Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby Bryter » Sat Jul 11, 2015 3:08 pm

:shock:
A friend just linked me to this. My gut says this could be a real leak.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqE396U ... e=youtu.be

RT has a story
http://russian.rt.com/article/102792

(from google translate)
Hackers from the "Kiberberkuta"posted a video that allegedly was captured rehearsal process execution of one of the hostages, "the Islamic state". Hackers claim that the record obtained from the computer of a "colleague" US Senator John McCain.
11/07/2015, 13:47
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby 82_28 » Sat Jul 11, 2015 4:15 pm

Nordic, your take on this possibly leaked footage of fakery?
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby Bryter » Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:17 pm

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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby Nordic » Sat Jul 11, 2015 10:36 pm

It's really impossible to tell anything about this. It could be a recreation of one of those fake ISIS "beheadings" for some kind of bad movie, in any part of the world. Who knows? There's just not enough to go on here. Not even any audio. Just some very bad imagery.
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby AlicetheKurious » Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:13 am

This article is stating what is already very, very well known among ordinary people across the Middle East, yet somehow remains beyond the grasp of every single well-paid 'expert' sharing his 'expertise' in Western media. It's amazing how much contempt they have for their audience, and how justified that contempt seems to be.

12.07.2015 Author: Tony Cartalucci
TIME Admits ISIS Bringing Arms, Fighters in From NATO Territory


Late last year, Germany’s broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) investigated what turned out to be hundreds of trucks a day carrying billions of dollars in supplies, flowing across the Turkish border into Syria and directly into the hands of the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS).

The border crossing near the Turkish city of Oncupinar, approximately 100km west of the Syrian city of Kobani, is apparently only one of many such crossings where ISIS fighters, weapons, and materiel move directly under the watch and apparent assistance of NATO.

TIME in their recent article titled, “ISIS Fighters Kill 200 Civilians in Syrian Town,” reported that:

The attacks also came after the group [ISIS] suffered a series of setbacks over the past two weeks, including the loss last week of the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad — one of the group’s main points for bringing in foreign fighters and supplies.


Tal Abyad, a Turkish-Syrian border crossing east of Kobani, is now a second, confirmed point of entry into Syria used by ISIS to supply its ongoing campaign within the country.

Reports of confirmed, extensive logistical networks passing through NATO and US-ally territory, into Syria, contradict the current prevailing narrative that ISIS is an “indigenous” terrorist organization, funded and self-sustaining within the territory it currently holds in both Syria and Iraq. The Western media has attempted to claim with little evidence that ISIS’ immense, global operations are somehow underwritten by “ransom payments” and “black market oil” it has seized in eastern Syria.

Clearly, not only are these reports as untenable as they are untrue, the Western media itself has reported precisely how ISIS has been sustaining its impressive fighting capacity – with billions of dollars of state-sponsored aid flowing through NATO territory, directly to their front lines.


Were the supplies flowing over the Syrian-Iraqi border, it may be possible to argue plausible deniability – with the governments of either nation unable to control either side of the border. However, Turkey, a NATO member since 1952 and host of the United States Air Force’s Incirlik Air Base, has full control of its borders meaning that ISIS-bound convoys not only pass over its borders with the apparent approval of Turkish border guards, but are assembled somewhere within Turkey itself before arriving at the edge of Syrian territory.

No effort has been made to stem the flow of supplies to ISIS from NATO territory, with the Turkish government officially denying the trucks DW videotaped and reported on even exist. This indicates clear NATO complicity in the arming and supplying of ISIS and other Al Qaeda affiliates who are in fact invading Syria from NATO-territory, as well as from US-ally Jordan.

For the West, which feigns indignation in the wake of recent ISIS attacks on France, Tunisia, and Kuwait, while posing as the primary force engaged in war with ISIS directly, it would be a simple matter to close the Turkish-Syrian border with NATO troops to ensure ISIS was shut off completely from the supplies it depends on to maintain its fighting capacity. That the borders are intentionally left open for this extensive daily torrent of supplies, weapons, and fighters to pass over unopposed, is proof positive that ISIS is and has been from the beginning a proxy force intentionally created to stoke fear and support at home for unending war abroad.

Without the threat of ISIS and the chaos it is creating across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the ability for the West to wage war on its enemies and justify extraterritorial meddling would be severely limited. In fact, the very ISIS forces clearly being armed and supplied by NATO directly, are being used as a pretext by US policymakers to execute recently laid plans to incrementally invade and occupy Syria with US military forces.

