IS

[r16]

beatles is quite ahead of this born-in-1971 kid . So you mean one of the members -named George to be precise- was the son of a guy called Harry ?

edit : uh , George Harrison , right ?

 

[Gucumatz]

I have been reading several articles about Germany basically volunteering to be the Kurdish supplier of weapons. Do the Kurdish not have stockpiles of weapons/accessibility to American weapons from the Iraqi government itself?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I have been reading several articles about Germany basically volunteering to be the Kurdish supplier of weapons. Do the Kurdish not have stockpiles of weapons/accessibility to American weapons from the Iraqi government itself?

Battle for an emerging market. Capitalism at work.

 

[Tigranes]

A brother of slain American journalist James Foley said Friday the U.S. government could have done more to help him escape the militant group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, which had demanded a $132-million ransom before beheading him in a grisly video released this week. “You could accomplish both things. The United States could have done more on behalf of the Western and American hostages over there and still dealt with broader worldwide issues, and other nations have done that,” he said, adding that the militants had also demanded the release of several prisoners held by U.S. authorities.

"We are sitting on prisoners, for example, in Guantanamo. It doesn't even have to be financial," Foley said. "I just feel strongly that more can be done moving forward."

Which is true. President would not close Guantanamo, as he promised, so at least prisoners there could be used for exchanges. Unless, they tell everything about the torture thing.

 

[kramerfan86]

I disagree with this idea that we should start giving a group like IS money or prisoners as a reward any time they do crap like this.

 

[Tigranes]

What if they held captive someone you know and care about? It is not giving, it's exchanging.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

What if they held captive someone you know and care about? It is not giving, it's exchanging.

Everyone in my family knows if I am taken captive they can work on rescue or they can work on revenge...their choice...and they count on the same from me.

 

[kramerfan86]

What if they held captive someone you know and care about? It is not giving, it's exchanging.

That's a fairly weak argument, if someone brutally tortured and killed a family member Id want them brutally killed, does that mean that should become societal policy?

 

[classical_hero]

You have to wonder how he was captured by them in the first place. It looks like the more "moderate" forces were the on that kidnapped him and a gift for ISIS he was given to them.
http://www.ibtimes.com/james-foley-allegedly-used-token-allegiance-group-joined-isis-1664272

The International Business Times reported last month that activists on the ground near Al Bab, Syria, said that the Dawood Brigade, which now consists of about 1,000 people, defected from the Free Syrian Army and moved on to Raqqa to join ISIS. The group arrived in Raqqa, an ISIS stronghold, in a convoy of more than 100 vehicles.

The Dawood Brigade, which used to be called Jaysh al-Mujahedin (Mujahedin Army), but changed its name in late 2012, was originally under the direction of Abu Mohammed al-Shami al-Absi. The group was rumored to have been responsible for the kidnapping of John Cantlie and Jeroen Oerlemans, who went missing in Syria in 2012, according to the Syrian sources. The two journalists were rescued by another rebel faction, and escaped.

 

[Tigranes]

That's a fairly weak argument, if someone brutally tortured and killed a family member Id want them brutally killed, does that mean that should become societal policy?

No, because you have the wrong instincts. That would place you in the same boat with those same savages you are loathing. All those Amber Alert laws came to pass because family members found the most constructive way to channel their devastation and anger.

 

[Tigranes]

Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and a Republican from California, told CNN that he'd support the use of armed drones on ISIS in Syria.

"I think strikes at this point, against the Syrian ISIS, which has bled into Iraq, those steps should be taken," Royce said. "Had they been taken some time ago, I think ISIS would not have as much influence on the ground as it has now."

I would like to see how would President ask Congress for strike authorization. Which might technically require Assad's agreement as well, Syria is nominally sovereign country after all.
Can one think of any other time when Middle East was more convoluted than now?

 

[Borachio]

Kidnapping brings up a moral dilemma: do you pay the ransom, liberate the victim, and make it much more likely that another person will be kidnapped and a higher ransom demanded; or do you bluntly refuse to pay the ransom, lose the victim, but make it much less likely another person will be kidnapped?

Same thing with protection rackets. Same thing with armed conflict generally (though it's less obviously so).

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Kidnapping brings up a moral dilemma: do you pay the ransom, liberate the victim, and make it much more likely that another person will be kidnapped and a higher ransom demanded; or do you bluntly refuse to pay the ransom, lose the victim, but make it much less likely another person will be kidnapped?

Same thing with protection rackets. Same thing with armed conflict generally (though it's less obviously so).

The US is obviously doing the right thing, the EU got it wrong. You can't fund these groups. It will only get worse.

So, John's a British rap artist. Political asylum seekers in the '80s. Who would've guessed?

 

[Borachio]

You're ahead of me. I've not found any reference to a rap artist. Or asylum seeker.

http://rt.com/uk/182100-isis-john-fight-in-crisis/

 

[Loppan Torkel]

We'll see. Nothing is sure yet, but if true - does it change anything?

 

[Tigranes]

It does. Say you learn he was someone from your hood. And you know him, his family and problems in the hood. You will get a better understanding what breeds terrorism on British soil, and what MI5, MI6 and GCHQ can do to close on guys like him before they even fly to places like Syria.

 

[Borachio]

Since, apparently, radicalization is taking place via social media, this should be trivially easy.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It does. Say you learn he was someone from your hood. And you know him, his family and problems in the hood. You will get a better understanding what breeds terrorism on British soil, and what MI5, MI6 and GCHQ can do to close on guys like him before they even fly to places like Syria.

Because arresting people who might be radicalized is always a good idea.

"Well, you've been accused of being possibly radicalized. Can you prove conclusively that you are not radicalized?"

"You do know that proving a negative is a logical impossibility, right?"

"Too bad for you then. Off with his head. Next case."

 

[Old Hippy]

Because arresting people who might be radicalized is always a good idea.

and it just used to be science fiction to arrest people for what they thought...
now Europe, USA, and Australia are tracking and working out what to do with people who have these thoughts, and its very vague what radicalized actually means...
can we actually survive our defense against this radicalization, because we will have a society where we belive in free thought as long as it is the approved free thought
and isn't that what IS wants to have...

 

[Tigranes]

An American captured nearly two years ago was released in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.

Peter Theo Curtis was freed from the "clutches" of Jabhat Al-Nusrah, Kerry said. National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice said Curtis was "outside of Syria" and "safe."

Curtis was reportedly abducted in Antakya, Turkey, where he planned to enter Syria in October 2012, according to Al Jazeera, which also reported he was released to United Nations officials with the help of Qatari mediators.

Not all the news are bad from Middle East, after all. But the moment of joy got instantly tarnished with a thought: Qatari mediators? No special operation? Was there any ransom involved?