Trouble in Mosul

[GDS_Starfury]

because that will cheer Gus up going into the winter months.   ???

[Gusington]

Are you readng the whole thing at once Kev? The copy I have in my cart is 1300 pages :/

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

It is intimidating. I balked from reading it for a long time. There are many pearls of wisdom in it that make it worth reading. What I don't like is the fragmented format with constant large footnotes.

No, I am nibbling at it.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

It might be valuable to remake Syria as a kurdish country. Let the kurds from Turkey migrate stabilizing the region.

[LongBlade]

It might be valuable to remake Syria as a kurdish country. Let the kurds from Turkey migrate stabilizing the region.

I've pondered the possibility, too.

The problem, I suspect, will be that rather than emigrating to a new home, they'll simply clamor for their existing region to be added to the new state.

Isn't it funny how enough is rarely ever enough?

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

It might be valuable to remake Syria as a kurdish country. Let the kurds from Turkey migrate stabilizing the region.

I've pondered the possibility, too.

The problem, I suspect, will be that rather than emigrating to a new home, they'll simply clamor for their existing region to be added to the new state.

Isn't it funny how enough is rarely ever enough?

It doesnt mean anything if they do. Syria is a failed state. It cannot protect the population, it cannot govern. So there is a possibility to remake a state as something new. Turkey is not a failed state.

[GDS_Starfury]

Somalia is a failed state.  Syria is still picking up the garbage and pumping clean water.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Maybe in some areas. They have still been rejected by the people, they do not have control of some regions, they cannot defend the people. I think all 3 count as a failed state.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/09/24/beware-of-the-online-caliphate-is-wants-more-than-syria-and-iraq/

[pawelj]

Maybe in some areas. They have still been rejected by the people, they do not have control of some regions, they cannot defend the people. I think all 3 count as a failed state.

One could argue that most of the states in the Middle East are failed states to some extent. That would include Iran and Pakistan.
They are failed state because they fail to provide for a majority of populations the basics of what a state should be. 

[LongBlade]

It's all in the definition. Get a specific definition of "failed state" and we can discuss which nations meet it and which don't.

If we accept Star's definition of picking up garbage and having running water, there are swaths of poverty all over the planet that would qualify as failed states.

I'm not saying that's a bad definition. I'm saying how we define it matters.

[mirth]

[Staggerwing]

ouch

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Interesting line from a novel:

Tai finally continued. "Capturing Saddam didn't stop the insurgency in Iraq. The Israelis have killed many Palestinian leaders and the movement continues. These are people who haven't dedicated themselves to their leaders, but to their causes. And the only way to defeat a terrorist movement is to defeat the cause." Vaughn had spent two rotations in Iraq and one in Afghanistan while he was in Special Forces before going to Delta Force, and he knew she was right. The U.S. military was waging the wrong type of war in both places—as it had done before in Vietnam.

Mayer, Bob (2012-03-22). Section Eight (Shadow Warriors) (p. 138). Cool Gus Publishing. Kindle Edition.

The context in the story is 2 special forces people about to go into a cave in the Phillipines, nothing to do with the middle east. The quote is still worth considering.

[Airborne Rifles]

The second page of this article was very interesting to me:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/29/world/meast/isis-fighter-and-defector-interviews/index.html?c=homepage-t&page=2

Abu Omar said ISIS relies heavily on foreign -- including Western -- members to carry out its mission.

"The French, they have so much control -- they're even more extreme than we are," the defector said. "They come from France, but it's as if they have been part of the 'Islamic State' for years."

Abu Omar said while he still dreams of a caliphate in the region, he had been contemplating his escape from ISIS for a while.

"I saw a 70-year-old sheik killed in front of me," he said. "The 'Islamic State' can't continue like this. ... There are a lot of youth who are joining -- 14, 15 years old. Maybe my voice can make them think again."

I'm somewhat surprised to hear about the dominance of western fighters in ISIS. There might be an advantage though to the draw of ISIS in that maybe it will draw the radicals out of their communities in the West into the open in Iraq and Syria where they can be killed, leaving everyone better off. It might even be of (cynical) benefit to the west to allow the Islamic state to survive in an embattled state to act as a sponge for these radicals. Not a pleasant thought for the innocents who have to live there or the people on their borders, however.