The Brookings Institute from which these plans originated, recently used an ISIS assault on Kobani to call for “US boots on the ground” in Syria, an assault which would have been logistically impossible were it not for the daily torrent of supplies the US and its NATO-ally Turkey have themselves intentionally enabled for years to cross into Syria.

To defeat ISIS, its supply lines must be cut – a simple matter to perform that requires only Turkish and other NATO troops to move in and disrupt overt ISIS logistical networks running within their own territory. Instead, the US State Department and US-operated NGOs have even gone as far as condemning what little attempts have been made to control Turkey’s border with Syria. The US State Department’s Voice of America in their article, “Turkish Border Crackdown Imperils Syrian Refugees,” used the pretext of “human rights” to condemn Turkey for what meager control measures it has attempted to put in place.

The fact that the US, with a military base in Turkey itself, has elected not to call for or attempt to implement stricter border security to stem the flow of ISIS supplies, and instead has gone as far as bombing Syrian territory in feigned efforts to “fight ISIS,” proves that the terrorist organization is both a proxy and a pretext. No serious military campaign would be launched against an enemy without identifying and cutting off its supply lines, especially when those supply lines run through that military’s own territory.


The general public across the West, if they truly desire an end to ISIS and its atrocities, will demand what least the West can do – shutting the borders of Turkey and Jordan and ending the flow of supplies to ISIS. This will never happen, thanks to both elementary but effective “divide and conquer” rhetoric miring the Western public in endless circular debate, and the fact that the average Westerner’s understanding of modern warfare and military logistics is derived from Hollywood and television, not maps, history, and basic knowledge.

Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine“New Eastern Outlook”.
First appeared: http://journal-neo.org/2015/07/12/time- ... territory/ Link


On her Facebook page, Naomi Wolf has noted some very revealing clues about "ISIS" aka "Daesh", which she calls "a giant spin machine"; I've used some of her words here, but added many of my own, so what follows is a mix:

-ISIS propaganda serves only NATO and the (US/Israeli) war machine;
-It is "like no other insurgency in history" in the sense that there is no one to interview; no one on a grassroots level knows people who join ISIS;
-the entity is able to produce glossy, expensive "Western style PR nonstop", with no sourcing except to Western intelligence related sources like SITE;
-it uses sensationalist techniques, targeting symbols and producing videos designed to inflame Western media;
-its members "never ever" behave like Muslims, but instead like malicious caricatures of Muslims similar to those produced by Hollywood Zionist propaganda;
-its purported goal is to establish a "Muslim Caliphate" which nobody has yet defined, though clearly it is very bad, very scary.

As she notes, it's "SO obvious", yet for some reason the glaring facts don't make a dent in the Western government and media's narrative.
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby AlicetheKurious » Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:07 pm

Now from Israel, comes the latest news about "ISIS", which has reportedly now set up shop in Jerusalem. Now that it's finally reached the Holy Land, it is it is planning to liberate it by killing...Arab Christians(!)

I know, it doesn't make any sense at all; but nothing about ISIS does unless it's understood that "ISIS" is really Israeli intelligence. Then it all becomes clear as day: why "ISIS" is being supplied with weapons and logistics and recruitment support by the US and its NATO allies, especially Turkey; how all that stolen oil is being routed through Turkey to Israel and then being sold to Europe with no questions asked; why "ISIS" is so vicious and sadistic in murdering Arabs and destroying their historic and religious (Muslim, Christian and ancient) heritage, yet is careful to preserve Jewish artifacts; why "ISIS" is so hell-bent on annihilating Christian Arabs; why "ISIS" is so desperate to gain a foothold in Egypt's Sinai (which Israel has twice invaded and occupied, and which it claims to need to solve its "demographic problem"). And now, it explains how "ISIS" has managed to establish itself in Israeli-occupied Jerusalem and to transport the terrorist group's leaflets, according to the Israelis themselves, through not one but three extremely high-security Israeli military check-points. Right.

Since the readers are assumed to be dumb as doorknobs anyway, the Israeli writer in the article below couldn't resist inserting a mention of the so-called "Pact of Umar" (broadly speaking, it's a fictional document that purportedly is the counterpart of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", but used to defame Muslims instead of Jews), nor to rather outrageously claim that Iran financially supports "ISIS", the kind of bang-your-head-against-the wall idiocy that only Zionist propagandists seem able to get away with and still be published in Western media.

