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How does the Islamic State, a ragtag band of jihadis who are supposedly at war with the combined military might of the US, Turkey, the Saudis, the Russians, the Iraqis, the Iranians and many others (including, of course, the Syrians) manage to fund and coordinate spectacular international terror attacks, including not only the Paris attack, but also (apparently) bombings in Turkey and Lebanon, and the take down of Russian airliners? How is it that governments can flag and track the "suspicious" financial transactions of anyone withdrawing or transferring over $10,000 from their own bank account, but can't seem to find a way to restrict cash flows, arms and munitions to a geographically isolated enemy who are dependent on oil sales for their financial survival?
Good question. Just don't ask the US State Department spokesman those questions, because he doesn't have the answers. When asked earlier this week by RT's Gayane Chichakyan "whether the US has sanctioned any banks suspected of carrying out transactions for ISIL," department spokesman Mark Toner responded with a resounding: "I'd have to look into that. I don't have the answer in front of me."
Apparently the question of how ISIS is financing its operations is of so little interest to the State Department that they haven't bothered to look into it. So in the interest of helping them out with their homework, let's connect a few dots, shall we?
[More after the break.]
Earlier this year it was revealed that French President François Hollande had authorized illegal shipments of arms to the Syrian terrorists in 2012. The deliveries–including cannons, machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles–were in direct contravention of an EU embargo that was in place at the time.
In late 2012 it was revealed that one of the most prominent backers of the Syrian terrorists was the French government, who in addition to their illegal arms shipments were also delivering money directly to the terrorist opposition leaders.
Last year the French arms export industry enjoyed its best sales in 15 years, with revenues up 18%. The reason for the Merchant of Death bonanza? A spike in sales to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two of the main funders and supporters of ISIS.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Monday November 23 2015, @06:43PM
I sympathize with your view, but...that's kind of what created the problem in the first place. Knocking out the governments in Iraq, Libya and (almost) Syria is a large part of what created the power vacuum that let ISIS become a threat in the first place. Doing this also provided ISIS with the propaganda needed to motivate an entire new generation of terrorists. France, the US, the UK, Russia - plenty of countries have delivered billions of dollars of weapons to terrorist groups. Sort of like trying to put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it.
The answer to barbaric cultures is the same as it always has been: Either conquer them or leave them to their own devices. Colonialism (conquering) is now regarded as a bad thing, even though many countries were arguably better off as colonies. However, the massive interventions that replaced colonialism - both military interventions and massive aid programs - are the worst of both worlds.
Maybe some societies don't want to follow Western ideals. That's their choice, fine, live and let live. But then, it's time for the other alternative: leave them alone. Really. As long as a society is fundamentally incompatible with the West: no military intervention, no aid, no business, no tourism, no refugees, nothing. Total embargo. Let the society go its own own way.
If a society decides it would like to join the West, that's fine. However, as a prerequisite, the society must demonstrate a commitment to the essentials of Western culture: internal peace, rule of law, and respect for human rights.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday November 23 2015, @06:54PM
Weird tragedy of the commons thing goes on where the first 90% of resource extraction takes 10% of the effort so if you're the leader of empire ABC you need to extract from country Q before your competitor empire XYZ extracts, or else XYZ will have more resources and therefore overpower you at the next war.
Then you get tied into colonial economic "issues" where keeping the colony under continuous administration costs more than you're earning, and what little you're earning is really pissing off the local populace. Meanwhile the historical equiv of SJWs are breathing down your neck back home. So then you want to dump them as a colony.
The border cases are the big problem. We're BFF with Japan now, but where does a place like Turkey fit on the spectrum of civilized / uncivilized?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by gnuman on Monday November 23 2015, @07:11PM
Knocking out the governments in Iraq, Libya and (almost) Syria is a large part of what created the power vacuum that let ISIS become a threat in the first place.
Aha, but these are NOT the same things!
1. Iraq - purely result of US invasion and subsequent de-Ba'athasisation (or however you spell it) that led to current clusterfuck that is Iraq. Iraq government is mostly divided into 3 faction, official, Iran supported group of majority. Kurdistan section up north, and the ISIL supporters "fuck the majority oppressors" western part.
2. Libya was a result of,
a) Gaddafi's firing of hundreds of thousands of workers from public jobs to "revitalize the private sector". This happened few months before revolt.
b) Arab Spring uprisings that started civil war in Libya
c) French-led campaign against Gaddafi.
d) NO effort from French and others to actually enforce demilitarization of waring parties and building of actual dialogue
e) ISIL is now in Libya too
3. Syria is a result of protests (see Arab Spring) and government's military-style crackdown on those protests instead of talking. Then Saudi Arabia and Quatar and others sending weapons to "opposition" is how we end up with Syria and ISIL.
I completely fail to fathom how politicians have learned nothing from history. You can't win peace through conflict and you can't leave a place without a working bureaucracy and administration. Take US role in above and what they initially did,
1. they caused it
2. they played backseat role in it
3. they ignored it
but it all ended up the same mess. We need nation building and real "boots on the ground" to bring an end to this madness - you know, like it was done after WWII (east or west doesn't matter, as long as you get order)
If a society decides it would like to join the West, that's fine. However, as a prerequisite, the society must demonstrate a commitment to the essentials of Western culture: internal peace, rule of law, and respect for human rights.
