Paris terrorist attacks and hostage situation

[Grey Jorildyn]

These people need to be removed from the gene pool of humanity.

[bori]

These people need to be removed from the gene pool of humanity.

I wouldn't even call them people.

[Xno Kappa]

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/islamic-st...122051922.html



Vaguely disconcerting as a resident of downtown Washington D.C.

That police blockade earlier today between 18th through 23rd street on I, K, L and M had me clinging on to my duty weapon.

[Melena]

Honestly, I have a feeling ISIS is going to get curb stomped hard. They already have issues with Al-Qaeda, they attacked France, it strongly looks like they are the reason for that Russian plane going down. I mean we bombed the shit out of a country that had terrorists blow up one of our ships 15-20 years ago. What do they think Russia and France are going to do to them? I'd be amazed if by February, you can't take 3 steps in Syria without stepping on the burned corpse of an ISIS fighter.

[Wulfgang]

That police blockade earlier today between 18th through 23rd street on I, K, L and M had me clinging on to my duty weapon.

Missed that, what was it for? I live right at 14th and U and work in Old Town, Alexandria, so I drive up and down 14th past the National Mall twice a day. The 14th street corridor and Georgetown would probably be the two ideal civilian targets from my perspective; hitting the White House / Capitol Building / etc. is impossible with current security measures.

[notorious bum]

You can barely traverse Syria as it is, just streets filled with rubble and flattened buildings. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...ar&FORM=RESTAB

[Xno Kappa]

Missed that, what was it for? I live right at 14th and U and work in Old Town, Alexandria, so I drive up and down 14th past the National Mall twice a day. The 14th street corridor and Georgetown would probably be the two ideal civilian targets from my perspective; hitting the White House / Capitol Building / etc. is impossible with current security measures.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/traffic...350492191.html

tl;dr Woman with mental issues apparently fired shots. Caused a fuckton of traffic.

[thetruepandagod]

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/islamic-st...122051922.html

Vaguely disconcerting as a resident of downtown Washington D.C.

For the record, the video also mentioned Brussels and Berlin.

[Andalusian girls]

Honestly, I have a feeling ISIS is going to get curb stomped hard. They already have issues with Al-Qaeda, they attacked France, it strongly looks like they are the reason for that Russian plane going down. I mean we bombed the shit out of a country that had terrorists blow up one of our ships 15-20 years ago. What do they think Russia and France are going to do to them? I'd be amazed if by February, you can't take 3 steps in Syria without stepping on the burned corpse of an ISIS fighter.

air power only goes so far, Daesh will only be eliminated when boots on the ground can go in and clear the cities they hold, and then conduct a long-term counterinsurgency campaign against the remnants that will undoubtedly remain. no western nation is eager to repeat America's Iraq experience, and regionally only the Iraqi Kurdish forces have shown the stomach and ability for that kind of fight, and their reach is primarily limited to Kurdish regions which lie outside the heart of Daesh's domain.

the Iraqi army just suffered a humiliating defeat in Ramadi and continues to be hollowed out by corruption and divided loyalties, Assad's regime has been so ground down by attrition they are propped up only by massive assistance from Iran + Hamas + Hezbollah + Russia, the FSA is a squabbling inchoate mess that America seems incapable of properly supporting, and the al-Nusra Front has lost almost every time they've faced Daesh in a stand-up fight; though as they are an al-Qaeda affiliate even their victory would not be especially cheerful to the west

the Gulf states are more concerned with the civil war in Yemen than the ones in Iraq and Syria and have deployed most of their forces to that theater, Turkey will only commit ground forces if the U.S. backs them in agreeing to depose the Assad regime without conditions (a demand made far more difficult by Russia's formal military engagement in support of Assad) and they are at least as interested in crushing Kurdish autonomy as in combating Daesh, Lebanon is terrified of a return of their own sectarian violence and will not engage (though Hezbollah has), Jordan is structurally overwhelmed by the influx of refugees and besides a handful of bombing runs seeks only to control their own borders, Israel is too universally hated for serious intervention, Iran is backing Assad while encouraging the ethnic cleansing of Sunni populations in Iraq, and Egypt is preoccupied with Islamist insurgencies in the Sinai and neighboring Libya while attempting to finish the democratic transition begun by the overthrow of Mubarak

i consider myself as intelligent and learned an observer of the region as most and this is the most intractable geopolitical matter i've ever witnessed. there is no obvious or easy answer

[notorious bum]

air power only goes so far, Daesh will only be eliminated when boots on the ground can go in and clear the cities they hold, and then conduct a long-term anti-insurgency campaign against the remnants that will undoubtedly remain. no western nation is eager to repeat America's Iraq experience, and regionally only the Iraqi Kurdish forces have shown the stomach and ability for that kind of fight, and their reach is primarily limited to Kurdish regions which lie outside the heart of Daesh's domain.