July 13, 2015, 02:30 pm
ISIS has threatening words for Christian Jerusalem
By Naomi Friedman, contributor


Since Friday, June 27, leaflets have appeared in and around Arab East Jerusalem, signed by the Islamic State. On July 3, Israeli television Channel One reported on a leaflet that read:

The Armed Forces of the Decisive Swords will purify the Islamic neighborhoods of Christians so that on Eid al[-]Fitr, these neighborhoods will be completely clean. We will start in the neighborhood of Beit Hanina and move on to Shuafat and then all the neighborhoods of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We say to the Christian unbelievers, you must leave immediately so that you will not be slaughtered like lambs with the dawning of Eid al[-]Fitr.


The pamphlets were signed "The Islamic State, Emirate of Jerusalem."

Eid al-Fitr is the last day of holy month of Ramadan, the joyous breaking of the Muslim fast. On the Gregorian calendar, Eid begins at sunset on Thursday, July 16.

It is no secret that the Islamic State, or ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has had its eye on Jerusalem, the third holiest city in the Islamic faith after Mecca and Medina. ISIS often legitimizes its atrocities and attracts followers by promising to "liberate" Jerusalem. For example, the Islamic State in the Sinai, responsible for the bloody attacks on July 1 that killed dozens of Egyptians, released a propaganda video of a captured Egyptian soldier, later executed, saying: "They want to liberate Jerusalem, and soldiers like me are preventing them. I am a soldier that prevents them from liberating Jerusalem because we [Egypt] support Israel."

The leaflets in Jerusalem similarly accused Christians of serving as agents of Israel and the West, spreading evil by encouraging Muslims to become more secular. The leaflets also charged that the Christians have violated the Pact of Umar, made over 1,000 years ago after Muslims conquered the Holy Land. The pact forbade Christians from displaying crosses on churches, chanting prayers in a loud voice when a Muslim is present, proselytizing, erecting new monasteries or repairing churches when they fall into ruin.

The Islamic State in Gaza has also recently accused Hamas of being too lenient in enforcing Islamic law. In fact, the Islamic State in Gaza is so irate that it has now sworn to overthrow Hamas.

But, just to be clear, the Islamic State cells that plan to attack Jerusalem's Christians are coming not from Gaza or the Sinai. No. The cells are coming from the West Bank. The route specified by the leaflet proceeds from north to south, not south to north. To reach Beit Hanina, the cells would need to pass first through the Qalandia checkpoint. They would then proceed south to Shuafat, pass another checkpoint, and from there go on to the Old City of Jerusalem where they would eventually run into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

I know. It's confusing.

Indeed, these days, when you talk about the Islamic State, you must be very specific about geography. Do you mean the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria? No? So, the one in Libya? In Pakistan? In Uzbekistan? Yemen? Nigeria? Algeria? Tunisia? Saudi Arabia?

Where did these all come from? And, how exactly did the Islamic State proliferate so rapidly — in a single year — despite the almost daily U.S.-led airstrikes?

Well, apart from top-notch social media advisers and a dedicated film crew that can stomach the unfathomable, the Islamic State has a whole lot of money. It's rich. It can fund and arm terrorist cells around the world, and that makes it very popular.

The Islamic State of the Sinai, for example, used to be a piddling little terrorist group called Ansar Bait al-Maqdis. But in 2014, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis swore allegiance to the Islamic State and received generous military and financial compensation. Since then, it has blossomed. Just last week, the terrorist group not only launched a large-scale attack on Egyptian forces, but it also managed to fire three missiles into Israel.

Scholars searching for reasons to explain the swift rise of terrorism in recent decades have carefully examined the role of poverty. But there is no credible correlation between poverty and terrorism. Instead, it would behoove us all to look at the role of wealth.

Iran has long dedicated a significant portion of its oil wealth to fund terrorism. And now that the Islamic State is funding terrorist groups with the riches it has acquired from grabbing up oil refineries, collecting kidnap ransoms, engaging in slave trade and the sale of antiquities, the Middle East has been properly destabilized.

So, if we want to prevent the Islamic State from slaughtering Christians in East Jerusalem and other unbelievers and heretics around the world, what we do need to do, at this point, is to stop the revenue flow into areas controlled by the Islamic State. And what we don't need to do is stream vast amounts of wealth into Iran. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the Obama administration, together with the other P5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany) leaders, will do when they lift sanctions on Iran. And this should bring disaster on the entire region.

Because, you see, while the Islamic State currently has its heart set on Jerusalem, Iran is eyeing Mecca and Medina.

