Middle East Thread: Clarissa Explains the Fall

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Middle East Thread: Clarissa Explains the Fall

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

SgCloud posted:

Honestly, why would the rebels even still try to stage false-flag attacks, if the last alleged ones have never led to a military intervention capable of turning the tide of war? The whole logic behind it just astounds me. It would seem far more reasonable to me that they finally started using it against the enemy rather than on their own territory.

If the US isn't spending every day trying to find a way to oust Assad, a lot of their worldview falls apart, so they're riding this horse until the end. They'll cling to any story that backs them up, no matter how ridiculous it is on its face.

# ? Sep 1, 2018 13:49

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# ? May 28, 2024 02:14

Libluini: May 18, 2012; I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...; Grimey Drawer

Volkerball posted:

If the US isn't spending every day trying to find a way to oust Assad, a lot of their worldview falls apart, so they're riding this horse until the end. They'll cling to any story that backs them up, no matter how ridiculous it is on its face.

Those idiots should feel lucky stupidity can't kill directly, or they would all be long dead by now.

# ? Sep 1, 2018 13:54

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

And when something they said will happen doesn't actually happen, they find some excuse like the schedule has changed, or them writing about it and exposing it to the world stopped it from happen.

# ? Sep 1, 2018 14:30

Warbadger: Jun 17, 2006

This is one of the many examples against the argument of "if only ____ hadn't done ____, the lovely autocracy wouldn't be able to say things to make them look bad!".

Propagandists don't need real events here in reality to write lies about, it's easier to just invent a hundred ad-lib fictional narratives that look kinda appealing on the surface. Throw a few hours of pay to actual propagandists to whip something up, pick a name from the list of hungry/sympathetic journalists or pseudo-experts with some appearance of credibility to "leak" it to (or straight up pay for an op-ed) so they can throw it at the wall for you, then toss the resulting link(s) to your bots and call it a day. Nobody in your target group will remember the ones that don't stick and the ones that do stick will be repeated for free by a million idiots on the internet.

Rinse and repeat as many times as you want, because it costs almost nothing to do.

Warbadger fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Sep 1, 2018

# ? Sep 1, 2018 15:08

Sergg: Sep 19, 2005; I was rejected by the:

Lot of reports about a popular torture device being used in Syrian prisons called a "flying carpet" which is apparently where an inmate is sandwiched between two folding boards while a guard presses on it until it either breaks your vertebrae or dislocates your hips. By all accounts, nearly every person who is arrested is brutally tortured and most women are also raped. The conditions in Sednaya Prison in Damascus are about on par with a concentration camp. The weak generally don't survive for more than a month, arbitrary killings by guards, mass executions, poor sanitation and overcrowding plus starvation leading to a lot of deaths by disease. One guy who was arrested was a Kung Fu instructor and he was beaten to death by the guards as soon as they found out he was teaching martial arts to the other inmates in his cell. The other 14 inmates were also beaten to death over the course of several days.

There are about 3 million people in Idlib. It's been the dumping ground for most of Syria's rebels and refugees. I imagine a lot of the people whose names are on The List (which is 1.5 million names long) are living in Idlib. Extremist factions within the rebels have established Shariah courts and repressed many of the people who were once supportive of the rebellion. People accused of homosexuality are publicly killed by HTS/JAN. Most of the "courts" run by these rebel groups, according to Amnesty International, are based on the Unified Arab Code, a set of Sharia-based legal codes that were endorsed by the Arab League between 1988 and 1996 but were never implemented anywhere.

The legal code demands harsh corporal punishments for hudud crimes (violations of Islamic law), including stoning, amputations and flogging.

# ? Sep 1, 2018 19:33

A Typical Goon: Feb 25, 2011

Sergg posted:

Lot of reports about a popular torture device being used in Syrian prisons called a "flying carpet" which is apparently where an inmate is sandwiched between two folding boards while a guard presses on it until it either breaks your vertebrae or dislocates your hips. By all accounts, nearly every person who is arrested is brutally tortured and most women are also raped. The conditions in Sednaya Prison in Damascus are about on par with a concentration camp. The weak generally don't survive for more than a month, arbitrary killings by guards, mass executions, poor sanitation and overcrowding plus starvation leading to a lot of deaths by disease. One guy who was arrested was a Kung Fu instructor and he was beaten to death by the guards as soon as they found out he was teaching martial arts to the other inmates in his cell. The other 14 inmates were also beaten to death over the course of several days.

