The US ruling elite will sell this to themselves, but not to the vast majority of Americans. They have, too effectively nurtured and grown a vigorous and hate filled anti-Muslim chauvinism among the rank and file bubbas of the "homeland" to get away with that bait and switch, which they have tried a half dozen times with Jihadi force in Syria, which they keep making, unmaking and creating again. But the ruling class and their gibbering class on the networks and news pages they own as monopolies, only talk to each other anyway, so who the fuck really cares, I guess.

Posted by: Marc | Jun 18 2014 8:10 utc | 1

It seems Turkey got snookered.

The US put pressure on them to fight terrorism. I guess, terrorism is fighting back.

A more troubling possibility is that the raid was a warning to Turkey of the consequences it is likely to face should it tighten the screws on jihadist groups moving across its borders. ISIS has long made clear its disdain for Erdogan, whom it labels an “apostate.”

Just days before the raid, Turkish officials leaked details of what Murat Yetkin, a columnist for the Turkish daily Radikal, heralded as “an intelligence-sharing operation on foreign jihadist fighters in Syria” between Turkey and the United States. “It is poised to be the biggest of its kind,” Yetkin predicted. The news coincided with Ankara’s decision, after much foot dragging, to formally declare Jabhat al-Nusra a terrorist organization. (ISIS was labeled thus in September 2013.) It is worth noting that the twin bombings in Reyhanli, which many believe were the work of ISIS, occurred shortly before Erdogan met in Washington with US President Barack Obama. Alleged Turkish support for Jabhat al-Nusra was said to have dominated the talks.

They don't get any more oil from the north of Iraq that is for sure

The fighting in Mosul has halted repair work on the main oil pipeline to Turkey, state-run North Oil Co. said. Shipments through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, the target of frequent attacks, have been stopped since March 2.

Iraq produced 3.3 million barrels of oil a day in May, making it the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. An estimated 17 percent of the country’s oil reserves are in the north, according to the Energy Information Administration. That includes the giant Kirkuk field, in a region disputed between the Baghdad government and the Kurds.

It is possible that ISIS/ISIL sponsors noticed that they don't control it any more, reportedly Al Nusra/FSA was engaged to fight ISIL beginning of this year. As ISIL claims part of Jordan, and Turkey claims Mosul, both countries sure share a problem.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 8:32 utc | 2

King Abdullah of Jordan is terrified of the Muslim Brotherhood and the overthrow of his regime. It's just a matter of time ...

Did ISIS kidnap the three Israeli youths on the West Bank?

○ Terror Blowback from 50 Years of U.S. Policy

Posted by: Oui | Jun 18 2014 8:39 utc | 3

Here you go

http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2014/6/state8101.htm
Only an independent Kurdistan can save what’s left of Iraq from becoming a terror state 18.6.2014
By Peter Galbraith, former US Ambassador to Croatia and Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations — Politico Magazine

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 8:40 utc | 4

What otherthrow? They need Abdullah and Bashar to comply with the plans for resettling the Palestinian refugees (especially those of Lebanon + Syria now).
They give a win-win to the former Baathists: let the peshmerga finish the takfiris and enjoy your share in the business of independent Kurdistan. After all they've made business with these guys during Saddam's days, and they are not solely oriented towards doing pilgrimages and opening gifts shops on the "holy sites"...

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 8:42 utc | 5

It's like Libya except that it works
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2014/6/state8103.htm
" Iraqi Kurdistan has built a link connecting Kirkuk to its newly-built pipeline to Turkey, its minister of natural resources said"

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 8:44 utc | 6

Holy hell... we surely will need someone to keep some sort of a scoreboeard with weekly updates.

How else will you keep up with the infos on who the bad guys and good guys are on a given day?

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 8:52 utc | 7

You know the shark has well and truly been jumped when al Qaeda is considered moderate.

Posted by: Yonatan | Jun 18 2014 8:56 utc | 8

On this one, KSA and Qatar agree
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.de/2014/06/americans-on-edge-as-qatar-warns-united.html

And Turkey plays both sides
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.de/2014/06/on-turkish-collusion-with-isis.html

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 8:56 utc | 9

Yep, Turkey and Kurdistan seem to have solved their independent pipeline problem.
The Sunni triangle though has not solved their no oil problem.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 9:04 utc | 10

Fallujah's revenge
http://www.myantiwar.org/view/280503.html

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 9:28 utc | 11

In the interview, the tribal chief says "“It is the tribal rebels who are in control of the situation in Mosul. It is not reasonable to say that a group like ISIS, which has a small number of men and vehicles, could be in control of a large city like Mosul. Therefore, it is clear that this is a tribal revolution, but the government is trying to force us all to wear the robe of the terrorists and ISIS,” Ali Hatim Al-Suleiman told Asharq Al-Awsat. "
http://www.myantiwar.org/view/280503.html

So the little problem may be that they don't seem to know how to use FB?

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 9:31 utc | 12

I guess, Arab nationalism is back - this here is Britain's Daily Telegraph

Instead, Kurdish leaders have been in talks with Sunni commanders from neighbouring Ninevah province, of which Mosul is the capital, to devise a strategy that would effectively fragment Iraq.

Mr Saleh said his people are working with Atheel al-Nujaifi, the ousted governor of Ninevah, to transform Iraq into a federal state.

The first step would be to create an “Arab Sunni army” that is autonomous of Baghdad’s Shia-dominated government to expel ISIS from Mosul and lift the threat to Kirkuk. “We would support the Mosul governor’s move for federalism,” said Mr Saleh, adding that the two territories could defeat ISIS without any help from Baghdad. “Our Peshmerga forces, and the Sunni army are enough to stop ISIS.”

Mr Sadiq, for his part, emphasised the desire of the Kurdish government to break away from the rest of the country: “There is a natural divide between the people of Iraq. The Kurds and the Arabs, for example, are not one people but they were pushed together into one country whose borders are not natural.”

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 9:43 utc | 13

ROTFLMAO!!!

"Moderate, human liver eating takfiri terrorists... on the next Geraldo!"

Posted by: Seamus Padraig | Jun 18 2014 9:47 utc | 14

More on "Arab nationalism is back"

Arab nationalists take up arms in the battle for Syria

What Syria Means for Egypt: Pro-Assad Mood Marks Return of Arab Nationalism

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 9:51 utc | 15

here:

Morons: "Arab nationalism is back!!!!"

fixed it for ya

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 10:06 utc | 16

@Mina - #8

McClatchy news link is broken:
Qatari: U.S. intervention in Iraq would be seen as war on Sunni Arabs

Posted by: Oui | Jun 18 2014 10:15 utc | 17

Under the fairly bland headline "Social media battle augments Iraq bloodshed"
Doug Gross of CNN states:

As ISIS’ fight has moved from Syria to Iraq, that savvy Web strategy has expanded to include online video posts much slicker than the grainy, shaky clips that have popped up from AQ and other terror groups. Recently, a slickly-produced hour-long ISIS video titled “The Clanging of the Swords” surfaced, showcasing killings, roadside bombings and other acts of terror for which ISIS claimed credit.

The video vividly displays these scenes in a style reminiscent of Hollywood efforts like “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” complete with elaborate aerial shots. Nadia Oweidat, a Middle East analyst, said:

"This is funded. This is geopolitics. There is money behind it. It’s not just idiots. These idiots have somebody controlling them and providing them with equipment that is very expensive. You can’t just get it in a cave."

On another front, at least one analyst says ISIS was recently using a mobile app made available in Google’s Play Store to inflate its presence on social media. Called The Dawn of Glad Tidings, or just Dawn, the app was promoted as a way to keep up to date with news from ISIS.

