Cyprus-Forum.com

[Paphitis]

[...] I believe there are 13 countries in the coalition that has committed to fight this evil movement. [...]

That is 26 countries according to a very recent article in the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/france-t ... 1410772479

That is good news if that is the case.

[kurupetos]

[...] I believe there are 13 countries in the coalition that has committed to fight this evil movement. [...]

That is 26 countries according to a very recent article in the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/france-t ... 1410772479

In reality this is a great opportunity for the west to sell loads of weaponry to combat those criminals.

However, one could wonder why the situation was left to grow in such levels for so long...

...and also what is the source of ISIS equipment? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/s ... udi-arabia

[Tim Drayton]

It seems that 26 countries are currently attending a conference in Paris to discuss ways to fight Islamic State:

http://www.wsj.com/video/26-nation-talk ... 517F7.html

but, in all, about 40 countries have so far signed up to a coalition:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29201317

[Demonax]

'Turkey directly supported al-Qaeda in Syria'

Turkey has directly supported al-Qaeda's wing in Syria, in defiance of America, the former US ambassador has disclosed.
The Turkish authorities thought they could work with extremist Islamist groups in the Syrian civil war and at the same time push them to become more moderate, Francis Ricciardone, who was until late June the US ambassador to Ankara, told journalists in a briefing. That led them to work with Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda offshoot, as well as hardline Salafi Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham. Mr Ricciardone said that he tried to persuade the Turks to close their borders to the groups, but to no avail.

"We ultimately had no choice but to agree to disagree," he said. "The Turks frankly worked with groups for a period, including al-Nusra, whom we finally designated as [being groups] we're not willing to work with." Turkey allowed its borders to be used as a conduit for aid, weapons and volunteers heading to support Syrian rebels from the start of the uprising, and there have long been accusations that it did not do enough to distinguish between "moderate" groups and extremists.

But this is the first time a senior American official - albeit one no longer in service - has said openly that Turkey was working with al-Qaeda. Ironically, the Turkish policy has been effective in one way - Jabhat al-Nusra is now seen as relatively moderate compared with its splinter group, Islamic State. But in other respects, it has backfired.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... sador.html

http://www.smh.com.au/world/turkey-dire ... z3DP7QVz7r

[Tim Drayton]

[...] I believe there are 13 countries in the coalition that has committed to fight this evil movement. [...]

That is 26 countries according to a very recent article in the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/france-t ... 1410772479

In reality this is a great opportunity for the west to sell loads of weaponry to combat those criminals.

However, one could wonder why the situation was left to grow in such levels for so long...

...and also what is the source of ISIS equipment? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/s ... udi-arabia

It is more complicated than it looks, though. The Americans were arming the moderate opposition, not Islamists, and the Gulf states were arming Sunni Islamists, but they now are shocked by what has emerged. Islamic State has now captured weapons that were previously in other groups' hands.

[Tim Drayton]

This article seems to have attracted a lot of attention. It links the expansion of ISIS with Turkey's failed foreign policy to expand its influence by using Islamist proxies.

Turkey and the ‘Jihadist Highway’

The rising pressure on state-facilitators is a welcome development because, in the long term, it is essential to stemming the tide of extremist Islamist groups. In this case such pressure should be brought to bear on the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) to abandon its policy of expanding its influence in the Arab world through supporting Islamist proxies. According to Soner Cagaptay in the Wall Street Journal, this policy has been so disastrous that “Turkey has lost all access to the Middle East.” Perhaps most significantly, Ankara’s strong opposition to the new Egyptian government following last year’s ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood-oriented presidency of Mohammad Mursi has caused even more damage to its regional standing. With very few friends left in the Middle East following these diplomatic disasters, Turkey may now be in retreat.

That is why the moment is now for Obama to lay down the law with his NATO ally and insist that Ankara amend its expansionist foreign policy and steer away from what seems to be attempts to exert its influence by using extreme Islamist proxies. Two years ago, such demands would have been unworkable given Turkey’s diplomatic gains, but since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s rise in Egypt, Turkey has lost favor with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and is now incurring the dismay of the West. Given their regional isolation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu may now be more receptive to adapting their Middle East strategy.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/n ... hway-.html

An excellent article, Sami Zahed.

Having said that, he ignores the Qatar factor. Qatar apparently still supports the Muslim Brotherhood and I suspect there is a Turkey-Qatar axis in place.

[kurupetos]

It is more complicated than it looks, though. The Americans were arming the moderate opposition, not Islamists, and the Gulf states were arming Sunni Islamists, but they now are shocked by what has emerged. Islamic State has now captured weapons that were previously in other groups' hands.

The Americans were arming the opposition to maintain the continuation of the war for the reason explained above.

Sometimes you have to think beyond the BS served by the Z.-controlled media.

[Get Real!]

In my opinion, the emergence of the entity calling itself Islamic State and the creation of a broad alliance to combat and destroy it represents a major turning point in history and, given Cyprus' close proximity to the region, these events will have consequences for the island.

As such, it would be good to have a thread where people can discuss the latest developments and try to make sense of what is happening in a spirit of open, mutually respectful discussion. Perhaps those looking for a slanging match could go elsewhere.

Ok, but to participate in your civilized discussion would one need (as a prerequisite) to buy your naïve story that a “Islamic State”…

1. Spawned out of nothing and in the middle of nowhere.

2. Proceeded to manufacture and arm itself with the latest American weapons.

3. Acquired access to military GPS so as to safely traverse corridors in a rather busy and very dangerous war region.

4. Setup an intelligent global recruiting network.

5. Acquired access to seemingly unlimited funds for its operations.

...and a host of other impressive capabilities not mentioned above, all on their own in roughly the space of a year?

[Lordo]

if you really are serious about understand how we got to this mess in syria and iraq, just have a look at what happened when america invaded iraq. where did the american soldiers go first. was it the arms dumps, like hell it was. they went for the petroleum ministry to find out where all the oil was. the arms disappeared into the suni hands.

[Paphitis]

It seems that 26 countries are currently attending a conference in Paris to discuss ways to fight Islamic State:

http://www.wsj.com/video/26-nation-talk ... 517F7.html

but, in all, about 40 countries have so far signed up to a coalition:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29201317

40 now! It has been easy to mobilise support because most countries are appalled at this so called IS. They are a very big threat and concern.