The Arab Spring and "the War on Terror"

[blandy]

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[MakemineVanilla]

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Of ordinary soldiers 12% were killed.

Of officers 17%

Of old Etonians  20%

200 generals killed

[snowychap]

Of old Etonians  20%

Half of whom were probably shot by Old Harrovians on August 12th.

[Xann]

Of ordinary soldiers 12% were killed.

Of officers 17%

Of old Etonians  20%

200 generals killed

 

There's a fair bit of idiocy going on at the top of the pyramid there.

 

Chivalric as officers leading the charge might sound, it was a bit bloody silly in an age of machine guns, snipers and barbed wire.

[peterms]

 

New British 'Warrior Generation' eh?

Interesting uniform.

[peterms]

So, the USA rushes through emergency extra aid to the people facing death through savage bombing assaults. Er, that would be Israel, oddly enough.

This tells you all you need to know:

Obama signed the bill in the late afternoon in the Oval Office with a handful of photographers present. (AP)

From here.

[The_Rev]

 

 

Wow, that is from the heart.  Amazing. 

[peterms]

 

 

Wow, that is from the heart.  Amazing.

Interesting little aside about Israel supporting Hamas when it first started. Told to him by sources he had privileged access to. Borne out by other accounts.

[peterms]

Of all the pictures that flow through my twitter feed, and which I can't post here because any single one of them would breach site guidelines, the one I found most distressing today was the toddler who lost both his parents, and both his eyes, in yet another murderous Israeli attack.

[maqroll]

 

I suppose the closest historical parallel to Palestine is how immigrants took over Texas from the Mexicans, beat them in a war, and then joined the Union.

 

Except that the Mexicans were colonists themselves, having already defeated the Aztecs and subjugated the Mestizo masses. 

 

Israel as we know it was drafted up in an office building by bureaucrats. I don't think there is an historical parallel that compares to Israel/Palestine.

[OutByEaster?]

So, the USA rushes through emergency extra aid to the people facing death through savage bombing assaults. Er, that would be Israel, oddly enough.

This tells you all you need to know:

 

Obama signed the bill in the late afternoon in the Oval Office with a handful of photographers present. (AP)

From here.

 

 

$225m dollars to make sure Iron Fist doesn't run out of ammo. Good old Senator McCain - as evil a human being as there is alive on the planet. I'm guessing that having said earlier this week how much he admired Israel's restraint in the way they were dealing with Gaza, he's decided they need some help in being a little less restrained going forwards.

 

More here

[Ads]

There was a large counter offensive towards the Mosul dam last night by the Peshmerga.

 

I guess this is what Awol referred to as the potential crisis point for the Saudi's; IS have had some limited success against the Peshmerga, who are albeit over stretched and lacking in firepower, but it does demonstrate that their command has grown up very quick from its time spent battling Hezbollah in Syria. If you're sitting in Jordan or The Kingdom, when do you start to get nervous?

 

With the Iranians in Iraq and the Saudi's manoeuvring across from Anbar, you could have a bizarre situation some months down the line where Iranian and Saudi aims towards IS allign, where the Saudi's turn on their own Jihad.

[Swerbs]

So Israel have withdrawn all their troops from Gaza, must be planning some massive bombing campaign.

[Xann]

Maybe having a rethink, because they're taking more casualties than expected.

 

Apparently it's Hezbollah tactics that the Palestinians have taken on board, though that doesn't seem to give the tunnelers of the Viet Cong enough credit.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Xann

[Ads]

Maybe having a rethink, because they're taking more casualties than expected.

 

Apparently it's Hezbollah tactics that the Palestinians have taken on board, though that doesn't seem to give the tunnelers of the Viet Cong enough credit.

 

Hezbollah are the regional standard, but times have changed with these militant groups. Enough leadership seems to have survived for long enough to learn from previous engagements and they're now beginning to deploy effective infantry tactics.

 

IS are another example, although in the case of them I think they have benefitted from having a large number of Chechens (around 500) who are exprienced from fighting the Russians bolster their command structure and have been able to pass out some trade craft in Syria that they're now taking to Iraq.

[omariqy]

Warsi has resigned as she no longer can support the govt on Gaza.  Don't really like her but fair play.

[MakemineVanilla]

 

 

I suppose the closest historical parallel to Palestine is how immigrants took over Texas from the Mexicans, beat them in a war, and then joined the Union.

 

Except that the Mexicans were colonists themselves, having already defeated the Aztecs and subjugated the Mestizo masses. 

 

Israel as we know it was drafted up in an office building by bureaucrats. I don't think there is an historical parallel that compares to Israel/Palestine.

 

 

Good call.

 

But having made such a call you do have the problem of having made the case that it is legitimate for any invader to displace any colonist guilty of displacing indigenous peoples.

 

There is certainly nothing unique about Palestine because all imperialists, from Popes to Empresses, have been guilty of drawing 'fat fingers over small maps' when carving up the globe.

 

Just about every ethnically-based conflict in Africa can be traced back to the carve up of the continent by European empire-builders.

 

The history of Kashmir holds many similarities with Palestine. Taken from the Sikhs by the British and handed to a puppet governor as a reward for his help. Then when it came to partition (1947) despite the country being nearly 80% Muslim, Mountbatten made it part of India as a personal favour to the maharajah. When the shit hit the fan, the British handed the problem to the UN, just like Palestine, and pissed off. India ignored the UN's suggestion of a plebiscite (let the majority decide). India and Pakistan have been killing each other over it ever since.

 

So I don't think it is a case of trying to find examples of similar conflicts to that of Palestine, it would be counting them.  

[tonyh29]

 

 

The history of Kashmir holds many similarities with Palestine. Taken from the Sikhs by the British and handed to a puppet governor as a reward for his help. Then when it came to partition (1947) despite the country being nearly 80% Muslim, Mountbatten made it part of India as a personal favour to the maharajah. When the shit hit the fan, the British handed the problem to the UN, just like Palestine, and pissed off. India ignored the UN's suggestion of a plebiscite (let the majority decide). India and Pakistan have been killing each other over it ever since.

 

 

Not strictly factual though   ..... Mountbatten actually favoured Kashmir as going to Pakistan and the Plebiscite (suggested by Mountbatten not the UN )  was certainly intended to favour Pakistan

 

the buck on Kashmir  ultimately stops at Nehru

Edited August 5, 2014 by tonyh29

[maqroll]

 

 

But having made such a call you do have the problem of having made the case that it is legitimate for any invader to displace any colonist guilty of displacing indigenous peoples.

How exactly have I done that?

[Davkaus]

Interesting to see if these sways public opinion at all. Three men have been caught on camera putting together a rocket to fire into Israel immediately before the ceasefire.