#81
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one thing that i think would be helpful at least to me in trying to understand some of this would be something on the political economy of the sort of balkanization being discussed here. this seems to me to be qualitatively distinct from what was seen in iraq and libya, so im wondering what the closest analogy would be
#82
Occupied Aztlan
Post rating: ~
when people talk middle east balkanization theyre probably thinking along the same lines as that ralph peters map from a while back.

e: found it

#83
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Urbandale posted:

when people talk middle east balkanization theyre probably thinking along the same lines as that ralph peters map from a while back.

e: found it



still in disbelief that middling liberal or ex-mil pundits havin a cheeky lil Sykes-Picot fanfic can be taken seriously but i guess thats cause im retarded

#84
Mike Nelson here.
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xipe posted:

there are plenty of kurdish mafia & corrupt tribal leaders who will take anyones shekel


Yikes!

#85
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this is interesting: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nid=111358

The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) does not expect the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to be able to build a Kurdish federal state in Syria’s north, according to the coalition forces’ commander.

“It’s not my mission to create a Kurdish federal state, and we’re not liberating Raqqa for any one party,” Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a briefing on March 28.

Townsend’s remarks came a day after PYD leader Salih Muslim said Raqqa could join a decentralized government system proposed by Syrian Kurdish groups for the country once it is free from ISIL.

“What we see with the Syrian Democratic Forces is although they may be largely Kurdish led, they are over half non-Kurd. Mostly Arabs, some others, some Turkmen and some others,” said Townsend.

“But the Kurds are only about 10 percent of the population of northern Syria. So I don’t really see how there’s actually going to be anything called a Kurdish federal state in northern Syria. What I think is that the people of northern Syria, all of them, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, others alike, are determining what their future’s going to be,” he added.

“So, I don’t really see a Kurdish federal state and I don’t know whether Raqqa’s going to be part of it or not. Our job is to rid northern Syria of ISIS and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

The top U.S. general added that Raqqa in the future would be governed by its local people, and that the Kurdish-led SDF forces will move on.

“Raqqa is largely, by overwhelming majority, an Arab city. And the Syrian Democratic Forces are enlarging the Syrian Arab Coalition, part of their formation, to liberate Raqqa. Will there be Kurds that will fight in Raqqa? Certainly there will be, because there are Kurds from Raqqa,” he said.

However, he said he did not expect any Kurdish units to remain in Raqqa.

“What we have seen as Syrian Democratic Forces have liberated a good 20 percent of more of northern Syria is they have recruited fighters from the local area. They have led the assault to liberate their own towns and villages,” Townsend said.

“Once those have been liberated, they believe the local fighters, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen alike, whoever’s from that local area, they leave them to secure it and they leave them to govern it and they move on,” he added.

The SDF, which mainly consists of the PYD’s armed wing People’s Protection Units (YPG), is currently in an offensive backed by the U.S.-led coalition to free Raqqa from ISIL.

Turkey considers the PYD and YPG as extensions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it regards as a terrorist group, and wants the U.S. and Russia to stop backing the groups.

#86
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Urbandale posted:

when people talk middle east balkanization theyre probably thinking along the same lines as that ralph peters map from a while back.

e: found it


so, sure, ive seen the map before but it doesnt mean much to me by itself. the logic as ive heard it goes that if there are more smaller states they will be easier to coerce but i havent seen much that goes beyond that, and it just raises a bunch of questions for me.

is there some theory about what that would look like, as opposed to what already takes place? would a good similar example be eastern europe after the fall of the ussr, or maybe the actual balkans after the fall of yugoslavia? in each of those cases there was a much larger state splintering into a handful of smaller states. are there common patterns of deployment of capital in those regions that are analogous beyond taking the form of FDI profit extraction that is already common throughout the world? or is it maybe that this sort of profit extraction via FDI prefers smaller states for some reason, and that this preference is a driving force behind this motion? are the formal state lines even that meaningful for this type of capital deployment?

i've poked a bit around places like the next recession and monthly review which are my usual sources for info about this sort of thing and didnt find much but im also not that confident that i even really know what i should be looking for.

