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Duckbox posted:Don't worry all the Nabataen ruins will be safely bulldozed by the time tourists get there. How convenient!
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Oct 28, 2017 17:48
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Fairly passive posted:That part of the world is rumoured to have better dive sites than nearby Sharm. A shiny resort combining the best aspects of Dubai and Sharm would not be a bad thing. Tourist visits to Nabatean ruins and the wonderful terrain of the Arabian shield would be a bonus. lol good for you that dive bars and shiny resorts matter more to you than an actual functioning society with human rights and an actual civil society. Also Sharm sucks, you'll still need to leave saudi to drink your hooch. I honestly dont give a poo poo about those useless Nabatean mountains if I have to pick between spending half a trillion dollars building a geo-hell city just to appease a bunch of wall street crooks to go gawk at some rocks or between building an actually functioning society with good education, freedom, healthcare etc. it's a really clear choice. Because it's the same thing with every loving dictatorship in the region, 'What?! Politics? that will scare the tourists away' gently caress the tourists, gently caress the ruins, if my humanity is going to be held hostage just so richard branson and his ilk can ride the lolita express to a new destination I would honestly rather bulldoze the ruins so that they cant keep being used as a cudgel against societal advancement. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Oct 28, 2017 |
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Oct 28, 2017 17:51
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I think they meant scuba diving, Saqr.
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Oct 28, 2017 22:22
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Duckbox posted:I think they meant scuba diving, Saqr. Then I'm afraid the Parrotfish must be bulldozed as well. 
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Oct 28, 2017 22:32
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Herstory Begins Now posted:i feel like we're way overdue for someone to turn up and accuse al-saqr of being a saudi mouthpiece. ok. Al-Saqr posted:Sharm sucks, you'll still need to leave saudi to drink your hooch. Al-Saqr, you're of being a saudi mouthpiece. My apologies for the delay.
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Oct 28, 2017 22:33
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Discendo Vox posted:ok.  guess I should quit my job at the orb factory...
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Oct 28, 2017 22:46
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Al-Saqr posted:
That Neom promo video you posted had an orb in it, btw.
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Oct 28, 2017 23:09
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Duckbox posted:That Neom promo video you posted had an orb in it, btw. https://twitter.com/discoverneom/status/924381522764890114 Orb... Tesla.... Oh my god they're building a city sized tesla coil to kill us all. also look at this loving propaganda video:- https://twitter.com/Neom2030keepup/status/924387628354560000 Lol hey guess what women, the reason why we kept you all enslaved for decades and made the country a theocratic shithole while we partied in in Ibiza was because of Iran, it's all Irans fault that we responded to their revolution against their actually Unironically Safavid shah ruler (whose dick we slurped lovingly) by backing saddam husseins invasion and turning the country into a wahhabist wet dream. We totally didnt ram those guys down your throats and still keep them employed and happy to this day for the time we need to unleash them on you whenever we want. We good now, right? Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Oct 28, 2017 |
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Oct 28, 2017 23:14
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Bad and expensive ideas whizzing through my head like NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
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Oct 28, 2017 23:20
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Meanwhile, stuff in Yemen continues, and the Houthi are claiming to have shot down another Saudi jet. https://theaviationist.com/2017/10/28/yemens-houthi-rebels-claim-they-have-shot-down-a-saudi-eurofighter-typhoon-over-yemen/
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Oct 29, 2017 00:51
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 https://mobile.twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/924541953492029440
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Oct 29, 2017 13:38
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does he have any other jackets
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Oct 29, 2017 14:09
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1stGear posted:does he have any other jackets His Birthday Jacket may look like other jackets but I assure you it's different.
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Oct 29, 2017 15:12
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Much like Ahmadinejad I wear my birthday suit every day.
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Oct 29, 2017 16:07
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https://twitter.com/badly_xeroxed/status/924648371272462336quote:Horrific torture practiced on detainees by #HTS terrorists at #Idlib Central Prison includes "skinning," "the coffin," and "the candle" Saladin Rising fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Oct 29, 2017 |
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Oct 29, 2017 17:14
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Barzani is going to step down. Good job you loving moron.quote:Iraqi Kurdish president Massoud Barzani is to step down as the region wrestles with Baghdad over independence.
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Oct 29, 2017 18:18
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I didn't post it earlier because I thought the story was bullshit, but there you have it. https://twitter.com/PressTV/status/924703934651994112
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Oct 29, 2017 23:09
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Kurdistan is a circus right now. https://twitter.com/AramKrdstn/status/924607905453760517 Hopefully things settle down, but right now it looks like a borderline full-scale riot in Erbil.
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Oct 29, 2017 23:44
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Some PUK offices were torched too. Even if Barzani really does step down, there are going to be a lot of efforts to stop this disaster from tarnishing his legacy by blaming the PUK for losing Kirkuk and other territory, when all evidence suggests that standing and fighting for every inch would only have prolonged the inevitable. Iraqi Kurdistan now has a new stabbed in the back myth for revanchists to point to.