According to J M Berger, editor of national-security blog IntelWire, the Dawn app would post updates to users’ Twitter feeds. By mid-afternoon Tuesday, Google appeared to have removed the app from its store. Google did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment for this story

All clearly the result of nothing more than pots of Gold and a smidgen of Imperial Chaotic Ineptitude, for seasoning, no?

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 10:34 utc | 18

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/17/tech/social-media/iraq-crisis-isis-social-media/

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 10:36 utc | 19

b asks:
"What is Washington going to say about these actions by its allies?"
THANK YOU! Clearly the core American foreign policy is Nation State Destruction: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Sudan, Yemen,
///
"What do Jordan and Turkey believe Jabhat al-Nusra will do should it win in Syria."
Keep it in a state of chaos so it cannot function as a Nation State.

Posted by: TomV | Jun 18 2014 10:59 utc | 20

TomV, please add to your list "the EU". We are currently dealing with the Ukraine story and the negociation (at gun point) of the Transatlantic Trade agreements.

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 11:07 utc | 21

What the fwck are they thinking? Now they come up with "ISIS has a mobile app in Google store"?

So we learned today that they're very capable oil sellers, investors with a magic ISIS Excel-macro from Hell who turned the oil money into billions overnight, and now they're even sofisticated social media app programmers?

How crazy are the media whores and pimps nowadays, really? Are they suicidal, what's going on? But then maybe it's just the old "those whom God wish to destroy, they first make mad"

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 11:18 utc | 22

"What is Washington going to say about these actions by its allies?"

You mean this week's allies or the ones frm last week? As for the next week, we'll have to ask at the central...

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 11:19 utc | 23

Ooohh, I missed a big one - supposedly they also robbed a few hundred Million dollars (!) that just happened to be lying around somewhere in Mosul and waiting for them. You know, Mosul - where all those billionaires live and all the banks are huge and wealthy...

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 11:22 utc | 24

@ Mina, "We" are doing exactly nothing. If you mean the 1%'er bunch of prostitutes at the top, they are not "us" nor do we want them. There is no such thing as a "We" nor was there ever, that is a fallacy.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 11:25 utc | 25

Since they robbed million dollars, why not take the occasion to make it into an irrelevant money?

By "we" I meant, we, workers in the EU countries...

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 11:28 utc | 26

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18, 2014 6:06:46 AM | 15

Sorry, it is obvious :-)9

This here is a German politician who might know.

Brief translation: The uprising in reality is coordinated by the "National Panarab and Islamic Resistance", the United States do not talk about them but they were the ones who drove them out of Iraq.
ISIS had maybe 1000 men in Mosul, the FNPI 20000 who are supported by the population. They are made up of everybody who had been fired by Bremer when the US occupied Iraq. The Baath party was Iraq's single party if you wanted to have a career, so this was the elite of the country.
ISIS as a junior partner is great for their relentless fighters from all over the world spreading shock and awe, and their psychological effectiveness through the media.
Maliki is finished. There has to be real reconcilation in the country. Only people who committed crimes should be exempt. But not for reason of party alliance or confession. My impression is that important politicians in Iran agree. Iraqi reconciliation is in Iran's interest.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 11:29 utc | 27

dead journalists tell no tales
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RwogjNnF7o&feature=youtu.be
esp if the media ignore them

Posted by: brian | Jun 18 2014 11:38 utc | 28

My impression is that important politicians in Iran agree. Iraqi reconciliation is in Iran's interest.

Yet again the usual non-sequitur over-generalised obfuscatory bullshit non-reply, you now as usuual are attempting to argue something that no one else has even really commented on let alone actually disagreed with. You are also "shifting the goal posts" as usual, since you now appear to be claiming that some politician saying that "Iraqi reconciliation is in Iran's interest." is somehow = "Arab nationalism is back!!!!", as if Nassar rose from the grave at the mere hint of something like some sort of Iraqi-Iranian co-operation. The usual deliberate mis-direction from the usual deliberate dis-informer

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 11:41 utc | 29

So we learned today that they're very capable oil sellers, investors with a magic ISIS Excel-macro from Hell who turned the oil money into billions overnight, and now they're even sofisticated social media app programmers?

Not only are they allegedly "sofisticated social media app programmers" they are also quite sophistimicated Hollywood Directors and vid Editors too boot - "The Swiss Army Knife" of "Imperial Proxy Army Fake-ihadist psychopaths"

The video vividly displays these scenes in a style reminiscent of Hollywood efforts like “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” complete with elaborate aerial shots. Nadia Oweidat, a Middle East analyst, said:

"This is funded. This is geopolitics. There is money behind it. It’s not just idiots. These idiots have somebody controlling them and providing them with equipment that is very expensive. You can’t just get it in a cave."

"complete with elaborate aerial shots"

how'd dey do dat den?

Bought some Stock-Footage off the net?

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 11:50 utc | 30

○ Terror Blowback from 50 Years of U.S. Policy

Posted by: Oui | Jun 18, 2014 4:39:21 AM | 2

I'm going to write a book titled Blowback Mountain: A Spoonful Of Blowback Helps The Medicine Go Down.

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Jun 18 2014 12:05 utc | 31

I know they had studios in Qatar, which they used for the fake Lybian videos back then. Might be the same "producers".

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 12:05 utc | 32

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18, 2014 7:41:46 AM | 28

You are also "shifting the goal posts" as usual, since you now appear to be claiming that some politician saying that "Iraqi reconciliation is in Iran's interest." is somehow = "Arab nationalism is back!!!!", as if Nassar rose from the grave at the mere hint of something like some sort of Iraqi-Iranian co-operation. The usual deliberate mis-direction from the usual deliberate dis-informer

ok. let's define the goal post as "Nasserism"

The problematic continuity of Nasserism

Above article is on Egypt, of course. But what would you think Egypt's official ideology now is, after the Saudi engineered removal of Morsi? It is not Western democracy, it is not Islamism, what could it be?

It was a big relief to Assad, because after Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood had lost most financial Gulf support.

What could Saudi/Qatar/Turkey replace it with - not much, extreme Wahhabi proxy forces, trying to counter the Iranian Shiite revolution. Forces "the West" finds hard to support openly. And the Iranians don't take seriously anyway by geopolitically supporting the secular regime of Bashar Assad.

What could prevent Iraq from splitting on Sunni/Shiite lines? Nationalism. I guess there is an agreement with Kurds, they will get their state, though presumably will have to share the oil of Kirkuk. The logic of nationalism applies to Kurdish nationalism, too.

Presumably Saudi feels safer with nationalism than with sectarianism, too. The Sunni/Shiite divide was a neocon idea after all.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 12:08 utc | 33

@ Mina, "We" are doing exactly nothing. If you mean the 1%'er bunch of prostitutes at the top, they are not "us" nor do we want them. There is no such thing as a "We" nor was there ever, that is a fallacy.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18, 2014 7:25:07 AM | 24

It's genocidal set-up when these provocateurs use the "we." Believe me, I've brought this up numerous times and they just ignore you and continue to say "we" regardless of how cogent your argument is. When a commentator refuses to acknowledge it and continues on with the same spiel, you know their purpose. They are propagandists engaging in subterfuge.

You are correct, there is no "we." In fact, if you think about it, by using the "we," they are taking the spotlight away from those who are responsible for this strategy of carnage across the globe, and instead disseminating that True Guilt to a collective of the unwitting and irresponsible. They are providing cover and amnesty for the True Perps by transferring the sentence to those who were never consulted but whose name was used involuntarily.

