I don't get the part about destroying confiscated oil, though. Wouldn't it better to use it, as long as one is not paying Daesh for it?
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
The US won't like this. There is currently a power-shift going on, with Russia working itself closer and closer to countries within the EU. If Putin manages to rebrand himself, portraying Russia less as an aggressor and more as a trustworthy partner, it actually could result in an alliance which diminishes the influence of the US on the European continent.
If I would trust Putin more, this would actually not be a bad idea. Even though it carries the risk of the smaller EU states which used to be part of the UDSSR getting angry about the notion.
edited 28th Nov '15 12:46:24 AM by Swanpride
Shameful Display
Do keep in mind this info comes from Russia Today, a propaganda arm of the Russian government.
I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.
A procrastination in of itself
On Somalia, see Wikipedia.[1]
It's what Black Hawk Down is based on. And yeah Somaliland is a weird one, one of only two states in modern history to exist but not be recognised by any government.
As for Turkey and the oil, I suspect that the people doing it don't care, they have enough protection to avoid getting caught domestically, and the international focus is going to be on preventing the oil getting to Turkey. They're safe.
Now when it comes to Russia the thing to remember is that there's tons of room for increased EU coperation with Russia that doesn't threaten the US's position as the guarantor of security in Europe. We can work with the Russians without them becoming our ally.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Thanks. Hopefully intervention in Syria is more successful.
HGW XX/7
Welp.
Schild und Schwert der Partei
Huh, that was in 2010. Prophetic.
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
They should file a C&D lawsuit against Daesh and sue them for trademark royalties.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
A suitable case for treatment
I can see it now, the trial of the century.
edited 29th Nov '15 7:24:09 AM by Skycobra51
Look upon my privilege ye mighty and despair.
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
And I can just imagine a Polandball-style parody.
"YOU JUST FILTHY KAFIR! WE NO CARE ABOUT YOU HARAM LAWS, YOU KHA—"
<an army's worth of guns click>
"I have the Power of Freedom backing me, bitch."
edited 29th Nov '15 7:43:20 AM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
HGW XX/7
Party Crasher
If ISIS is supposed to wage a crusade against "Rome", then it's doing a pretty piss-poor job. Out of all the nations that could be considered the bleached bones of the Roman Empire (Italy, Turkey, Greece, San Marino...), they are only butting heads with the Turks. And even Turkey mostly just bombs the Kurds.
edited 29th Nov '15 8:33:07 AM by LogoP
It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.
use political terms to describe, not insult
Interesting thing amongst the Kurds. Apologies if I linked a conspiracy site or something unreliable like that, it was the first article in english that I found.
A suitable case for treatment
The Kurds are more progressive over there than their contemporaries, go figure.
We really should give them get a homeland, they'd make a pretty good ally, Turkey be damned.
edited 29th Nov '15 9:32:17 AM by Skycobra51
Look upon my privilege ye mighty and despair.
Well, we can't exactly give them a homeland, but I vote for leaving Assad and ISIS fight it out while helping them to stand their ground and get a measure of normality in the parts of the country they have secured for them. That is the one military intervention I can get behind, especially since the Kurds would most likely be thankful for the help. Who knows, in the end they might manage to take over Syria.
They are neither capable nor interested in taking over Syria. Arabs would never tolerate it.
Best you can hope for is that they seize everything east of the river, and even that will require friendly Arab forces.
edited 29th Nov '15 10:26:13 AM by FFShinra
V
The Kurds are only interested in "Kurdistan". Nothing more.
Not to mention that giving a minority control over the country more or less created the current situation, and since in the ME most people think in terms of ethnicy and religion, there is no way they could defend their rule against Sunni majority without undemocratic means.
Never Trust
Unfortunately Turkey is ole opposed to a Kurdish nation not only on it's territory but anywhere else.
