The Islamic State

[Songbird]

Let's face it, this is the new war.

Apparently, ISIS (now just Islamic State) has a 5-year plan to reshape the map. From Spain to the edge of China and down into the heart of Africa. (But no Otisburg.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2674736/ISIS-militants-declare-formation-caliphate-Syria-Iraq-demand-Muslims-world-swear-allegiance.html

And to think we trained ISIS in Jordan to fight al-Assad in Syria.

 

[YankeeFan]

#AmessagefromISIStoUS

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Their name for the land that was formerly Israel is appropriate.

 

[YankeeFan]

If we just give them this, they'll probably be content.

I think we have a clear pathway to a negotiated settlement.

 

[Songbird]

I don't think paella would taste all that great in Andalus.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

They're going to have a fun time subduing the Balkans. And wouldn't it be ironic if Israel ends up saving the day.

 

[Songbird]

I'd pay War.guv to watch ISIS v. Blackwater Academi battle.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

I don't think paella would taste all that great in Andalus.

Isn't the andalus where paella goes after it's been digested?

 

[YankeeFan]

At the core of Obama’s thinking is that American military involvement cannot be the primary instrument to achieve the new equilibrium that the region so desperately needs. And yet thoughts of a pacific equilibrium are far from anyone’s mind in the real, existing Middle East. In the 2012 campaign, Obama spoke not only of killing Osama bin Laden; he also said that Al Qaeda had been “decimated.” I pointed out that the flag of Al Qaeda is now flying in Falluja, in Iraq, and among various rebel factions in Syria; Al Qaeda has asserted a presence in parts of Africa, too.

“The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” Obama said, resorting to an uncharacteristically flip analogy. “I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.

“Let’s just keep in mind, Falluja is a profoundly conservative Sunni city in a country that, independent of anything we do, is deeply divided along sectarian lines. And how we think about terrorism has to be defined and specific enough that it doesn’t lead us to think that any horrible actions that take place around the world that are motivated in part by an extremist Islamic ideology are a direct threat to us or something that we have to wade into.”


http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/27/going-the-distance-2?currentPage=all

 

[Football_Bat]

Look on the bright side. They'll ban futbol in Spain and make it easier to win the Champions League.

 

[Starman]

At the core of Obama’s thinking is that American military involvement cannot be the primary instrument to achieve the new equilibrium that the region so desperately needs. And yet thoughts of a pacific equilibrium are far from anyone’s mind in the real, existing Middle East. In the 2012 campaign, Obama spoke not only of killing Osama bin Laden; he also said that Al Qaeda had been “decimated.” I pointed out that the flag of Al Qaeda is now flying in Falluja, in Iraq, and among various rebel factions in Syria; Al Qaeda has asserted a presence in parts of Africa, too.

“The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” Obama said, resorting to an uncharacteristically flip analogy. “I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.

“Let’s just keep in mind, Falluja is a profoundly conservative Sunni city in a country that, independent of anything we do, is deeply divided along sectarian lines. And how we think about terrorism has to be defined and specific enough that it doesn’t lead us to think that any horrible actions that take place around the world that are motivated in part by an extremist Islamic ideology are a direct threat to us or something that we have to wade into.”


http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/27/going-the-distance-2?currentPage=all

Helpful suggestion for Obama: Quit talking about basketball in public. Like, at all, ever.

That is all -- carry on.

 

[YankeeFan]

It has become clear that ISIL is recruiting fighters in Western countries, training them to fight its battles in the Middle East and possibly returning them to European and American cities to attack us in our backyard. We simply cannot allow this to happen.

It takes an army to defeat an army, and I believe that we either confront ISIL now or we will be forced to deal with an even stronger enemy in the future. Inaction is no longer an option.

http://1.usa.gov/1uw7etG

 

[YankeeFan]

Pro ISIS rally in the Netherlands:

http://www.newsweek.com/pro-isis-demonstrators-call-death-jews-hague-262064

 

[YankeeFan]

The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled.

They were often armed in an indiscriminate way by other forces and we had no skin in the game that really enabled us to prevent this indiscriminate arming.

http://theatln.tc/1A4REZ2

 

[Killick]

Less funny in Arabic.

 

[YankeeFan]

Great nations need organizing principles, and “Don’t do stupid stuff” is not an organizing principle.

 

[YankeeFan]

Obama's former Ambassador to Iraq:

That's why General Austin, supported by me, recommended that they stay on. We would have had a better equipped Iraqi army. We would have had better eyes on, on what the problem was, we would have been able to do certain counterterrorism operations. But most importantly, it's psychological.

We would have still had a stake in that country and we would have cared for what Maliki was doing and we would have had more leverage to change it. Again, Senator Reed is right. This is basically an Iraqi issue with Maliki's misuse of power.

But it would have been better if we could have had troops on.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/face-the-nation-transcripts-august-10-2014-reed-fukuda-jeffrey/

 

[hondo]

Wonder if all the Hollywood libs making excuses for Hamas will love it when they have to wear burkas on the beach in Ibizia.

 

[da man]

Great nations need organizing principles, and “Don’t do stupid stuff” is not an organizing principle.

It's not a bad start, though.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Not that ISIS isn't a concern, but I'm pretty sure that map was debunked shortly after it first appeared. It was something put up by "fans" of the group.