There are about 3 million people in Idlib. It's been the dumping ground for most of Syria's rebels and refugees. I imagine a lot of the people whose names are on The List (which is 1.5 million names long) are living in Idlib. Extremist factions within the rebels have established Shariah courts and repressed many of the people who were once supportive of the rebellion. People accused of homosexuality are publicly killed by HTS/JAN. Most of the "courts" run by these rebel groups, according to Amnesty International, are based on the Unified Arab Code, a set of Sharia-based legal codes that were endorsed by the Arab League between 1988 and 1996 but were never implemented anywhere.

The legal code demands harsh corporal punishments for hudud crimes (violations of Islamic law), including stoning, amputations and flogging.

Care to actually post these reports/accounts?

# ? Sep 1, 2018 20:20

Freakazoid_: Jul 5, 2013; Buglord

If only it were like the movies, his kung fu master would single-handedly destroy everyone running that prison.

# ? Sep 1, 2018 21:17

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

https://mobile.twitter.com/zaidbenjamin/status/1036013921038151680

Somebody is bombing Mezzeh air base in Damascus. Probably Israel again.

# ? Sep 1, 2018 23:15

Saladin Rising: Nov 12, 2016; When there is no real hope we must
mint our own. If the coin be
counterfeit it may still be passed.

Sergg posted:

Lot of reports about a popular torture device being used in Syrian prisons called a "flying carpet" which is apparently where an inmate is sandwiched between two folding boards while a guard presses on it until it either breaks your vertebrae or dislocates your hips. By all accounts, nearly every person who is arrested is brutally tortured and most women are also raped. The conditions in Sednaya Prison in Damascus are about on par with a concentration camp. The weak generally don't survive for more than a month, arbitrary killings by guards, mass executions, poor sanitation and overcrowding plus starvation leading to a lot of deaths by disease. One guy who was arrested was a Kung Fu instructor and he was beaten to death by the guards as soon as they found out he was teaching martial arts to the other inmates in his cell. The other 14 inmates were also beaten to death over the course of several days.

There are about 3 million people in Idlib. It's been the dumping ground for most of Syria's rebels and refugees. I imagine a lot of the people whose names are on The List (which is 1.5 million names long) are living in Idlib. Extremist factions within the rebels have established Shariah courts and repressed many of the people who were once supportive of the rebellion. People accused of homosexuality are publicly killed by HTS/JAN. Most of the "courts" run by these rebel groups, according to Amnesty International, are based on the Unified Arab Code, a set of Sharia-based legal codes that were endorsed by the Arab League between 1988 and 1996 but were never implemented anywhere.

The legal code demands harsh corporal punishments for hudud crimes (violations of Islamic law), including stoning, amputations and flogging.

"So would you prefer to be mutilated by the regime, or mutilated by HTS?" Goddamn, Syria is such a massive pit of needless misery, it's loving depressing. :smithicide:

# ? Sep 1, 2018 23:31

Slow News Day: Jul 4, 2007

Saladin Rising posted:

"So would you prefer to be mutilated by the regime, or mutilated by HTS?" Goddamn, Syria is such a massive pit of needless misery, it's loving depressing.

Here's the crazy part: it has been going on for seven loving years, and there is no end in sight.

# ? Sep 1, 2018 23:44

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

https://mobile.twitter.com/QZakarya/status/1036022964842573824

Jesus.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 00:15

Snipee: Mar 27, 2010

Volkerball posted:

https://mobile.twitter.com/QZakarya/status/1036022964842573824

Jesus.

