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| Dysfunctions of Mideast |
| 2014-11-02 |
| [ARABNEWS] Children abused by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... (IS); the Turkish prime minister complaining that his country cannot send troops to defend the besieged city of Kobane; the strained relations between the United States and Israel after a US official called the Israeli prime minister a coward, this past week has been one of extreme dysfunction in a region known for things not going right. In an article in Foreign Policy, Kate Brannen described how children in Syria are being forced by the Islamic State to witness beheadings and crucifixions in public; to donate blood to the group's fighters; spy on civilians and carry weapons to fight alongside the adults. The shocking thing is that some of them are as young as six years old. Most are teenagers, bored from not being in school because of the civil war in Syria and so desperately impoverished that they are easily attracted to the IS with small amounts of money. Besides money, the IS manipulates these young boys, telling them to fight with them is a good thing, and that they will be victorious. In any case, they promise the children that if they die in battle they will go straight to paradise. Worryingly, a 22-year-old Syrian, who had fled the Syrian city of Raqqa, the center of power of the IS, told Brannen that he had seen at least 250 to 300 children at a single IS training camp for children below 16 years of age. But all was not negative in terms of news this week concerning the IS. We had a glimmer of good news with the arrival on Oct. 29 of the Peshmerga forces from Iraq and the Syrian Free Army soldiers, via Turkey, to the besieged city of Kobane bringing with them heavy military equipment. This was the least that the Turks could do for the US and its Gulf allies, to defeat the IS. With these more well-armed forces, equipped with artillery and anti-tank weapons, there is hope that they can put an end to the siege of Kobane by the Islamic State, which has already lasted six weeks and seen more than 800 deaths. If they succeed in pushing back the IS fighters, it will be a huge propaganda victory against them. And as if the Americans had not already had their plates full of problems in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Oct. 27 that his government would accelerate approval of the construction of 1,060 new apartments for Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem. This provoked international condemnation of the plans, including from the US government who said that this move was not compatible with the pursuit of peace. As everyone knows, the Paleostinians consider Jerusalem their capital, so any expansion of the Israeli presence in the area is seen as an aggression against a possible future peace agreement between the Paleostinians and Israelis that would see the establishment of an independent Paleostinian state in the West Bank and Gazoo, with Jerusalem as its capital. This was only the latest of many explosive grenades that hit US-Israeli relations. In an article this week in The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg reports that a US bigwig in Washington said he thinks Netanyahu is a coward, calling him "chickenshit,: a real insult. This shows to what low-level relations between the Netanyahu government and the administration of Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... have sunk. Goldberg says that US government sources have told him that if the Israelis do not return to the negotiating table with the Paleostinians soon, the US will no longer protect Israel at international organizations and that President B.O. is willing to publicly announce, with maps and all, an American plan next year for an independent Paleostinian state within the 1967 borders. I hope that happens, because it will be the only way the Paleostinians will achieve their long-held dream of having their own country, where they will be the masters of their own destiny. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 In an article this week in The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg reports that a US bigwig in Washington said he thinks Netanyahu is a coward, calling him "chickenshit,: a real insult. What classless rank amateurs do. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-11-02 18:09 |