russia deploying missile cruiser. all weapons go 2 destroy any threat 2 russian units

[boutons_deux]

What no one wants to admit about fighting ISIS: the US has only bad choices

Once ISIS is wiped off the map it will go underground, becoming "just" a terror and insurgent group. The world faced exactly this before: ISIS was once called al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and it fought a years-long terror campaign in mid-2000s Iraq. AQI was defeated by three things, which would need to be repeated in both Iraq and, eventually, Syria:

• A 24/7 campaign of raids to capture or kill AQI officers
• The Iraqi government convincing Sunni Arabs they were better off opposing AQI
• Sunni Arab tribal leaders rising up to fight the terror group they'd previously tolerated or even welcomed

There is a terrible irony to this —

the American invasion of Iraq caused, perhaps more than any other single event, the rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and thus the rise of ISIS.

But defeating AQI was only possible because of that massive American occupation force.

It's a debate between two bad choices.

Either the US can try to defeat ISIS entirely but chance making the problem worse, throwing itself into high-risk, high-reward policies knowing they could work but could also backfire catastrophically.

Or the US can accept that the risks are not worth the costs and focus on minimizing and managing ISIS's threats, even if that means accepting that ISIS will survive in some form for many years, and that periodic attacks will be part of this.

No one wants to admit that's what America's ISIS debate is really about, because acknowledging the limits of our power is just not in the American vocabulary, especially in the middle of a presidential campaign when both parties are promising the moon.

Our political and media system is just not built to honestly discuss a problem that is, at least in some ways, lose-lose. But that is the problem we face with ISIS, whether we admit it to ourselves or not.

http://www.vox.com/2015/12/8/9872118/isis-america

Thanks, Repugs

[boutons_deux]

Syria conflict: Number of foreign fighters 'doubled in 16 months'

The number of foreign fighters in Syria has gone up from 12,000 to at least 27,000 since June 2014, according to a new report by a security consultancy.

The report says the average rate of returnees to Western countries is now at about 20-30%.

They say that the largest single group of foreign fighters is Tunisians, numbering some 6,000.

The second-largest is from Saudi Arabia, which the report puts at about 2,500, followed by Russia (2,400), Turkey (2,100) and Jordan (2,000).

About 5,000 fighters come from EU countries, with some European countries contributing a "disproportionate percentage".

The report cites official figures indicating that about 1,800 individuals had left France to join the fighting, with 760 each from the UK and Germany, and 470 from Belgium.

Based on these estimates, more than 3,700 of the EU fighter contingent come from just four countries.

However, the authors say recruitment from North America has remained largely flat and that "recruitment within the Americas has been mostly reliant on social media, particularly in the initial phases of the process".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35043939

[cheguevara]

[pgardn]

Wow.

Amazing...

[hater]

good

[TDMVPDPOY]

why is eu, nato or america/allies going bail out turkey if they are the ones who provoke/pre-emptive strike russia first?

whats in it for everyone to bail out these clowns?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

why is eu, nato or america/allies going bail out turkey if they are the ones who provoke/pre-emptive strike russia first?

whats in it for everyone to bail out these clowns?

Because now Russia is deploying on multiple fronts. They still have to garrison the north because NATO troops are in Warsaw and Vilnius. He has to prop up his proxy in eastern Ukraine. He's sending troops into Syria and now he has to contend with a hostile force just southwest of his holdings west of the Caspian sea.

Meanwhile gas is still under $2 here and similarly depressed around the world. He's cut off trade with NATO countries. China is playing switzerland to this point. Putin is surrounded from the north west and south. It's soviet-era containment strategy.

[hater]

actually Russia sanctions are proven not to be working. Both France and Italy are reconsidering extending sanctions:

Renzi blocks smooth extension of Russia sanctions
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday stayed firm on blocking a planned extension of the EU’s economic sanctions against Russia, forcing EU governments to discuss the issue at a much higher level next week.

Sanctions were set to be extended on Wednesday, but that did not happen after the Italian government instructed its ambassador to raise objections during a closed-door meeting of EU countries’ delegates, which was supposed to approve the extension without much political noise.
http://www.politico.eu/article/renzi...sia-sanctions/

Russia is pretty self sufficient and Saudi Arabia, Iran and others would go bankrupt due to low oil price long before Russia

[hater]

why is eu, nato or america/allies going bail out turkey if they are the ones who provoke/pre-emptive strike russia first?

whats in it for everyone to bail out these clowns?

