Job Discussion Forums

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 2:33 am Post subject:

Let's put in a Piggie-backed local strongman to contain the region. Democracy, even the illusion of it, would need to be suspended. But at least this despot would handle the bag of snakes that is the Middle East. A member of the Ba'ath party would probably be the best candidate...

Mushkilla · Joined: 17 Apr 2014 Posts: 320 Location: United Kingdom

johnslat · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:11 pm Post subject:

I think Turkey's going to have to forego the luxury of inaction in the near future. As much as they dislike aiding the Kurds, the time isn't far off when Turkey will be faced with the reality that its own security is threatened.

Regards,
John

Mushkilla · Joined: 17 Apr 2014 Posts: 320 Location: United Kingdom

johnslat · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 3:12 pm Post subject:

Dear Mushilla.

The first item on any country's agenda is national security. ISIS is extremely close to the point now where it's threatening Turkey's national security.

Regards,
John

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:14 pm Post subject:

Which party invaded Iraq, and Afghanistan?

Tsk tsk! Communists don't invade: they liberate. Sometimes forcing men to be free, a la Rousseau's phrase...

Mushkilla · Joined: 17 Apr 2014 Posts: 320 Location: United Kingdom

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:36 pm Post subject:

The Red Army liberated two of those countries you listed. From the Nazis. The third one has been part of Russia since imperial times. And Putin isn't in the Communist Party.

Please, at least try to get your facts right...

Mushkilla · Joined: 17 Apr 2014 Posts: 320 Location: United Kingdom

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 4:17 am Post subject:

Conflating fact with myth now - amusing!

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

There was the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. I was living there at the time.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 5:47 pm Post subject:

Then you should know that the Soviet Army was invited in by the Afghan government, to restore order. Which they would have done had not the CIA sponsored the same terrorists that the world is so worried about today...

Mushkilla · Joined: 17 Apr 2014 Posts: 320 Location: United Kingdom

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 4:02 am Post subject:

You've been imbibing too much Piggie propaganda again. There were terrible outrages being committed well before the Soviet Army was called in. And after they withdrew. If you want to term that withdrawal defeat, then you'll have to do the same for the US and the failed operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Police actions that are the direct cause of the current drama, in case you forget...

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

The Afghan government, under Taraki, requested Soviet troops to provide security and assist in the fight against mujahideen rebels, but both Kosygin and Gromyko were against such intervention. The UN general assembly passed a resolution protesting the Soviet interference in Afghanistan by 104-18.

The presence of Soviet troops did not have the desired effect of pacifying the country. It actually exacerbated a nationalistic feeling causing the rebellion to spread further and the mujahideen to gain in strength and numbers. The Soviets occupied the cities ( I was in Kabul at that time) while the mujahideen waged a guerilla war, mainly in the East.

The Soviets used brute force and atrocities to weed out the insurgency, such as intimidation (bombing whole villages and so destroying irrigation systems, fields and livestock), subversion (sending spies) and military forays (search and destroy). About 4% of Afghans are now disabled by Soviet land mines.

This was the Soviet Union's "Vietnam War".

You should read Professor Olivier Roy's book " Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan" (1992) as he was there. Also Gilles Dorronsoro's 2008 book " Revolution unending. Afghanistan : 1979 to the present".