MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
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Russia Bombs 'Our' Islamists in Syria
By NCD on Thu, 10/01/2015 - 1:45pm |Putin says Islamists are all the same, terrorists. We support Syrian Islamist rebels because Saudi Arabia supports them. Gut feeling: Saudi supported Islamists like al Nusra will cut a deal with ISIS before fighting and dying for Western style secular democracy. That may be a no-brainer. Obama (and McCain/GOP War Hawks): Better a Russian backed secular state than a Saudi backed Islamic state in Syria.
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Comments
Are the people we are supporting Islamists? I thought the whole point was to align ourselves with the non-Islamists.
by Aaron Carine on Sat, 10/03/2015 - 10:52pm
The situation doesn't make it easy to pick and choose groups to align with. Here is a good summary of the chaotic elements comprising the resistance to Assad's regime:
The part about Iraq and Lebanon "imploding" is a bit of gallows' humor since the account doesn't include some important "mitigating" circumstances that hastened their demise. But that exclusion serves very well the point made elsewhere in the article about the dissolution of a State into component parts.
All the King's Men and that sort of thing.
by moat on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 5:48pm
There are over 100 armed rebel groups in Syria now, they are listed at Wikipedia.
Only four or five individuals from the $500 million dollar Congressionally authorized US program are vetted and actually fighting in Syria according to testimony in Congress.
Apparently Putin now is 'letting troops volunteer' for Syria combat. It will be interesting to see how a few hundred well armed and trained troops fare against the Jihadis, not yet supplied with anti-aircraft US missiles....I suppose....like Ronnie did for bin Laden and al Qaeda in the 80's.
I don't imagine the Russians will be slowed down with concern over, or investigation of 'collateral damage' cases.
Rebel groups include:
Southern Front
Syria Revolutionaries Front
Jarabulus Brigade
Al-Qassas Army
Liwa Thuwwar al-Raqqa[55]
Jihad in the Path of God Brigade[56]
Dawn of Freedom Brigades
Northern Sun Battalion[57]
Knights of Justice Brigade
Thuwar al-Sham Battalions
Homs/Hama Liberation Movement
Shields of the Revolution Council
Falcons of al-Ghab
Jabhat Ansar al-Islam
Falcons of Mount Zawiya Brigade
1st Infantry Brigade
1st Coastal Division
al-Rahman Legion
Farouq Brigades
New Syrian Forces (30th Division)
Islamic Front
Ahrar ash-Sham
Jaysh al-Islam
Al-Tawhid Brigade
Al-Fawj al-Awal
Northern Storm Brigade
Ansar al-Sham
Junud al-Sham
Liwa al-Fatah
Liwa Usud al-Jadoor
Army of Mujahedeen
Authenticity and Development Front
Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya
Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki
Fastaqim Kama Umirt
Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union
Sham Legion
Criterion Brigades
Mustafa Martyrs Brigade
Syrian Turkmen Brigades
Sultan Murad Brigade
Sultan Mohamed Fatah Brigade
Muslim Brotherhood of Syria
by NCD on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 7:24pm
Russia didn't fare too well the last time they tried to fight a large battle-hardened Muslim force. Even if they send in the volunteer Chechyn death squads it will only increase the resolve of the rebels and turn their civilian targets into rebel supporters.
Putin is already trying to distinguish Russia from the US by openly targeting hospitals, two so far in rebel held territory, no investigations are likely, they are all Terrorists.
FYI, the US, Saudis and China supplied money, arms and training to the Pakistanis to arm and train the Mujahedeen of Afghanistan and there has never been any evidence produced that any of those funds or arms went to al-Qaeda who played a small part in that war. The House of Saud and other Gulf countries did supply funds but OBL received millions of dollars from his family and earned some money building training camps for the Pakistani military so he did get some US funds indirectly but this was before AQ was formed.
by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 10:08pm
So you were a Raygun supporter too? But then switched to Nader, supposedly, and now like Trump, the only non-'parasite'?
The account books and missile sale documents aside, Ronnie did call Osama and his Jihadist boys 'freedom fighters' in 1983.
We made the missiles they used to put the Taliban into power.
Do you know that Daniel Ortega is still President of Nicaragua? As he was under Ronnie?
Ronnie said in 1986 the Sandinistas 'are only a 2 day drive from Texas', ergo we had to fund the priest killing contras, legally or illegally, with similarly illegal secret missile deals with the Mullahs in Iran.
by NCD on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 10:28pm
I guess it's too much to expect you to be able to understand that the 'Freedom Fighters' were Afghans but OBL and al-Qaeda were and are Arabs who set up a training camp to train other Arabs two distinct peoples.with different languages and cultures. They did interact but al-Qaeda was set up to keep them separate.
The Taliban didn't exist during the Afghan War they formed years after the conflict ended.
by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 11:03pm
Yes, you, Raygun, the Saudi's, Dubya, Cheney, Republican defense contractors and the CIA knew, or know, all the ins and outs of all the groups over there very well.
That's how Raygun and Dubya were, unlike Democrats, were so willing and able to bring God's Gift of freedom to them.
by NCD on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 12:09am
Trapping Russia in Afghanistan was a great Brzezinski move - nothing to do with Ronnie.
With the Russians spending $300 billion a year, a few arms to Osama bin Laden was a perfectly sane thing to do. You can't blame Carter that 21 years later we couldn't manage 1 discontent Arab off in the Hindukush.
Yes, Ortega still as President symbolizes how stupid our policy in Nicaragua was, though tamping down Russian influence was sane at the tail-end of the Brezhnev adventurism-abroad years. A shame we couldn't distinguish the 2, and figure out how to help the downtrodden poor there from that bastard Somoza who personally controlled 90% of the economy. Well, we did under Carter, but the Sandinistas were caught sending weapons to El Salvador - bad move. Once Ronnie got in, reasonableness faded away, and we just put their country into ruins.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 4:29am
The Afghan history lessons presented here remind me of Jaywalking episodes from the Tonight Show.
Brzezinski's self promotion about his single handed bringing down the USSR is a handy diversion from the overthrow of the Shaw and the perp-walking of our CIA agents through the streets of Tehran during his tenure under Carter. The funding that Carter gave to the Pakistanis to train and equip the Mujahideen helped their cause but they were already fighting the Soviet backed Afghan government before that aid. If you buy the 'Carter/Brzezinski lured the Russians into intervention in Afghanistan' meme then you must give credit to China, the UK and the Gulf Monarchies who gave more aid to the Mujahideen than the US especially the Saudis.
From 1979 to 1984 OBL ran his construction company in Pakistan and did receive contracts from the Pakistan military for training camp construction.
Al-Qaeda was established in 1988 near the end of the war and OBL led Arab fighters in one major battle near the end of the conflict.
Brzezinski's exaggerated claims do give aid to those who blame the US alone for the rise of Political Islam but the fact is that Russia's invasion and occupation of Muslim Afghanistan was the trigger that set off the Islamic furor in the ME just as their intervention in Syria today is reigniting that old hatred.
by Peter (not verified) on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 1:21pm
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/06/2015 - 3:01pm