NATO is like a facebook friend group these days. It would be an embarrassment of high proportions to see their member Turkey get bukkaked by Russia. This is why NATO would go all in before such an embarrassment.

Stupid as it sounds, NATO would rather support ISIS than see themselves getting embarrassed by a superpower

[pgardn]

actually Russia sanctions are proven not to be working. Both France and Italy are reconsidering extending sanctions:

Renzi blocks smooth extension of Russia sanctions
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday stayed firm on blocking a planned extension of the EU’s economic sanctions against Russia, forcing EU governments to discuss the issue at a much higher level next week.

Sanctions were set to be extended on Wednesday, but that did not happen after the Italian government instructed its ambassador to raise objections during a closed-door meeting of EU countries’ delegates, which was supposed to approve the extension without much political noise.
http://www.politico.eu/article/renzi...sia-sanctions/

Russia is pretty self sufficient and Saudi Arabia, Iran and others would go bankrupt due to low oil price long before Russia

Sure they are self sufficient if you don't mind eating beets and drinking aftershave. Russia cannot stay on its current path.

More farmland than any other country and they net import wheat. Russia is the poster child of inefficiency and corruption.
Natural resources abound and they can't get it right, what a mess of a country.

[boutons_deux]

Islamic State oil trade 'worth more than $500m'

The so-called Islamic State (IS) has made more than $500m (£330m) trading oil, a US treasury official has said.

Its "primary customer" has been the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, despite its ongoing battle to overthrow the regime, Adam Szubin told the BBC.

IS had also looted up to $1bn from banks in territory it held, he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35070204

[hater]

How ISIS Oil Flows Through Turkey And Israel On Its Way To Europe

However, recent reports suggest that the oil flows to Europe and Asia through a complex process that implicates allies of the United States like Turkey and Israel.

am Simpson and Matthew Philips, writing in November for Bloomberg Businessweek, called recent U.S. attacks on oil trucks an attempt by the Obama administration to “quietly” fix a “colossal miscalculation.”

On Nov. 26, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a London-based media outlet focusing on the Arabic world, published a detailed investigation tracing Daesh’s oil from the massive oilfields in Iraq and Syria to refineries in Israel, where it’s ultimately exported to Europe.

“IS oil production in Syria is focused on the Conoco and al-Taim oil fields, west and northwest of Deir Ezzor, while in Iraq the group uses al-Najma and al-Qayara fields near Mosul. A number of smaller fields in both Iraq and Syria are used by the group for local energy needs.

According to estimates based on the number of oil tankers that leave Iraq, in addition to al-Araby’s sources in the Turkish town of Sirnak on the border with Iraq, through which smuggled oil transits, IS is producing an average of 30,000 barrels a day from the Iraqi and Syrian oil fields it controls.”

“After [Daesh] oil lorries arrive in Zakho – normally 70 to 100 of them at a time – they are met by oil smuggling mafias, a mix of Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, in addition to some Turks and Iranians,” the colonel continued.”

“According to a European official at an international oil company who met with al-Araby in a Gulf capital, Israel refines the oil only ‘once or twice’ because it does not have advanced refineries. It exports the oil to Mediterranean countries – where the oil “gains a semi-legitimate status” – for $30 to $35 a barrel.”

“Bilal Erdoğan who owns several maritime companies, had allegedly signed contracts with European operating companies to carry Iraqi stolen oil to different Asian countries. Turkish government unwittingly supports ISIS by buying Iraqi plundered oil which is being produced from the Iraqi sized oil wells. Bilal Erdoğan’s maritime companies own special wharfs in Beirut and Ceyhan ports transporting [Daesh]’s smuggled crude oil in Japan-bound oil tankers.”

http://www.mintpressnews.com/211910-2/211910/

[pgardn]

Islamic State oil trade 'worth more than $500m'


The so-called Islamic State (IS) has made more than $500m (£330m) trading oil, a US treasury official has said.

Its "primary customer" has been the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, despite its ongoing battle to overthrow the regime, Adam Szubin told the BBC.

IS had also looted up to $1bn from banks in territory it held, he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35070204

Assad is not the major point of emphasis of ISIS right now. There are many more easier targets of value and other places to retake. Also infiltrating other countries that are weak and rebuilding in places that have been smashed by France and the West.

Anyways, interesting stuff and not the least bit surprising. Hater is gonna have to make up some new angles of love with Assad.

[SnakeBoy]

http://stubhillnews.com/2015/12/02/putin2016/

weak. Stick to the Onion.