The Arab Spring

Is he one of the ones wanted by the ICC?

Yep.

The US is deploying a HIMARS artillery system at al-Tanf, to protect its forces from further incursiong by pro-regime forces.

I think that counts as upping the ante, on an increasingly crowded part of the battlefield....

Also, the maps on The Other Wiki show that Mosul is steadily falling to the ISF. ISIS is down to a pair of districts, and that one mosque that a certain violent piece of shit who confused himself with God declared his caliphate. I'd be amazed if ISIS lets that place fall intact.

Mosul’s Library Without Books

ISIS burned a lot of the old manuscripts on its way out.

So in this week's upping of the ante, the US just shot down a Sy AAF fighter jet that had been bombing a position the SDF had just captured from Daesh.

Man, Assad is really kicking the hornet's nest...

I have this recurring thing where burning old books gets me more furious and homicidal than any Geneva-defying atrocities. Old monuments, I can do without. Old books, that's unforgivable. At least until we've digitised everything and stored a gazillion redundant copies.

Man, fuck ISIS, when will they fucking die?

I actually share that viewpoint.

These guys are really trying to emulate the Mongols, aren't they. Just without the few positive aspects.

History, archeology and tourism would be affected without old monuments, which means there would just as much information lost as that which is contained in old books (yes, there's a fuckload of information contained within old monuments around the world). And the local and national economies would be affected as well.

If you ever think you can do without something, put yourself in the shoes of someone who can't do without it or wouldn't be able to fullfill their projects, dreams, pursuits of knowledge (e.g. archeologists and historians analyzing old monuments and old books).

Or, alternatively, study the impact of historical tourism on certain countries.

edited 19th Jun '17 4:06:07 PM by Quag15

In retaliation for the downing of the Syrian fighter jet, the Russians have now warned that Syrian airspace to the west of the Euphrates is off limits to all coalition aircraft....

One wonders if the Syrian jet was actually being piloted by a Russian. It'd perfectly explain why Moscow seems to be taking this extra personally this time.

Could be. Could also just as easily be irritated that the US is rocking the boat for no reason beyond mere tactics.

So Daesh destroyed the al-Nuri mosque? Hoooooo boy...

I wonder if anyone up in their command has ever bothered to point out that the quantities of explosives used to destroy symbolic structures could be better used for setting booby traps.

They'd never let it fall intact. They are propaganda masters, they wouldn't give Baghdad such a cinematic victory by allowing them to retake the place where they became famous.

edited 21st Jun '17 7:38:13 PM by Rationalinsanity

Blowing the place up does seem like conceding defeat, though.

When Mosul is liberated, does that leave Raqqa as Daesh's one major remaining stronghold?

edited 22nd Jun '17 2:07:56 AM by DrDougsh

They've got another largeish city in Eastern Iraq I believe. Totall encircled though.

Putin passed off a video of American Apache pilots in Afghanistan as Mi-28 pilots fighting against Daesh to Oliver Stone. No, the latter did zero fact checking. Are you surprised?

The stones on this guy. [rimshot]

21st Century Seymour Hersh is full of shit, take 2.

Unconfirmed by official sources, but there are reports from citizen journalists that a Russian firm has been promised control of 25% of ALL Syria's oil......if they conquer back the fields.

And it looks like Assad may have been caught planning another chemical attack. And the US ain't happy.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40413563

I'm morbidly curious as to the target this time....