Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[AlabamAlum]

I thought the Tamil Tigers when I first heard of it. With the New IRA making some noise in Belfast, having the Tigers back would make for asome serious geopolitical deja vu.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I thought the Tamil Tigers when I first heard of it. With the New IRA making some noise in Belfast, having the Tigers back would make for asome serious geopolitical deja vu.

Yeah at that point just need a Shining Path revival to make it a real 80's terrorist reunion tour. Guess we'll find out soon enough but that no one has yet taken credit for it yet (it's been hours and hours) is a bit weird to me.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Never happier or more content...he's reached a zen state of happiness

[Kapture1]

i find it suprising (not surprising) the level of outrage and coverage that the church bombings on easter by muslims is much less than the NZ mosque shooting, despite triple the body count.

[Dr. Strangelove]

i find it suprising (not surprising) the level of outrage and coverage that the church bombings on easter by muslims is much less than the NZ mosque shooting, despite triple the body count.

Well I think the government hasn't even announced yet who they think committed the attacks. It's more than likely ISIS but as AA mentioned the Tamil Tigers can't be expressly ruled out in that part of the world.

The media didn't give the NZ attacks the wall-to-wall coverage that a non-lethal fire at Notre Dame got, if you want to go down the road of this not getting the attention it merits. In apt that's because Sri Lanka has more or less imposed a media and social media blackout while they try and make arrests. I just flipped on Fox and they're running their usual Sunday morning programming -- Howie's Kurtz's bash the media show.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Sounds like Poroshenko is going to be out in Ukraine and will be replaced by a comedian.

[Kapture1]

Well I think the government hasn't even announced yet who they think committed the attacks. It's more than likely ISIS but as AA mentioned the Tamil Tigers can't be expressly ruled out in that part of the world.

The media didn't give the NZ attacks the wall-to-wall coverage that a non-lethal fire at Notre Dame got, if you want to go down the road of this not getting the attention it merits. In apt that's because Sri Lanka has more or less imposed a media and social media blackout while they try and make arrests. I just flipped on Fox and they're running their usual Sunday morning programming -- Howie's Kurtz's bash the media show.

just a quick read of WAPO, NYTimes and the like over the last week, they seemed surprised that Notre Dame had any religious significance whatsoever. the paper of record had to make a correction over the fire Chaplin that rushed in to save the Eucharist from the fire, they thought the blessed sacrament was a fucking statue.

what they saw in the fire at Notre Dame was a 900 year old piece of art burning.

what they saw in the Christchurch massacre was a chance to link yet another white supremacist to Trump. What they continue to ignore is over 670 churches desecrated in France over the last year alone. they will continue to ignore the slaughter of Christians throughout the world because it's a "white", "oppressive" and "colonial" religion. i would love to go down this road.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Trump reportedly phoned strong man Haftar in Libya on Monday and the word of it broke in Europe on Friday. I was amused by the translated Italian version of HuffPo. Trump was quoted as warming up to Haftar in the face of what European's thought was American support for the "reconciled" Libyan government headed by Serajj. American Betrayal!

France, who publicly supports Serajj apparently actually supports Haftar.

I've always thought in the aftermath of Gulf War II and the subsequent Arab Spring brought about by Shrub's post war fuck-ups, was the worst thing that could have happened in the ME. It's turned out my view was, in part, a valid one. While it's regional, there is so much tribalism present in North Africa and to a certain extent elsewhere in the ME, it seems that strong men are completely appropriate regardless of claims of abuse of human rights. It's hard to have elected democratic governments when Aranbs, in general in these areas, can't agree on who should be in charge. Guys like Qaddafi in Libya and Hussien in Iraq came to power by clubbing the shit out of their opponents but under these dictators, both countries experienced relative stability.

While perhaps an over-simplification, strong men like Haftar can be the glue that holds tribalism, and the ensuing instability, in check. I can see why Trump warms up to guys like Haftar as his vision of world order relies on tyrants like this. Human rights be damned. Not having complete chaos that gives footholds for extremists within that chaos may be preferable to the fantasy that was the Arab Spring.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not endorsing this sort of thing and the compromise of human rights that is usually present in ME countries ruled by dictators but I do see the value in allowing, perhaps encouraging, these types like Haftar to gain control, and at by the force of arms, create stability that then limits refuge for extremists. The end result could be a reduction in the capacity of terrorists to carry out missions whose strategic objective is to destabilize established Western democracies.

[Ghengis Jon]

Its seems the Trump admin believes dealing with Iran is okay and not okay. You get sanctions for doing biz with Iran. Unless you fall under these wide ranging exceptions. But there are exceptions to the exceptions. And there's "no comment" when clarification is requested.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-irgc-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-carves-out-exceptions-for-foreigners-dealing-with-irgc-idUSKCN1RX0ME

[Jeff Buchanan]

Morning news in Europe includes some decent analysis undertaken within the region that reveals there are still ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka. In that context, the bombings yesterday may have been carried out by local extremists with transnational motives. The targets - churches and hotels - may have been intended to create the most civil and economic disruption to the country's current leadership. Quickly revealed on social media within hours of the bombings was a memo that allegedly warned police officials of terrorist threats. Was this intended to discredit the current government? It certainly seems so as news reporting is focusing heavily on this with assessments involving questions about why the government didn't take steps to stop the bombings.

Yesterday, most were wondering if ISIS was actually behind this. I certainly thought it was by virtue of the extremely well planned out and coordinated attacks. Bozos with home made bombs can't do that. The explosives had to be very sophisticated to cause that kind of killing/injury (up to 290 killed 500 wounded) so, yeah, ISIS. Well, maybe not. This is not a region where heads of ISIS operations would seek refuge. OTH, there's a definite pattern of completely unexpected attacks being carried out by ISIS and affiliated extremest groups.

[Ghengis Jon]

Probably an ISIS off-shoot or perhaps an organized wannabe. Even ISIS had "policy" for Christians (slavery for Yazidi, expulsion for 'orthodox', etc). To attack minority Christians on Easter is a statement that belies a medieval mindset of Kill Those Not Us. Should be interesting who, if any, claims responsibility.


Update: The Sri Lanka government has blamed a little-known local jihadist group, National Thowheed Jamath, although no-one has yet claimed carrying out the attacks.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Its seems the Trump admin believes dealing with Iran is okay and not okay. You get sanctions for doing biz with Iran. Unless you fall under these wide ranging exceptions. But there are exceptions to the exceptions. And there's "no comment" when clarification is requested.


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1RX0ME

Oil prices are spiking because of reports that came out over the weekend that the admin is going to end all waivers for purchasing Iranian Oil. Remains to be seen if Trump will back off and contradict his own govt since he has repeatedly denounced current oil prices as 'too high' (and keeps thanking Saudi Arabia for lowering the price everytime it falls -- as if they are the ones who somehow set the global price)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/22/energy-prices-up-on-reported-end-to-sanctions-waiver-for-iranian-oil.html

[Kapture1]

"Easter worshippers [sic]"

[Dr. Strangelove]

Since he posted this (Nov 25) WTI has gone up about $15 barrel. womp womp

It'll probably continue to go up now too if they hold firm on the Iranian waivers (I'm not complaining about that...)

[Kapture1]

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