A deal with the devil

[luvdovz]

I recently talked with a friend of mine who's a Lebanon-born Christian. We were watching an Egyptian movie from the 60s, the golden age of Arab cinema. You may ask, what does this have to do with the terror attacks in Paris, Sinai, Beirut, Ankara, Iraq and Yemen? Well, do bear with me.

The movie was about a group of holiday-makers, several family

Comments

[johnny9fingers]

Recommended.
Correction, highly recommended.

A concise yet wide-ranging analysis of the situation. To some extent this is Lawrence's fault. He was midwife to a certain form of Arab nationalism, which became associated in a romantic fashion with the House of Saud. In hindsight it seems that Lawrence's superiors may have had the right take on Arabia, Arab nationalism, and the disintegrating remnants of the Ottoman Empire. But the blame cannot solely lie upon a maverick English adventurer. The US, UK, France, and subsequently Europe have all played a role, as you rightly point out.

FUBAR. And unless KSA changes tack it seems unlikely to get any better. Maybe the powers-that-be need to start putting pressure on KSA.

[ddstory]

Correction, highly recommended.

+1.

[nairiporter]

Granted.

[luvdovz]

Shokran, habibi.

[mahnmut]

Pretty much, all of this.

[htpcl]

Reminds me of a conversation I recently had. What if big oil, which has the financial resources, actually decides to take matters in its hands with the development of alternative energy sources, and finally get rid of oil dependency? I mean, wouldn't it make sense if they keep their dominance on the energy market, but make the transition to a new energy source? Wouldn't all this finally render the banana oil republics monarchies irrelevant?

[luvdovz]

That'd hurt their bottom-line, profit. It wouldn't be profitable to attempt such a massive transition, whereas they could go on conducting business as usual, as long as there's ample quantity of the old resource. The geopolitical ramifications be damned.

[htpcl]

Ugh. Dammit.

[underlankers]

Excellently written. And it's true, as long as the West perpetually serves as the paymasters of the most brutal and squalid regimes in the region, Islamism will continue to profit and serve as a perpetual feedback loop. It's why I consider the "War on Terror" true believers to be excellent investors for my Saharan cruise line.

[abomvubuso]

They're winning hearts and minds big time, and the West is in for quite some shock, once/if ISIS is removed militarily - because it'll inevitably resurface in some other form before you've managed to pronounce "Mission accomplished".

Now ain't that the key to understanding why any military operation is doomed to fail, unless coupled with a profound total-overhaul effort that'd require a painful long-term commitment and lots of resources - which no Western politician in their right mind would ever dare doing.

[underlankers]

One of those cases of "enjoy the war because the peace will be terrible."

[luzribeiro]

I'm liking Policraticus' proposal more and more as I think more about it.

[johnny9fingers]

Whatever else he is, he's not stupid.