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Oct 30, 2017 04:15
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The KDP and PUK are the bourgeois parties, and the PKK is the party of the people, and it shows.
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Oct 30, 2017 04:24
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Is there a PKK affiliated party in Iraqi Kurdistan? The PUK is not affiliated with them right?
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Oct 30, 2017 05:39
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icantfindaname posted:Is there a PKK affiliated party in Iraqi Kurdistan? The PUK is not affiliated with them right? e:Woops, misunderstood the question.
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Oct 30, 2017 06:09
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There is, the PÇDK, but they're basically irrelevant.
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Oct 30, 2017 06:10
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Panzeh posted:The KDP and PUK are the bourgeois parties, and the PKK is the party of the people, and it shows. Mustafa Barzani was supported by the Soviet Union and lived there in exile there for several years after Iranian Kurdistan fell apart (because the Soviets pulled out). He fell out with one of the Caucasian apparatchiks and got sent to Siberia, but apparently Stalin himself intervened and got him out. Then he went back to Iraq and was initially allied with the Iraqi communist party, but had a falling out with them and moved to the right. The KDP has been all over the spectrum politically and wasn't always as "bourgeois" as it is now, but the main through line seems to be the personal ambition of the Barzani family and the willingness to ally with anyone who might help them. At various points, the KDP has been supported by the USSR, the US, Baghdad, Israel, Iran, Turkey, and pretty much any other regional or imperial power you can care to name. The PKK and PUK have been almost as opportunistic and the PKK's history of working with Iran should make you at least question their "proletarian" bona fides.
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Oct 30, 2017 07:32
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https://mobile.twitter.com/FoxNews/status/924901193603674113
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Oct 30, 2017 08:33
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Sinteres posted:Some PUK offices were torched too. Even if Barzani really does step down, there are going to be a lot of efforts to stop this disaster from tarnishing his legacy by blaming the PUK for losing Kirkuk and other territory, when all evidence suggests that standing and fighting for every inch would only have prolonged the inevitable. Iraqi Kurdistan now has a new stabbed in the back myth for revanchists to point to. Can anyone elighten me as to why Kirkuk was lost so - seemingly - easily? I thought the Iraqi army was terrible, or did the Peshmurga (or am I mistaken) withdraw so as not to incite open war. Or is it just infighting that I don't understand because I don't know that much about the Kurds. Apologies in advance for being stupidly uninformed. If there's a good article I can read so as not to waste anyone's time, please link. \/ thanks, though I don't feel any better. I have a lot of empathy for the Kurds, as it is pretty clear they have been subject to either genocide, exploited for their military capabilities, or back stabbed for the last century or so. I can honestly clearly see why people travel to fight with them. Not that I am going to be that person. Heliogabalos fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Oct 31, 2017 |
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Oct 31, 2017 01:29
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Heliogabalos posted:Can anyone elighten me as to why Kirkuk was lost so - seemingly - easily? I thought the Iraqi army was terrible, or did the Peshmurga (or am I mistaken) withdraw so as not to incite open war. Or is it just infighting that I don't understand because I don't know that much about the Kurds. Yes. To be a bit more helpful, it's not a matter of not knowing much about the Kurds. Scholars have a hard time keeping up with this stuff. There's a mountain of poo poo to go through that has come out in the last week, and it's impossible to do it while keeping up with everything that is happening as we speak. Kurdish internal dynamics are notoriously complicated. To put it broadly and cautiously, Kurdistan was not united, while Iraq and Iran were. That led to a chaotic situation where no real military opposition could be mounted. A lot of Kurdish leaders opposed doing so anyways. It was just a massive clusterfuck. If you'd like to dig into it a little more, googling around for recent news about the PUK and KDP should give you a sense of the political environment there. Volkerball fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Oct 31, 2017 |
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Oct 31, 2017 01:47
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another big mistake people keep making is assuming that people like the KUP, KPD, Pershmerga, etc. are highly effective and competent military forces, when the reality is that they're actually just as poo poo as anybody else in the region and the second they cant call upon the overwhelming air support they tend to enjoy when fighting ISIS they crumble pretty quickly. that and the fact that they're not a united front.
