Cyprus-Forum.com

[Lordo]

god help the saudi dictatorship if the shias there take up arms against them. heads will roll.

[Tim Drayton]

god help the saudi dictatorship if the shias there take up arms against them. heads will roll.

You raise an interesting and pertinent point, given that the Shiites are estimated to make up 15-25% of the population of Saudi Arabia, and they are concentrated in the oil producing areas. I have heard plenty of anecdotal evidence from people who have worked in Saudi Arabia that the Shiites there suffer a great deal of discrimination and repression, possibly making them ready to explode in anger at some time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam_in_Saudi_Arabia

[Lordo]

if this killing continues, they will have no choice but to join.

[Tim Drayton]

I would still look for the first spark coming from Bahrain. Qatar is another interesting place, given that it not only has a Shiite Arab minority, but also a Persian minority, Persian families who were living there at the time of independence and became citizens and apparently continue to speak Farsi at home. There are no official statistics, of course, everybody is just a citizen. Still, the Qatari ruling family has plenty of wealth at its disposal and can buy the people's loyalty by doling out free cars and houses. The Bahraini rulers can't.

[Tim Drayton]

The good news is that the press is reporting victory for the Iraqi forces in liberating Tikrit. The bad news is that there are reports of DAESH taking over a large Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus.

[Paphitis]

The good news is that the press is reporting victory for the Iraqi forces in liberating Tikrit. The bad news is that there are reports of DAESH taking over a large Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus.

I wonder what Lordo will say when they start killing Palestinians.

Lordo, do you think we crusaders should let them do whatever they want?

[Lordo]

if america did not arm taliban in the 80s these events may never have happened. once you release the tiger, the damage is done. these people are now set up and self generating.

here is another classic example of how it works.

in egypt there is an election. the elected leader is overthrown by the military. america pretends they are no happy and cuts military aid to the dictator while everybody is looking. as soon as their back is turned the military aid is back on tap.

the yanks should never be allowed to interfere in anybody else's country. is it really that hard to understand. as isil is armed by america first and then by american proxi countries, it makes them responsible for everything they do.

if you accept that america can do as they wish, so can anybody else. simples.

yanks go home, you have done enough damage for a while.

[Paphitis]

if america did not arm taliban in the 80s these events may never have happened. once you release the tiger, the damage is done. these people are now set up and self generating.

here is another classic example of how it works.

in egypt there is an election. the elected leader is overthrown by the military. america pretends they are no happy and cuts military aid to the dictator while everybody is looking. as soon as their back is turned the military aid is back on tap.

the yanks should never be allowed to interfere in anybody else's country. is it really that hard to understand. as isil is armed by america first and then by american proxi countries, it makes them responsible for everything they do.

if you accept that america can do as they wish, so can anybody else. simples.

yanks go home, you have done enough damage for a while.

Where is your supporting evidence?

It would have been worse if Afghanistan was taken over by USSR. Yes that's right! Afghanistan was invaded by USSR. Do you think the Mujaheddin would have accepted this?

Obviously not. Whilst USSR invaded, the US merely armed those that fought the USSR. A proxy war against the USSR if you like, just like Vietnam was for the USSR! What else would you expect?

Of course we are going to support Egypt. We want to keep them close and moderate. We actually prefer the Military because we know that it's the military that keeps things under control. But we won't admit this of course.

Who else are we going to support in Egypt? The military is very loyal and they keep things secular and fairly moderate.

We also support their democratization. Just because the military is in charge right now, is no reason for us to stop supporting them. Egypt has always been a good stabilizing force in the region and that is exactly how we will like to keep it. There is no point in making an enemy of Egypt.

[Tim Drayton]

Iraq's top brass was already training its sights on Mosul, which fighters seized from the government at the same time as Tikrit in June last year.

"This victory is only a new starting point from which to launch the operation to liberate Nineveh province," the defence ministry said Tuesday after a meeting of top commanders.

The loss of Tikrit further isolates the main ISIL hub of Mosul, with Baghdad's forces now set to push north while Kurdish forces close in from the three other directions.

Zaid al-Ali, author of "The Struggle For Iraq's Future", said however that the fighting in Tikrit was made easier by the fact that the city was largely emptied of its population even before the operation began on March 2.

"Mosul still has a large civilian population, which will make things very complicated," the analyst said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/i ... 49148.html

I am becoming more and more convinced that Iraq will be liberated from the DAESH vermin by the end of the year.

[Tim Drayton]

There is speculation that Iranian soldiers were involved on the ground in the liberation of Tikrit:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wor ... in-tikrit/