All things Middle East related

[RedskinRat]

The Palestinians are serial war criminals.They violate the UN Charter regularly by calling for the destruction of Israel and their use of indiscriminate rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism put them well outside the pale of civilized countries. The fact that they are not condemned by the (IOC controlled) UN is one of many signs that organization is not an honest broker. The American Center for Law & Justice does some useful lawyering in pointing our exactly how the actions of the Palestinians constitute crimes and justify the self defense actions of Israel to remove a threat to its citizens.

They discuss self defense, the Law of Armed Conflict, the principles of Distinction, Necessity and Proportionality.It is an excellent legal answer to Israel's critics and has been provided to the UN, Congress, the White House and a bunch of other folks.

[firstdown]

First rule of war is that you do not throw rocks at someone who has a gun.

[RedskinRat]

Calm Sense Of Impending Violence Returns To Middle East As Ceasefire Brokered | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Lulz

[RedskinRat]

That's probably the same stash of chemical weapons that got shipped from Iraq to Syria before the invasion.

[NC_Skins]

Originally Posted by RedskinRat

That's probably the same stash of chemical weapons that got shipped from Iraq to Syria before the invasion.

Riiiiiight....lol

[RedskinRat]

We know because we sold them the stuff when they were fighting with Iran.

IBD

In 2006, former Iraqi general Georges Sada, second in command of the Iraqi Air Force who served under Saddam Hussein before he defected, wrote a comprehensive book, "Saddam's Secrets."
It details how the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria in advance of the U.S.-led action to eliminate Hussein's WMD threat.
As Sada told the New York Sun, two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, and special Republican Guard units loaded the planes with chemical weapons materials.

Old news, I know, but please feel free to keep laughing.

[RedskinRat]

UAE: Why would anyone with any self-respect choose to work there?

A British woman who was allegedly kidnapped and gang raped by three men in Dubai has been prosecuted for drinking without a licence, throwing a spotlight on the United Arab Emirates’ archaic legal system, which rights groups say does not do enough to protect victims of sexual assault.

Sick society.

[That Guy]

why do most people work there? the money. 200k+ wasn't that hard to get there not that long ago.

UAE is sort of a weird place though. you have 7 different emirates, lots of oil money and basically 2 social classes. the emiraties (10%), that are stupid rich (they get gifted hundreds of thousands for turning 18 etc, i think all their officers are millionaires), and the working class (mainly immigrants) that do a lot of the shop keeping etc type stuff.

i mean, in the last 5 years their population doubled, and the 10 before that it doubled again, so i imagine the legal system hasn't quite kept up, though it's still based more on middle eastern principles that we find a bit outdated.

not excusing what happened, egypt has had the same issues since the 70s, but dubai is probably the closest/most american friendly places you'll find over in that part of the world.

[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by That Guy

why do most people work there? the money. 200k+ wasn't that hard to get there not that long ago.

UAE is sort of a weird place though. you have 7 different emirates, lots of oil money and basically 2 social classes. the emiraties (10%), that are stupid rich (they get gifted hundreds of thousands for turning 18 etc, i think all their officers are millionaires), and the working class (mainly immigrants) that do a lot of the shop keeping etc type stuff.

i mean, in the last 5 years their population doubled, and the 10 before that it doubled again, so i imagine the legal system hasn't quite kept up, though it's still based more on middle eastern principles that we find a bit outdated.

not excusing what happened, egypt has had the same issues since the 70s, but dubai is probably the closest/most american friendly places you'll find over in that part of the world.

I am not sure about those who work in the UAE, but in several other locations in the Middle East U.S. contractors etc. are exempt from paying federal taxes on that money. Combine that with the fact that most of the time you are confined to a compound and really have nothing to spend your money on. It's a great way to save up a nice little nest egg.

Once again I am not claiming to know if this is the case in the UAE, but it is in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and formerly in places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. I believe that we no longer have a presence in the latter 2, but I could be wrong. If we do have a presence it's not as large as it once was.

[RedskinRat]

I guess I'm not that into money.

[Chico23231]

Pentagon to send missiles, 400 troops to Turkey - Yahoo! News

first step taken.

[That Guy]

List of United States Army installations in Kuwait - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

still there.

[KLHJ2]

Originally Posted by That Guy

List of United States Army installations in Kuwait - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

still there.

I was at Doha at one time. I was under the Impression that we had withdrawn from or were in the process of withdrawing from Kuwait because we had such a strong presence in Iraq. The necessity for occupation in Kuwait became questionable. I haven't worked for DOD in over a year, so I haven't paid much attention to what has transpired in that period of time.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by KLHJ2

I was at Doha at one time. I was under the Impression that we had withdrawn from or were in the process of withdrawing from Kuwait because we had such a strong presence in Iraq. The necessity for occupation in Kuwait became questionable. I haven't worked for DOD in over a year, so I haven't paid much attention to what has transpired in that period of time.

sorry this is late, but a lot of countries out there like having us around. it means that if they get attacked, the US gets attacked too. good port of entry, and i'm sure someone's making money or getting access to part of the US arsenal.

[That Guy]

nah, kuwait's a friendly, we'll be there in some form forever. that's just how we do, i guess.