Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[MonkeyHead]

Apparently Israel bombed something into Syria.

According to Israel, it was a convoy of ground-air missiles destined to Hezbollah. According to Syria it was a military base near Damascus. Fog of war indeed, but apparently, Syria is now considered weak enough to be struck at with impunity.

The BBC are reporting that Russia are pretty pissed at this, still holding on to the idea that Syria is thier sphere. On one hand I am suprised at the seemingly heavy handed action, and on the other, its Israel, and once in a while they do like a heavy handed point prover.

[Owlbread]

North Korea is currently under martial law. The army has also been told by Kim jong-un himself that they must prepare for war. The thing is though - is he talking about war with a foreign power? That's his implication it would seem... but why would they declare martial law unless they needed to control something urgently? Something inside. Though this is complete and utter hairbrained speculation on my part, I wonder if there's a rebellion brewing that Mr. Kim is all-too aware of (along with the secret services of the world - why else would we have cranked up the pressure at the UN? It's not like the last rocket test was particularly notable when compared to shelling the christ out of South Korean territory and killing a soldier and injuring several others) and he is preparing for the inevitable free for all when the rebellion becomes the perfect time for the international community to intervene. It's all adding up - the rumours, the riot gear, the gradual dissent appearing on the internet, the sabre-rattling, the sanctions...

They also seem to be planning to do the nuclear test on the 16th of February to coincide with Kim jong-il's birthday.

[Frumple]

They also seem to be planning to do the nuclear test on the 16th of February to coincide with Kim jong-il's birthday.

Birthday candle brinkmanship? God-king deserves nuclear cake decoration, yo'.

I mean, that might solve some problems for the rest of us regarding NK, but... yeah.

[Owlbread]

Birthday candle brinkmanship? God-king deserves nuclear cake decoration, yo'.

I mean, that might solve some problems for the rest of us regarding NK, but... yeah.

Yes, this is going to be a big fucking candle if there ever was one.

I tell you - if this stramash carries on beyond the latest Kim the North Koreans are going to have a lot of smokey launchpads with all the birthdays and anniversaries-of-deaths in a year.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

In a sudden and shocking turn of events that I'm certain will excite the forum anarchist community, an Egyptian Black Bloc group has suddenly formed and has vowed to fight any injustices committed by the Muslim Brotherhood or their government.

So now Egyptians love anarchism. There's a curveball for you. I think the Muslim Brotherhood is scared of them, since they're accusing them of being Mossad agents, and we all know how Islamists love accusing their opposition of being Mossad agents.

[Dutchling]

* Dutchling likes Black Bloc for their resistance against the Islamists.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm not an anarchist personally, but they're helping the progressive front and they have depleted uranium balls to be outright threatening MB and Morsi's government, so I like them as well.

I'm wondering how long it will be until the military drops Morsi. Off of a cliff, I mean, since he's threatening to annul the Camp David Accords and thus the cool 1.3 billion USD the Egyptian military gets every single year. It's not a good idea to take actions that would sabotage your military's funding, Morsi.

[Karnewarrior]

I'm not an anarchist personally, but they're helping the progressive front and they have depleted uranium balls to be outright threatening MB and Morsi's government, so I like them as well.

^^^this.

I'm fairly sure we'll dislike them later but for now an enemy mine might be good.

[misko27]

It worries me that the largest arab country is collapsing so. If Morsi falls, It'll either be outright anarchy, which I doubt, or military rule, again, with them being more careful to not cede too much power to the clearly incompetent civilian government this time.

[PanH]

I don't know. To me it looks like there is protests because the new government isn't answering the original protest.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

And let me tell you, this is one wild card of an outcome. Everyone thought the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists were going to be able to take the country and turn it into their dream theocracy, especially after the progressive groups managed to fuck up royally, but they took their chance as the glorious revolutionaries and used it to immediately become seen as The Man.

If this pans out like it looks like it will, Egypt has an improbably bright future. The Arab Spring has thus far proven really weird like that. The Tunisian Islamists are pretty subdued compared to all the others because they need tourism and are in an alliance with more progressive factions, Lybia has a newfound appreciation for the West and rejected Ansar al-Sharia wholesale for their actions, Mali is soon going to be back in the hands of a democratic government who will hopefully have learned their lesson about ignoring the Tuaregs, and now Egypt's Islamists are shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly. The only situation that's going in a bad direction now is Syria.

It worries me that the largest arab country is collapsing so. If Morsi falls, It'll either be outright anarchy, which I doubt, or military rule, again, with them being more careful to not cede too much power to the clearly incompetent civilian government this time.

Egypt's military has no interest in running the civilian government. That is a lot of shit unrelated to the military that they'd have to take care of, not to mention they'd get people fighting them. If they depose Morsi, or more likely let the current protestors run him out, they'll probably do what they did before, except this time more people are going to hate the Muslim Brotherhood and feel more motivated to keep them out of power.

[misko27]

Well, except for a number of the smaller, lower profile one that didn't pan out. Like Bahrain. But those were pretty few. Still, we've got some tough things to deal with. Chaos, is in the air. In Libya (In general), in Egypt (Right now), Countries near Syria (starting somewhere in the near future, if not already.). Chaos is bad, i need not remind you. Too much Chaos leads to Somalia. It took YEARS to fix that. And the middle east is already unstable. Chaos is what allows radicals to exist easily, we don't need that.

[Nilik]

Well, except for a number of the smaller, lower profile one that didn't pan out. Like Bahrain. But those were pretty few. Still, we've got some tough things to deal with. Chaos, is in the air. In Libya (In general), in Egypt (Right now), Countries near Syria (starting somewhere in the near future, if not already.). Chaos is bad, i need not remind you. Too much Chaos leads to Somalia. It took YEARS to fix that. And the middle east is already unstable. Chaos is what allows radicals to exist easily, we don't need that.

Somalia is fixed now?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Somalia is fixed now?

HAHA no. Just kind of out of the spotlight.

Well, except for a number of the smaller, lower profile one that didn't pan out. Like Bahrain. But those were pretty few. Still, we've got some tough things to deal with. Chaos, is in the air. In Libya (In general), in Egypt (Right now), Countries near Syria (starting somewhere in the near future, if not already.). Chaos is bad, i need not remind you. Too much Chaos leads to Somalia. It took YEARS to fix that. And the middle east is already unstable. Chaos is what allows radicals to exist easily, we don't need that.

Chaos is a necessity for change. In a situation like the present one, the Middle East is a place where gradual reform doesn't really happen. This leaves only one other option, and that is to roll the dice and let them fall where they will.

Of course, we should still opportunistically knee the table if we can get away with it.

[misko27]

Just keep in mind, it was this sort of governmental collapses that lead to what was effectively a civil war in Germany, and the rise of Fascism.
 
Chaos can be good, but it can be equally bad. So, so bad.