Friedman is an American-Israeli writer and editor in the fields of political science, history and information technology. Link
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby Luther Blissett » Wed Jul 15, 2015 10:31 am

It doesn't look mega-professional, a little more like the work we produce here at the university or other shoots I've been on for various projects. Is there any way to confirm that the footage was lifted from a McCain staffer's phone? Because I would believe that and it would probably be more telling than the footage itself. I can't penetrate Cyber Berkut to talk to anyone though.

Twitter is saying this was lifted directly from John McCain the man's laptop while he was visiting Ukraine though.
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby Nordic » Wed Jul 15, 2015 6:54 pm

Okay, well now I'm seeing variations on this:

Image


https://m.imgur.com/6XvLwKt


Which show that it beats an extremely close resemblance to the Foley video. Saw one the other day that supposedly "proved" that this particular take wasn't exactlybthecsame as the released Foley video but it's damn close, enough to make it clear that what this new video shows is another take that wasn't used.

Pretty weird that it plus be so startlingly similar to the Foley video. Why would anyone making a fiction film or a spoof go to such lengths to match every tiny movement?

So now my interest is piqued far more than before.

I'll try to find the other example which was much better visually at hoeing how they matched. Just don't remember where I saw it.
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby Nordic » Wed Jul 15, 2015 7:07 pm

Found it. Ironically this page only serves to demonstrate how incredibly similar the 2 videos are.

https://www.metabunk.org/debunked-cyber ... ley.t6520/

And some of their complaints are completely bogus, for instance the green screen not being green enough. There is no standard single green screen hue in today's shooting. There are several and in fact compositing has gotten so easy they don't even need much green at all to "pull a key". Things aren't like they used to be.
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby Luther Blissett » Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:09 am

Right, I saw that metabunk page too and had the same reaction: this is just one take among many. In close-up it's very obvious that the prisoner's shirt is flapping in the breeze - it looks like they just turned a fan on for take 65. These actors are hitting marks.

And recall how in one of the very early ISIS videos released through SITE, we pored over the details showing a strong wind whipping around, a cut, and then completely still air - while debatingrg whether or not this was shot on a soundstage!
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby cptmarginal » Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:26 pm

Glenn Greenwald:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015 ... at-damage/

That the New York Times mindlessly disseminates claims from anonymous officials with great regularity is, at this point, too well-documented to require much discussion. But it is worth observing how damaging it continues to be, because, shockingly, all sorts of self-identified “journalists” — both within the paper and outside of it — continue to equate unverified assertions from government officials as Proven Truth, even when these officials are too cowardly to attach their names to these claims, as long as papers such as the NYT launder them.

Let’s look at an illustrative example from yesterday to see how this toxic process works. The New York Times published an article about ISIS by Eric Schmitt and Ben Hubbard based entirely and exclusively on unproven claims from officials of the U.S. government and its allies, to whom they (needless to say) granted anonymity. The entire article reads exactly like an official press release: Paragraph after paragraph does nothing other than summarize the claims of anonymous officials, without an iota of questioning, skepticism, scrutiny or doubt.

Among the assertions mindlessly repeated by the Paper of Record from its beloved anonymous officials is this one:

Image

Leave to the side the banal journalistic malpractice of uncritically parroting the self-serving claims of anonymous officials, supposedly what the paper is so horrified at Judy Miller for having done. Also leave to the side the fact that the U.S. government has been anonymously making these Helping-The-Enemy claims not just about Snowden but about all whistleblowers for decades, back to Daniel Ellsberg, if not earlier. Let’s instead focus on this: the claim itself, on the merits, is monumentally stupid on multiple levels: self-evidently so.

To begin with, The Terrorists™ had been using couriers and encryption for many, many years before anyone knew the name “Edward Snowden.” Last August, after NPR uncritically laundered claims that Snowden revelations had helped The Terrorists™, we reported on a 45-page document that the U.K. government calls “the Jihadist Handbook,” written by and distributed among extremist groups, which describes in sophisticated detail the encryption technologies, SIM card-switching tactics and other methods they use to circumvent U.S. surveillance. Even these 2002/2003 methods were so sophisticated that they actually mirror GCHQ’s own operational security methods for protecting its communications.

Image

This “Jihadist Handbook” was written in 2002 or 2003: more than a full decade before any Snowden revelations. Indisputably, terrorists have known for a very long time that the U.S. government and its allies are trying to intercept their communications, and have long used encryption and other means to prevent that.


