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The Middle-East Mosaic: Friends, Foes, & Frenemies

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/15/2014 20:12 -0400

The rise of Islamic State has upended geopolitics in the Middle East and, as The Economist notes, drawn America's military back to the region. Though ISIS is popular among militants, the group has no allies on the political stage, making it even more isolated than the official al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. As The Economist's "relationship mosaic" above visualizes the rapports among countries, political groups and militant organizations in the Middle East.

It provides a quick glimpse of who is friends with whom (albeit a simplified depiction of relationships; the "neutral" category, for instance, embraces a large number of possibilities). The Syrian government is disliked by many countries but supported by Iran and Russia. The Iraqi Kurds count numerous friends and no sworn enemies among the entities listed.

And the chart shows the degree to which America needs to play a delicate diplomatic game in holding together allies that may not always be friends with each other.

Source: The Economist

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Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:27 | 5220646 knukles

Watch out! It's the Economist, a major water bearer of the NWO....
Of course they'll paint ISIS as everybody's Perpetual Permanent No Contrition Enemy

To wit: AlKeda and ISIS just signed a peace lovie doivie share spit roast the camel accord.

PS Fails the ME scratch and snuff truth test: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. ISIS is noted as having all enemies and no friends. Bzzzzt! Fuse overload

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:29 | 5220679 NOTW777

there is a common denominator

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=881491725194515

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:29 | 5220688 NOTW777

recruiting

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152908283337454&set=vb.1943790745...

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:39 | 5220721 El Oregonian

But.but.but. Bari said that ISIS is not Islamic!

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:02 | 5220806 knukles

Daddy told me that some people wouldn't kow if they stepped in a pile of dog turds, neither.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:55 | 5220954 ZerOhead

Why are all the ISIS beheading videos coming from SITE Intelligence Group who has a history of getting Bin Laden and ISIS videos before they are even 'officially' released?

"SITE Intelligence Group consists of Katz and two “senior advisers,” one of whom is Bruce Hoffman, the Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation and former director of the RAND’s Washington DC office."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-is-behind-the-islamic-state-is-beheadin...

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 23:06 | 5221206 Rootin' for Putin

Probably dvdscreeners for critcs to review.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 23:16 | 5221230 Wahooo

Because Katz is jewish and ISIS is israeli. Oh, never mind.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:41 | 5220941 SofaPapa

"Fails the ME scratch and snuff truth test: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. ISIS is noted as having all enemies and no friends."

The idea that ISIS has no friends is belied by simple reality. They are selling oil. They are rich. Those are relationships. They would not be powerful enough to cause such "panic" (even if the panic is real, and not manufactured) unless they had powerful supporters and trade partners. No group like this could grow in pure isolation.

Further trying to convince people of something that is demonstrably false. As you said, fails the smell test.

Tue, 09/16/2014 - 03:43 | 5221684 truthseeker44

my roomate's sister-in-law makes $72 hourly on the laptop . She has been out of a job for 6 months but last month her payment was $18482 just working on the laptop for a few hours. use this link... www.payvalt.com

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:19 | 5220651 djsmps

Where is relationship George in all this?

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:20 | 5220653 nmewn

Piece-a-cake, Kerry's got this...lol.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:27 | 5220672 NoDebt

Definitely. They call him "the closer".

When things are looking grim and the chances of success are slim, you send in John Kerry. He puts the last nail in the coffin and nobody has to wonder any more if things are going to turn out well or not.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:23 | 5220660 Chief Wonder Bread

Dennis Rodman headed for ISIS showdown:

“I’ve been following ISIS for months now. There’s a lot of things they are doing that just ain’t cool. I’ll tell them what I think and maybe they’ll change their methods,” Rodman said. “I think my basketball skills will help a lot too, boxing people out of the paint at times when it counts, like the 4th quarter. I was thinking about getting a sweet ISIS tattoo to let them know that I mean business.”
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5a0_1410822328#EAisz6gdApTzxc5u.99

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:29 | 5220678 Bangalore Equit...

Listen. It's a perfect fit. ISIL and the "NEW" post-obama African American.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:36 | 5220686 knukles

He'll be put into a camel bordello as the happy moment dessert prize
Here's the deal. Potentially 72 virgins when ya meet Allah his very self, but not knowing What Virgins (diseased trannies, etc) you can cut the risk by taking Dennis in the grand here and now and cutting back the promised land boners to 25. You dig?

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:53 | 5220767 nmewn

Hey knuk's, you got somebody wantin to fight you on the Venezulean fake titties thread.

_{^{(I'm such an instigator...lol)}}

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:07 | 5220826 knukles

Yeah, I saw that, nmewn .... Think I'll lay quietly in ambush .... Wait for a seriously insecure faux pas ... Best served up cold.... But geeeeez, man, he is a newbie.... Wait till somebody like LTER hockers on him.... Ah, things will take care of themselves .... Calling me fat.... With a short pud.... That's not nice.... Seriously.... Popcorn, yum....

