[georgedcc]

Top Syrian general 'defects to Turkey'.
Reported escape of Manaf Tlass, leading member of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, does not mean anything, official says.


Do you agree with the official, or is something big brewing here?

[GuitarR0cker1]

Map of the situation in Syria.

[GuitarR0cker1]

Originally Posted by tkamB

Will Civil War Hit Afghanistan?
Looks like it.

I hope I don't come off as a sadist but it should be really interesting to see how the carnage plays out. It's inevitable that all of the major nations in the Islamic world that have interests in Afghanistan will use the upcoming civil war as a proxy war of sorts as they did in the late 90s. The irony is that Iran will be the main contributor to the lesser of evils, the Hazaras (a Shia minority group that speak a dialect of Persian and have always looked towards Iran for cultural guidance), just as they slowed the tide of the Taliban in the past.

[projectmayhem16]

Originally Posted by Nuns On A Bus

Would definitely not have a problem with that, it might get a bit more discussion going in here.

Here ya go.

[georgedcc]

Glad to see this is stickied. I can see myself posting much more here than in the general thread. Hopefully we get a good group of people posting and debating.

[Nuns On A Bus]

Originally Posted by georgedcc

Top Syrian general 'defects to Turkey'.
Reported escape of Manaf Tlass, leading member of Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, does not mean anything, official says.


Do you agree with the official, or is something big brewing here?

I absolutely think this is a big deal. If the regime can't even keep those close to it on its side then I think that says a lot about the complete lack of any real popular support. I honestly wish NATO would step in and be more clear about supporting the rebels. Russia and China should be irrelevant if the West and all the Arab countries all agree on something seeing as that more or less never happens.

[Nuns On A Bus]

[georgedcc]

Mali braced for military intervention amid fears it could become 'next Somalia'.
Up to 5,000 troops could be deployed to Mali in coming days to combat escalating Islamic extremism, say West African nations.


And on a lighter note....

North Korea's Kim Jong-un gets new official theme song
Onwards Toward the Final Victory airs on state media as part of propaganda drive to build up image of 'great successor'.

Pretty enjoyable.

[georgedcc]

Double post.

Libya elections: polling station raids mar first vote since Gaddafi's death
Libyans turn out in their millions for first national ballot since 1964 despite efforts by federalists to disrupt polls.

[SchrubZ]

Quote:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran will block the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the passageway through which a fifth of the world's oil flows, if its interests are seriously threatened, a senior Iranian military commander said Saturday.
"We do have a plan to close the Strait of Hormuz," state media quoted Gen. Hasan Firouzabadi as saying Saturday. "A Shiite nation (Iran) acts reasonably and would not approve interruption of a waterway ... unless our interests are seriously threatened," Press TV quoted him as saying.
The comments by Firouzabadi, the chairman of Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff, come days after the European Union enforced a total oil embargo against Iran for its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program.
A halt in crude oil imports from Iran is intended to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic to stop enriching uranium to the 20 percent level, an issue at the center of an international dispute.
Western powers fear material produced at that level — well above the 3.5 percent enrichment needed for energy-producing reactors — can be turned into weapons-grade material in a matter of months. Iran insists its reactors are only for energy and research.
Iranian lawmakers have prepared a bill that would order the country's military to stop tankers headed to countries that have joined the oil ban.
But Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, was quoted by Iranian media on Saturday as saying that the proposed bill has not yet been studied by parliament.
Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard has warned in the past that Tehran would order the closure of the Strait of Hormuz if the country's oil exports are blocked.

http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-plan...164454465.html

Does anybody think they'll actually try to do that?

[Nuns On A Bus]

Nah. If they do they're in clear violation of international law and will get their ass kicked.

[caveBEAR]

I had no idea (until today) that in South Korea, it's illegal to be caught 'sympathizing with North Korea'. That's crazy. How strictly is that enforced?

[georgedcc]

Originally Posted by caveBEAR

I had no idea (until today) that in South Korea, it's illegal to be caught 'sympathizing with North Korea'. That's crazy. How strictly is that enforced?

I don't know that much about it, but there is an interesting article on the subject that you can read if you like. http://www.wcnc.com/news/world/135154768.html

A similar article about someone charged with re-tweeting North Korean posts: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...th-korea-.html

[caveBEAR]

Originally Posted by georgedcc

I don't know that much about it, but there is an interesting article on the subject that you can read if you like. http://www.wcnc.com/news/world/135154768.html

A similar article about someone charged with re-tweeting North Korean posts:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...th-korea-.html

'They must be punished & removed.'

So wrong.

[ChaplainTappman]

Wait, really? That's crazy. I didn't know that about S. Korea.