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scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Big news in the UK. Figures of deaths still not certain but at least 30. UK media have reported it widely but not much on events in Kuwait and Lyon on the same day.

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

The You Kay media has never been particularly concerned over the fate of Johnny Foreigner.

Meanwhile, the PM and Home Secretary - both of whom voted for the invasion of Iraq - are wringing their hands over the Tunisia attack. Pass the sick bag.

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

The invasion of Iraq took place in 2003 when Tony Blair was the Prime Minister and David Blunkett the Home Secretary.

As the number of UK victims in the Tunisian beach massacre is probably going to rise to 30, inevitably the media reports on these predominantly. However, they have also reported on the Kuwait mosque attack and the decapitation of one man in Lyon....all occurring on the same day.

ISIS has claimed responsibility. Why are you blaming the invasion of Iraq for these cold-bloodied attacks on innocents.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

There can be no doubt that Blair's invasion of Iraq played a role in destabilising the region. Ditto the encouragement of the anti-Gaddafi forces by London and Washington.

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

I agree about Blair's role in destabilizing the region, but I think no one person or group can be blamed for the ISIS rise.

We have the Iraqi government with the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and his authoritarian Shia government which excluded Sunni Iraqis. Then there's the Syrian government with Bashar al-Assad, the US, Iran and Gulf monarchies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

The Qataris admit funding Jabhat al-Nusra which is al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.

These terrorists aim to do more than just slaughter innocent civilians. The economic damage to Tunisia's tourism industry, for example, which accounts for about 15 per cent of GDP , directly or indirectly, will hurt Tunisia in a different way.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Will Blair and Bush ever pay for their war crimes |?

grahamb · Joined: 30 Apr 2003 Posts: 1945

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

And now the War Office have been told to solve the problem by bombing Syria.

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has only raised the prospect of UK intervention in Syria. He argues it is illogical to fight ISIS in Iraq but not in Syria, given that the group does not recognize borders and its strongholds are in Syria.

Fallon has another incentive. He is facing a strategic defence review by the end of this year and he wants to make the case that the UK is facing serious threat.

The US is already engaged in airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, aided by Canada, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The UK joining this coalition would not make a significant difference. The UK only has 100 troops in Kurdish Northern Iraq.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

FCO has at last advised UK citizens to leave Tunisia.

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I'm sure there was some shrubbery involved....

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 5:25 pm Post subject:

Most of these issues can be traced to the Sykes-Picot agreement. Nearly a century on, the effect of the Piggies' carving up of the region is still being felt...

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The "Great Powers" should have left it with the Ottomans !

Incidentally what happened to the Chilcot Report ? Shelved ? (IK Official Inquiry into Origins of the Invasion of Iraq)

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

Sasha,

Don't forget the Sykes-Picot was a secret agreement between the governments of UK and France, but with the assent of Russia. Russia was to get Istanbul, the Turkish straits and Ottoman Armenia.

However, the Russian Tsarist government was a minor party to the agreement and following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks exposed the agreement much to the delight of the Turks, the dismay of the Arabs and the embarrassment of the British.