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:31 | 5220906 nmewn

I was really hoping you'd grab him by the ears and show him what ears are made for.

It really is larger close up ;-)

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:35 | 5220710 Oldwood

maybe something good will come from this horror afterall. He wasn't using his head much anyway. It is amazing how full of one's self one can become. Sometimes it only takes a mirror, but usually its a camera.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:43 | 5220730 Bangalore Equit...

Listen. I applaud his efforts. Better than just sitting at home "SURFING" Drudge and Match.com and letting the evening "NEWS" form your opinions for you....

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:57 | 5220987 Overfed

I hope he shows up to the meeting in drag.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 23:14 | 5221220 Wahooo

Oh, here we go. First Rodman, then Bono, then Branjelina, who knows what next.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:31 | 5220694 auntiesocial

I want to do a mosiac for my wife's mood swings...

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:36 | 5220714 Oldwood

And we will be hearing of your beheading next.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:07 | 5220820 nmewn

Fatwa! Infidel! Apostate!

Is anybody gonna fight tonight?

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:09 | 5220834 knukles

Good God, man.... You're on fire tonight!
Why don't you go fight that newbie to soften him up for us?

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:37 | 5220698 Dr. Engali

The Economist........ Lol, no agenda there.

Edit: I just realized today is my four year birthday. I expect Crown Royal shots, a fine cigar, and moar boobie pictures from Tyler.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:37 | 5220715 knukles

HB, Doc!

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:45 | 5220738 Dr. Engali

Four years.... I must be insane. I keep telling myself I'm wrong , but I'm convinced that I'm right about not being wrong.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:58 | 5220789 nmewn

Congrats Doc, four years and still sane ;-)

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:00 | 5220803 knukles

I'll tell you guys again, like I did when you got here.... This place will mess your noggins up, real good.
You're both twisted fucks and I love ya'!

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:06 | 5220816 nmewn

It helps to be twisted just enough to recognize what twisted really is.

Many just don't get it ;-)

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:11 | 5220841 knukles

Seriously. Sorta like Jesus James Angleton's 7 levels of intrigue, each deeper and more complex than the other.
BTW, great book on that is The Company
Exceptional novel.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:41 | 5220723 JuliaS

I love how they mash the US and EU together into a single cell. Reminds me of how our Constitutional Republic suddenly became a Democracy and nobody even noticed.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:56 | 5220783 nmewn

I did ;-)

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:44 | 5220731 earleflorida

'it's always been the `Twelvers'... against the,`mouse eaters?'

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:51 | 5220755 Paracelsus

Apocalypse Now,based on Conrads novel about a rogue that goes "native"in the Congo.

Same shit.Fellow goes off the script,so they have to send someone to whack him.

A better question is why the Taliban,Al-Queda,ISIS,and everyone are having such an easy time recruiting these days.

By the way Tylers,I quite liked the terrorist questionaire the other day.The best.And bring back the Snorg Tees girls!

Oh,and Conrad was Polish,too.Bit topical these days...

Tue, 09/16/2014 - 04:48 | 5221765 11b40

Congo?
Wrong continent.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:52 | 5220764 tony wilson

ny mind is so addled and befuddlled i blame the frequencies do you rememember the woodpecker noise coming from russia in the 1980s they said it was mind control.

others said it was submarine communications.

scan some shortwave a lot of interference going on.

anyway the economist

i cannot quite remember is it edwynes wife that runs it or jacobs?

the rothschilds that is either way it will be an invalid piece of kosher shit

what what

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:15 | 5220854 knukles

Original Russian Woodpecker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOMVdOc9UbE

New Woodpecker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IpjPbdKSFM

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 23:07 | 5221205 Wahooo

WTF? So after eons of human evolution and scientific progress, we're left with a shortwave woodpecker noise? As the world collapses around us, that's all there is left? Well, so long and thanks for all the fish.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:53 | 5220770 Usura

Turkey seems to have a slit personality: Friendly withe the Iraqi Kurds while enemies with the Syrian Kurds. I wonder how they feel about the Turkish Kurds? You know, the one who want to incorporate great swaths of south eastern Turkey into Greater Kurdistan. This ridiculous inconsistancy should be more that enough evidence to conclude that the "Economist" is full of crap

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 20:58 | 5220796 Usura

I should also point out that this chart is improperly constructed, so that it is necessary to examine 2 separate columns to deduce the inconsistency I have pointed out. I doubt this was an accident more likely the lying pricks at the Economist did it on purpose.

