post made in the thread when the first reports started coming in.