Monday, January 19, 2015

Heck of a JV team ...

Interesting observations from a German reporter embedded ... yes, embedded with the Islamic State.

Heck, let's go back to Mod-Trotsky; "You may not be interested in fighting radical Islam, but it is interesting in fighting you."
ISIS is 'much stronger and much more dangerous' than anyone in the West realizes, a journalist who spent ten days embedded with the group in Iraq and Syria has warned.
Jürgen Todenhöfer, 74, said that the West has 'no concept of the threat it faces' from the Islamic State and has underestimated the risk posed by ISIS 'dramatically'.
The German reporter spent most of his time in Mosul in northern Iraq, but he also traveled to the ISIS-controlled territories of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor in Syria.
...
Todenhöfer went on to say that ISIS have plans for mass genocide, with the aim or eradicating all atheists and religions that are not 'people of the book' or who do not subscribe to their particular brand of Islam.
...
Speaking on RTL's Nachtjournal program after his return to Germany last week, Todenhöfer said that he constantly heard the view that ISIS want to 'conquer the world'.
'This is the largest religious cleansing strategy that has ever been planned in human history,' the journalist added.
As they have stated elsewhere, they plan to continue to expand. Like all expansionist religious movements with a martial aspect - they will until defeated.

As you can see by the map, they are succeeding - and what we have been doing is not working in the broader conflict. What we need right now is a Kissinger with the ear of the President, but it seems that instead we have Biden-actual - someone wrong about almost all national security related events in the last 30+ years. It shows.

First thing we need to do it to stop going after Assad directly or indirectly. He is the only one who is protecting Shi'ite, Druse, Alawite, Christians and other religious minorities in Syria. We don't have to support him, just stop working with the Islamic State fighting him. He is a SOB, but he is not the worst option for Syria. 

Let the Russians help Assad, we don't have to. That will squeeze IS from one side. We should redouble our efforts with the Kurds and the Iraqi governments on the other. Let's work with the Russians and coordinate our "proxy work." We can work to turn Syria in to Switzerland later.

We do not need to see a 2015 expansion like we saw in 2014.

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