It’s much too divisive in this polarized climate to hope for Arab Sunnis to fight against Arab Sunnis."
You could be right. I was wondering whether the ISIS execution of al-Kasasbeh didn't deliberately put a dagger in on a split line in Jordanian society. Yeah, sure, the tribal chiefs are furious, the aristocratic support of the King. But the sympathies with ISIS lie in the poorer end of society, in Zarqa.
In a larger, less delicately balanced country, it probably wouldn't matter. But it wouldn't take much to destabilise Jordan.
The other way of looking at the Kurdish advance is the "Bridge Too Far" model. It is a very narrow long corridor, said to be five miles wide, and seventy miles long. Easy to cut, and only defensible, as long as there are intense western air-strikes. In order to make those strikes which carried the Peshmerga forwards, the US had to stop bombing in Anbar, and as a result, the Iraqi army lost a lot of territory round Ain al-Asad airbase. There will be demands to restore the Iraqi position. In that case, the Kurdish corridor can be cut, and the Peshmergas in Sinjar isolated. Not that any frontlines in that area are impermeable. As were are now told, ISIS have now retaken Baiji, though I suppose not the refinery. We haven't had the ISIS counter-attack in Sinjar yet.
Meanwhile the Kurdistan Peshmerga or paramilitary is planning an attack Talafar, a largely Turkmen town in the north,
Yeah, well let's wait and see how they do. The Peshmerga haven't achieved much for a long time (without heavy US air-strikes to clear the road), and they ran away twice in August. Also, I'm not certain whether the inhabitants of Telafar will be favourable to the Peshmerga coming back.
Neither explanation is right. Albu Fahd is a popular contraction of Al Abu Fahd, where Al is not the definite article but, with a long A, means 'people'. You get it in Al Sa'ud. And the A in Abu has disappeared: this is very common in some Arabic dialects.
True that Baghdad has not paid the subsidy recently. I always thought the Kurds would have a thin time if they went independent. Turns out to be true sooner than I thought. I find it astounding that the Kurdish budget depends on subsidies from Baghdad, from the oil revenues of the south, to the extent detailed here.
Maybe, if the Kurds want the subsidies, they should not grab oil-fields that don't belong to them (to KRG), like Kirkuk, or do separate oil-deals under the counter, without consulting Baghdad, as they are bound to do. You can't expect people to be willing to pay up, if at the same time, you're slapping them in the face.
Noori is right. The Peshmerga ran and abandoned the Yazidis - their own people. They nearly abandoned Erbil too, until supported by US air strikes. It was a very close thing.
It's an Ottoman tombstone. The first line looks to be in Arabic, I am pretty sure it is a Quranic tag. The second and third lines are in Ottoman Turkish, which I don't read.
I've finally figured out what happened, I might be wrong but I don't think so.
The Israeli commandos landed on a Turkish boat, where the main fight was. Always unwise to go for Turks; they're ready for a punchup under any circumstances. Very hard people.
Now we hear that the two firearms they had were taken off Israeli commandos. That is, unarmed Turks were able to disarm two of the commandos, the finest troops Israel possesses. They were killed of course, but did they put up a fight! While the Israelis blasted in fear in all directions.
This is bad news for the Israeli military; their best troops have difficulty in winning against even unarmed opposition. It's another 2006.
Though I don't suppose we'll be hearing of this in the media.
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It’s much too divisive in this polarized climate to hope for Arab Sunnis to fight against Arab Sunnis."
You could be right. I was wondering whether the ISIS execution of al-Kasasbeh didn't deliberately put a dagger in on a split line in Jordanian society. Yeah, sure, the tribal chiefs are furious, the aristocratic support of the King. But the sympathies with ISIS lie in the poorer end of society, in Zarqa.
In a larger, less delicately balanced country, it probably wouldn't matter. But it wouldn't take much to destabilise Jordan.
The VICE.com video on the Islamic State is also fascinating and extremely informative.
link to vice.com
Well, I suppose there are some who believe Kurdish propaganda without question.
The other way of looking at the Kurdish advance is the "Bridge Too Far" model. It is a very narrow long corridor, said to be five miles wide, and seventy miles long. Easy to cut, and only defensible, as long as there are intense western air-strikes. In order to make those strikes which carried the Peshmerga forwards, the US had to stop bombing in Anbar, and as a result, the Iraqi army lost a lot of territory round Ain al-Asad airbase. There will be demands to restore the Iraqi position. In that case, the Kurdish corridor can be cut, and the Peshmergas in Sinjar isolated. Not that any frontlines in that area are impermeable. As were are now told, ISIS have now retaken Baiji, though I suppose not the refinery. We haven't had the ISIS counter-attack in Sinjar yet.
Meanwhile the Kurdistan Peshmerga or paramilitary is planning an attack Talafar, a largely Turkmen town in the north,
Yeah, well let's wait and see how they do. The Peshmerga haven't achieved much for a long time (without heavy US air-strikes to clear the road), and they ran away twice in August. Also, I'm not certain whether the inhabitants of Telafar will be favourable to the Peshmerga coming back.
Neither explanation is right. Albu Fahd is a popular contraction of Al Abu Fahd, where Al is not the definite article but, with a long A, means 'people'. You get it in Al Sa'ud. And the A in Abu has disappeared: this is very common in some Arabic dialects.
True that Baghdad has not paid the subsidy recently. I always thought the Kurds would have a thin time if they went independent. Turns out to be true sooner than I thought. I find it astounding that the Kurdish budget depends on subsidies from Baghdad, from the oil revenues of the south, to the extent detailed here.
Maybe, if the Kurds want the subsidies, they should not grab oil-fields that don't belong to them (to KRG), like Kirkuk, or do separate oil-deals under the counter, without consulting Baghdad, as they are bound to do. You can't expect people to be willing to pay up, if at the same time, you're slapping them in the face.
Noori is right. The Peshmerga ran and abandoned the Yazidis - their own people. They nearly abandoned Erbil too, until supported by US air strikes. It was a very close thing.
It's an Ottoman tombstone. The first line looks to be in Arabic, I am pretty sure it is a Quranic tag. The second and third lines are in Ottoman Turkish, which I don't read.
wound over 50 as they Board, Capture Gaza Aid Flotilla
I've finally figured out what happened, I might be wrong but I don't think so.
The Israeli commandos landed on a Turkish boat, where the main fight was. Always unwise to go for Turks; they're ready for a punchup under any circumstances. Very hard people.
Now we hear that the two firearms they had were taken off Israeli commandos. That is, unarmed Turks were able to disarm two of the commandos, the finest troops Israel possesses. They were killed of course, but did they put up a fight! While the Israelis blasted in fear in all directions.
This is bad news for the Israeli military; their best troops have difficulty in winning against even unarmed opposition. It's another 2006.
Though I don't suppose we'll be hearing of this in the media.