I missed that handy graphic the first time around, back in August of last year: NPR Is Laundering CIA Talking Points to Make You Scared of NSA Reporting
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby cptmarginal » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:48 am

This is the only source I found off-hand that actually quotes the statement from the Turkish government and provides some more details. All of the Western media outlets are spinning this into a nonsense propaganda story about the establishment of an "IS-free zone" on the Syrian border.

http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2015/0 ... e-ministry

Detained suspects rise to 1,050 in anti-terror operations in Turkey: Prime Ministry

July 27 2015

The Prime Ministry of Turkey released a statement on Monday stating that Turkish police have detained 1,050 suspects so far in 34 cities around Turkey in anti-terror operations.

"Within the framework of ongoing investigations, as of the date of July 27, 2015, in anti-terror operations against ISIS, the PKK and other marginal left-wing organizations, a total of 1,050 people who were suspected of having links to these organizations and were carrying out armed actions against our security forces and citizens as well as those who were performing illegal activities which threaten public order, were detained in simultaneous operations carried out in 34 provinces across Turkey. The judicial process about the detainees still continues," said the statement.

Remarking that operations against the PKK, DHKP-C and ISIS (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) terrorist organizations, which not only threaten Turkey's national security but also endanger the lives of innocent civilians, are being carried out across Turkey and beyond the border, the statement released by the Prime Ministry said once again highlighting Turkey's determination to fight against terrorism.

The statement pointed out that in the airstrikes conducted on July 26, PKK shelters, coves annd caves were hit during the operations.

Reminding that within the framework Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the NATO Security Council has been called for a meeting on Tuesday to be informed on the nation-wide terrorist attacks and the measures Turkey has taken to combat the attacks, the Prime Ministry said that the Turkish Foreign Ministry is taking the necessary initiatives with friendly and allied nations under the supervision of international organizations.

Turkey will continue to fight against the terrorist threats from outside and inside, the statement added.

Earlier, Turkish security forces said that at least 256 suspects were detained in nationwide operations on Monday.

Police said that 15 people suspected of links with ISIS were arrested in raids in Ankara province on Monday morning.

In the eastern province of Erzurum, 34 people were detained during an anti-PKK operation.

In the southeastern provinces of Diyarbakir and Mardin, security forces detained 135 people in another anti-PKK operation. Pistols, shotguns, explosives devices, Molotov cocktails and fireworks were also seized, the Provincial Security Directorate of Diyarbakir said.

In the southern province of Antalya, 20 people were detained in an anti-PKK operation.

In the southwestern province of Muğla, police detained six people allegedly linked with the PKK.

In the southern province of Mersin, security forces detained 16 people in an anti-ISIS operation and also seized four rifles, including a shotgun.

In the southeastern province of Batman, nine people were caught in joint operations against the PKK and ISIS. Police said that six out of the nine suspects were the members of the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H) linked to the PKK, while the rest were linked with ISIS.

In the southeastern province of Gaziantep, security forces detained 21 people in an operation against the Kurdistan Community Union (KCK), an umbrella organization of the PKK. Police said they were looking for 14 more suspects in the area. An unlicensed pistol, three licensed shotguns, blank firing guns, four magazines, 104 cartridges, two balaclavas, nine mobile phones, 10 computers, nine mobile phone SIM cards and documents belonging to the organization were also seized in the operation.

The nationwide operations are the latest in a recent wave of arrests that have seen hundreds of suspected ISIS, PKK and DHKP-C supporters arrested across Turkey.

The PKK is listed as a terror organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.

Turkey recently launched airstrikes against ISIS and the PKK in Syria and Iraq. On Friday night and in the early hours of Saturday, Turkish jets bombed PKK camps in northern Iraq for the first time in the last two-and-a-half years. Turkey also launched attacks against ISIS. Turkish jets again hit PKK targets inside and outside Turkey on Sunday night.


Talks for first phase of Turkish pipeline to begin soon - 25 July 2015

"The Turkish pipeline project is a Russian proposal which plans to transmit Russian gas exports bypassing Ukraine to Europe. It plans to carry 63 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe via the Turkish-Greek border."

Turkey-Iran gas pipeline explodes in eastern province of Ağrı - 28 July 2015
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby semper occultus » Sat Aug 01, 2015 7:15 pm

Israel now key hub of anti-Daesh operations

By Orlando Radice, July 30, 2015

http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/1 ... operations

Israel is at the centre of a regional military campaign against terror organisation Daesh.

Advances on several fronts by the jihadi movement (sometimes known as ISIL) are pushing Egypt and Jordan to unprecedented levels of security co-operation with the Jewish state.