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Jun 18 2014 12:15 utc | 34

How crazy are the media whores and pimps nowadays, really? Are they suicidal, what's going on? But then maybe it's just the old "those whom God wish to destroy, they first make mad"

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18, 2014 7:18:44 AM | 21

Satire is now reality — I've been saying this for several years now. Yet otherwise intelligent people just go with the flow and don't step back and scratch their heads and think, "I'm being taken for a fool." Nah, they're too smart to ever be hoodwinked, so they'll never consider it. And so, they get bitch-slapped with this absurdity and they not only don't notice the hand imprint on their cheek, they ask to wipe the ass of those bitch-slapping them.

"What can you do, what can you do — it's the society we're living in."

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Jun 18 2014 12:21 utc | 35

Mike Whitney's conclusion in his new column:

"Is Obama’s reluctance to launch an attack on Isis indicate that he wants to diminish Iran’s power in Iraq, redraw the map of the Middle East, and create politically powerless regions run by warlords and tribal leaders?
Yes, yes and yes."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/18/the-isis-fiasco-its-really-an-attack-on-iran/

Posted by: madisolation | Jun 18 2014 12:29 utc | 36

@ madisolation: I don't quite get what that hangout is selling, but Obama is in cahoots with Iran, which is controlled by the MI6 anyway. Just check how the Mullahs got into power. Also look at who was invited to the preparatory conferences on Afghan war (highly recommended reading: http://tenc.net/iraq-iran.htm)

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 12:45 utc | 37

Sorry somebody, but the idea that KSA could ever support Arab nationalism is pure, unadulterated nonsense. You should be aware that Saudi Arabia hated Nasser in the 1960's as much as it hates Iran or Bashar Al Assad today...and for pretty much the same reason. Meaning the government of a colonial state will invariably hate an independent government. Or will be directed to hate them by colonial overlords. Take your pick of chicken vs egg. Saudi sectarianism is a tool of US dominance. It is not an ideology. I don't recall all that much anti-Shiite rhetoric in the days of the Shah.

Real Arab nationalism is THE LAST thing KSA would want. First because real Arab Nationalism does not countenance royal families established and maintained by UK/US decree. Second, because much of their population would buy into it and the KSA government can't play the sectarian card against Sunni Arabs as it can against Shiites.

The new Egyptian government has an incentive to promote the trappings of Arab Nationalism (not so much the real thing) but as they say, history repeats first as tragedy then as farce. KSA tolerates the noises only because it understands Sis's domestic position. It does not actually advocate it. Sisi likes to style him self as a new age Nasser, but so far the only thing they have in common is that both hate(d) the Muslim Brotherhood.

The last state to truly espouse Arab nationalism is Syria. As you can see, KSA is not supporting Syria.

Posted by: Lysander | Jun 18 2014 12:55 utc | 38

ok. let's define the goal post as "Nasserism"

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18, 2014 8:08:47 AM | 32

Actually, NO, let's not.

But what would you think Egypt's official ideology now is, after the Saudi engineered removal of Morsi? It is not Western democracy, it is not Islamism, what could it be?

Egypt's "ideology" is "keeping the Mil-Land complex in power, as securely, and for as long, as possible".

And this idea that you are pretend to have, that "democracy" is some sort of "Ideology", is even more moronic. First you’d have to define it correctly, and we all know that is something you will never do. You will deliberately define it incorrectly, if at all.

All this talk of regarding "Egypt's Ideology" is just more of your usual moronic bullshit.

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 13:08 utc | 39

Iraqi-Iranian co-operation

can never be, and could never be, described as "Arab Nationalism" since, most glaringly, the Iranians are not "Arab"

Anyone pushing such a meme is best viewed with either amusement (due to their cluelessness) or disdain (due to their blatant dishonesty)

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 13:11 utc | 40

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18, 2014 9:11:14 AM | 39

:-)) just like German/French cooperation, German/Russian cooperation, US/Vietnam cooperation ....

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 13:13 utc | 41

Posted by: Lysander | Jun 18, 2014 8:55:35 AM | 37

This here is the take of the Financial Times, from June 8, before the dramatic ISIL advance in Iraq

Iran’s diplomacy over Syria is reminiscent of the role that the Syrian regime played in Lebanon after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990. The Islamic republic wants to seduce Saudi Arabia and the west with a grand deal on Syria. This would entail a Saudi-Iranian understanding over Syria, similar to the one reached by late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad and Saudi Arabia over Lebanon in the 1990s. Like Lebanon, this solution would be based on power sharing between the Alawite minority and Sunni majority. Mr Assad would remain as president but he would have to rule with a strong Sunni prime minister, presumably drawn from the domestic opposition, who would hold executive powers, held by the presidency itself since 1970. The speaker of the parliament would be a Kurd. Christians and Druze would also be represented.

The sticking point is that Saudi leaders, like many Syrians and oppositions leaders, are loath to see Mr Assad keep a role in government after a conflict that has seen 162,000 Syrians killed and 9.3m displaced. Iran wants to translate a military balance that currently favours its ally in Damascus into a lasting structure for sharing power.

The Syria question will inevitably weigh on multilateral talks over Iran’s nuclear programme. The result may be a power-sharing formula where Saudi and Iranian interests meet, and sometimes overlap.

I guess the deal has shifted now somewhat in Assad's favor.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 13:24 utc | 42

:-)) just like German/French cooperation, German/Russian cooperation, US/Vietnam cooperation ....

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18, 2014 9:13:09 AM | 40

but you called it "Arab Nationalism" (and not just one time either), you knobhead, which has a specific meaning, and now you want to pretend you said and meant something else, as usual.

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 13:30 utc | 43

FYI

http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_06_18/West-doesnt-want-to-have-Polands-hands-dirty-with-whats-going-on-in-Ukraines-east-expert-4870/

Posted by: brian | Jun 18 2014 13:40 utc | 44

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18, 2014 9:30:15 AM | 42

Well, the interesting part is, if in Syria and Iraq, they get down to a solution of posts fixed to sects or rather a constitution where theoretically anybody has a chance to fill any post.

Iran and Saudi Arabia will have negotiated on the lines of post fixed to sect. There might be a new equation now.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 13:49 utc | 45

Guardian

The sectarian myth of Iraq

Whether Iraq can survive this most serious threat to its existence remains to be seen. But those who claim it could only have peace if it is divided into three states do not appreciate the makeup of Iraqi society – the three regions would quickly fall under the rule of violent sectarians and chauvinists. Given how ethnically and religiously mixed Iraq's regions are, particularly in Baghdad and central Iraq, a three-way national breakup would be a recipe for permanent wars in which only the oil companies, the arms suppliers, and the warlords will be the winners.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 14:05 utc | 46

Saudi Gazette

New Baath party may return to Iraq

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 14:06 utc | 47

A flood of more bullshit to distract from the fact that you talk bullshit?

ok - if you think that is some sort of winning strategy for you to help misdirect people (as usual) then go ahead, flood us with more bullshit whydontcha?

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 14:08 utc | 48

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18, 2014 9:11:14 AM | 39

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18, 2014 9:13:09 AM | 40

Well YES - you are correct. One cannot describe "German/French cooperation, German/Russian cooperation, US/Vietnam cooperation" as "Arab Nationalism" either - well spotted, genius

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 14:10 utc | 49

Obama never took control of the bureaucracy and was largely content to continue business as usual, but we've reached the point where Obama, an extreme narcissist, is throwing anything at the wall which won't contradict an earlier action to feed his ego. Looking for rationality is a wasted exercise at this point because Obama is still focused on popularity and measuring himself against Bill. It's likely he has little understanding of or interest in the region. He just wants an easy win for himself and to look Presidential, but the dynamics of the electorate have shifted and the ability to counter western arms have shifted.