Eternal despair.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 01:04

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

In lighter news

https://mobile.twitter.com/eldahshan/status/1035929578626318336

# ? Sep 2, 2018 01:21

WAR CRIME GIGOLO: Oct 3, 2012; The Hague
tryna get me
for these glutes

Russians started the prison fire bexause they know a chem attack will lead to intevention and their russian torture metbods would be on display if i didnt burn it

# ? Sep 2, 2018 01:58

Throatwarbler: Nov 17, 2008; by vyelkin

Assad is Syria's Lincoln.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/437354-assad-war-lincoln-syria/

quote:

Western ideologues maintain that the conflict in Syria revolves around the status of Bashar Assad. It does not. What�s more, they know it does not.
This being said, when it comes to the Syrian president, we cannot avoid the legacy of a leader who did not hesitate to wage war on a section of his people after they rose up against his government in an insurrection that attracted the sympathy and support of external forces. Nor can we avoid the fact that, as a result, he was widely derided as a tyrant and a dictator, despised and disdained within his own country and beyond.

Though history does not recognize this depiction of Abraham Lincoln today, it happens to be true. Lincoln was painted as a monster by his enemies at home and loathed abroad, especially by a British establishment whose support for the US southern slavocracy still stands as a shameful indictment.

Read more
Advancing Syrian troops hoist the national flag. � Mikhail AlaeddinIdlib to become Syria's final battle with terrorists� if the West stays out of it
Lincoln is today considered the greatest US president who ever lived � and with good reason. Yet this does not exculpate us from the rigors of a serious analysis of his legacy. Because no leader, great or otherwise, is born great or was always been great. On the contrary, their greatness is a product of the choices they make at critical moments, responsible for changing or impacting the course of history to such a degree that all prior sins are airbrushed, or downplayed, when it comes to their legacies.

Abe Lincoln, for example, while undoubtedly indispensable when it came to crushing the Confederacy, was also the young man who led a company of Illinois militia in the Black Hawk Indian War of 1832, part of the series of genocidal Indian Wars responsible for decimating the continent�s indigenous population.

Likewise, take Winston Churchill, considered the greatest British prime minister who ever lived. Despite the indispensable role he played in leading Britain�s resistance to Hitler�s war machine in 1940, when the country stood well nigh alone, Churchill was also the vicious imperialist and colonialist who sanctioned the use of poison gas against the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1919, and a few years later against the Kurds in northern Iraq.

As with Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, so with all of the so-called �great men� of popular history � renowned for their achievements at the expense of justified condemnation for their crimes. It is why history and propaganda are often two sides of the same coin, lacking the sagacity of Oscar Wilde�s dictum that �Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.�

The point is that those who are serious about understanding the conflict in Syria in our time have obligations to resist the demonization of Bashar Assad as evil incarnate or the veneration of him as a latter-day saint. Both depictions are rooted in caricature, and both serve to obfuscate rather than clarify his role in a brutal conflict that is now in its seventh year.

Focusing in on Assad�s role in the conflict � notwithstanding the role his government may or may not have played in helping to create the conditions that led to it � there is no refuting the fact that were it not for his decision to remain in Syria prior to Russia�s intervention at the end of September 2015, the black flag of Salafi-jihadism would have been raised over Damascus. Likewise, there is no refuting the fact that in the event the consequences for the country�s minority communities, not to mention every Syrian who believes in and adheres to the country�s secular, multicultural and non-sectarian identity, would have been dire in the extreme.

It is in fact in defense of this secular, multicultural and non-sectarian identity, not defense of Bashar Assad, that countless thousands of Syrians have been prepared to fight and die against the forces of hell that have been arrayed against them over the past seven years.

Read more
FILE PHOTO. � Rodi SaidUS chose �neocolonial course� in Syria to gain control over its resources � Russian envoy to UN
That they have done so despite a mendacious campaign in the West to paint said forces of hell � murderous extremist groups whose brutality has been of medieval stripe � in the romantic colors of resistance and rebellion, this is something that must never be forgotten. Such a campaign confirms that the beast of Western hegemony remains fierce and its appetite for domination unsatiated � to the point where despite the ocean of blood that has already been shed in its name, its willingness to shed or cause more to be shed cannot be underestimated.

This ocean of blood, by the way, includes the blood of the very citizens on whose behalf Western leaders � whose crimes always come stamped with a democracy waiver � maintain they are acting. The litany of terrorist attacks that have erupted across the West, fueled by the same warped ideology that has wrought so much carnage across Iraq and Libya and Syria, amount to a monumental j�accuse in this regard.

