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If you’ve got nothing better to do, you could try Black Mirror se1e02.

There’s a pedalling the treadmill analogy (simily / reality)

There’s dissidence and confronting a totalitarian media-centric (can be described as media-controlled or even totally media-dominated or propagandised) regime.

I’ve yet to see – in my own experience (although I have definitely seen it others) – the policy and strategy of subsuming dissidents into the state so that they have comfortable existence as part of the state apparatus. Maybe is just me. Praps I’m not old enough. Do you get more siht as you get older? Praps I should just pull my finger out and give this shower the same as that previous shower of .? ed I should shouldn’t I. Is clear that they are very nasty Neo-Con/Neo-Liberals (I was only thinking of the not ashamed to be Tories Tories, never mind these Tories who are pretending to be not Tory Liberal-Democrats. To confuse it further there are the Labour and Co-operative Party Tories like Ed Balls. We need Socialists and that looks like the Greens.

ed: The trouble is that the three main parties are totally indistinguishable and then there’s UPUK pretending not to be right-wing scum with their bloke in the pub attractions -let’s vote for the pissed bigoted bloke in the pub. Looks like it’s all up for grabs.

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ISIS, Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria

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http://www.vox.com/cards/things-about-isis-you-need-to-know/sunni-shia-conflict-ISIS

Perhaps the single most important factor in ISIS’ recent resurgence is the conflict between Iraqi Shias and Iraqi Sunnis. ISIS fighters themselves are Sunnis, and the tension between the two groups is a powerful recruiting tool for ISIS.

The difference between the two largest Muslim groups originated with a controversy over who got to take power after the Prophet Muhammed’s death, which you can read all about here. But Iraq’s sectarian problems aren’t about relitigating 7th-century disputes; they’re about modern political power and grievances.

The civil war after the American invasion had a brutally sectarian cast to it, and the pseudo-democracy that emerged afterwards empowered the Shia majority (with some heavy-handed help from Washington). Today, the two groups don’t trust each other, and so far have competed in a zero-sum game for control over Iraqi political institutions. For instance, Shia used control over the police force to arbitrarily detain Sunni protestors demanding more representation in government last year.

So long as Shias control the government, and Sunnis don’t feel like they’re fairly represented, ISIS has an audience for its radical Sunni message. That’s why ISIS is strong in the heavily Sunni northwest.

http://www.vox.com/cards/things-about-isis-you-need-to-know/maliki-sunni-shia-tension

ISIS would be able to recruit Sunni fighters off of the Sunni-Shia tension even if Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hadn’t held office until mid-August, but his policies towards the Sunni minority have helped ISIS considerably. It remains to be seen whether the new PM, Haider al-Abadi, will be an improvement.

Maliki, a Shia Muslim, built a Shia sectarian state and refused to take steps to accommodate Sunnis. Police killed peaceful Sunni protestors and used anti-terrorism laws to mass-arrest Sunni civilians. Maliki made political alliances with violent Shia militias, infuriating Sunnis. ISIS cannily exploited that brutality to recruit new fighters.

When ISIS reestablished itself, it put Sunni sectarianism at the heart of its identity and propaganda. The government persecution, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Studies’ Michael Knights, “played right into their hands.” Maliki “made all the ISIS propaganda real, accurate.” That made it much, much easier for ISIS to replenish its fighting stock.

 

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DRAFT: I’m just starting to get a grasp on this ISIS BS – and strangely enough it’s about oil

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I’m just starting to get a grasp of this ISIS BS. I wonder if any newspapers will be publishing this story with me tomorrow.

Kurdistan has control over its natural resources according to the constitution of the federal Iraq.

Kurdistan sold its oil in Texas independently of the central Iraqi government despite legal action by the central government to prevent that sale.

Basra in the south of Iraq is the region responsible for the vast majority of Iraq’s oil production – about 75% – together with huge oil and gas reserves.

Basra has also been attempting to assert its control over it’s oil resources in federal Iraq.

This Independent article raises objections to UK government claims that military intervention is legal since it is requested by the Iraqi government. It should also be appreciated that the Kurdish Regional Government has legitimate control of Kurdish oil.

This is a DRAFT and I will publish a fuller article

21.25 Still working on this. The least UK MPs can do if they’re going to vote on military intervention tomorrow is to try to comprehend the wider context and legal issues.

Continue ReadingDRAFT: I’m just starting to get a grasp on this ISIS BS – and strangely enough it’s about oil

Hey

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What d’you say then?

Should you be PM, YOU CAN DO IT

then?

I want suicides (also TB)

You need to make clear

 

Otherwise FU

You useless CT, you don’t deserve it

Useless CT

 

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