What we have is a rudderless MIC carrying out individual missions and interests without large scale support necessary for success of any kind beyond chaos. Hagel is trying to sell weapons which are actively b ring defeated by glorified gangs. Customers are skeptical, but they don't know how to do anything else or have any direction beyond the Obama personality cult and John Kerry's own messianic mission. For the most part everything is reactionary. There is still an anti Assad element who are going to jump at this opportunity. There is an antiSaud element. There is an antiIranian element who is already trying to connect ISIS and Iran as bizarre as it sounds.

The neocons are out in force because they sense the rudderless direction and know the military is far too corrupt to oppose them publicly.

Posted by: NotTimothyGeithner | Jun 18 2014 14:18 utc | 50

Perhaps you could spend your time making lists of OTHER things which also cannot be described as "Arab Nationalism"?

Such lists would certainly be less destructive and less dishonest, and a lot more helpful than what you usually post here :)

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 14:20 utc | 51

"Is Obama’s reluctance to launch an attack on Isis indicate that he wants to diminish Iran’s power in Iraq, redraw the map of the Middle East, and create politically powerless regions run by warlords and tribal leaders? Yes, yes and yes."

Well fuck, Mike, what is it going to take to bring Western journalists to talk about the NEXT fucking question that should be asked regarding all of this murderous fucking nonsense that's been going on - oh I don't know - for at least the last 10+ years (but more like 30)?

Question: Is all of this shit in Iraq/the ME being done - or not done as Whitney states - to benefit the apartheid genocidal state of Israel who BTW right now is imposing curfew and basically invading the West Bank on a scale not seen since the Second Intifada.

Note: what a fucking coincidence once again for Israel, huh? That while the world is dealing with ISIS - seemingly NASDAQ's newest Exchange-Traded Fund - Israel is just quietly going about dismantling Hamas and the unity government. What timing. Why, who could have known that 3 teenagers would have been "kidnapped" just as ISIS was about to strike, right?

Continuing, I mean, as AIPAC is in the TOP TWO of the most powerful lobbies in the US - defense might edge them out maybe - isn't it odd that we don't hear a FUCKING WORD from any of the bought-off whores in the US Establishment about how ISIS might threaten - existentially, even - the plucky Israelis who make their US whores vote 535-0 on most anything even tangentially relating to that apartheid genocidal state?

Funny, I also remember hearing NARY A FUCKING WORD about any Israeli concerns when ISIS was running around Syria and fattening up their portfolio, huh? Sure, gatekeeping fraud Noam Chomsky kept reminding us that Israel was sitting the Syrian situation out just waiting to see if their favored outcome (again, NC's opinion) - i.e., an Assad victory over the scary jihadists - was going to win out. Other than that it sure seems the apartheid genocidal state of Israel was awfully quiet. Now I'm sure they're too busy with their "manhunt" to worry/opine about ISIS once again. Oh well.

Yesterday, ONE intrepid analyst FINALLY - yet softly - mentioned that hey maybe what we're seeing in Iraq is kind of similar to the "Clean Break" and PNAC plans as laid out by the apartheid genocidal state of Israel and its American traitor whores. Of course, he didn't mention the Yinon Plan but what the fuck can a rational person living in the US insane asylum expect.

Well, here's another question: if we're talking about/to all the war criminal neocons ONCE AGAIN - y'know, having them over for snacks and shit on TV and politely asking them just what a fucking murderous asshole's perspective on the ISIS situation might be - shouldn't we MAYBE be also asking them about their clique's inherently Zionist Jewish origins and how a rational person who is conversant with the contents of the Yinon Plan, Clean Break and PNAC just MIGHT think it's all so coincidental that we're witnessing those Zionist/Israeli plans being made manifest before our very eyes?

To review:

1) the Yinon Plan, Clean Break and PNAC are all strategies created and adopted by Zionists that call for the partition/balkanization of the ME for the benefit of the apartheid genocidal state of Israel an outcome that seemingly has been pursued near CONTINUOUSLY and actively since the invasion of Iraq in 03 and which continues to this day.

2) the US Establishment has been entirely/blatantly in the thrall of the Israel and its lobbies for years meaning both parties - the whole gamut: neoconservative to neoliberals - have consistently placed the interests of Israel above that of the United States.

3)No one - nearly to a fucking person - who reports on ANYTHING relating to what we're witnessing sees fit to print a fucking word about any of the above.

Seems about right.

Posted by: JSorrentine | Jun 18 2014 14:21 utc | 52

Note: what a fucking coincidence once again for Israel, huh? That while the world is dealing with ISIS - seemingly NASDAQ's newest Exchange-Traded Fund - Israel is just quietly going about dismantling Hamas and the unity government. What timing. Why, who could have known that 3 teenagers would have been "kidnapped" just as ISIS was about to strike, right?

Interesting because also at the same time:

US Senate confirms ex-BoI head Stanley Fischer, two other nominees for Fed

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed Stanley Fischer to be vice chairman of the Federal Reserve and approved Jerome Powell and Lael Brainard as members of the central bank's board, bolstering the Fed as it prepares to wind down its extraordinary stimulus.

So a guy who is a foreign (dual) citizen and a high official of a foreign government can become the second most powerful person in the US central bank. Fortunately, the ISIS thing happened so no one noticed. (Hat tip to Xymphora)

Posted by: Lysander | Jun 18 2014 14:38 utc | 53

@52

Yeah, I had already thought he had been confirmed.

So, let's see, knowing that a growing number of people in the US are becoming uneasy with the institutional power that the Federal Reserve has AND a growing number of people are also reevaluating their stances in regard to the apartheid genocidal state of Israel and the US's unconditional support for it in any and all situations, what would probably be the politically astute thing to do in this instance?

Obviously, appoint an Israeli national as the number two man at the Federal Reserve!!

Note: the current head Yellen of the Fed was Vice-Chair before she was elevated so I'm sure we'll be seeing this fucking traitor as the head of the Fed at some point down the line.

Nah, it's cool. In a country of 320 million there was just NO ONE who could have fit the bill. Nope.

Posted by: JSorrentine | Jun 18 2014 14:57 utc | 54

@ somebody: I could imagine that the current ideology of the egyptian government is simply to keep the country together and avoid another color revolution by the MI6 minions like MB or their ilk. They look over to Lybia and see what awaits them if they should fail.

If I was in their place, I would have at least expelled all of the MB supporters straight to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UK. That evil must be finally rooted out once and for all, I'm still waiting for that to happen. Obviously, FUKUS won't be the ones to do it and Israel alone is too weak, so right now it looks like there's no help on the horizon unless some major group of nations finally comes to their senses and stops this tragicomedy rather decisively.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 15:04 utc | 55

Prior to 1973, the Saudis saw Israel as a mischievous troublemaker in the Middle East. In fact, they warned the US that trouble there would escalate out of control if it continued its lockstep support of Israel.

Then, somewhere along the line, Saudi Arabia's perception of Israel took a radical 180 degree turn. This has resulted in the Saudis aligning themselves with the Israelis against Iran and Syria with these two opposing sides in a tug-of-war over Iraq. Though I don't have any proof of this, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if ISIS is being backed by Saudi Arabia and Israel. This would explains why the US doesn't seem to care all that much if ISIS over throws the al-Maliki government or takes a big chunk out of Iraq. The Israelis benefit regardless of which side they're on. Of all the countries in the Middle East, Israel has the the most to gain by having chaos and disorder in this region of the world.

