ISIS captures town in Libya

[alhoon]

Cool story but i dont believe it. For 10 years we had Al Qaeda to justify interventions in muslim countries. But the Al Qaeda myth started loosing steam. Now we have ISIS. Soon we will have "ISIS" in other countries too. All this because we must convince western public that we must bomb Libya and other places.

But we're not bombing Libya. EU dragged USA in the war and they were in such a hurry to leave, that they left Somalia 2 behind.

why are you so terrified by this specific case? Because they use a popular brand name?

Yeah, mostly. And because they're more violent than the previous ones. I believe ISIS has the "high-score" on atrocities compared to massacres by Al Qaeda and other modern terrorist\insurgent groups.

Crete'll fall, but her fierce resistance will save Europe.

No she won't. Even if ISIS brought everyone they had with their tanks and rifles from Syria and Iraq, Crete alone would win, without adding in the Greek and NATO military. (except those American bombers already in Crete). We would sink their F/B and transports at the sea. The few that would pass through and embark wouldn't be enough to do much and they would be killed.

[Papay]

"ISIS" is already in the Sinai, but it's actually nothing new. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis supposedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, but now they're backing away from that saying they are only being advised by ISIS. I think it's all about branding for these loosely affiliated groups. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0IO19F20141104
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News...or-Israel.html

The problem is that i dont believe twitter and facebook accounts. Fact is that anyone can make an account and claim whatever he wants. Fact is that Libya and Sina have almost nothing to do with the situation in Syria. Its like having a "Christian liberation army" fighting the government of London in Ireland and England and suddenly hearing in the news that they "liberated"...Milan in Northern Italy. Makes no sense at all. Some people try to connect these organizations for obvious reasons

[Abdülmecid I]

Yeah, mostly. And because they're more violent than the previous ones. I believe ISIS has the "high-score" on atrocities compared to massacres by Al Qaeda and other modern terrorist\insurgent groups.

They would if they could, I agree, but here we're talking about the capture of a Libyan town by some Libyan islamists influenced by ISIS. Don't you think that scenarios of navy/cruise ships highjackings are slightly ridiculous?

No she won't. Even if ISIS brought everyone they had with their tanks and rifles from Syria and Iraq, Crete alone would win, without adding in the Greek and NATO military. (except those American bombers already in Crete). We would sink their F/B and transports at the sea. The few that would pass through and embark wouldn't be enough to do much and they would be killed.

These men will repel the islamist brigades?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sarcasm, I hope.

[Davius]

So no dancing or music in this captured town. Nice culture.

It will be like the movie Footloose!

[Request a new user name]

"ISIS" is already in the Sinai, but it's actually nothing new. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis supposedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, but now they're backing away from that saying they are only being advised by ISIS. I think it's all about branding for these loosely affiliated groups. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...0IO19F20141104
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News...or-Israel.html

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis is actually two separate organizations with the same name and even then it gets even more convoluted.

Sinai: Five main groups. Two of those groups joined IS, three deny joining IS. Main source of funding is smuggling into Gaza. However, they ticked of the Bedouins and they sided with the Army to get their smuggling routes back, the Army betrayed the Bedouins, then... Well its a complicated mess that will only serve to confuse you more as to who slept with who, stole whose car, and who ripped off who in a bribe, and so forth. Needless to say, Bedouins are now siding with the Insurgents and fighting each other, and oh forget it, my brain hurts trying to understand these politics.

Nile: Tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, thinks IS is nuts, believe in democracy, and want Morsi restored and the Army brought to heel. Pretty straight forward till you get to the various factions and then your brain hurts.

Nobody ever said this would be simple.

[alhoon]

These men will repel the islamist brigades?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sarcasm, I hope.

Those guys can do three things: shoot way better than the average professional soldier, drink you under the table and dance like you see.
In the hills of Crete and terrain they know, each one of them is better than 3 Islamists.

They would if they could, I agree, but here we're talking about the capture of a Libyan town by some Libyan islamists influenced by ISIS. Don't you think that scenarios of navy/cruise ships highjackings are slightly ridiculous?

7 ISIS guys on a fast boat hijacking a cruise, tanker or F/B? Nope, it happens all the time in Somalia and Nigeria. Yes, our coast guard and navy may catch them, but they may slip through the net.
ISIS makes a LOT of money from kidnappings

[Conrad82]

Take genral xenophobia, anti-muslim paranoia, anti-muslim sentiment in general, mix it all together and you obtain unbelievably stupid comments. I wish it was trolling, but I must assume it isn't.

[dogukan]

thats quite a lot of Cretan nationalism there alhoon The romanticization aside, when war comes to your door, things don't turn out the way it is expected.
In any case, ISIS has declared its intentions that it wants to conquer the "Muslim" world which is full of küfür before it would move on to non-Muslim world. So they have a lot of Muslim lands to subjugate before they take on non-Muslim defined countries. I don't think Crete has a great importance to them at this point......Mediterranean trade died long ago anyways This is not the 15th century.

[Abdülmecid I]

7 ISIS guys on a fast boat hijacking a cruise, tanker or F/B? Nope, it happens all the time in Somalia and Nigeria. Yes, our coast guard and navy may catch them, but they may slip through the net.

By all the time you mean nine attacks in the gulf of guinea (2014) and zero successful attacks in Somalia (2013)? If the pirates have been stopped in a ruined country, I'm really curious to know how they'll wreak havoc on one of the most protected seas. Link:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia

Also, that's for the highjacks in general, I don't know aboout any cruise ship ever captured by the pirates.