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Oct 31, 2017 01:55
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Heliogabalos posted:Can anyone elighten me as to why Kirkuk was lost so - seemingly - easily? I thought the Iraqi army was terrible, or did the Peshmurga (or am I mistaken) withdraw so as not to incite open war. Or is it just infighting that I don't understand because I don't know that much about the Kurds. Apologies in advance for being stupidly uninformed. When Iraqi forces and/or the PMUs went in, the Kurdish forces largely fled. Several possible reasons, I haven't seen anything definitive: 1) The units that fled may have been PUK-- a rival party to the KDP. The PUK wasn't big on the referendum. 1a) These possibly PUK units may have made an arrangement with Iran or whomever to not fight, beforehand. 2) It could be that the Peshmerga just didn't expect to be attacked. This may sound dumb but its consistent with some of the language being thrown around. Its possible the fighters in Kirkuk were assured the US would step in to prevent fighting, then bam there's militias rolling past their front door and they bail rather then get slaughtered. 3) Without US air support, the Peshmerga are just another crappy militia that folds instantly when in a bad situation. e: fb 4) The Iraqi army and/or the PMUs are way better than we though. I think this the least likely option. You can basically take your pick, or add more. The exact details may never be known to us outsiders. Its safe to say poor strategic/political planning was a big deal.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:00
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Count Roland posted:1) The units that fled may have been PUK-- a rival party to the KDP. The PUK wasn't big on the referendum. The story is Bafel Talabani made a deal and/or caved to the demands of Iran/Iraq and his portion of the PUK withdrew from their defenses, and that scuttled everything, but Kosrat Rasul didn't get the memo and his portion of the PUK stayed and fought for a bit, so now those guys are all pissed at each other and are yet somehow in a better state than the KDP. Volkerball fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Oct 31, 2017 |
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Oct 31, 2017 02:15
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Iraqi Kurdistan is actually pretty small and the Peshmerga don't have the manpower or firepower to fight the rest of Iraq and never have. I thought they'd hold out longer than they did because I didn't think the ISF or PMUs would pivot to Kirkuk so quickly and forcefully. Barzani evidently made the same mistake. Faced with overwhelming opposition and a leadership that was apparently ready to gamble their lives, it's no surprise they cut and ran.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:28
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Duckbox posted:Iraqi Kurdistan is actually pretty small and the Peshmerga don't have the manpower or firepower to fight the rest of Iraq and never have. I thought they'd hold out longer than they did because I didn't think the ISF or PMUs would pivot to Kirkuk so quickly and forcefully. Barzani evidently made the same mistake. Qassem suleimani is a really incredible commander on the field when he's not busy overseeing mass civilian genocides.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:34
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On a scale from one to ten, how much of a poseur is this guy? I can't help the feeling that he's naively biting off way more than he can chew here and is in for a rude awakening when he becomes king...if he even gets there.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:43
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Al-Saqr posted:Qassem suleimani is a really incredible commander on the field when he's not busy overseeing mass civilian genocides. Are you suggesting he can't multitask?
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Oct 31, 2017 02:55
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:On a scale from one to ten, how much of a poseur is this guy? I can't help the feeling that he's naively biting off way more than he can chew here and is in for a rude awakening when he becomes king...if he even gets there. He shivved the gently caress out of his fairly well positioned predecessor and by extension like ten older members of the family. I am not entirely sure what he intends to pull, but he's either very competent or has a very weird, very mighty shadow power base.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:57
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Hold on to your assholes everyone, We're going nuclear! http://www.arabnews.com/node/1185891/middle-east https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/925139005280223233 looking forward to having a nuke program with zero nuclear scientists and a complete lack of a domestic scientific base capable of managing it!
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Oct 31, 2017 03:27
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Count Roland posted:4) The Iraqi army and/or the PMUs are way better than we though. I think this the least likely option. People in the west, especially the English speaking world which largely have professional apolitical militaries because they don't face any sort of internal secterianism, endlessly overestimate the importance of either material advantages or technical competence (how to operate tanks or whatever) and underestimate the importance of being simply politically reliable and/or actually motivated enough, through either religious, political fevour or ethnic solidarity, to actually stick around when the shooting starts and everyone needs to seriously think about whether this poo poo is worth taking a bullet over. The fact that IS and Hezbollah are so effective vs the secular Iraqi or Syrian armies shouldn't be a surprise to anyone really.
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Oct 31, 2017 03:34
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The KDP Peshmerga upped stakes and ran when IS moved on Sinjar while the PKK stayed to protect civilians from genocide. The Peshmerga look pretty good when they get to play offense, but they haven't been very impressive at defending their gains.
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Oct 31, 2017 03:57
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Throatwarbler posted:People in the west, especially the English speaking world which largely have professional apolitical militaries because they don't face any sort of internal secterianism, endlessly overestimate the importance of either material advantages or technical competence (how to operate tanks or whatever) and underestimate the importance of being simply politically reliable and/or actually motivated enough, through either religious, political fevour or ethnic solidarity, to actually stick around when the shooting starts and everyone needs to seriously think about whether this poo poo is worth taking a bullet over. The fact that IS and Hezbollah are so effective vs the secular Iraqi or Syrian armies shouldn't be a surprise to anyone really. IS (in the earlier phases of the war) and Hezbollah are also a lot more technically competent than the bulk of Iraqi and Syrian armies, though
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Oct 31, 2017 04:02
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I thought the Saudis have Pakistan on speed dial if they ever needed some nukes on short notice.
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Oct 31, 2017 04:54
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