This is how I see the great game being played out in the Middle East.

Posted by: Cynthia | Jun 18 2014 15:16 utc | 56

Gotta love these guys who are sold on the story that a small speck of british imperial land in the middle east, reigned by british-bred white masonic bankers and working for the empire and very often against the real Jews, is somehow controlling a 400-Million bunch of strong-minded christians (let alone moslems, asians, blacks,...), who are mostly sons of blood-thirsty imperialists, mass-murderers, mafiosi etc. from good old Europe, with many centuries of world-wide warmongering, genocide, intrigues and games and on and on in their diaries. You really think that all those old european "Nobles" and the satanic church in Vatican just completely lost their mind and let the world be overtaken by a handful of Jews? Really, seriously?

If you really believe that "Israel" has any say in anything, I am inclined to call you naive. It's first and foremost a usurped plane carrier for the Empire, with Jews being used as human shields and the (historically) recently imported "palestinian" arabs as their killing playground. Remember that even one Rothschild is but a "Sir" of her Majesty and her subordinate. Remember that CoL only exists at the mercy of the Crown. Remember that the Queen and the church own most of this world's land, literally and legally. In fact they own most of everything material on this planet. Also keep in mind I'm including the former eastern roman empire etc. satanic ilk as well here. They're all one family, the "1%" if you so wish. They have no nation, no religion (bare their satanic rituals which are rather paganism then religion), nothing they are committed to but their own well-being and the dreams of ultimate worldly power.

So please stop bothering the people with empty talk about the lesser pawns in the game, get real. Don't get me wrong, I'm not being cynical, it just bores me to death to read about that nonsense in 4 of 5 forums I visit.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 15:29 utc | 57

Cynthia, Saudis (Wahhabis) are also a well-known creation of the brits. Go check some standard history books if nothing else, that is really well documented. It's bogus to speak in terms of independent countries with domestic politics when you're talking about the arabian peninsula, they all exist only at the mercy of the Empire and its american baseball stick.

Israel has nothing to gain by having war all around them and being caught in the crossfire between many millions of angry moslems. Especially afterwards, if there should be a new jihadist state there, which would undoubtfully want to "free" the "Palestinians". There are some 5 mio. Israelis from what I remember, they wouldn't last longer than a few days in any thinkable bigger war scenario. So if you believe that nonsense, I have a villa in St. Tropez to sell you for a buck. If I know one thing about the ruling mafia there, it's that they're neither suicidal, nor stupid - they're survivors.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 15:38 utc | 58

@T2015 Egypt wants Libya as a client state. I'm sure they pushed Hefter's campaign. A similar campaign run by an individual without the battle and CIA record of Hefter from the Libyan government would be far more welcome and would dramatically increase the power of the national government. Right now, Egypt is in the best spot to offer assistance to the woeful Libyans. NATO electorates won't tolerate re-intervention, and that leaves Algeria and Egypt to divvy up the country. They can't out right plant flags, but given their large scale purchasing of U.S. arms and tribal instability, they can put together a coalition to pull this off given the current weakness of the U.S.

Posted by: NotTimothyGeithner | Jun 18 2014 15:51 utc | 59

Is Daesh encouraged to spread to be decimated more easily?

Three. DAESH changed its policy from fighting in Syria to fighting in Iraq right after international politics and specifically the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran have turned to ending the Syrian conflict. Security agencies of these countries who have full controlling influence over these fighting groups sent the fighters they no longer needed from Syria into Iraqi plains. Any experienced military commander knows that the spreading out of the DAESH forces is the best way to exterminate them at the appropriate time. This way, the brutality and violence that DAESH forces commit against their opponents and local people will soon be the justification for their massacre. ..

No to Shiism; No to Sunnism; Yes to DAESH
http://www.roozonline.com/english/news3/newsitem/archive/2014/june/18/article/no-to-shiism-no-to-sunnism-yes-to-daesh.html

Posted by: Virgile | Jun 18 2014 15:57 utc | 60

Just to prove my point, look at the coat of arms of the oh-so-"Russian" Crimea. This is NOT a joke, it's the very real thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Crimea

Let's see:
- lion/Sphynx (with wings to boot) - check
- Phoenix (the head)
- The all-seeing-eye (in the shell) - check
- The shell (the "Venus"/Shekinah) - check
- The two masonic pillars - check
- The rising sun (Lucifer) - check
- Snake (the tail) - check
- blue and red (mixed = violet, another symoblic colur for "illumination") - check
- "Prosperity in Unity (remember the french revolution?) - check
- ("procvetanie" can also be translated ass "blossoming", which is also another term for "illumination")

Does anyone have any doubts left, your honors? ;)

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 16:02 utc | 61

The story of gulf sponsorship of ISIS is getting more attention. It was even mentioned in today's lede NYT editorial: "Turkey, for instance, should shut its border to militants and to materiel flowing into Syria and Iraq. And Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other gulf states need to stop financing (directly or indirectly) ISIS, which began as an Al Qaeda affiliate, and other extremist groups."

On the opposite page appears a bloodthirsty Anne Marie-Slaughter op-ed, "Don't Fight in Iraq and Ignore Syria."

True to hear name, Ms. Slaughter, channeling her inner Curtis LeMay, calls for a massive bombing campaign against both Iraq and Syria to force all belligerents to the negotiating table. For the neocons, U.S.-led military force is always the answer despite the fact that they can't point to one success story.

Posted by: Mike Maloney | Jun 18 2014 16:05 utc | 62

Oh and of course the bondage by the flag, which is a sign of ownership. The concentrated piss odor for territorial markings, figuratively.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 16:05 utc | 63

@ NTG: it might have been the case when the british puppet Morsi was in power. The current egyptian government has no interests in Lybia besides avoiding "infections" from there. Not that there is much left to own in Lybia to begin with, after FUKUS bombed the whole country to rubble, literally. What would Al-Sisi want to do with a bunch of FUKUS-owned jihadist crazies? What is there to get in Lybia? Seriously, I think they'd be happy just to keep their own country together and somewhat capable of survival in the current circumstances. At least they managed to prevent the destruction of the country by Sir Morsi and his funny boys and a major war on top.

Posted by: T2015 | Jun 18 2014 16:13 utc | 64

Erdogan has no other ways to get back the 80 kidnapped diplomats in Mossoul than to use his sympathies with Al Nusrah in Iraq.

Posted by: Virgile | Jun 18 2014 16:33 utc | 65

@55 The simple answer is Israel became a convenient but silent red herring for the Sauds. Israel/Likud's's rank thuggery keeps them in the news. There is no need for jew/red-style baiting from official sources, and after '73, the Sauds didn't have to compete with Egypt when it came to representing Palestinians. Iraq and Iran weren't direct competitors for a few years, and after the Shah fell, the Sauds identified Israel as a plucky ally to get western voters on their side because the Sauds aren't white enough to get Americans in a fervor.

Arafat's 2000 intifada was about depressing Team Blue Jewish support in Florida to get a member of the Saud clan in the White House. The Sauds dumped Arafat after the inauguration.

