Islamic State - Ruthless Beyond Belief

This lad is getting to be an expert at these interviews. Latest one from the BBC and if you have watched the others (CNN, ABC, RAI Italian) they all soon develop into a similar vein. He could put a tape recorder & cardboard cut-out wearing an Arsenal jersey in the chair at this stage and I doubt many of these dummies would know the difference. This is probably the worse interview so far where the reporter still hasn't realised the interviewee should do more talking than you.

Yeah, but if you've seen all the other Assad interviews, you'd think Bowen would changed tack and tackle him a different way. Instead Assad got to re-hash his by now standard lines. 

Somebody interviewing Assad will have their questions vetted and approved. Any deviation to the plans and it is game over, hand over the tapes and leave without fuss.

Is Dictator a fair description tho I wonder Dave? I mean, I'm not trying to downplay some of the actions of of his or his father's government, but can we compare him to a Stalin, Hitler or Mary Harney?

Can't agree with you on this Dave. The length of time he is in Power does not necessarily make him a Dictator. I would argue the actions of a leader would qualify them as a dictator, not their length of time in office.

Edited by Madferret - 10 Feb 2015 at 3:36pm

Another hostage dead. The friendly fire from the Jordanian warplanes hitting Raqqa IS were claiming been confirmed true. 

Edited by coyne - 10 Feb 2015 at 3:51pm

SuperDave84 wrote: I dunno. I imagine he would do anything to cling to power. He's an intelligent guy and dictators are rarely let retire to a pile in the countryside. They tend to end their reigns either through natural or unnatural death. A dictator will die one of three ways: in power, of old age; in power, but in a bunker by his own hand; or having just been deposed and then swung from the nearest chandelier or else taken out back and shot.

One other thing: the tar sands oil in Canada along with shale gas are well on their way to making the US energy independent (well, North America). That could lead to a period of US foreign relations being more isolationist. It's unlikely at the minute (as a lot of mindsets need to change in the administration) but a new Republican president with a tea party mentality behind it (and potentially one that isn't keen on spending huge amounts of "taxpayers' money" on the military industrial complex) could see a retreat from the interventionist US approach. The Canadian economy is already showing signs of becoming a petrodollar economy and they aren't necessarily loving it.

It's just a theory but it is a possibility. The interesting thing is that the democrats have generally been quicker to oppose the military industrial complex than republicans (save where jobs in their own states are concerned, of course) but if fiscally conservative republicans get behind it, it'll be interesting.

From the Koch Brothers perspective, it is probably better than US consumers consume US and Canadian oil and gas, and they bankroll any number of tea party hacks through PACs. They would probably prefer the US out of the Middle East militarily, for any number of reasons. It impacts supply reliability (and encourages volatility of supply and increases their chances of making money), it reduces federal spending (and plays into their small government, libertarian ideology) and it increases investment in domestic energy security (which definitely helps their interests).

I wouldn't be surprised to see the US becoming more isolationist over the next few years, no matter who wins the next election.


Edited by SuperDave84 - 10 Feb 2015 at 4:19pm

Some great replies there Dave, informative as ever and unfortunately I'm almost out of time on my daily YBIG quota so to be continued... suffice to say whilst I'd disagree over some points I think we can agree Assad is using the military & political apparatus to save his own ass. But, with just 15% of the population and about 20% if you throw in the Christians, Druze & Ismaili's then I guess what option is he left with, except to piss off to Tahiti with a copy of Keano the biography.