Senior Israeli defence officials this week said that military ties with Egypt had "never been closer".

Last week a senior US official revealed that Israel had transferred 16 helicopter gunships to Jordan to help the Hashemite Kingdom secure its borders.
"A new strategic map is being created in this part of the Middle East," said Oded Eran, a former Israeli ambassador to Jordan and senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

"The common threat is making this co-operation essential to the security of all three countries."
Mike Herzog, a retired IDF brigadier general, said: "Israel and its neighbours share concerns about jihadi terror.
"Below the radar there is productive co-operation between Israel and key Arab countries, especially its neighbours Egypt and Jordan, focused on common security threats."

There is also evidence that Israel's relations with Turkey, which launched its own bombing campaign against Daesh last week, are improving.
Although Israel and Jordan have had diplomatic ties for two decades, arms deals are still very rare and the supply of the US manufactured Bell AH-1 HueyCobras - which have been heavily modified and upgraded during their 30 years of service in the Israeli Air Force - is a significant step towards closer security co-operation.

Over the past two years there have been reports that Jordan has allowed Israeli drones into its airspace for surveillance flights over its borders with Syria and Iraq.
Mr Oded said: "What is new is the quality of the equipment transferred to Jordan by Israel and the intensity of the intelligence cooperation. Those groups who tried to cross into Jordan from Iraq before did not have the Daesh ideology, but they do now. There are already thousands of Jordanian who cross the border to fight with Daesh; the attack helicopters that Israel sent to Jordan are likely to be used to patrol those borders."

Egypt is also facing an increasing threat from Daesh affiliate Wallyat-Sinai (formerly known as Ansar bait al-Makdas).
In the past month, Wallyat-Sinai has carried out attacks on multiple military targets, killing dozens of Egyptian soldiers.
Israel and Egypt are working together closely to try to intercept weapons and funds destined for Sinai jihadis.

Meanwhile, a former ally of Israel, Turkey, has also been forced to take on Daesh after a long period in which it was accused of turning a blind eye. Spurred by recent jihadi bomb attacks, Turkey sent out jets to strike Daesh in Syria last week.
Turkey's renewed cooperation with the US has led to rumours that ongoing talks between Israeli and Turkish diplomats may bring about a return to some degree of co-operation between the two countries.
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby conniption » Sun Aug 02, 2015 6:50 am

MoA
(embedded links)

July 31, 2015

"ISIS Free Zone" Plans Lead To Even More Chaotic Situation In Syria And Iraq


The fifty something mercenaries the U.S. military trained to act as Forward Air Controllers to direct U.S. air attacks towards whatever target in Syria have run into trouble. Shortly after entering Syria some were abducted by the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and last night some were killed and more wounded when Jabhat al Nusra attacked their headquarter. The defenders then used their new skills to direct U.S. air attack on the attackers. Nusra released a statement saying that it would now fight against any "American project" in Syria.

The U.S. wants its mercenaries to occupy parts of Syria that will allow resupplies to be safely transported for further attacks on the Syrian government as well as for attacks on the Islamic State. It markets the areas to be occupied as Islamic State free zones. Turkey wants those areas to be Kurd free zones as it wants to keep them to resupply the Islamic State and other extremist organization which operated with Turkish, Saudi and Qatari support against the Syrian and Iraqi government.

The plan to insert these Forward Air Controller specialists to direct air capabilities is on top of the CIA program which for years now trains, equips and pays some 10,000 mercenaries to attack the Syrian government at a cost of $1 billion/year. Another force that will soon be inserted into Syria are Syrian Turkmen trained and supplied by Turkey:

Turkish jets (and artillery when necessary) will hit targets mostly in this region for “cleaning” it of ISIL forces. This is planned to be executed with the help of a 5,000 strong army mainly consisting of Turkmens living in Syria. One source said that this force, which has been assisted by Turks, would be in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition.


One wonders how Jabhat al-Nusra will react to that "Turkish project".

Last night a warehouse in Reyhanli on the Turkish side of the Syrian border and allegedly controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood welfare organization IHH went up in flames. A while ago trucks allegedly belonging to IHH with supplies on their way to Syria were stopped by Turkish police who found that those trucks were actually under control of the Turkish secret service M.I.T. and carrying weapons and ammunition into Syria. (The policemen were later arrested for doing their job.) The IHH warehouse that went up last night might well have been a M.I.T. depot with supplies for the Turkmen mercenaries.

