Moderator: Bill Glasheen
The authorities in Kenya, widely perceived as an oasis of peace and prosperity in a troubled region, are struggling to explain how a handful of Islamist extremists could lay siege to a shopping mall, then hold off security forces for days.
Van --- New York Times wrote:His latest film arrives at a moment when the videotaped murders of two journalists and an aid worker by a masked killer from the extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have raised pointed questions about whether media outlets should air — or viewers watch — footage of violent acts perpetrated in part to generate publicity.
Van --- New York Times wrote:Time and again, across lines of race and class, people scooped up lost children, dragged wounded people from the line of fire, made room in hiding places until they were lying on top of one another. “We don’t know each other,” Valentine Kadzo says in the film. Ms. Kadzo hid with strangers in a tiny display stand for hours. “We all come from different communities, but at that time we were one. I’ll always treasure that moment because everyone was caring about the other.”
jorvik wrote:Islam is a brutal and barbaric religion.
jorvik wrote:If you are not prepared to look at the facts then you will never understand anything.
Recently in the New York Times, author Roger Cohen wrote "The Great Unraveling". In the article (linked for you guys to enjoy), Cohen wrings his hands about the same goings on that have taken place among men since the days of Hamurabi.
Nothing new here folks...same old problem. The only thing that has changed is that modern industrialized nations like to meddle and fix other people's problems. They like to meddle because its good for business. But that is for another discussion.
Cohen writes, "The most powerful nation on earth was tired of far-flung wars......An ungrateful world could damn well police itself. The nation had bridges to build and education systems to fix."
Yes, we are in fact tired...and tired of the government forcing us to pay for those far flung wars and getting nothing at all in return. If on the other hand, America owned Iraq's oil fields for bringing them "democracy" and "freedom" that would be one thing...but the American people got, well, nothing. It is one thing to get paid for the good fight...it is another to pay for it yourself and then go home empty handed with a fat lip.
And now we have ISIS. Modernized, intelligent, well funded, and unlike their predecessors, up on the ways of the world in 2014. Please don't tell me that the powers that be didn't see this coming. Oh wait...maybe they didn't since they were far too busy spying on Angela Merkel and the rest of us. If it is all seeming like a comedy of errors it is because it is.
I have no direct connection to the Intelligence world, nor am I privy to any inside information. But I am a student of history and we have seen this all before. Times do not repeat themselves, but the same things that motivated Lyndon Johnson motivate those in his shoes today.
So what do I think will happen -
1). The coalition (whoever that is made up of will be paid for and populated by Americans in spite of what anyone in Washington says) will land at ground zero...kill a few bad guys and make a big entrance. ISIS is not as stupid as Al Queda and the fight will go on for a long time. You see...Americans are the product of the "Permission Culture". They can't do this and they can't do that...and if they do, they will be prosecuted. Can you imagine? A soldier being prosecuted for killing an enemy...what was that word? Inconceivable!
ISIS on the other hand, has no such limits and they have many Americans and Brits and others in their ranks who know all too well the ROE of the coalition. All they have to do is go where they will not be followed.
I could be wrong and the "boots on the ground" will simply be told to kill them all by any means possible...but I doubt it.
2). Lind was correct in his characterization of the Fourth Generation War where the adversaries are "non-state" actors. All modern nations are fixated on "state". They are shocked when they see British-born, or American-born terrorists, as if that was unthinkable.
One of the tenets of 4GW is that national status is irrelevant, loyalties being given to groups with which the non-state actor identifies with. I suspect there are plenty of ISIS operators from free egalitarian nations that are American, British, Australian and God knows what else. That any nation's leader is shocked at this smacks of sheer ignorance.
I would expect to see plenty of ISIS funded terror activity here in the USA and in the west. Oh, I am sure the main stream media will demonstrate incredible degrees of twister yoga contortions to avoid saying the "I" word, or the "T" word, but calling it a piece of crap a chocolate cake will not change the taste one bit.
As the pressure on ISIS increases "there", expect the American ISIS guys to leave that theatre for a softer one. Again...I could be totally wrong, but I don't think I am.
Solution?
You want a solution?
Well, the best one begins with distance from disorder and ends in a place Americans will not want to go. The focus of war, if we are to have one, must be to find the enemy, kill him and anyone with him, then either take all his stuff, or make those whose asses we saved (again) pay through the nose for their safety and freedom.
Then, organize the nation's internal laws so that we have true distance from disorder. Until that happens I suspect as a nation, the USA will be playing "world's hall monitor" for a very long time.
You don't think the first solution will work and want another solution? Every ISIS-sponsored terrorist that attempts to execute something in the USA gets shot dead by someone who happens to be at ground zero.
I don't have much expectation the previous solution will be implemented by the power mongers either...but the second solution is in every person's capabilities. Stay ready my friends...I think the future will be interesting.
A rose by any other name smells just as sweet.
I would expect to see plenty of ISIS funded terror activity here in the USA and in the west. Oh, I am sure the main stream media will demonstrate incredible degrees of twister yoga contortions to avoid saying the "I" word, or the "T" word, but calling it a piece of crap a chocolate cake will not change the taste one bit.
You don't think the first solution will work and want another solution? Every ISIS-sponsored terrorist that attempts to execute something in the USA gets shot dead by someone who happens to be at ground zero.
jorvik wrote:The US is quite safe as is the UK. Isis is not a major threat to anyone they are made up from alqaeda or the older ones from the mujah hadin
Wall Street Journal wrote:Australia Foils Alleged Beheading Plot Linked to Islamic State
Sydney, Brisbane Raids Lead to Arrests of People With Suspected Ties to Islamic State
By ROB TAYLOR CONNECT
Updated Sept. 18, 2014 7:51 a.m. ET
CANBERRA, Australia—Police carried out early morning raids in two major Australian cities, including Sydney, in a strike aimed at disrupting what they said were plans by local Islamic State supporters to behead members of the public.
Almost 900 state and national police, as well as domestic-spy-agency officers, were involved in the counterterrorism raids, to prevent what Prime Minister Tony Abbott dubbed "demonstration killings," a reference to their intended impact of showing the reach of Islamic State beyond the Middle East.
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