Trump delenda est
Which could increase the chances of the Kurds to finally get their own state even more. Erdogan and his government have done nothing but screw up in terms of foreign policy since the Arab spring started, I wouldn't rule it out that their meddling could give the Kurds a further push towards independency. It is rather notable that quite a lot of Western politicians are less willing to take care of Anakara's sensitivies regarding the Kurds than a few years ago.
A suitable case for treatment
I remember reading somewhere that the main reason Turkey opposes a Kurdish is State because they're afraid that the Kurds in Turkey would advocate for session.
The Turks greatest fear is a fractured country, mostly stemming from this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitioning_of_the_Ottoman_Empire
They truly do have long memories over there.
edited 29th Nov '15 12:23:03 PM by Skycobra51
Look upon my privilege ye mighty and despair.
The dark Mage of the playground
Its not about foreign politics its about domestic politics.
He is firm and stubborn because it makes him seem tough and heroic to his people, not that it makes a difference in the global scale.
As long as he keeps his act up he will be reelected again and again.
I guess a lot will depend on how the Kurds develop. One advantage of them is that they follow a number of different variants of Islam, which might have taught them at least some tolerance towards other Islamic believes, considering that they don't really can survive without standing together on some issues. They might (big might here) develop into a society which put their state over their religion instead of one which uses religion as base for a state.
But that's yet another thing we shouldn't meddle too much with. It is certainly not that bad of an idea to ensure that the part of Syria which more or less belongs to the Kurds falls neither under the ISIS nor under the Assad regime.
The issue with the Kurds post conflict will be determining state leadership. Each section of Kurdistan is governed by a different group. The Turks, for example, have no problem with the Iraqi Kurds, but they do with the Syrian Kurds, due to the latter having connection to the PKK in Turkey.
‘Commercial scale’ oil smuggling into Turkey becomes priority target of anti-Daesh strikes: https://www.rt.com/news/323603-isis-oil-smuggling-turkey/
Commercial-scale oil smuggling from Islamic State controlled territory into Turkey must be stopped, Putin said after meeting Hollande in Moscow.
“Vehicles, carrying oil, lined up in a chain going beyond the horizon,” said Putin, reminding the press that the scale of the issue was discussed at the G20 summit in Antalya earlier this month, where the Russian leader demonstrated reconnaissance footage taken by Russian pilots.
The views resemble a “living oil pipe” stretched from ISIS and rebel controlled areas of Syria into Turkey, the Russian President stressed. “Day and night they are going to Turkey. Trucks always go there loaded, and back from there – empty.”
We are talking about a commercial-scale supply of oil from the occupied Syrian territories seized by terrorists. It is from these areas [that oil comes from], and not with any others. And we can see it from the air, where these vehicles are going,” Putin said.
“We assume that the top political leadership of Turkey might not know anything about this [illegal oil trade]. Hard to believe, but it is theoretically possible,” Putin said, adding that this however does not excuse Ankara from not stopping the illegal smuggling of oil.
Putin pointed out the lack of smoke from any fires or the existence of any commercial enterprises created to deal with the destruction of oil, which would be possible to find if the Turkish leadership is aware and is seizing and destroying smuggled products, as it claims.
“But if the top political leadership [in Turkey] doesn’t know anything about this, let them find out. I can admit that there may be some elements of corruption, secret dealing, they should sort it out,” said Putin.
Putin stated that sales of oil from ISIS are in direct violation of international law, and that the proceeds from ‘black gold’ cost innocent people their lives.
“In this respect there is a special UN Security Council resolution banning the direct purchase of oil from terrorists, because these barrels, that they supply, it is not just oil, there is the blood of our citizens, because from the money [received], terrorists buy weapons, ammunition, and then conduct bloody actions,” Putin said.
I'm actually somewhat amused that someone in Turkey thinks this oil smuggling business is a good idea. Did they think no one would do anything about this?
So, yeah, France and Russia are actually working together to take out as many of these transport trucks as they can. They might resort to tunnels, but there's no way they would be able to smuggle at the same volume they've always been.
edited 28th Nov '15 12:08:40 AM by MayuZane
Anybody want space lobsters?