I don't know if Israel is supporting ISIS. They know they lost to Hezbollah, and Versailles might love Israel but declaring Israel an apartheid regime isn't toxic anymore. Assad-era Syria has been a pretty good neighbor of Israel for 45 years, and I think the Israels backed off when they saw the FSA weren't just going to take over with a friendlier face. Syria wasn't going to invade with tanks again, but a failed state would provide increasing numbers of potential enemies and open Israel to more smuggling routes. They could assist in setting off the Palestinians, and Israel would have to be brutal to win. World governments won't go for it, and given Israel's dependence on U.S. largess and their own piggy backed defense industry, Israel can't have chaos on its borders. On the other hand, Bibi is still in charge, so they do at least make American voters seem rationale.

Israel has issues with Iran, but a vacuum in Syria is a real threat.

Posted by: NotTimothyGeithner | Jun 18 2014 16:45 utc | 66

Posted by: Virgile | Jun 18, 2014 11:57:46 AM | 59

I have been wondering, too. Though I am not sure, it makes military sense, you would wish to surround them usually to be able to finish them off in one spot.

ISIS was in Mosul before, "taxing" businesses, according to many reports, they did not have to enter. All that changed was that the Iraqi army "melted" away and the Peschmerga took their positions in Kirkuk. Now who would be in the position to order the Iraqi army to leave, and who would tell the Peschmerga what to do. There was the attack in the Jewish Museum in Brussels where the presumed perpetrator had returned from Syria and carried an ISIS flag with him. And all this talk of "Baghdad is falling". And this map showing parts of Jordan. Connected to "Maliki has to step down", atrocity videos, photos of women led into slavery, partition of Iraq, Iran should intervene with US help, etc.
It is a media campaign of sorts. Who profits?

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 16:54 utc | 67

T2015 @57,

What you are essentially saying is that Western hegemony operates as a stateless entity. I'll buy that and the rest of what you say.

Posted by: Cynthia | Jun 18 2014 17:25 utc | 68

@56 57

If you really believe that "Israel" has any say in anything, I am inclined to call you naive.

Then just cut to the fucking reptilian shapeshifters already then, hasbara retard, and quit teasing us with the coats of arms and all that stupid nonsense, ffs!

It's not that people haven't been discussing the machinations of the Israelis/Zionists enough over the years. Nope.

It's that people haven't been discussing the satanic Queen Mother's ownership of the entire planet that is the real problem.

Hey, didn't Rosemary's baby just win a tough Congressional seat down in Florida?

Israel has nothing to gain by having war all around them and being caught in the crossfire between many millions of angry moslems.

Gee, thanks Conventional Wisdom Man!!! You've really helped narrow our understanding of things!!! Funny how - without blinking - you're able jump from full-on Anglophile conspirashit nonsense to the most banal of NYT horseshit. The mark of a true professional!! The next time that any of us here don't fully comprehend what Tom Friedman or any other stable members of the NYT/MSM staff are saying hopefully you'll be around to translate for us...that is if you're not too bored.

Posted by: JSorrentine | Jun 18 2014 17:32 utc | 69

A media campaign and an answer from KSA to Syria after its presidential election and the current process of reconciliation.

You really think Maliki didn't see it coming?

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/95874/World/International/Turkeys-Davutoglu-cheered-for-speaking-Kurdish-in-.aspx
(May 4th)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/iraq-kurdistan-oil-idUKL6N0NY4TS20140515
(May 15th)
http://247wallst.com/energy-business/2014/05/23/first-kurdistan-oil-export-is-welcome-news-for-u-s-oil-companies/
(May 24th)

Posted by: Mina | Jun 18 2014 17:35 utc | 70

From 2011 - Asia Times
of course he saw it coming

Moves by an Iraqi Sunni-dominated province to demand autonomy from Baghdad and rumors of coup d'etat led by Ba'athists have Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki very worried about the prospects of a rebellion.

Such an "Iraqi Spring" would enjoy the full financial and political backing of Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince, Nayef Ibn Abdul-Aziz. In recent years Nayef has seen his country's influence in Iraq drop dramatically as Tehran's star rose.

The uprising would be very different to the Arab Spring. Instead of a grassroots revolt against an autocratic ruler, this would see Sunnis revolt against the Shi'ite politicians imposed on them since Iran established its hegemony over Iraqi politics in 2003.
...

It all started with a tip from the new leaders of Libya that ex-Ba'athists and Saddam Hussein loyalists were plotting a coup d'etat. Libya's interim leader Mahmud Jibril revealed the information to Maliki, dug up from papers of the deceased Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, during a surprise visit to Baghdad in October.
...

Nothing serious will happen in Iraq, however, until Iraqi advocates of the Arab Spring see the outcome of the protests in Yemen and Syria. The same applied as Syrian activists waited to see its results in Egypt.

Maliki, however, still believes that Iraq is different from Syria, but this could be as mistaken as Gaddafi's belief that he was different from Hosni Mubarak.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 17:39 utc | 71

@60

You forgot to explain what the flag of Crimea has to do with ANYTHING AT ALL?

Posted by: Massinissa | Jun 18 2014 17:55 utc | 72

Someone posted shitloads of BRITAINS THE TRUE FACE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE conspiracy nonsense all over the comments of one of Sakers blog posts. Was it T2015 or another Icke-style neophyte?

Posted by: Massinissa | Jun 18 2014 18:01 utc | 73

Reality is invisible when hidden by government and corporate lying. There is what we can see with our own eyes and what makes sense based on ones tribe, education and experience. I think the following is fairly real but maybe not the whole truth:

The USA has not won a war since WWII.
The USA is in a warm war with Russia since the Kiev Putsch.
Israel is supporting the Kurds in Iraq.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey are supporting Sunni Jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
The USA provided arms to “moderate” Jihadists in Syria.
The USA has supported a series of regime changes in particular Libya with no intention of establishing a functioning government afterwards.
Not one Wall Street Banker has been jailed for causing the 2008 economic crash.
The Davos Elite through contributions, corruption and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) control the western “democracies”.
The Military Keynesianism is the only economic stimulus supported by both American political parties and K Street Lobbyists.

Peace is dead.

Posted by: VietnamVet | Jun 18 2014 18:32 utc | 74

Irish Times tells it like it is

The cross-border conflict waged by the radical Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) is blowback from a policy of promoting fundamentalists that has been adopted for more than half a century by western powers and their regional allies as a counterweight to secular Arab nationalism.

Secular nationalism is the force that liberated most of the Arab world from British and French colonial rule. In most Muslim countries there were both secular and fundamentalist liberation movements but, in all the states, secular nationalists won the freedom struggle and took power.
...
Following its 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, the US ensured exiled fundamentalist Shias took power. Washington’s argument was that Iraq’s Shia community, the country’s largest, was disadvantaged during the rule of the “Sunni regime” headed by Saddam Hussein. However, this was a mischaracterisation of his regime, which was not Sunni.

Hussein and his family were Sunni but the government was secular nationalist. The majority of ruling Baath Party members were Shias and the key ministries of oil, foreign affairs, defence and industry were headed by Shias.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 18:38 utc | 75

Much like yourself, the Irish Times couldn't and wouldn't "tell it like it is" even if their lives depended on it!

And again, much like yourself, a more dishonest clapped out bunch of tired old apologists for empire would be hard to find

And again, much like yourself, IF the Irish Times does manage to briefly for a moment "tell it like it is", it would only be because, again much like yourself, they are trying to set us up for some other lie a little further down the road

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 19:13 utc | 76

Iraq, America and The Lobby
Sunday, June 15, 2014 at 8:36PM Gilad Atzmon

Can American Jews unplug the Israel lobby?

By Gilad Atzmon

It is amusing to witness the energy and effort mainstream news outlets are investing in diverting attention from the fact that the current mess in Iraq is the direct outcome of Jewish political domination of the West for the last two decades. . . . .

