the middle east Thread

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

Anti-semitism should be for life, not just until Christmas.

a 7 day ban means he comes back on christmas day, actually

 

[mnb089mnb]

a 7 day ban means he comes back on christmas day, actually

That's why I wrote 'until Christmas' you fucking idiot.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

u odious c***

 

[silkyman]

More general Islamic extremism than ISIS, but...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35299597

 

[G.B]

I think that mantle has been taken on by G.B. in these forums.

explain yourself

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

coalition propaganda leaflets for y'all

think text in the first reads 'every oppressor has an end'

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Surprised nobody has mentioned the clusterfuck of an incident that was the attack and destruction of 4 hospitals and a school over the weekend. ~50 killed in a 90 minute assault of several missile strikes. Not a stray single hit, a clearly targeted attack which was repeated until the buildings were rubble.

The attack occured in an area where Russia have been hitting Syrian rebel targets to progress the regime forces re-taking of ground. But there seems little proof at this point of who the missiles came from. The rhetoric has become pretty unnerving.

The UN labeling it a war crime.
Médecins Sans Frontières blaming Assad.
Turkey (NATO) and several other local powers blaming Russia.
Russia rejecting that as baseless and accusing Turkey of all sorts including war crimes against Kurds.
Various nations in the area from Qatar, Saudi, Iran, Lebanon etc all arranging themselves into clear blocs.

All whilst ceasefire talks were supposed to ratchet down the tension.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

why does everyone have it in for msf this past year. what are they hiding

 

[Womble98]

It is unclear as to where the missiles came from, most likely the Syrian government/Hezbollah. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been voicing clear support for moving ground troops into Syria to topple Assad. Interesting that now the Syrian government and its allies have the upper hand they are wanting to move in.

The Syrian Defence Force just took over a large swathe of rebel ground, wrking with the Kurds, and now Turkey has started shelling the Syrian Defence Force.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

pretty sure this isn't the first time they've shelled the sdf. fucking ridiculous really. one of the main reasons the sdf were formed was in the hope that turkey wouldn't bomb the ypg when they operated alongside pentagon-trained arab assets. fat load of good that did

 

[Womble98]

Turkey's strategy on this all has been bizarre.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Turkey is fast becoming a police state.

BBC Breaking News ‏@BBCBreaking 5m5 minutes ago
Turkish police raid Zaman newspaper office, firing tear gas on protesters, hours after paper put under state control

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

becoming?

 

[mowgli]

Turkey is fast becoming a police state.

BBC Breaking News ‏@BBCBreaking 5m5 minutes ago
Turkish police raid Zaman newspaper office, firing tear gas on protesters, hours after paper put under state control

And Cameron and Merkel want them to be allowed to join The EU!

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

tbf they should have been allowed to join years ago, a debate could be had that the turkish establishment got tired of being dicked around in the eu accession programme and went their own way (disastrously)

 

[.V.]

I'm relatively pro European, in theory, and I'm against Turkey entering the EU. Their treatment of the Kurds, the way Erdogan behaves and their apparent closeness to ISIS, concern me.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

oh yeah ofc no way they should be allowed to join now. it's sad though, turkey were heading in a really good direction. every time the eu asked them to do something to pave the way for joining the eu, policies and the like, they did. got to the stage where they were pre-emptively changing policies before the eu asked, as they thought they had a real shot of joining the european community. eventually it became apparent that they'd never be allowed to join and i think that broke erdogan and he became a raving loony haha. they had an accord with the kurds. they were in nato. they had an enviable commitment to secularism and they were getting on better with the hellenic folk. the eu trolled turkey too hard

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

 

[Stevencc]

Don't tell me they've brought the dinosaurs back.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

BBC Breaking News ‏@BBCBreaking 9m9 minutes ago
Explosion in Kizilay neighbourhood of Turkish capital Ankara, reports of injuries

https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status/709069060957454336

 

[DarkSithLord]

Surprised to see Putin withdraw the main part of his armed forces out of Syria.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

clearly trying to send a message to assad that they need to make more of an effort to negotiate. russia reversed the SAAs losses and they (impossibly) managed to seize some territory near aleppo (by fooling the world into thinking they were attacking daesh whilst they demolished the moderate opposition). if assad and his cronies don't take negotiations seriously this is gonna happen all over again

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Another suicide bombing in Istanbul today.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

i know erdogan effectively neutered the military's ability to coup, but i can't imagine they'll let things carry on this way indefinitely

 

[AFCB_Mark]

So a Pakistani Taliban group claiming responsibility for today's atrocity, in which 60-70 were killed, mostly kids and their parents, when a fucking kids playground was bombed in Lahore.

How twisted must your mind be, to not just become a suicide bomber, but a suicide bomber prepared to walk into a kids playground, look around at them all, then press the button.

Horrendous.

 

[Womble98]

Targeted a predominantly Christian area because it is Easter Sunday.

AFCB_Mark , a mixture of indoctrination and a strong religious fervour causes that.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

what do people think about egypt

 

[JaseTheVillain]

what do people think about egypt

The pyramids are nice.

 

[Dr Mantis Toboggan]

u are looking for the 'the middle east is ok in parts' thread

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Talking of Egypt, a plane hijacked this morning whilst in flight across Egypt, landing in Cyprus.

Reports suggest 80 hostages, negotiations under way. But when the bloke is apparently wearing an explosives belt, he probably isn't exactly open to negotiations?

Edit - seems most of the hostages have been freed, which is a result.