[Flavius Julius Nepos Augustus]

I am no expert in raiding but one smart terrorist pirate (is that a contradiction) can place a bomb (if they can make it strong enough, I think they can) on the side of a ship. That makes it a lot easier. You can figure out the rest.

Just a thought

[alhoon]

By all the time you mean nine attacks in the gulf of guinea (2014) and zero successful attacks in Somalia (2013)? If the pirates have been stopped in a ruined country, I'm really curious to know how they'll wreak havoc on one of the most protected seas. Link:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia

Also, that's for the highjacks in general, I don't know aboout any cruise ship ever captured by the pirates.

No Cruise ships have been captured (at least recently) in these waters because no cruise ships go near Somalia and even tankers do their best to avoid these parts if possible.
Fewer successful attacks in Somalian waters are because of the large NATO battleships fighting piracy there.

By all the time you mean nine attacks in the gulf of guinea (2014) and zero successful attacks in Somalia (2013)? If the pirates have been stopped in a ruined country, I'm really curious to know how they'll wreak havoc on one of the most protected seas. Link:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia

Also, that's for the highjacks in general, I don't know aboout any cruise ship ever captured by the pirates.

No Cruise ships have been captured (at least recently) in these waters because no cruise ships go near Somalia and even tankers do their best to avoid these parts if possible.
Fewer successful attacks in Somalian waters are because of the large NATO battleships fighting piracy there.

thats quite a lot of Cretan nationalism there alhoon The romanticization aside, when war comes to your door, things don't turn out the way it is expected.

I'm not talking about war. Of course things that you don't expect happen in war. For example, we held off the Germans for 11 days in the battle of Crete when everyone expected we will fall in a day or two and is considered a Pyrric victory for the Nazis and the first time they encountered so heavy civilian resistance.
I'm not talking war, I'm talking about a bunch of 7-10 terrorists in Crete. They can harm tourism or maybe take a farm before the locals realize the danger. After that every farm in Crete will have the AK-47s out and shoot those that don't speak Greek.

BTW, 101 years since Crete joined Greece!
We are having the celebrations today and tomorrow.

[Conrad82]

Ahem... People? The ISIL clowns have Israel right next to their doorstep and haven't done so much as sending a qassam towards them... What makes you think they will go after any other Western country?

I think these nutjobs hope they will be left alone as long as they don't attack us Western kuffar. That will give them time to grow strong enough to finally attack us!

[Heathen Hammer]

Cool story but i dont believe it. For 10 years we had Al Qaeda to justify interventions in muslim countries. But the Al Qaeda myth started loosing steam. Now we have ISIS. Soon we will have "ISIS" in other countries too. All this because we must convince western public that we must bomb Libya and other places.

That military-industrial complex won't invest into itself. Won't be surprised that there will be false flag attacks on US territory which mass media would justify full military intervention with.

[alhoon]

Ahem... People? The ISIL clowns have Israel right next to their doorstep and haven't done so much as sending a qassam towards them... What makes you think they will go after any other Western country?

That Al Qaeda also didn't attack Israel, but made several terrorist attacks in the West.

[Phier]

So is this Arab spring still? Seems more like Arab fall right now, but I'm not sure how this is all suppose to work out.

[Roma_Victrix]

So is this Arab spring still? Seems more like Arab fall right now, but I'm not sure how this is all suppose to work out.

Our highfalutin fancy talk and abstract concepts like an Arab Spring being forcefully applied to the entire region, without regard to nuance, doesn't really encapsulate the realities on the ground in countries across the Middle East. Those countries aren't identical to one another. For instance, Tunisia seems to be doing fine and actually taking serious steps to become an Arab ( er...Arab-Berber) democracy. Syria on the other hand, not so much. Egypt has settled down for the time being, but by doing so has basically settled with another military strongman not unlike Mubarek who was ousted in the Arab Spring movement. It's hard to paint the region with a broad brush and a single snappy sentence to summarize everything. That's just not possible. Nuance is needed.

[Heathen Hammer]

So is this Arab spring still? Seems more like Arab fall right now, but I'm not sure how this is all suppose to work out.

Haha, remember how in 2011 they were saying its just a "facebook generation", which is peacefully protesting for freedoms against evil dictatorz?

[alhoon]

Our highfalutin fancy talk and abstract concepts like an Arab Spring being forcefully applied to the entire region, without regard to nuance, doesn't really encapsulate the realities on the ground in countries across the Middle East. Those countries aren't identical to one another. For instance, Tunisia seems to be doing fine and actually taking serious steps to become an Arab ( er...Arab-Berber) democracy. Syria on the other hand, not so much. Egypt has settled down for the time being, but by doing so has basically settled with another military strongman not unlike Mubarek who was ousted in the Arab Spring movement. It's hard to paint the region with a broad brush and a single snappy sentence to summarize everything. That's just not possible. Nuance is needed.

Yes but: Syria is burning. Libya is in chaos. Mali is stable but not better off than before. Yemen faces unrest still. Egypt reverted back to dictatorship with Sinai in rebellion.
Only Tunis seems to have got out of the Arabian Spring better than before.

[Conrad82]

That Al Qaeda also didn't attack Israel, but made several terrorist attacks in the West.

AFAIK, their first terrorist action was the murder of an Israeli citizen. And some, if not all of these terrorist attacks in the West were actually not authored by them (they didn't claim it was their doing)

[alhoon]

That was waaay back. Truth is that Al Qaeda was centered on hitting Israel's allies and setting up allies of their own for decades.