Global terrorism thread

Various Al-Qaeda branches are calling for their own coalition against the one being prepped by the Americans from various Reuters articles.

That would fail spectacularly. AQIM is busy in Mali, Algeria, and (especially now) Libya. AQAP is getting their ass kicked too. AQ central is too far away. Al-Nusra is really the only one who can do it right now, and they can't really do any more than they already are, epsecially since they're suffering mass defections to the Da'esh.

Disturbing news.

While disturbing, it's not really new.

You're right, it's not a new thing, but I'm concerned that with how much influence ISIS currently seems to have (unfortunately), that these types of incidents may be more widespread than in the past.

And there's the bigger picture too. What if this eventually evolves into a "randomly kill anyone, not just military people"?

edited 19th Sep '14 2:29:13 PM by speedyboris

They seem to be influential because they have been so successful lately. They just grabbed more territory than any Jihadist movement ever has before. But I suspect that they have over-extended themselves, and as things start to go against them, a lot of their supporters will go home.

Albanian law enforcement stepped up security in Tirana due to IS threats that they could try to assassinate the Pope.

That would be Too Dumb to Live taken Beyond the Impossible.

The Russians tried in 1981.

I thought that was under Conspiracy Theory material?

Why are they called "Theories" instead of "Hypotheses"?

It's confusing. Sources claim that Warsaw Pact intelligence agencies were ordered by the KGB. Others say that the KGB did it alone and others disclaim WP involvement.

Never mind that initially the PFLP was suggested as a culprit. Also, the Gray Wolves.

edited 22nd Sep '14 5:53:39 AM by Ominae

60 Minutes did most of a show about IS, their history, and what we've been doing to deal with them. It's disheartening but not surprising that they managed to go two years before getting any real media coverage here in the States. At least any that I saw.

The only support IS needs is trade partners, because they're actually running a state of their own with exports and everything. They can pull in $6 million a day from various sources, so they can keep fighting for a loooong time. If we fight this like the early Iraqi war, with little chits of forces, IS can probably hold out in a stalemate long enough for their children to grow up and supply a fresh wave of fighters. We're going to need to pound the ground and hit them hard, and even after that it'll be a nightmare because any survivors could scatter with what knowledge they've gained from the experience. Given enough time in the shadows, we could wind up seeing all kinds of messes out of this.

Hate to say it, but I don't see the War on Terror ending until we can actually fix the poverty and problems of the Third World so that terrorism and resistance movements are more trouble than they're worth. And that's not very likely in our lifetimes.

Not to mention the collateral casualties that "pounding the ground" hard would cause.

That's right! We need US occupation and the State Department and CIA's brilliant, brilliant visions and calculations.

I'm so fucking tired of this circus.

On all sides (including ISIS), I presume?

ISIS is an embarassment. They're like the Bundy thing, the Ferguson thing, the KKK thing and the Meth Industry, rolled up into one mean piece of idiocy and international shame. Their genocidal approach to religious and ethnic minorities is especially infuriating because it's a huge fucking deal. It's, like, the Number One Thing we thought we still beat the Romans (modernly known as 'the West') at. "Har har! These guys had Inquisitions, witch-burning, religion wars, pogroms, holocausts, and so on, and so forth, while we, awesome we, actually tolerated our religious minorities and treated them nicely and did not enslave or purge them (so long as they weren't pagans)! And we did it from the very start! [Smug Grin]".

Seriously, Muslims take a lot of pride on being more tolerant and cosmopolitan than the Westies, justifiably or not, and it's really fucking annoying when these jackasses fuck it up with their intolerance with God's name on their big pretentious flags with their Holier Than Thou Knight Templar bullshit. They're like that one relative who's a wannabe gangster and insists that his name, which happens to be your name too, echoes far and wide, and people keep asking you about him.

edited 22nd Sep '14 9:34:02 AM by TheHandle

I never knew Muslim's thought of themselves are more tolerant. Huh. Anyway, the really concerning thing is that this keeps happening. Afghanistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Now Syria/Iraq, the crazies just keep popping up. Makes you nostalgic for the days when the Communists were the main 5th column.

Also cleaner, more literate, better-dressed, more tech-savvy and with a sense of actual medicine. *shrug* The Crusades left a very strong impression. Until fairly recently, the stereotype of a Western doctor was Meatgrinder Surgery meets Playing with Syringes, and that of hospital was Bedlam House. Nowadays there's a very Vegeta-can't-stand-Kakarot sourness going on. 'We're supposed to be better at everything! Where did we go wrong?'

My guess:

Some fighters who defected to ISIS have returned to the U.S.. My question is: Why were they let back in in the first place??

edited 22nd Sep '14 1:38:24 PM by speedyboris

I cant say for certain, but I would guess it was the price we were willing to pay to get their intel...

edited 22nd Sep '14 4:41:24 PM by demarquis

The Crusades were bad, but the Mongols pretty much annihilated any chance of the Islamic Middle East staying on top the way it used to be. The best you've got now is Turkey, and even that's hit or miss.

Speaking of which, has there really been any Terrorist activity attacking Turkey lately? I haven't heard much other than some folks in the rural backwoods still holding onto Fundamentalist beliefs.

Well IS fighters did release the Turkish hostages for starters. And no PKK news lately. Wonder if their attention is on IS?

IS is the worst of it. That doesn't mean other groups are silent, just that they're the ones we hear the most about. It's like the Zombie apocalypse. All the threats that already existed never went away, they were just overwhelmed by the walking corpses eating people.

I am watching video of tomahawk missiles being fired at Da'esh targets on CNN.