tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post2749666888197138910..comments2024-03-29T09:32:34.853-04:00Comments on Mike Norman Economics: Pepe Escobar — The Caliph at the gates of Viennamike normanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-70352445918262479002015-10-31T11:36:59.880-04:002015-10-31T11:36:59.880-04:00@Ignacio,
Define permanent. It is within the real...@Ignacio,<br /><br />Define permanent. It is within the realm of possibility that ISIS may outlast the House of Saud.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-46945698382913632992015-10-31T10:32:09.354-04:002015-10-31T10:32:09.354-04:00@LastGreek, agree with that, but my point was that...@LastGreek, agree with that, but my point was that tens of thousands more troops are needed in addition to what is there now.<br /><br />The Syrian army is small and battle weary. The Iranian and Hezbollah troops numbers are small. Their progress on the ground has been slow. <br /><br />Remember when <a href="http://rare.us/story/the-time-eric-shinseki-told-the-truth-about-iraq/" rel="nofollow">General Shinseki told Congress that several hundred thousand troops would be required to occupy Iraq </a> after the invasion? Same deal here. <br /><br />Dan Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11189866002273597534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-42245110684180386472015-10-31T10:22:06.829-04:002015-10-31T10:22:06.829-04:00"Airstrikes alone will not do the job."
...<br /> "Airstrikes alone will not do the job."<br /><br /><i>...the Russian air campaign has an advantage over that of the Americans in that it has been launched in support of an effective regular army. The US never dared to attack IS when it was fighting the Syrian army because Washington didn’t want to be accused of keeping Assad in power. The US approach has left it without real allies on the ground, aside from the Kurds, whose effectiveness is limited outside Kurdish majority areas. The crippling weakness of US strategy in both Iraq and Syria has been to pretend that a ‘moderate Sunni opposition’ either exists or can be created. For all America’s fierce denunciations of Russian intervention, some in Washington can see the advantage of Russia doing what the US can’t do itself. </i><br /><br />-- Patrick Cockburn <br /><br />read:http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/30/what-is-russia-doing-in-syria/lastgreekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00354740659933239445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-7239456034291140792015-10-31T10:21:01.377-04:002015-10-31T10:21:01.377-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.lastgreekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00354740659933239445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-85494224711440755762015-10-31T07:03:10.291-04:002015-10-31T07:03:10.291-04:00Not to say that the managed chaos strategy needs t...Not to say that the managed chaos strategy needs things like ISIS, and neither Iran or the Saud house will never allow them to gain permanent control of any territory (for different reasons).Ignaciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082008115484199316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-8340042049863843032015-10-31T07:01:42.931-04:002015-10-31T07:01:42.931-04:00ISIS don't want to sit at any negotiating tabl...ISIS don't want to sit at any negotiating table neither want their enemies (except maybe the regime and the 'moderates -friendly terrorists-).<br /><br />The existence of ISIS is an excellent excuse for permanent training ground and exercises, military spending etc. Now Russia has 2/3 excellent training grounds at low cost that don't require extra spending: Syria, Chechnya and eastern Ukraine. The Russian army will be in much better shape than any western army if any proxy war starts than the western counterpart... at all this provided by neocon crazy policy.<br /><br />Such a bargain for Putin!Ignaciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082008115484199316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-41806765928816514812015-10-30T23:09:41.491-04:002015-10-30T23:09:41.491-04:00Maybe Assad will go for a partition. Maybe ISIS wi...Maybe Assad will go for a partition. Maybe ISIS will have their caliphate, if they play their cards right.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-48345797652765986292015-10-30T21:35:30.356-04:002015-10-30T21:35:30.356-04:00And the plot thickens with US boots on the ground ...And the plot thickens with US boots on the ground in Syria on the pretense of fighting ISIS but more likely with an aim to establish a Western-controlled partition of Syria, similar to the partition of Korea.<br /><br />Putin has played his cards well up to this point, but it's tough to see how he's going to handle the U.S. meddling? <br /><br />To defeat the terrorists and control the territory before the US grabs it, someone will have to put tens of thousands of boots on the ground. Airstrikes alone will not do the job.Dan Lynchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11189866002273597534noreply@blogger.com