�The welfare of the people has always been the alibi of tyrants,� Camus points out, and who could argue otherwise after surveying the wreckage of Western foreign policy in recent times alone? It has been tantamount to a tyrannical hegemonic drive to ruin and destroy that which its very rich, privileged and fanatical proponents have been unable to control by other means.

Returning to Assad, as mentioned, his decision to remain in Syria even as all seemed lost will go down as a seminal moment not only in Syria�s history but the history of the region. Because, prior to Russia�s entry into the conflict in September 2015, the prospects of the Syrian Arab Army being able to withstand the inordinate pressure of a Salafi-jihadist dominated insurgency, backed by the West and its allies in the region, was very bleak indeed.

No matter, Assad in the eyes of disciples of regime change is the personification of evil. He is a monster that must be vanquished in the interests of who and what exactly? In the interests of progress and stability, in the interests of the countless number of people who�ve been butchered, or had their loved ones butchered, at the hands of the Salafi-jihadist monster created by previous regime-change wars?

The gulf that separates the unreal world of the Western ideologue from the actual world of chaos and mayhem fashioned by the West could not be wider. Whereas your average Western ideologue would have us believe that it is the moral virtue (or lack thereof) of governments or leaders that determines the development of a given state, in truth states develop in the context of prevailing and, specifically when it comes to the global south, unfavorable material conditions. And those unfavorable material conditions are created by the asphyxiating role of Western hegemony in its rapacious drive for strategic, military, economic and cultural domination.

Read more
Syrian President Bashar Assad � ReutersDon�t tell him, Pike! The laughable (yet sinister) list of �International Assadists�
The idea that states on the receiving end of this dynamic can be expected to develop into perfect democracies, unscarred and unblemished, is ludicrous. Only those for whom magical thinking provides an escape from the inconvenience of grappling with reality could possibly argue otherwise. Your typical Western ideologue is here guilty as charged.

Truth be told, states and nations that exist in the crosshairs of Western hegemony via economic sanctions, blockade, political subversion, and/or military encirclement cannot but help find their development impacted in various ways and to various extent as a consequence.

Thus Fidel Castro was never more right than when he averred: �The history of Cuba is but the history of Latin America. The history of Latin America is but the history of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. And the history of all these peoples is but the history of the most pitiless and cruel exploitation by imperialism throughout the world.�

Bashar Assad�s real crime in the eyes of his detractors is not what he has done but what he represents. And what he represents in the context of the brutal conflict that has raged in Syria since 2011 is defiance of a world underpinned by the imperial and colonial mantra of might is right.

In 2018, the right of the Syrian people to determine their own future has been paid for in blood. Whether that future includes Bashar Assad as their president is also a matter for them. Regardless, what no amount of anti-Assad rhetoric can deny is that without his leadership during one of the most brutal conflicts of modern times, Syria would now have no future to speak of.

Those who understand this are not Assadists, they are simply realists.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 05:38

Al-Saqr: Nov 11, 2007; One Day I Will Return To Your Side.

I will never understand people like that subhuman fascist like ThroatWarbler, I will never understand what makes a person that level of inhumane and retarded. I will never ever understand the depravity of people like this.

Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Sep 2, 2018

# ? Sep 2, 2018 06:02

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Throatwarbler posted:

Assad is Syria's Lincoln.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/437354-assad-war-lincoln-syria/

That article is Assad apologia, but it is definitely correct in that Assad will be judged by history, and as a victor able to generate his own history, he has a chance of being remembered in a neutral or even positive light in the long run. Times have definitely changed and I don't believe in ethical absolutism, but Churchill is still remembered favorably despite (in addition to the two things mentioned in the article that I'd never heard of) his role in the semi-engineered Bengal famine that killed ~2 million people, which is basically never mentioned or taught, at least in the West. Indians probably hear about it.