the Iraqi army just suffered a humiliating defeat in Ramadi and continues to be hollowed out by corruption and divided loyalties, Assad's regime has been so ground down by attrition they are propped up only by massive assistance from Iran + Hamas + Hezbollah + Russia, the FSA is a squabbling inchoate mess that America seems incapable of properly supporting, and the al-Nusra front has lost almost every time they've faced Daesh in a stand-up fight; though as they are an al-Qaeda affiliate even their victory would not be especially cheerful to the west

the Gulf states are more concerned with the civil war in Yemen than the one in Iraq and have deployed their forces in that theatre, Turkey will only commit ground forces if the U.S. backs them in agreeing to depose the Assad regime without conditions (a demand made far more difficult by Russia's formal military engagement in support of Assad) and they are at least as interested in crushing Kurdish autonomy as in combating Daesh, Lebanon is terrified of a return of their own sectarian violence and will not engage (though Hezbollah has), Jordan is largely overwhelmed by the influx of refugees and seeks only to control their own borders, Israel is too universally hated for serious intervention, Iran is backing Assad while encouraging the ethnic cleansing of Sunni populations in Iraq, and Egypt is dealing with its own Islamist insurgency in the Sinai while attempting to finish the democratic transition begun by the overthrow of Mubarak

i consider myself as intelligent and learned an observer of the region as most and this is the most intractable geopolitical matter i've ever witnessed. there is no obvious or easy answer

A refreshing comprehensive analysis in contrast to the trivialized and cartoon-like rhetoric that has surrounded the attacks this past week.

[archibaldcrane]

i consider myself as intelligent and learned an observer of the region as most and this is the most intractable geopolitical matter i've ever witnessed. there is no obvious or easy answer

Completely agree. The biggest people to fear in this situation are those who think they have the answer here. It's completely fucked.

Neocons have criticized Obama for not "fixing" Syria (even well before this attack) and he's been following his "don't do stupid shit" foreign policy mantra to the letter for a reason. Assad was a successful strongman keeping shit in line (sound familiar?) but with somewhat less open brutality and more prosperity than Saddam did, until the Arab Spring started the civil war...and now there's simply no "good moderates" force to support there.

[Churchill]

Don't do stupid shit isn't enough of a policy to actually be considered not doing stupid shit though.

Simply not condemning Israel is doing stupid shit in terms of how the ME views the US.

[archibaldcrane]

Does ISIS really give a fuck about Israel honestly? I was just thinking earlier today about how the militants that Israel deals with are not Al Queda nor ISIS really. They're fighting Hamas and Hezbollah (and by extension, Iran) mainly. If ISIS made more major gains in Syria, toppled Assad, etc - would they try to push into Israel?

It just seems like ISIS's goals (restore the Caliphate, bring about total war with the West) are kinda their own thing regardless of Israel's existence.

[Churchill]

Just one of many points, but yes, it's a recruiting tool. Anything we do that is a recruiting tool is a big deal because it's not Israel that kills muslims, it's the US, it's the West.

Bases in the ME, Iraq, Afghanistan, drone strikes, airstrikes, etc.

Recruiting isn't limited to bodies either, it's finances, it's turning a blind eye to their activities, our involvement in the ME, period, is the root of the problem.

[archibaldcrane]

It sounds like you are advocating isolationism.

Note: I'm not saying that you are necessarily wrong.

[archibaldcrane]

I am a little surprised that Bernie hasn't gone full Bernie and advocated pacifism though. His inability to draw much of a distinction between his and Hillary's foreign policy in that last debate was quite a surprise.

[Churchill]

It's one solution, of probably 3 viable ones, and all of them are long term our kids generation solutions.

[notorious bum]

The story of the man leading the Anonymous group, CtrlSec, that is responsible for taking down tens of thousands of pro-ISIS Twitter accounts.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...witter/409312/

[Churchill]

People don't promote pacifism because (in my opinion in dealing with them) I think the US is afraid of Mossad turning into a more potent, stateside IRGC-QF.

Not that the Quds Force isn't in the US already, because they are capable, but they have nothing on Mossad or Mossad's ability to reach out to a large US population (Jews vs. Iranians).

Edit: Assuming Pacifism means not supporting terror states like Israel.

[archibaldcrane]

I don't expect Jewish Bernie Sanders to say "no support for Israel in my presidency!" I just mean advocating something other than military strikes as a response to the Paris attacks/as a "solution" to ISIS.