Trouble in the Gulf: Ties to Qatar cut

[luiz]

Trade him for Temer?

Corrupt, unpopular, aged, thinks he'll look great and everything is a conspiracy against him…

Oh as far as old corrupt and ridiculous men go I'd much rather stick with Temer. At least he doesn't cause international damage. And in the grand scheme of things, he's not even one of the worst Brazilian presidents of the last decades. He might even be in the better 50% of présidents since 1989. Which is very sad, but true.

Trump is... A weird mix of ridiculous and scary. I thought it would at least be mildly amusing to have this clown as POTUS, but I'm not laughing.

 

[Takhisis]

Hey, I forgot to include the fact that Temer is past retirement age but married some sort of model who is a few decades younger than he is.

 

[luiz]

Hey, I forgot to include the fact that Temer is past retirement age but married some sort of model who is a few decades younger than he is.

Temer's wife is one of the highlights of the current administration. She's gorgeous

 

[Takhisis]

Yes, well, but, you know, I was addressing the correlations between Temer and El Donald…

 

[Cutlass]

We get 3% of our oil from the Saudis, is 3 cents off a gallon of gas really worth being allied to such a neurotic regime?

Pax Americana. We keep Saudi Arabia open for business not because the US needs Saudi Oil, but because the world trade system as a whole needs Saudi oil. And the US both benefits from, and to a large extent operates the system of, world trade.

 

[danjuno]

Sure, but at what point do the costs outweigh the benefits? What happens if others do to SA what S.A. is doing to Qatar right now?

 

[r16]

what an heartbreak . And while the show goes on to cover ISIL is being "defeated" because it's patrons are in-fighting , hence the Jihadi honour is "preserved" Americans have shot down a Syrian jet for attacking its allies , while it's a normal thing thing for Coalition jets to attack the allies of Syria .

 

[Takhisis]

Sure, but at what point do the costs outweigh the benefits? What happens if others do to SA what S.A. is doing to Qatar right now?

Who's going to attack Suadi Arabia?

 

[r16]

no one . That's the problem with proxies . The Gulf Arabs are proxies to US and Jihadists are proxies to the Gulf Arabs . Everybody , bar me and Starfleet wants a Kurdish nation state . Job done , Jihadists have to fade for a moment . The crisis comes and Kurds are heroically capturing Raqqa , though we don't see much footage , 'cause there is not much footage . Oh , yeah the evil Iranians , on the way to make a land bridge to Syria , Lebanon , the lot . The famous Shia Crescent , which never existed until King Abdullah of Jordan invented it , to justify the Jihadi troubles , the whole Arab Spring thing . And Americans can not scare the Iranians ; incredibly lacking clue to the "determination" that exists in those people . Well , easy to understand . When today's US decision makers were dopeheads , today's Iranian decision makers were 15 year kids with a gold key to "Heaven" - stepping on every possible piece of land to clear the mines laid by the Iraqis .

 

[Takhisis]

I have distilled your post into:
Jihadists are the proxies of the US proxies, public opinion wants the Kurds to have their own sovereign nation-state. The Kurds capture places from the US' secondhand proxies and thus openly gain it, rather than having a secession movement… and the Iranians want a link to the Mediterranean coast so they are the only ones standing in the way?

Confirm Y/N? Have I missed anything?

 

[Leoreth]

And who do we need to scorn to solve this problem?

 

[red_elk]

Iranians already got landbridge to Mediterranean, a couple of weeks ago. Circumventing US base at At-Tanf near Jordan border. And making missile strike against ISIS at Deir-ez-Zor, just to demonstrate that US base is in range of their ballistic missiles.
These developments may alarm Israel, which is bad thing. And of course the fact that too many different powers interests are interconnected there.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Iranians already got landbridge to Mediterranean, a couple of weeks ago. Circumventing US base at At-Tanf near Jordan border. And making missile strike against ISIS at Deir-ez-Zor, just to demonstrate that US base is in range of their ballistic missiles.
These developments may alarm Israel, which is bad thing. And of course the fact that too many different powers interests are interconnected there.

Can soviet please stop selling nuclear technology to third world countries in the middle east ?
You already saw what happened in North Korea, and Ukraine the last thing the region needs is nuclear armaments race, even the US isnt that crazy, well the US might be stupid but not crazy
I have a feeling that this will be a moumental mistake ranked higher then the US failed invasion of Iraq and Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

 

[innonimatu]

That would be easier to defend if the US hadn't been busy ignoring Israel's buildup of a nuclear arsenal in the region... the race for proliferation has been on for a long time there.

In any case, it may be that nuclear weapons do indeed lessen the change of war. Pakistan and India managed to not start one since they went nuclear. Despite a history of itching for war.

 

[FriendlyFire]

That would be easier to defend if the US hadn't been busy ignoring Israel's buildup of a nuclear arsenal in the region... the race for proliferation has been on for a long time there.
In any case, it may be that nuclear weapons do indeed lessen the change of war. Pakistan and India managed to not start one since they went nuclear. Despite a history of itching for war.

Two things comes to mind
Thats is Pakistani has been selling nuclear technology to other countries in an attempt to generate income, country has been involved with Islamic terrorism but limited to regional aspiration's with Kashmire and Afghanistan
Pakistani has lost every war against India, Every single war has been started by Pakistan its been more India nuclear program and weapons keeping Pakistan in check from starting yet more wars. The nuclear weapons have at least brought military balance in that region.

As for the Middle east, a lot of middle eastern countries during the cold war already received WMDs in the form of chemical weapons from the soviets
And we'll we have already see the use of WMDs, add to this the constant civil wars which start everytime there is a drought and its is a powerkeg waiting to be set off. First world countries with nuclear weapons with a stable government and economy. But third world countries with nuclear weapons and a history of wars and ethnic violence is not going to end well

 

[red_elk]

Can soviet please stop selling nuclear technology to third world countries in the middle east ?

I suppose, Russia-USA relations didn't reach the point of breaking non-proliferation treaty yet. But "can you please..." time is already over, with first sanctions.

 

[Leoreth]

"Can you please" was over when you were nicely asked not to occupy territory of another sovereign country.

 

[red_elk]

No, in 1999 and 2003 it was still an option, I think.

 

[Leoreth]

That's not what you're being sanctioned for here. Just save yourself the victim mentality.

 

[red_elk]

Victims are mostly in the Middle East, which still can't recover from democratic interventions.
It's just funny to watch you pretending that you have moral highground.
And then, act surprised when "nicely asking" and "can you please" doesn't work any longer.