That said, Churchill never did anything particularly atrocious against his own people, so maybe that's a lovely comparison. Lincoln still does certainly have bad press in the South of the US with a not-insignificant minority as a murderous warmonger, and that's been 150 years.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 13:14

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Although there's serious efforts to create digital archives of material from the conflict, work by organisations like CIJA and the ECCHR to build and prosecute cases in various courts, and the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) on Syria working on archiving and case building, so whatever happens inside Syria after this stage of the conflict there will still be a lot of international efforts to bring Assad to account.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 13:55

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Brown Moses posted:

whatever happens inside Syria after this stage of the conflict there will still be a lot of international efforts to bring Assad to account.

No doubt, but the probability of him showing up in front of the ICC or whatever seems only slightly more likely than the probability of al-Bashir showing up in front of a war crimes tribunal. It's true that he is pretty young and there's a lot of time for things to change if he gets deposed later on by an internal coup or something though, and certainly it is worth documenting all of his crimes even if they'll likely never be able to bring justice to anyone by doing so.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 16:08

Grape: Nov 16, 2017; Happily shilling for China!

Al-Saqr posted:

I will never understand people like that subhuman fascist like ThroatWarbler, I will never understand what makes a person that level of inhumane and retarded. I will never ever understand the depravity of people like this.

Your region is an ideological playground for them to play internet forums fantasy football with. A game where you can pick only a couple possible sides with zero nuances. And if you pick the "ANTI-IMPERIALIST" side that means Assad is on your team.
They are only vaguely aware of actual complexities on the local level, or that real human lives are on the line.

If some major political realignment occurred tomorrow that ended with Saudi Arabia becoming a Russia/China ally they would suddenly be singing the eternal praises of the House of Saud, and accusing you of being a CIA plant.

tldr: They are dim myopic man-children who like to play pretend with real world action figures. Much like the neo-cons they imagine are behind every corner.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 18:16

HorrificExistence: Jun 25, 2017; by Athanatos

Grape posted:

Your region is an ideological playground for them to play internet forums fantasy football with. A game where you can pick only a couple possible sides with zero nuances. And if you pick the "ANTI-IMPERIALIST" side that means Assad is on your team.
They are only vaguely aware of actual complexities on the local level, or that real human lives are on the line.

If some major political realignment occurred tomorrow that ended with Saudi Arabia becoming a Russia/China ally they would suddenly be singing the eternal praises of the House of Saud, and accusing you of being a CIA plant.

tldr: They are dim myopic man-children who like to play pretend with real world action figures. Much like the neo-cons they imagine are behind every corner.

Modern leftists who align themselves with Russia boggle my mind. Like you realize that is probably the furthest right government in Europe right?

# ? Sep 2, 2018 18:34

Absurd Alhazred: Mar 27, 2010; by Athanatos

*spits out coffee*

Wait, Throatwarbler is serious? It's not a "look at this crazy RT take" post? :psyboom:

# ? Sep 2, 2018 18:54

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

He's one of those super hilarious trolls that are allowed to post whatever because reasons

# ? Sep 2, 2018 19:12

Gniwu: Dec 18, 2002

Absurd Alhazred posted:

*spits out coffee*

Wait, Throatwarbler is serious? It's not a "look at this crazy RT take" post?

No, he's always been dead serious. Look at his post history, he really is a fascist.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 19:14

Grape: Nov 16, 2017; Happily shilling for China!

HorrificExistence posted:

Modern leftists who align themselves with Russia boggle my mind. Like you realize that is probably the furthest right government in Europe right?

I refuse to acknowledge as leftist anyone who instead of looking after the little guys, just decides that the second or third biggest big guys are the proletariat against the first biggest guy.
It's like someone labeling themselves anti-corporate and flying the banner of Pepsi against the horrific capitalists of Coca-Cola.

# ? Sep 2, 2018 19:16

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

The eFront of the global war on terror is turning hot.

https://mobile.twitter.com/billroggio/status/1036361081688649729

# ? Sep 3, 2018 00:35

Mr Luxury Yacht: Apr 16, 2012

Grape posted:

I refuse to acknowledge as leftist anyone who instead of looking after the little guys, just decides that the second or third biggest big guys are the proletariat against the first biggest guy.
It's like someone labeling themselves anti-corporate and flying the banner of Pepsi against the horrific capitalists of Coca-Cola.