If the U.S. really wants to use its newly hired Forward Air Controllers against the Islamic State it will now have to protect them not only against the Islamic State but also against Jabhat al-Nusra and probably also against the Turkmen on the Turkish payroll.

A U.S. general said today that "All credible anti-ISIL forces on the ground in Syria will receive coalition support as required." Which groups does he actually mean? "Credible anti-ISIL forces" are the Syrian Arab Army and Hizbullah? The Syrian Kurds with the YPG and PKK who the Turks are currently bombing? The Jabhat al-Nusra al-Qaeda affiliates who, on and off again, also fight against the Islamic State? Who the hell does he mean? Does he know who he means?

As it looks now the whole "ISIS Free Zone" attempt is likely to make the fight against ISIS more difficult.

Is it this chaos that the White House really wants?

Posted by b on July 31, 2015


~

Voltairenet

Turkey in danger


by Thierry Meyssan

While the Western Press salutes the authorisation given by Turkey to the United States, allowing the US to use its military bases in order to fight Daesh, Thierry Meyssan looks at the nation’s internal tensions. In his view, maintaining Mr. Erdoğan in power, as well as the lack of a new majority during the next general elections, will rapidly lead to civil war.

Voltaire Network | Damascus (Syria) | 30 July 2015

continue...
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Re: Your Take On The ISIS Phenomenon

Postby cptmarginal » Mon Aug 24, 2015 8:27 pm

There has been so much going on with ISIS lately, but I just want to share a couple of items.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/isi ... 62699.html

Isis executes Palmyra antiquities chief: Defender of ancient city's past was killed for protecting its future

After a month, the militants realised that Khaled al-Asaad knew nothing – or would say nothing – and so they decapitated the old man and strung his torso to a Roman pillar

Robert Fisk

Thursday 20 August 2015

Image

Khaled Asaad, the Director of Antiquities and Museum in Palmyra, in front of a rare 1st century sarcophagus, one of the finest sculptures in Palmyra

Isis has killed “the guardian of Palmyra”. Tortured for a month and then beheaded for refusing to betray the secret location of the Roman’s city’s priceless artefacts, Khaled al-Asaad’s gruesome death has appalled his fellow archeologists.

“[He was] a joyful guy. You had to see him if you went to Palmyra. He was a guardian of the past,” a Lebanese archeologist, Joanne Farchakh, recalled. “You felt his passion when he talked.”

The 82-year old was long retired, remaining at home when Isis descended on Palmyra three months ago. What would the “Islamic Caliphate” want with an old man steeped in antiquity? Certainly no tour of the Roman forum and amphitheatre, the remains through which he walked with countless foreign archeological teams over half a century, ensuring – as Ms Farchakh said – “that they made no mistakes, didn’t get the facts of history wrong”.

In truth, Mr al-Asaad knew that most of Palmyra’s movable artefacts had long ago been taken to the comparative safety of Damascus (no one could transport the entire Roman city away), but Isis believed he knew where other treasures might have been buried.

After a month, the fighters realised that Mr al-Asaad knew nothing – or would say nothing – and so they decapitated the old man and strung his torso to a Roman pillar in the ancient city.

He had, in his long career as a civil servant, visited overseas archeological conferences, and this alone would have merited a death sentence in the eyes of his puritan torturers. If you work for the Syrian government, in however lowly a role, you are a “regime man”.

For months, Isis has operated an antiquities smuggling ring, selling objects from Syria’s Roman past to international dealers, usually through Turkey.

“Khaled al-Asaad was always there, and then he became a hostage,” said Ms Farchakh. “The truth is that Palmyra is a hostage itself – to two wars and to two political systems.”

Image

An image posted on an Isis affiliated website shows a militant smashing items from Palmyra (AP)


And one more from Fisk:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/com ... 58232.html

Isis is using 'dreamology' to justify its nightmarish vision for the world

If you want to comprehend what motivates Isis, looking to the dream world isn't as crazy as it sounds

Robert Fisk

Sunday 16 August 2015

We have nightmares. They have dreams. Isis provides real or fantasy nightmares almost every day. A Croat is beheaded in Egypt. An Isis suicide bomber kills almost 70 civilians in a Baghdad market. Twitter, Fox, ABC News and the British tabloids bring us an “Isis map” – which may be a load of old baloney for all they know, because Isis has said nothing about it. The map purports to show us just how much of the globe Isis intends to swallow at first gulp: Spain, Greece, the former Yugoslavia, Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, the Maghreb, half of Africa, all of India, Pakistan and a chunk of China.