These things have nothing to do with "the west". China and Cuba have these things too. And before you start screaming "human rights",
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights-governments-100-mile-border-zone-map [aclu.org]
Actually READ what human rights mean and how your country is breaking some of them,
http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html [un.org]
For example, how many human rights are lost to *former* prisoners in US?
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Monday November 23 2015, @07:37PM
Granted, I oversimplified. And I probably shouldn't have said "the West", but I'm at a loss for a short, meaningful term that encompasses all of the civilized countries on the planet. Sure, every country has its problems, and no country quite manages to live up to the ideals in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However, there is a real distinction between countries (societies) that agree with those principles, and ones that object to them. That is such a fundamental difference that I do believe there needs to be a serious wall between the two.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 23 2015, @09:23PM
Another factor in Arab Spring was the example of an African American being elected POTUS, in my opinion. That was totally unexpected.
Of course Arab Spring has been a mixed blessing at best for the USA, geopolitically, but I think it's best to take our medicine now, under conditions that may be somewhat favorable to the West. Whenever and wherever these Arab monarchies blow up, there's going to be massive trouble that will most likely last for decades.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 23 2015, @10:49PM
I completely fail to fathom how politicians have learned nothing from history.
I've come to the conclusion that the sorts of sociopaths and psychopaths that we have been electing all these years basically don't have a brain cell to spare for thinking rationally or analyzing logically. When they are only capable of thinking short-term and worrying only about money and re-election, they can't be expected to think in terms of doing something useful for mankind.
Democracy is a failure... too bad about the alternatives.
(Score: 3, Informative) by TheLink on Tuesday November 24 2015, @07:35AM
I disagree. Actually the Syria and Iraq stuff are related. Maybe even the Libya one too (I haven't looked into that one as much).
I completely fail to fathom how politicians have learned nothing from history
That's because you haven't been paying enough attention to what is really happening. They have learned from history. Much of what has happened was what the US Gov actually wanted!
See:
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/05/newly-declassified-u-s-government-documents-the-west-supported-the-creation-of-isis.html [washingtonsblog.com]
The released document: http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Pg.-291-Pgs.-287-293-JW-v-DOD-and-State-14-812-DOD-Release-2015-04-10-final-version11.pdf [judicialwatch.org]
See also:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq [theguardian.com]
Open your eyes and see. The USA repeatedly plays with fire and pretends to be innocent or even the good guy when others get burned. Or worse they pretend to be the victim.
I'm not saying ISIS aren't evil and aren't responsible for the evil they do, I'm not saying fire doesn't burn either. Just pointing a finger at the one intentionally starting fires and fanning the flames.
Even after the fire was blazing the USA supplied arms and training to the rebels fighting the Syrian Gov, many of those rebels became friendly with ISIS or even joined the ISIS. Whether that was due to incompetence or not it was still part of the greater original plan mentioned.
Of course it doesn't help that the USA's ally funds the ISIS either: https://theintercept.com/2015/10/26/bbc-protects-uks-close-ally-saudi-arabia-with-incredibly-dishonest-and-biased-editing/ [theintercept.com]
Last but not least: https://richardajonesdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/twitter.jpg [wordpress.com]
https://richardajonesdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/clear-as-mud.jpg [wordpress.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday November 24 2015, @12:27AM
I think the best thing we could do for the muslim world is to accelerate the transition of the industrialized economies from oil to home-grown, renewable energy. That would pretty much put an end to it.
That notwithstanding, I know the complex tribal and other history of the factions in the Middle East. You know what? I couldn't give a fuck anymore. They have drawn too much attention from the good people of the West for far too long. If they insist on bringing their shit into our countries, we ought to now respond by wiping all of them off the face of the Earth and rendering their lands uninhabitable. No more prevarication, no more calculation, no more bullshit, just a final exclamation point to end the history of the Middle East once and for all. No one else has had the wherewithall or the moxy to do it. We now must. If we must roll Israel and the "Holy" land in with the rest, it's a small price to pay. Those people just cannot fucking get along, so they must go.
The enduring lesson for the rest of the peoples of the Earth must be, if you want to live with others, or live by yourselves, awesome. But threaten the lives or freedom of our people, and we will respond with overwhelming, total, and final force.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday November 24 2015, @11:10AM
I differ about colonialism being a "bad thing". The real problem is, it is so very expensive. England/Great Britain found that maintaining an empire was a major headache. Quell a rebellion here, counter an outside threat there, on and on - most colonies absorb more money than they can ever return to the emperor. Prestige doesn't count for much, as a currency.
If/when we ever get off of this planet, and put people in space, we'll learn that lesson all over again. It might take fifty years, it might take two hundred years, but we'll learn that we can't dictate to a space empire because we can't afford to. To many ships, to many troops, to much money will be required, so we'll eventually cut them all loose (after some crazy casualty figures on both sides, probably) and let them run things as they see fit.