The Arab Spring

Lack of seriousness aside I think it would be too risky and impractical to deploy that kind of weapon against Daesh at this time.

Not to mention that it would be somewhat insensitive to the innocent civilians in the area. We dont want to come across as even bigger pricks than we already do.

I thought of that as well. Sorry for the derail.

Seems a day after the peace agreement, the Houthis now control all of Sana'a and have begun a purge of their opponents in Islah and among Salafist groups. It's being called a "half coup".

EDIT-

Also, it seems the Hirak have announced their intent to secede, though I dunno if thats new or just par for the course for them, since that was already known to be their intent.

More interesting are the Hadhrami (Hadrhamaut-dwelling) tribes demanding the military withdraw...

edited 23rd Sep '14 11:40:00 AM by FFShinra

Some footage of the US strikes in Syria.

It seams that Abadi is cleaning house. Specifically he dismissed two top generals,both were close allies of his predecessor.

Turkey says it will give "necessary support for the operations.

And on a completely different tangent, anyone want to speculate as to why the strikes did not include the Kurdish area's presently being overrun by ISIS?

edited 23rd Sep '14 12:11:08 PM by JackOLantern1337

Possible ground operation about to commence to retake said areas. Don't want friendly fire happening.

Maybe ISIS are already hiding in Iraq but still operated out in the open in Syria because they didn't think the US was ready to bomb them there yet.

I'm also glad they didn't announce it on the news right before they attacked. Glad to see my government is still competent enough to maintain the element of surprise. Truth be told I though that they would never strike Syria,I suppose it was all part of the plan,gotta,give credit to Obama on this one.

Any news not related to Daesh? Honestly I think we should think about relegating that news to the terrorism thread so that everything else can be talked about in this thread.

Houthi says militants will not withdraw from Yemen capital.

<plays Particle Man again>

I Knew It!.

Waiting for the next phase, either from the Houthi or from Hirak.

So Houthi has conquered Yemen, more or less. What's Hirak?

The southern seperatist movement. They want to break up Yemen back into North and South Yemen as they existed (geographically) prior to 1990.

Any chances of that happening?

In terms of international recognition, there are likely significant hurdles (Somalia has been de facto separated since 1991, but still Berbera is unrecognized, by either Mogadishu, the UN, or anyone else). Diplomats are generally very leery about secession, unless their country has something to gain from it (which is why folks flock to quasi-states like Kosovo or Palestine but ignore guys like Western Sahara or Somaliland that are geopolitical nobodies).

The country will likely be de facto divided, even if the UN and all international actors will only recognize Sanaa's authority.

It would be nice if some of the Arab Spring redistrictings would be accepted. If nothing else, the current frontiers are arbitrary messes and some of the lingering issues could be fixed this way.

Anyone to hazard a guess as to how the Saudis are viewing the situation in Yemen? Kind of doubt they'll be willing to tolerate another pro-Iranian state on their border.

edited 24th Sep '14 11:25:21 AM by KoBB

Houthis are a different brand of Shia than the one which runs Iran right now.

The Yemeni government swears up and down that the Houthis are supported by Iran, though. No evidence paints to that yet.

Blame the Saudis for ISIS, NYT editorial says.

edited 24th Sep '14 1:43:18 PM by Sledgesaul

They want to scare Riyadh into supporting the current regime. The Zaidis were once allies of the Saudis, up until Nasser had them overthrown in the 60s. Honestly if Riyadh is smart, making allies with the Houthi would be a propaganda coup (in addition to practical benefits) to show that they too can befriend Shia regimes and thus Iran doesn't have a monopoly on Shiism.

As to what the Saudis think, as long as they're willing to fight AQAP (and they are), they won't care. Partition would be more tricky though.

I blame Saud for everything bad that's happened regarding Wahhabism. Many in the total family share ideological beliefs with ISIS; the beheading was a direct inspiration from Saud.

I've long since tired of the Saudis. I want a democratic Arabia. :(

Yeah it's my opinion that things would have gone a lot better for the Arab world had the Hashemites come out on top in that war,then again it might just be coming from my royal dynasty fanboyism.

So apparently ISIS is using human shields. I'm concerned they may pull a Hamas,showing off civilian casualties in the media to appear sympathetic,even as they let those same civilians rot in the streets. While they probably won't have the success that Hamas has enjoyed,due to ISIS already wracking up quite a butchers bill in full view of the media,it could use that narrative to great effect in the Arab world,especially parts that haven't had to actively deal with them,like Egypt.

It also appears they killed the French hostage in Algeria.

Personally I would suggest that ISIS gets it's own thread.

Do note that Likud still killed all of those civilians anyway. Hamas just doesn't care because they still run Gaza.

With ISIS, again, the west is still killing those human shields, and wrongfully painting them off as collateral damage.

As long as it isn't here, because the rest of the Arab Spring convo is getting hijacked by those yahoos.

edited 24th Sep '14 4:13:34 PM by FFShinra