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 22:02 | 5220981 earleflorida

the turkish kurds are a buffer zone from armenia with azerbaijan bordering iran. but, the syrian kurds bother no-one and assad left them alone. it was qatar, sa, and turkey that fomented the syrian-spring in the north that got out of hand because assad, 'nipped-it-in-the-bud!' but the covert operatives in the north inflamed a simple peaceful freedom march that meant [a simple protest march?] nothing,... absolutely no threat or uprising into a mares`nest! now a full blown civil war.

the iraqi kurds have a unique relation with turkey for the vast oil fields in northern iraq. in the late 70's the iranian's used the kurds as an excuse to gain the lions share of the talebani http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Algiers_Agreement

ironically, the palhavi dynasty of iran fucked the entire ME up from 1925-79 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_dynasty royally screwing with everyone and partnering with israel's mossad and SAVAK, the iranian int'l secret police co-sponsered by the ussa

http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/4233/42

http://www.aina.org/news/20080101142405.htm

please realize that over the last hundred years between the british, french, american's {chinese and soviet union?} the regime changes have had bi-polar dysfuctional leadership built upon colonial dynasties that best suited the empire currently in control from france to england to the united states, swapping out tyrannical, depotism, dictatorships for a moar concilliatory regime even worse than the previous. the ussa and all their puppets will not tolerate nationalism! period!!!

jmo

ps. check out nixon and iran in 1974 and kissenger after nixon's 1972 visit to china and how china got its camel nose under the me tent with tricky dicks help arming all the arabs and jews to the hilt and then fomenting war amonst the lot. nothing changed...

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:02 | 5220804 kchrisc

DC US was at war with ISIS: DC US had always been at war with ISIS. A large part of the political literature of five years was now completely obsolete. Reports and records of all kinds, newspapers, books, pamphlets, films, sound-tracks, photographs — all had to be rectified at lightning speed. Although no directive was ever issued, it was known that the chiefs of the Department intended that within one week no reference to the war with Al Qaeda, or the alliance with ISIS, should remain in existence anywhere.

Recast from Orwell's 1984

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 21:25 | 5220876 Blazed

Israel as friendly? The built in ethno-collective Sayanim, secular or religious, have continually spied on the US since before WWII, not to mention their social-political activism and undermining of just about every aspect of this Nation, they are anything but friendly.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/12/world/israel-selling-china-military-te...

http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/12/22/u-s-furious-with-israel-after-sale-...

http://www.newsweek.com/israel-flagged-top-spy-threat-us-new-snowdennsa-...

http://www.newsweek.com/israel-wont-stop-spying-us-249757

The Lavon Affair and the USS Liberty Attack.

http://davidduke.com/israel-honors-jewish-terrorists-who-attacked-america/

Increased US Aid To Israel

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130815/DEFREG04/308150008/Israel-Se...

http://forward.com/articles/184017/israel-pushes-for-boost-in-us-aid-to-...

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/americas/12837-us-congress-approv...

"In total, the US has agreed to spend $30 billion on military aid in Israel between 2009 and 2018."

U.S. Jewish NGOs to get 97% of Homeland Security's defense grant in 2012

Pretty good for less than 3% of the US population. So equitable of them.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/u-s-jewish-ngos-to...

Mon, 09/15/2014 - 22:11 | 5221026 AgeOfJefferson

The Economist, the bought and paid for pressititute toilet paper. I wouldn't even wipe my ass with that garbage!

Tue, 09/16/2014 - 02:27 | 5221610 Paracelsus

Look,the Iraqis are not pussies.They slugged it out with Iranians for years.

They had up to date equipment,aircraft,etc.

What has changed since then? Oh right.The west got involved...

Tue, 09/16/2014 - 03:26 | 5221661 talisman

after deposing the Shah, followed by Khomeni gaining control of Iraq, US wholeheartedly backed Iraq/Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran with everything from money, weapons, military training, intelligence, and political support to poison gas and biological weapons such as Botulism and lethal strains of anthrax.The US Centers for Disease Control alone sent Iraq 14 separate agents "with biological warfare significance.
When Saddam also proceeded to use the US-supplied poison gas in his Halabja genocidal massacre against the Kurds, Washington went so far as to suggest that that Kurdish civilians were not a deliberate target, and that Iran, not Saddam was responsible

Donald Rumsfeld visited Saddam and gave him a big wet kiss on the very day that Saddam used US-furnished mustard gas and tabun against Iran....Zbigniew Brzezinski was Saddam's #1 pompom waving cheerleader

this is all just one more sordid chapter in the US ongoing disastrous and criminal meddling in the middle east

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

http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/arming_iraq.php

Tue, 09/16/2014 - 08:21 | 5222007 d edwards

The enemy of my enemy is still my enemy (once they get thru fighting each other.)

The Middle-East Mosaic: Friends, Foes, & Frenemies

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