Especially when "Both of these guys are terrible" is a perfectly valid viewpoint. There's no rule that says you have to support one or the other.
The enemy of my enemy can still also be my enemy.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 01:14

Squalid: Nov 4, 2008

Bill Roggio has been railing against efforts to negotiate with the Taliban for years. He's probably right that current and past efforts have been farcical, but I'm not sure what he imagines doing instead.

I think he was involved in this recent piece on the history of American attempts to negotiate with the Taliban. Spoiler alert, it's not a productive history.

https://www.weeklystandard.com/thomas-joscelyn/losing-a-war

Analysis: Losing a War posted:

The lack of demonstrable success has caused U.S. military commanders to redefine victory. Some of them now contend that the war is a stalemate in which the Taliban is incapable of overrunning Afghanistan�s more populated areas. They sell this as progress. But they are seeing the conflict through rose-colored glasses. The insurgents are capable of mustering enough forces for offensives throughout the country at any time. The Taliban�s men contest or control approximately 60 percent of the country�as much ground as at any point since the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001. There is no reason to think they feel pressured to negotiate.

Trump preached patience in his speech a year ago, comparing his approach to President Obama�s. �Conditions on the ground�not arbitrary timetables�will guide our strategy from now on,� Trump said. This was a rebuke to Obama�s decision simultaneously to announce a surge in troops and a timetable for their withdrawal in December 2009. Military commanders knew that this created an incentive for the jihadists to wait America out, and that�s what they did. Trump also pointed out that President Obama �hastily and mistakenly withdrew from Iraq� in 2011, thereby paving the way for the rise of the Islamic State, or ISIS.

But Trump, like his predecessor, signaled his doubts about the war in announcing his commitment to win it. �My original instinct was to pull out�and, historically, I like following my instincts,� he explained.

Trump is an instinctive president�and an impatient one. Sensing that time is short, some administration officials are now attempting to negotiate a face-saving deal with the Taliban, one that allows America to leave without the appearance of having lost. Multiple news outlets in recent weeks have reported that the White House has given the go-ahead for direct talks with the jihadists.

This effort will almost certainly fail�as it did under Barack Obama. One year after the president�s announcement of a new Afghanistan policy, it�s increasingly clear that the current approach to Afghanistan isn�t a radical departure from Obama�s but mostly a continuation of it.

Think tank types like Bill Roggio and Thomas Joscelyn, the author of this essay, look at Afghanistan and conclude the US should instead be fighting harder, or smarter, or something, rather than trying to negotiate. However when it comes to specific recommendations they contend themselves with recommending minute adjustments in how the US targets bombing, rather than anything that might truly change the trajectory of the conflict. They sound like plumbers on the Titanic desperately calling for thread sealing tape.

What would it take to actually win, or even just force the Taliban to negotiate? 150,000 troops and three years, plus 50,000 for ten years after that? Maybe two trillion more dollars over 10 years? Is there any price too high for these people?

# ? Sep 3, 2018 01:38

qkkl: Jul 1, 2013; by FactsAreUseless

Squalid posted:

What would it take to actually win, or even just force the Taliban to negotiate? 150,000 troops and three years, plus 50,000 for ten years after that? Maybe two trillion more dollars over 10 years? Is there any price too high for these people?

A price that exceeds the amount of wealth that can be extracted from Afghanistan would be too high. It would be easier to just redefine "winning" as just controlling the resource extraction sites and the urban areas, that way the capitalists are happy, and the humanitarians are happy too because any Afghans who want to flee the Taliban can go to one of the urban centers.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 02:01

Volkerball: Oct 15, 2009; by FactsAreUseless

Right now in Iraq, both Sadr/Abadi and Ameri/Maliki are claiming to have a majority coalition forming tomorrow. All the smaller coalitions that were formed for the election are fracturing. The Iranian delegation is hyping up big defections from Abadi, but Sadr released a list of 180 MP's with more coming. At this point, no matter how it shakes out it's going to be a loving mess.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 03:02

Snipee: Mar 27, 2010

Absurd Alhazred posted:

*spits out coffee*

Wait, Throatwarbler is serious? It's not a "look at this crazy RT take" post?