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 19:30 utc | 77

Another excellent analysis, from Syrian Perspective

THE IRAQI MESS IS OBAMAS WATERLOO; IRANS YARMOUK

Posted by: crone | Jun 18 2014 19:55 utc | 78

When the Egyptian government cancels the Camp David treaty and tilts to Russia, we can talk "Nasserism."

Posted by: truthbetold | Jun 18 2014 20:17 utc | 79

Posted by: crone | Jun 18, 2014 3:55:23 PM | 77

Yep, the ISIS/Baath alliance is amazing. From 2012 - on Izzat al-Duri

The Iraq-related part of the speech takes up most bandwidth and is the least interesting one. It is a predictable outpouring of anger concerning supposed Iranian influences penetrating everywhere in Iraq and spreading across the Arab world. Not only that, Duri repeatedly describes this as a conspiracy of Persians/Safavids, Americans and Israeli Zionists. Perhaps the most interesting aspect here is that Duri – at 70 and despite conflicting stories about his health situation – had the stamina to gesticulate his way through an hour of these grand theories.

The more interesting and newsworthy parts of the Duri speech are towards the very end. Here, he comments on broader regional developments, including the situation in Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Regarding Libya, Duri clearly sees developments there as a deplorable parallel to what took place in Iraq in terms of “foreign intervention”. With respect to Syria, there is praise for the “legitimate” and “peaceful uprising” of the Syrian people, though there seems to be concern that foreign (Western) intervention can ensue if things get out of hand. Most remarkably, though, there is much praise for the Saudi king with reference to his efforts to help solve the situation in Yemen.

Beyond verifying the relative recency of the video, these remarks help explain the worldview of Duri, which seems to be one in which Iranian and Western interventions in the Arab world must be fought at any cost. Unsurprisingly, given his own religious background, there is more positive praise for the ulama in the Arab world than one would perhaps expect from a Baathist leader, even after a decade of state-led “Islamism” in Iraq in the 1990s.

Above all, though, Duri’s remarks on the regional situation may help address that lingering question of where he currently lives. For a long time, it was thought he was in Syria, but the praise for the Syrian uprising suggests he is not there anymore. That leaves the Gulf states as his most likely current location. Given the criticism of the Libya intervention, Qatar can probably be ruled out. On the other hand, the praise for the Saudi king seems to be a credible indicator that he might be there already or is applying for a permanent residence permit.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 20:39 utc | 80

Saudi, Kuwaiti groups helped create Islamist monster in Iraq they can’t control

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/saudi-kuwaiti-groups-helped-create-islamist-monster-in-iraq-they-cant-control-20140619-zse0n.html

Posted by: Virgile | Jun 18 2014 20:47 utc | 81

Saudi, Kuwaiti groups helped create Islamist monster in Iraq they can’t control

How does anyone know that "they can’t control" this "Islamist monster" they created?

Where is the proof that this "Islamist monster" is not under their control?

Everything I have seen convinces me that it is very much under their control

I don't see it attacking Saudi Arabia, nor Kuwait, nor Quatar, nor UAE.

Nor even Israel which one might have thought would make an inviting target for such alleged "Mad Islamic Nutters", no?

So it looks very much in control to me

Posted by: OMFG | Jun 18 2014 21:05 utc | 82

Well maybe it is psyops, maybe it isn+'t.

Hezbollah - al Manar

During an opening of an Islamic bloc meeting in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal voiced his concerns, saying the unrest in Iraq “carries warning signs of a civil war with unpredictable consequences.”

Al-Faisal reiterated Saudi’s claims that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s “exclusion of Iraq’s Sunni minority in Iraq is responsible for the violence.”
...
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government fired back, blaming Saudi Arabia for sponsoring and encouraging the terrorist forces attacking the Iraqi government.

“We hold [Saudi Arabia] responsible for what these groups are receiving in terms of financial and moral support,” said the government in a statement, before calling out Riyadh for “siding with terrorism.”

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper said last month that leaflets were distributed in two Riyadh neighborhoods promoting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which the Saudi Arabia considers a terrorist organization. The militant group is also using social media, such as Twitter and YouTube, to recruit young Saudi men, reports said.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 21:23 utc | 83

More maybe or not be psyops. This time press tv - from May

ISIL to take war to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait

Al-Qaeda-affiliated group of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has threatened to take its war with the terrorist al-Nusra Front to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The development comes after infighting intensified between the al-Qaeda-linked groups of ISIL and the al-Nusra Front, amid gains by the Syrian army across the country. The ISIL has has repeatedly threatened to assassinate Saudi and Kuwaiti preachers who back the al-Nursra Front.

Saudi officials claimed last Tuesday that they have arrested 62 members of a gang, 35 of whom were ISIL members.

Now if it is true that ISIS/ISIL military leaders are very non Wahhabi men from the Army of the Naqshbandi Order ...

Why is the MSM silent on the Wahhabi Sufi sectarian conflict in Iraq?

You might wonder why Wahhabi Muslims would hate Sufi Muslims so much that they would kill them.

We are lied to :-))

Posted by: somebody | Jun 18 2014 21:34 utc | 84

All said what's need to be said, be it in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria or anywhere else:

War against war!
Statement of leftists and anarchists on the confrontation in Ukraine

http://avtonomia.net/2014/06/17/vojna-vojne-zayavlenie-levyh-i-anarhistov-po-povodu-protivostoyaniya-v-ukraine-2/#english

In the ongoing conflict, we support neither Ukrainian government nor pro-Russian factions that established their authority on the portion of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The working class (i.e. everyone who has neither power nor capital) is equally alien both to the concept of ​​unitary Ukraine and to the ideas of ​​”federalization” or creation of new states — these are merely the games of politicians, drawing blood from ordinary people. We, the left and the anarchists, should primarily adhere to the needs of the working class in the war-torn regions of Ukraine, protect their rights and freedoms.

Against LPR and DPR!

Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” are a collection of warring right-wing juntas. Rights and freedoms, which are granted to the rest of Ukraine, are not available in the territories under their control. Public manifestation of political dissent is not possible there; worker rights activists who criticized DPR were kidnapped and tortured. Upon preservation of these regimes the working class will be completely deprived of any opportunity to defend their legal rights. The only possible form of the “left” activity in DPR and LPR is the ritual worship of Soviet symbols, which has nothing to do with the workers’ interests.

The reactionary regimes of DPR and LPR are not interested in peaceful solution, they aim at escalating the conflict even further, which is confirmed by the promises of their leaders to “get to Kharkov”, “to Kiev” and “to Lviv”.

Against the Ukrainian government!

Ukrainian authorities profit from war contracts, send war reservists and untrained conscripts to to the frontline of the civil war, and attempt to use the protracted military conflict to strengthen their positions. Contrary to the forced rhetorics of the unity between the government and people, we must resist all attempts to curtail social guarantees, political rights and freedoms, all manifestations of police and military violence, all the incitement of nationalist and religious prejudice among soldiers and common people. For the ruling class, war is the opportunity of a crackdown in political and social spheres. In struggle against the aggression of Putin’s regime and his satellites, Ukrainians should not neglect the danger of a “Putin” who can emerge in their own country.

After their victory over the “separatists”, whose position is doomed without the external military support, the strengthened Kiev regime will once again become a major threat to the working class. If the oppressed unite with the ruling class under the patriotic banners, the crackdown on human rights and freedoms, which was to be avoided by the Maidan, is inevitable under the new government. Parliament is comprised of the representatives of conservative and far-right parties (“Batkivshyna”, “Svoboda”), which had repeatedly sponsored obscurantist bills – in particular, the restitution of death penalty, restriction of reproductive rights, preventive arrests on political motives; the charters of these parties contain appeals to ban political strikes. In many of the initiatives they mimic such of the Putin’s regime, of the Party of Regions or of the Communist Party. Despite their plummeting ratings, such rhetorics are perceived as a legitimate part of the political field.

