ISIS militants attack and take over Iraqi northern city of Mosul

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Sure if ISIS invades Turkey, we need to help if needed. I don't see them attacking Turkey though as they aren't wanted there. The same can't be said about Syria and Iraq though where the Sunni are happy to have them at the moment.

Egypt can probably handle it's own problems. If not that may be a different story but for now I'd let Isis hang themselves.

There are very large proportions of the population (both Sunni and not) who are not at all happy with ISIL.

Once again no one is suggesting a full scale land invasion. The plan is to help the fighters on the periphery fight back by giving the air and tactical support.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by T@T

Thing that bothers me about Turkey is it's 90% Sunni. will they fight ISIS to the death or will some join them and make them stronger.?

Turkey is a very modern society. They are Sunni but the aren't about to adopt what Isis is preaching. They are however already helping ISIS as a means of keeping the Kurds under control.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by blankall

ISIS is right on the Turkish border. Do I think they will be able to successfully invade Turkey? No. However, if we were in the shoes of the Turks, I would expect other NATO members to back us up.

I think without any kind of Western intervention, Turkey would have been, at the very least, attacked. That would create an obligation for NATO members to intervene. As far as optics go, it makes more sense for nations to be seen to be sticking up for a NATO ally than to only respond once they are forced to.

ISIS has been careful to avoid pissing off Turkey. One of the Turkish enclaves in Syria left over from the Ottoman days, was completely surrounded by ISIS a little while ago and then they apparently backed off to show Turkey that they massacre the Turkish enclave if they wanted. Turkey of course responded with threats of direct military action if ISIS touches them. I get the feeling that is only a matter of time until some ISIS militants loot the Turkish enclave.

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by T@T

Thing that bothers me about Turkey is it's 90% Sunni. will they fight ISIS to the death or will some join them and make them stronger.?

This.
Turkey wants the US to take out Assad. Once he is gone they would gladly take Syria and Iraq for themselves. I think Assad may be the last secular dictator in the region. The Turkish (ottoman) empire was once a world power, maybe they want to revive it.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by jonesy

This.
Turkey wants the US to take out Assad. Once he is gone they would gladly take Syria and Iraq for themselves. I think Assad may be the last secular dictator in the region. The Turkish (ottoman) empire was once a world power, maybe they want to revive it.

I just can't see Turkey trying to re-visit their colonial past. Empires are too expensive to maintain and almost always keep your country in a state of war. Some group will always try to stage a rebellion or insurrection.

Besides, Turkey faces westward these days. They fancy themselves more European than Middle Eastern, even if xenophobic European nations are still resisting.

[nik-]

Not sure how reliable this news source is, but if anyone is doing some slave shopping ...

http://www.iraqinews.com/features/ex...yazidi-slaves/

And for the record, $200,000 Dinar is like $200 Canadian.

[CaptainCrunch]

supposedly they lined up 50 to 100 civilians yesterday and dusted them.

[CaptainCrunch]

U.S. airstrikes might have stuck gold so to speak

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/isis-le...-say-1.2829360

Biography of Al-Baghdadi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_al-Baghdadi

[Azure]

Now they are saying he was wounded.

[CaptainCrunch]

Hopes its extremely painful and hit him in the nether regions.

[FlamesAddiction]

They have a $10 million bounty on him.

Maybe I have see too many movies, but I am thinking of starting a mercenary group to take this guy out.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

They have a $10 million bounty on him.

Maybe I have see too many movies, but I am thinking of starting a mercenary group to take this guy out.

Just Sly Stallone and Bruce Willis would be $10M so I'm not sure there's much of an ROI there

[nik-]

Jordan has ordered it's muslim clerics to preach moderate Islam

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...nes&wpmm=1

While on the other side, Turkey bans Game of Thrones for it's military and recommends classes in Islamic studies

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life...y-schools.html

Turkey's direction is scary. If that country flips, it's a problem.

[FlameOn]

It seems like we found the reason people keep on buying ISIS's oil. It sells for $20/barrel undercutting everyone else.
http://www.timesofiraq.com/2014/11/i...er-barrel.html

[Azure]

They won't be able to keep that up long though. At some point they'll have to input some capital to keep things running. And if the US keeps bombing their resources, things will get costly soon enough.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

It seems like we found the reason people keep on buying ISIS's oil. It sells for $20/barrel undercutting everyone else.
http://www.timesofiraq.com/2014/11/i...er-barrel.html

It's says they make $3 million a day from these oil sales..how in hell do they hide these transactions?

[nik-]

Honestly, if those are western companies buying that oil, the people buying it should be charged with treason.

[nik-]

Also ... some propaganda to sway opinion on eventual US cooperation (if it's not happening already) with Iran against ISIS?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0IU2A820141110

[T@T]

Originally Posted by nik-

Also ... some propaganda to sway opinion on eventual US cooperation (if it's not happening already) with Iran against ISIS?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0IU2A820141110

Iran can't be trusted...period.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by nik-

Jordan has ordered it's muslim clerics to preach moderate Islam

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...nes&wpmm=1

While on the other side, Turkey bans Game of Thrones for it's military and recommends classes in Islamic studies

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life...y-schools.html

Turkey's direction is scary. If that country flips, it's a problem.

Just another example of throwing money at a problem hoping it will go away, or playing 'lesser of two evils' politics is awful diplomacy and only results in the kind of blowback that's happening now.

The cynical part of me believes this isn't even unforeseen blowback.

With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.

The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.

As it evolved, the airlift correlated with shifts in the war within Syria, as rebels drove Syria’s army from territory by the middle of last year. And even as the Obama administration has publicly refused to give more than “nonlethal” aid to the rebels, the involvement of the C.I.A. in the arms shipments — albeit mostly in a consultative role, American officials say — has shown that the United States is more willing to help its Arab allies support the lethal side of the civil war.

From offices at secret locations, American intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia, and have vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive, according to American officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. The C.I.A. declined to comment on the shipments or its role in them.

The shipments also highlight the competition for Syria’s future between Sunni Muslim states and Iran, the #####e theocracy that remains Mr. Assad’s main ally. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraq on Sunday to do more to halt Iranian arms shipments through its airspace; he did so even as the most recent military cargo flight from Qatar for the rebels landed at Esenboga early Sunday night.

Syrian opposition figures and some American lawmakers and officials have argued that Russian and Iranian arms shipments to support Mr. Assad’s government have made arming the rebels more necessary.

Most of the cargo flights have occurred since November, after the presidential election in the United States and as the Turkish and Arab governments grew more frustrated by the rebels’ slow progress against Mr. Assad’s well-equipped military. The flights also became more frequent as the humanitarian crisis inside Syria deepened in the winter and cascades of refugees crossed into neighboring countries.

The Turkish government has had oversight over much of the program, down to affixing transponders to trucks ferrying the military goods through Turkey so it might monitor shipments as they move by land into Syria, officials said. The scale of shipments was very large, according to officials familiar with the pipeline and to an arms-trafficking investigator who assembled data on the cargo planes involved.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/wo...pagewanted=all