#87
Post rating: +
Not an answer to your question but perhaps context:

This interview with an Iraqi agricultural engineer describes how things were since he was working in the 70s and the hell they have been going thru since 1991

None of any of this would have happened if there was a Soviet union... Not only the wars and regime changes, but sanctions only make sense in a uni polar world.
A regional security alliance backed up by Russia & China might stem the chaos

#88
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thanks! its a really interesting video, but as you noted i'm thinking more specifically here about the political economy of partition as opposed to, say, the overthrow of iraq or libya
#89
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Shir Hever looks at the political economy of Israeli occupation of Palestine, I'm sure some of that would be relevant.

Systematically looking at the flows of everything from Gazantiep-Idlib would be interesting
#90
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yeah!
#91
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damoj posted:

still in disbelief that middling liberal or ex-mil pundits havin a cheeky lil Sykes-Picot fanfic can be taken seriously but i guess thats cause im retarded



i'm not seeing any italian, french or british occupation zones

#92
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https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/exclusive-inside-the-trump-lobby-that-wants-to-break-up-iraq-3ecf122f0ead#.di9me74qi
#93
chickeon
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xipe posted:

if there was a Soviet union...


the solution we can all agree on

#94
chickeon
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Putin's pushing towards compromise and acquiescing to the imperial designs at work in the region aren't signs that those things are good and we should support proposed ammendments, they're signs that Putin either needs to get the fuck out of the way or help oversee the restoration of socialism in Russia. The US has been stepping up their mostly comical spooky efforts within Russia what with this sudden refocusing on their pathetic and unpopular liberal politicians gettin that USAID scrilla, cutting the head of imperial subversion and further degeneration of the capitalist russian state is a revolutionary as well as patriotic imperative for all russians on this most glorious of centennials. Only an unshakable alliance between russia and chjna under socialism and a disentanglement of both states and economies from the hell-parasite of global capital can save themselves, allied states like Syreia and Iran, and ultimately the world from a very vital and only superficially declining imperial hegemony e: and of course an autonomous Kurdish oblast can be spoken of coming into existence, any real future for the Kurdish people will absolutely not come from the barrel of Amerikkkan guns
#95
Post rating: +
heres some good news from out of syria for yall



that ol' "non-combat incident" strikes again



wait, maybe this should have been in the funny pictures thre
#96
"Jpg." - Hank Hill
Post rating: +

Urbandale posted:

when people talk middle east balkanization theyre probably thinking along the same lines as that ralph peters map from a while back.

e: found it






#97
Online
Post rating: +
the pisspig got a Washington Post write up now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/how-two-us-marxists-wound-up-on-the-front-lines-against-isis/2017/03/30/3c722344-c79e-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?utm_term=.31fdaa46922a

It accurately represents him as a Marxist instead of calling him an anarchist, and lets him denounce all US presence in Syria, so it's good I guess
#98
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ilmdge posted:

the pisspig got a Washington Post write up now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/how-two-us-marxists-wound-up-on-the-front-lines-against-isis/2017/03/30/3c722344-c79e-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?utm_term=.31fdaa46922a

It accurately represents him as a Marxist instead of calling him an anarchist, and lets him denounce all US presence in Syria, so it's good I guess



:rolleyes:

E: SRY IM NEW

#99
UNUSUALY COOL
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comeslammer
#100
Occupied Aztlan
Post rating: ~
howd you get out of ifap
#101
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Urbandale posted:

howd you get out of ifap


Sucked a lot of cock

#102
mt.real
Post rating: +

SONOFCONESLAMMER posted:

ilmdge posted:
the pisspig got a Washington Post write up now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/how-two-us-marxists-wound-up-on-the-front-lines-against-isis/2017/03/30/3c722344-c79e-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?utm_term=.31fdaa46922a

It accurately represents him as a Marxist instead of calling him an anarchist, and lets him denounce all US presence in Syria, so it's good I guess



:rolleyes:

E: SRY IM NEW


stop being shitty and annoying. I'm not a mod in this forum but I let you out because you said you'd quit making shitty posts, so far you're at 100% shit. stop it. it would be better to have someone being sarcastic and critical once in a while than not, you don't have to agree with anyone, just stop writing all your posts as if you're 12 years old. if you can't handle that someone is going to end up putting you in the can again just because you're acting like you're too dumb to breathe

#103
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become the poster you were born to be SONoFSAMSlammer, i have faith - i know u can do this
#104
Post rating: +
An ocean of cones between me and my love
#105
Post rating: -

drcat posted:

SONOFCONESLAMMER posted:

ilmdge posted:
the pisspig got a Washington Post write up now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/how-two-us-marxists-wound-up-on-the-front-lines-against-isis/2017/03/30/3c722344-c79e-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html?utm_term=.31fdaa46922a

It accurately represents him as a Marxist instead of calling him an anarchist, and lets him denounce all US presence in Syria, so it's good I guess



:rolleyes:

E: SRY IM NEW

stop being shitty and annoying. I'm not a mod in this forum but I let you out because you said you'd quit making shitty posts, so far you're at 100% shit. stop it. it would be better to have someone being sarcastic and critical once in a while than not, you don't have to agree with anyone, just stop writing all your posts as if you're 12 years old. if you can't handle that someone is going to end up putting you in the can again just because you're acting like you're too dumb to breathe



Fuck you. Put me back then. Oh wow WaPo wrote a really cool pr article for whatever this totally non Marxist shit is, should I smile at the actual children struggling to get this and keep my mouth shut so some aggressively territorial nerd won't have his forum viewing experienced ruined?

Instead of using this as a launching point (why would someone roll their eyes at a WaPo fluff piece on PPG?) it's lame internet nerd shit "YOU BETTER WATCH YOURSELF OR YOULL BE BACK IN IFAP."

This shit never scared me in LF and it's even more meaningless now.

Edited by swampman ()

#106
"Jpg." - Hank Hill
Post rating: +
conerslam, conerslam, sons whatever a slammer can
#107
Post rating: ~

le_nelson_mandela_face posted:

conerslam, conerslam, sons whatever a slammer can


You're lucky you ain't in my forum boy, else you'd get a whippin'!

#108
Post rating: +

SONOFCONESLAMMER posted:

Fuck you. Put me back then. Oh wow WaPo wrote a really cool pr article for whatever this totally non Marxist shit is, should I smile at the actual children struggling to get this and keep my mouth shut so some aggressively territorial nerd won't have his forum viewing experienced ruined?

Instead of using this as a launching point (why would someone roll their eyes at a WaPo fluff piece on PPG?) it's lame internet nerd shit "YOU BETTER WATCH YOURSELF OR YOULL BE BACK IN IFAP."

This shit never scared me in LF and it's even more meaningless now.




#109
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cone status: shook
#110
take a shit on the floor
Post rating: ~

SONOFCONESLAMMER posted:



show me your weird lumpy dick

#111
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I've wanted to post my weird dick for years but never did.
#112
take a shit on the floor
Post rating: +
if you want to know how bad your posts can be without multiple people telling you to shut th efuck up look at mine
#113
Post rating: ~
im behind you 100% sONFOCONErAMMer, don't let these jerks force you to post your dick if you don't want to,
#114
mt.real
Post rating: +
i checked out his dick and it wasn't actually weird at all and as we all know you need to have a weird dick to be male and post on the rhizzone. his cone has been permanently slammed. let us pray.
#115
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*chanting* his name was SONOFCONESLAMMER
#116
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#117
take a shit on the floor
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today i went to an anarchist bookshop and donated to some rojava solidarity thing. i got a YPJ pin which is cool because it's like the YPG except the isismen feel even more upset if they're shot by women
#118
Post rating: ~

Horselord posted:

today i went to an anarchist bookshop and donated to some rojava solidarity thing. i got a YPJ pin which is cool because it's like the YPG except the isismen feel even more upset if they're shot by women



#119
Post rating: +
https://www.wired.com/2017/03/anarchist-bitcoin-coder-found-fighting-isis-syria/
#120
Post rating: +

Horselord posted:

today i went to an anarchist bookshop and donated to some rojava solidarity thing



catchphrase