naraburns nihil supernum
2yr ago
(text post)
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Israel-Gaza Megathread #2
This is a refreshed megathread for any posts on the conflict between (so far, and so far as I know) Hamas and the Israeli government, as well as related geopolitics. Culture War thread rules apply.
The_Nybbler
If you win the rat race you're still a rat. But you're also still a winner.
2yr ago
as America has done with ISIS and Al Qaeda. But that requires patience, precision, lots of allies and alternatives that have legitimacy within the societies from which these young men emerge.
I'm pretty sure Al Qaeda and ISIS were mostly knocked down by consistent application of violence, not any of that stuff. How many times did the US kill the "#2" person in Al Qaeda?
IIRC one of the interesting things about the ISIS conflict was that it relied on a prophesy of declaring a caliphate and then winning global domination via victory in traditional battle, not guerilla terrorist tactics. This is, to put it kindly, an offer the West found acceptable, to the tune of tons of JDAMs and eventual victory of non-ISIS ground forces.
I remember someone in these parts observing that, although there is no evidence it was planned as such, it was certainly an effective honeypot at drawing in Muslims prone to violent extremism from around the world to a scenario where they became legitimate military targets.
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Notes -
I'm pretty sure Al Qaeda and ISIS were mostly knocked down by consistent application of violence, not any of that stuff. How many times did the US kill the "#2" person in Al Qaeda?
IIRC one of the interesting things about the ISIS conflict was that it relied on a prophesy of declaring a caliphate and then winning global domination via victory in traditional battle, not guerilla terrorist tactics. This is, to put it kindly, an offer the West found acceptable, to the tune of tons of JDAMs and eventual victory of non-ISIS ground forces.
I remember someone in these parts observing that, although there is no evidence it was planned as such, it was certainly an effective honeypot at drawing in Muslims prone to violent extremism from around the world to a scenario where they became legitimate military targets.
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They aren't mutually exclusive. IIRC the US first defeat of AQI (which became ISIS) involved mobilizing local militias to fight them as well.
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