#1
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49946325

Mahdi has not been playing along with US demands the past couple months (not cracking down on Shia militias, condemning Israeli air strikes, opening abu kamal crossing into Syria, continuing to trade with Iran, allowing Chinese investment, etc). Protests are pretty bloody and there’s reports of gunmen targeting both police and protestors maidan style. Really frustrating to see Iraq probably about to have to suffer even more when they haven’t even recovered from the war with ISIS.

Edited by dimashq ()

#2
the u.s menace is the worst entity in humanity to ever exist
#3
Agreed, but if you subtract the nukes maybe the Mongolian Empires and British Empire, barely edge out the US.
#4
what's our class analysis of the difference between Saairun and the Fatah Alliance?
#5

Populares posted:

Agreed, but if you subtract the nukes maybe the Mongolian Empires and British Empire, barely edge out the US.



if you subtract every day but Christmas it’s Christmas every day

#6
I'm pretty sure if the Mongols had nukes they would've used them.
#7
One of the most disgusting terms from Cold War nuclear terminology I heard is "spasm" like "all-out spasm war" which meant launch everything. It's so... clinical
#8
Actually, the Mongols were famous for their stance against nuclear weaponry. They were the progressives of their time.
#9

Populares posted:

I'm pretty sure if the Mongols had nukes they would've used them.



i doubt anyone in the 13th century would be able to figure out how to arm and deploy a nuclear warhead, they’d just pry it open and irradiate themselves

#10
get this though: what if Genghis Khan had motherfwiggin’ mechs?!?!?!
#11
IMO I think it’s better to live under a tributary empire and pay tax in kind every now and then to please the local warlord than have your entire way of life destroyed by IMF diktats as your country is squeezed for every last drop of surplus value but it’s a meaningless discussion anyway unless we are talking spaceships right now in EVE online where this choice means the difference between being a no name noob and being a hero to gamers everywhere after being capped by a Libyan jihadi but I digress
#12
Died of blowback rest in piss insufferable nerd.
#13
shouldn’t have done this in an unclear way so, arguing whether the US is “better” than Genghis Khan is shameful milgoon shit and not Marxist. carry on
#14
like uhhh what would the history of U.S. imperialism be like without nuclear weapons? Well it’s complicated because the lava men would invade from their sunless continent of Lavamania, forcing the return of the art of the samurai sword, so I’d say it would be like 7.5 imperialism score.
#15
this week on the deadliest empire
#16
#17
Seems like the police are deliberately targeting protestors with live ammunition. Not cool, brah.
#18
Also, uh, slight NSFL warning for that video.
#19

Zoe posted:

Seems like the police are deliberately targeting protestors with live ammunition. Not cool, brah.


#20
wait, what does nsfl mean
#21
the first thing i thought of was not safe for life but what is
#22
Not Safe For Life, basically NSFW but for content that's gorey or shows somebody dying.
#23
seems kind of liberal - shit needs to be seen really
#24
nsflbntbs
#25
I get the feeling Iraq may be a test bed for Settler policy.
#26
national safe football league
#27
not safe for liberals
#28
everything offends their delicate palette, especially when you bring up Obama continuing Bush's policies.
#29

dimashq posted:

Mahdi has not been playing along with US demands the past couple months



maybe proper marxist analysis should start with the actual conditions in Iraq and the millions of obvious reasons people that would cause people to take to the street

#30

88888 posted:

dimashq posted:

Mahdi has not been playing along with US demands the past couple months

maybe proper marxist analysis should start with the actual conditions in Iraq and the millions of obvious reasons people that would cause people to take to the street



Cool go for it, no ones stopping you!

#31
really hope everyone in iraq is ok :3
#32

cars posted:

like uhhh what would the history of U.S. imperialism be like without nuclear weapons? Well it’s complicated because the lava men would invade from their sunless continent of Lavamania, forcing the return of the art of the samurai sword, so I’d say it would be like 7.5 imperialism score.




For more playground-tier solipsism like this, I highly recommend the 'worldbuilding' StackExchange, or, god help you, the subreddit:

"Would fantasy dwarves be able to invent the radio?"
-420 comments, 69,000 views

#33
my two favorite worldbuilding forums. stackexchange and reddit.com/r/communism101
#34
placeholder bump because the U.S. embassy is getting overrun

#35
the trophies are cool



#36

kinch posted:


#37
the CNN "security analyst" guy, the member of the U.S. "Homeland Security Experts Group" who arranged Osama bin Laden's TV interview in the late '90s and recently wrote a whole book saying Trump betrayed the good strong smart men of the United States war machine with his villainous madness, just posted an opinion piece on CNN saying Trump's doing a great job now that he's bombing the tiny Iranian terrorists running around in deviously clever angry-Iraqi suits. my first paranoid's impression is that the U.S. attacks that prompted these demos were done with the plan of provoking them, facilitated by U.S. influence over some of the groups attempting to direct them, which will justify a free hand for the DoD and CIA to murder their way down their local enemies list while blaming Trump for not doing it fast enough and hopefully kneecapping him in the election against a "strong on defense" puppet Democrat. but it's new years so instead happy new years.
#38
[account deactivated]
#39
while i enjoy fan fiction about what posters imagine my opinions to be, i'm curious about your suggestion that the U.S. provoking a response means that responding to the U.S. isn't justified, could you explain more about what you mean by that
#40
i mean clearly the United States does not have to further provoke Iraq to wish death on those who invaded and destroyed it, no more than Putin had to mind control Crimeans into closer identification with Moscow than a coup government in Kiev, but the key difference there is that Washington helped install the government in Kiev, not Moscow, and the current government in Baghdad is a U.S. satrapy that's fallen under the influence of groups opposed to Washington, something the boys in Washington would dearly love to correct while saving face on the Trump-loathing world stage by claiming the current government is against the law and they're calling the police, who are themselves, and so i think it's wise to take a close look at something where Trump's domestic enemies are praising him for finally seeing the light and doing the right thing, which is mass murder