But how does Isis sustain these nightmares? An hour of watching execution videos – the whole gamut, from fear in the eyes of the victims, the knife-slicing and the decapitation and the bullets kicking into the backs of heads – leaves any human being in a state of near-catatonic exhaustion, a stupor that makes you suspect that, at some point, you left planet Earth and then returned to it.

The victims appear not to struggle. Perhaps their souls have already died in horror. One of the latest videos shows a group of “spies” dressed in Guantanamo-style costumes, being drowned in an execution cage, the whole iron edifice lowered slowly into a pool. There’s even a set of steps at the deep end and underwater cameras to film their final agony.

Clearly, some terrible mental aberration is going on here, and you recoil from the obscene images. Then you remember that, just over 200 years ago, the French in their thousands gathered to watch the guillotine, gawping as the blade cut the heads off the enemies of the Revolution. And didn’t we hang highwaymen and display their corpses in cages? There is a whole literature of London hangings, of last speeches and of the doomed paddling the air: “dancing the Tyburn jig”.

We clothed all this in words, of course. Justice. Treason. And, my favourite, “the law must take its course”, as if judgment was given by God rather than man. Which is, unfortunately, exactly what Isis claims as it cuts down the innocent.

But there is also something (ghastly though it is to write these words) intrinsically childish about these pornographic Isis videos. Their message of gore, though it involves real people and real blood, is essentially infantile, the Arab nasheed music a form of death lullaby which reaches out to the baby viewer in a deeply disturbing way. I would have asked what sustains this mind-set, had I not just received a 12-page essay from Iain Edgar, emeritus reader in anthropology at Durham University, who has been exploring how Isis uses dreams to justify decisions and claim authority.

“Dreamology” has long held a special place in Islam – there are three dream reports in the Koran – but it seems especially attractive to militant groups such as al-Qaeda. I once sat through a description, from Osama bin Laden himself, about a dream one of his “brothers” had received, in which (you can imagine my feelings at the time) I myself supposedly appeared, dressed in a Muslim prelate’s gown, riding a horse and wearing a beard. Oh Lordy. I don’t know if Bin Laden was seeking a convert, but I quickly dissociated myself from this self-apparition, explaining to him that, far from being an aspiring cleric, I was a mere Independent reporter trying to tell the truth. Edgar, however, has been examining “night dreams” among supporters of Isis, drawing his evidence from the inevitable social (or in this case, perhaps, decidedly unsocial) media and from Isis’s own house magazine, Dabiq.

Edgar notes that a Twitter post on 11 July this year recorded how “a brother” had just “had a dream that al-Hasakah has been liberated in Ramadan and Isis is marching towards [the] Kurds”. A bad dream. An Isis incursion into the Syrian city was repelled a couple of weeks ago by the Syrian government army and Kurdish defenders. A later dream suggests that the Prophet denied an appeal by Isis fighters for assistance in their battle against Communist (Kurdish People’s Protection Units) fighters – yes, the dream was quite specific – and that, when the Isis fighters asked why Mohamed refused to help them, “He replied that you are ... throwing food away and not giving it to the poor, you are not getting up in time for the namaz [prayers].” In other words, they’re not righteous enough!

In yet another dream, “Brother Abu Yussef” was guarding a frontline along with another fighter and the ferocious Chechen leader Omar al-Shishani, when a lion and a masked man “looking like the brothers” [sic] appeared. They shot the man and Abu Yussef strangled the lion with his bare hands. Moral: the masked man is a taghut [a tyrant or false god]; the lion is a hypocrite; the tree is Isis.

More intriguing is the dubious report that the Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dreamed (when Iraqi troops recaptured Tikrit earlier this year) that the Prophet ordered him to withdraw his forces from Mosul. Unnecessary advice, it seems. The Iraqis stopped at Tikrit and then lost Ramadi to Isis.

Edgar also notes the frequent dreams about “green birds” – jihadi fighters who are on their way to paradise. He hopes that “we won’t reach a scenario in which thousands of tiny "butterfly" drones listen to dream narratives at breakfast-time across parts of Asia, only to zap certain eye-rubbing young men after running their dream account through an algorithm”.

Me too. After watching nightmares, I prefer the lions, the trees and the birds. But I’m not sure they’ll win many wars.


The Inspirational Night Dream in the Motivation and Justification of Jihad - Iain R Edgar
The new way of thinking is precisely delineated by what it is not.
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