Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Ofaloaf posted:

Watching the hour-long Frontline special, I'm struck by how 21st century some aspects of the Syrian conflict are-- firstly, that there's so many cameras everywhere, then there's the shots of the young gentleman with the beard uploading clips to Youtube, the rebel artilleryman asking for coordinates from Google Earth. The gore, the blood, the shooting, that's horrible enough, but I can somehow disconnect from all that because it's all off somewhere else, but then I see the same folks using Skype or Youtube and I swear I've spotted the model of car my dad drives and then I can't disconnect anymore and it just feels awfully strange all of a sudden.

The dyi weapons stuff really does it to me. If a war like this were to spill over here it would be utterly gruesome given what we have at our disposal. Pretty sure I have seen videos of automatic guns hooked up to motion detectors that shoots anything that moves. Our houses are full of this stuff and all it takes is a little twisting to get people to reuse everyday items as killing machines.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2013 02:21

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:46

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/09/pakistans_highest_court_rules_u_s_drone_strikes_illegal/

quote:

The highest court in Pakistan ruled Thursday that U.S. drone strikes are illegal. The Peshawar High Court advised the Pakistani government to to move a resolution against the attacks in the United Nations, the U.K.�s Independent newspaper reported.

The ruling bolsters recent claims made by U.N. human rights expert Ben Emmerson Q.C., following a visit to Pakistan, that authorities in the country gave no consent, tacit or otherwise, for the CIA strikes to be carried out in its tribal regions. However, reporting by Mark Mazzetti suggests that a secret deal, forged between the CIA and the Pakistani military, gave the go-ahead for U.S. drone strikes in return for the initial targeting of an enemy of the Pakistani state (not an al-Qaida operative).

Cool. More links in the article.

# ¿ May 9, 2013 23:29

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Brown Moses posted:

To dampen the mood here's a video showing parachute bombs doing what they do best, killing a bunch of people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1iiM4u23lU

Wow, what purpose does attaching these to a parachute serve? Seems like incredibly effective psychological warfare when you can see what will kill people slowly raining down. If you shoot it, great, you ruined the parachute and now die even quicker.

# ¿ May 17, 2013 20:29

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

So psychological warfare is not involved at all with those?

# ¿ May 17, 2013 20:34

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/mccain-didnt-realize-he-was-posing-with-rebel-kidnapper

quote:

WASHINGTON � Senator John McCain�s office is pushing back against reports that while visiting Syria this week he posed in a photo with rebels who kidnapped 11 Lebanese Shi�ite pilgrims.

The photo, released by McCain�s office, shows McCain with a group of rebels. Among them are two men identified in the Lebanese press as Mohamed Nour and Abu Ibrahim, two of the kidnappers of the group from Lebanon.

A McCain spokesman said that no one who met with McCain identified themselves by either of those names.

�In coordination with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, Senator John McCain traveled to and from Syria with General Salim Idris, the chief of staff of the Supreme Military Council of the Syrian opposition, to meet with two senior Free Syrian Army commanders,� said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers on Wednesday in an email to BuzzFeed. �None of the individuals the Senator planned to meet with was named Mohamad Nour or Abu Ibrahim. A number of other Syrian commanders joined the meeting, but none of them identified himself as Mohamad Nour or Abu Ibrahim.�

�As the Syrian Emergency Task Force has said: �Senator McCain did not go to Syria to meet with anyone named Mohamad Nour or Abu Ibrahim. Two members of our organization were present in the meeting, and no one called himself by either name.��

Rogers said that if the man in the photo turns out to actually be Mohamed Nour, that is �regrettable.�

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/May-30/218852-mccain-crosses-paths-with-rebel-kidnapper.ashx#axzz2Ujmw4ghe

Hey I have an idea, how about we just stay out of it.

# ¿ May 30, 2013 04:46

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Reuters with a report on chemical weapon usage

quote:

(Reuters) - United Nations human rights investigators said on Tuesday they had "reasonable grounds" to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons had been used in Syria and warned that the shattered country was in "free-fall".

In their latest report, they said they had received allegations that Syrian government forces and rebels had used the banned weapons, but most testimony related to their use by state forces.

Increasing reports from the battlefield of the use of chemical weapons have sounded alarm bells in the West, lending urgency to a new diplomatic push to end the war. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that the use of chemical weapons was unacceptable.

The U.N. commission said it examined four reported toxic attacks in March and April but could not determine which side was behind them.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals were used. It has not been possible, on the evidence available, to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator," Paulo Pinheiro, who chairs the U.N. commission of inquiry, told a news conference in Geneva.

"The witnesses that we have interviewed include victims, refugees who fled some areas, and medical staff," Pinheiro said, declining to be more specific for reasons of confidentiality.

President Bashar al-Assad's government and its opponents have accused each other of using chemical weapons.

...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/us-syria-crisis-warcrimes-idUSBRE95308K20130604

# ¿ Jun 5, 2013 01:09

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

vickser posted:

Wasn't this something everybody learned in middle school?

Is this one of those 'I did complex calculus at age 14' and walk away smugly type posts?

History education is a joke in America.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2013 17:54

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

http://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/

# ¿ Jul 3, 2013 20:06

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Ballz posted:

Better than the feed I'm watching right now, which has no translation whatsoever.

Am I correct in assuming the army is saying it's now fully in control?

There will be another election held.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2013 20:09

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/egypt/tv-stations-taken-air

Saying their Egypt station was raided while on air and were arrested.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2013 23:10

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Does anyone have a link or explanation for why congress passing Iran sanctions means war? I am not for the sanctions, I just am not making the connection or understanding how things would play out afterwards if a veto proof majority passed them.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2014 03:12

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Cool, I've just been seeing some rather sensational headlines like this the past couple weeks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/white-house-iran-war_n_4572003.html

# ¿ Feb 6, 2014 04:25

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Oh ^ there we go, nm

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 20:13

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

CeeJee posted:

https://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/654971759163232257

It was a drone according to the Turkish military.

How reliable is this account?

https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status/654983927749287936

# ¿ Oct 16, 2015 13:04

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Apparently a helmet cam from the recent prisoner raid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDjMfTC0nUY

# ¿ Oct 25, 2015 22:27

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

At least 18 dead apparently

# ¿ Nov 13, 2015 22:39

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

CNN suggesting the stadium explosions were suicides

# ¿ Nov 13, 2015 23:07

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Mackers posted:

I read they were grenades and I'm giving CNN no credit until proven otherwise.

Its from the Paris deputy mayor

# ¿ Nov 13, 2015 23:10

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Count Roland posted:

The players don't even look up?

Just saw this on the big screen, it was a back pass and it does look like they take notice of it

# ¿ Nov 13, 2015 23:32

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Eagles of Death Metal were the band at the Bataclan

# ¿ Nov 13, 2015 23:42

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

Wow

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/665298393833451520

# ¿ Nov 13, 2015 23:49

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:46

Kurt_Cobain: Jul 9, 2001

https://twitter.com/AP/status/701796284823420932

Better than a halt to hostilities?

# ¿ Feb 22, 2016 17:31

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