I�ll admit that I too thought he was joking with the �Assad is Syria�s Lincoln� comment.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 04:16

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Snipee posted:

I�ll admit that I too thought he was joking with the �Assad is Syria�s Lincoln� comment.

I didn't know we had any "Assad the Lion" posters here, I thought they were all confined to LiveUAMap comments. Isn't it nice, Lion Assad and Stalin apologists all together on the same forum.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 08:22

Absurd Alhazred: Mar 27, 2010; by Athanatos

Saladman posted:

I didn't know we had any "Assad the Lion" posters here, I thought they were all confined to LiveUAMap comments. Isn't it nice, Lion Assad and Stalin apologists all together on the same forum.

Peace in our lifetime!

# ? Sep 3, 2018 09:16

steinrokkan: Apr 2, 2011; Soiled Meat

qkkl posted:

A price that exceeds the amount of wealth that can be extracted from Afghanistan would be too high. It would be easier to just redefine "winning" as just controlling the resource extraction sites and the urban areas, that way the capitalists are happy, and the humanitarians are happy too because any Afghans who want to flee the Taliban can go to one of the urban centers.

What wealth are Americans extracting from Afghanistan? The only wealth transfer I can see is to weapons manufacturers and mercenaries, and those transfers don't diminish with conflict intensity / duration. Afghanistan exports virtually no goods excerpt for fruit and carpets

# ? Sep 3, 2018 10:34

Absurd Alhazred: Mar 27, 2010; by Athanatos

steinrokkan posted:

What wealth are Americans extracting from Afghanistan? The only wealth transfer I can see is to weapons manufacturers and mercenaries, and those transfers don't diminish with conflict intensity / duration. Afghanistan exports virtually no goods excerpt for fruit and carpets

Don't forget opium!

# ? Sep 3, 2018 10:40

Snipee: Mar 27, 2010

Saladman posted:

I didn't know we had any "Assad the Lion" posters here, I thought they were all confined to LiveUAMap comments. Isn't it nice, Lion Assad and Stalin apologists all together on the same forum.

In my admittedly limited experience with leftbook, there is more overlap between those two groups than you may think.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 15:31

Brown Moses: Feb 22, 2002

Russia bombing Syria really brought the two communities together, and the MAGA/alt-right community has a certain amount of cross over as the anti-Hillary part of the pro-Assad/Putin community appealed to them, along with their general love of strong men. Kate Starbird did analysis of anti-White Helmets sentiments among online communities that really does a good job of showing the cross over on various communities like that
https://twitter.com/katestarbird/status/994358758296842240

# ? Sep 3, 2018 16:01

Retarded Goatee: Feb 6, 2010; I spent so that means I can be a cheapskate and post about posting instead of having some wit or spending any more on comedy avs for people. Which I'm also incapable of. Comedy.

steinrokkan posted:

What wealth are Americans extracting from Afghanistan? The only wealth transfer I can see is to weapons manufacturers and mercenaries, and those transfers don't diminish with conflict intensity / duration. Afghanistan exports virtually no goods excerpt for fruit and carpets

Didnt they find bizarre amounts of battery grade lithium in Afghanistan?

# ? Sep 3, 2018 16:21

Rent-A-Cop: Oct 15, 2004; I posted my food for USPOL Thanksgiving!

Retarded Goatee posted:

Didnt they find bizarre amounts of battery grade lithium in Afghanistan?

There's a lot of hurf durf about vast tracts of minerals but they may as well be on the moon for how accessible they are.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 17:31

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# ? May 28, 2024 02:14

Squalid: Nov 4, 2008

Brown Moses posted:

Russia bombing Syria really brought the two communities together, and the MAGA/alt-right community has a certain amount of cross over as the anti-Hillary part of the pro-Assad/Putin community appealed to them, along with their general love of strong men. Kate Starbird did analysis of anti-White Helmets sentiments among online communities that really does a good job of showing the cross over on various communities like that
https://twitter.com/katestarbird/status/994358758296842240

I'm sure it helps plenty that it's not just a coincidental alignment of interests, but that Russian media operations actively sought out both groups and insinuated their messages into both the radical left and right zeitgeist.

# ? Sep 3, 2018 17:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Middle East Thread: Clarissa Explains the Fall

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