Against fascists on both sides of the frontline!

We unhesitatingly oppose the legitimization of ultra-nationalist and criminal groups as members of the “anti-terrorist operation”. However, we should note that among those fighting on the other side are the volunteers from European fascist organizations and the ultra-reactionaries from Russia, and pro-Kremlin propaganda only portrays them as “anti-fascist warriors”.

Against war incitement under the guise of pacifism!

We are equally disgusted by saber rattling and cheering the killing of enemies, on the one side, and by pseudo-pacifist speculations of the people directly responsible for the escalation of violence, on the other. Pacifism is neither compatible with the backing of the “New Russia” regimes or expressing any kind of sympathy towards them, nor with the support of Ukrainian militarism.

Against lies and propaganda from all sides!

Information space and the media have become a genuine battlefield, the people of Ukraine and Russia are being fed opposite in content but equally spurious propaganda that strengthens militancy on both sides of the conflict and sets workers on against other; this allows governments to channel social discontent into a safe direction. Therefore, it is important not to follow the crowd, which is pleased to receive the news it wants to hear, but to keep a sober mind and stay true to our principles. Only time will help to reconstruct the events truthfully.

For the development of the labor movement!

The working class in Ukraine is still in its infancy and is does not take part in the conflict as a subject. We need to formulate and defend the social agenda and help the development of organizations that express the interests of workers. Only a strong labor movement that realizes its interests will be able to establish peace in Ukraine.

We oppose involuntary military service, and demand to end the conscription and release all soldiers who do not want to fight.

We support the campaign of aiding internally displaced persons from the war-torn regions, and we are ready to support deserters and conscripts who evade service on ethical and political grounds. AWU-Kharkiv already runs a campaign to support the internally displaced people in its area – we urge all libertarians and left to join in or do the same in their areas.

We express our support and solidarity with the workers’ and trade union initiatives that fight for their labor rights; we are ready to actively support those who are struggling against DPR and LPR from the class standpoint. They are in a much more serious danger today than activists from Central and Western Ukraine.

No war but the class war!
You may sign this statement by sending us an email to [email protected], or by leaving a comment right here.

Posted by: thomas | Jun 18 2014 21:36 utc | 85

@84 Just get a robosigner or something. It wont make your petition any less relevant.

Posted by: Massinissa | Jun 18 2014 21:55 utc | 86

@T2015 (56):

The Vatican is in league with the Free Masons? Are you serious? Have you ever heard of the French Revolution?

Posted by: Seamus Padraig | Jun 18 2014 22:00 utc | 87

@T2015 (60):

I'm not really sure why you're banging on about the Crimean coat-of-arms, but I do know that some of the details you provide are laughably inaccurate.

The mythological creature you variously call a "phoenix" and a "sphynx" is actually a griffin.

The morning star, which is Lucifer's symbol, is actually the Star of Sirius, not the sun.

"Prosperity in Unity" -- aha! So you have heard of the French Revolution! But what exactly did 'Prosperity in Unity' have to do with it? Is that your translation of liberté, egalité, fraternité?

Posted by: Seamus Padraig | Jun 18 2014 22:10 utc | 88

@somebody (70):

I, too, suspect that the Saudis had something to do with ISIS. Note that both ISIS and King Abdullah have exactly the same enemies: Assad, Maliki, and Zawahiri. Coincidence?

Posted by: Seamus Padraig | Jun 18 2014 22:12 utc | 89

b, do you have a new spammer or two in here?

Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Jun 18 2014 22:15 utc | 90

Evidently Maliki has asked US for combat air support. Just heard Gen Martin Demspey on BBC say US would likely provide it, "We have to fight ISIS where ever they are..." the whole statement sounded like possibly including Syria.

Posted by: okie farmer | Jun 18 2014 22:16 utc | 91

T2015 you gain more kudos if you don't come across as demonstrably insane. Try harder next time.4 out of 10 . 3 and its the drop for you. Tough but thems the rules

Posted by: bridger | Jun 18 2014 22:20 utc | 92

51#Mr.Sorrentine,I feel your pain greatly myself.And it's not just AIPAC,but the banking,big pharma and big insurance are also dominated by Zionists,and many judges,lawyers and pols.
Has anyone ever documented if American Jewish pols or their immediate families have homes in Israel or the WB?
And of course Israel is laughing at US,probably not least at the confusion of the WH circling its head like Linda Blair at the mischief they've fomented(and of course with a few Zionist nudges)all around the planet.And as far as Saudi Arabian turnarounds,I'd say 9-11-01 is the date of that.

Posted by: dahoit | Jun 18 2014 22:26 utc | 93

Posted by: thomas | Jun 18, 2014 5:36:54 PM | 84

Most sane thing typed by anyone, except me, around these haunts in quite some time. Notice it got no attention. Now why would that be?

Posted by: Cold N. Holefield | Jun 18 2014 22:32 utc | 94

Cold, don't slime on me. Reading most of your posts I see that you are very close to fascist and us-imperialist thinking, not independent like the "War against War" text requires from you

Posted by: thomas | Jun 18 2014 22:37 utc | 95

Posted by: Seamus Padraig | Jun 18, 2014 6:12:45 PM | 88

Frankly, I think ISIS/ISIL are a huge Iraqi Baathist sting operation. Saudis sure were involved, who knows in what role. I guess, we will find out.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 19 2014 0:27 utc | 96

T2015,hard to believe ,my ancestors were imported into palestine as recently as the 1600 from a mere 15 miles donkey ride from an area today is inside lebanon.I understand that happened in anticipation of the desert blooming in the 1950.Stupid.

Posted by: thesonofman | Jun 19 2014 0:41 utc | 97

The Baath Sunnis are weak. They are simply using ISIS fighters to try to get what they want... until ISIS turns against them. Just like the Syrians rebels are now fighting against the Syrian army and ISIS after having used them as allies.

The nostalgic Baath Sunnis are on for a violent wake-up. Al Maliki has just to let these two groups boil together long enough in Mossoul to get them to fight against each other.
If it works like in Syria at the end of the day, Al Maliki would have succeeded in weakening and eliminating both Al Qaeda and the Baathists, something he's always wanted to do by did not for fear of being taxed as a Sunni murderer.
If this happens, that would be the ultimate humiliation to Saudi Arabia and the GCC after the failure of the regime change in Syria crowned by the re-election of Bahar al Assad.
A month or two and we will know

Posted by: Virgile | Jun 19 2014 0:50 utc | 98

Syria at the UN accuses Saudi Arabia, the gulf states, Turkish intelligence, and Western media of supporting ISIS terrorism.

Interesting enough he claims ISIS came into existance in Iraq in 2007.

Posted by: somebody | Jun 19 2014 0:52 utc | 99

@ tom @ 94

Yes cold is definitely one the "PACIFISTS FOR THE GREAT WAR FOR PEACE HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION " gang. Their Dear Leader, Louis Proyect, has about 6 blogs I think, all of them hammering away for Imperialist war while calling himself "the last Marxist".... Just be glad he doesn't hang out here. This is the stance of the entire old - newleft which believes the imperialist war machine can be a force for good, as long as its deployed to uphold women's rights or gay marriage.

Posted by: Marc | Jun 19 2014 0:54 utc | 100