As a kid twenty years after the second world war it was still more or less possible to walk from central London to Essex through Bomb-sites.


The Japanese might also point to the entry of the USSR in the war against them, and how the allies had cut the islands off from any supplies. And the clear inevitability of the failure of the war they had got themselves into with no clear strategy apart form we will surprise them with an attack form the air that is so devastating they are bound to give in. 

Actually the majority of historians say it was a combination.


link

You will notice the mention of how the Japanese were already seeking to sue for peace with the USSR to act as intermediary, before the USSR declared war on them.

It is not having it my way this is generally what is agreed.

After offering only half-hearted support at best for the Kurds fighting for their lives in Kobane over last 3 weeks, US finally pulled its finger out today and sent in the B1. Better late than never. Thanks Uncle Sam and well done.

ISIS = Is Something In Sky?

Did you notice oil prices are going down partly due to ISIS producing so much to finance themselves, it not just arms is it?

One would hope that they do make the correct beaurocratic moves. Efforts to encourage an inclusive government in Baghdad suggest they understand that this is necessary if peace is eventually to come there.

The situation we are facing now with ISIS is completely different to the earlier wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya etc. It's not about US hegemony, resources or the war economy. It's not about "intervention" and "invented" enemies. This is the real deal. A clashing of two completely incompatible global cultures, both of whom, in different ways, want to control the planet.

We have to understand that throughout the history of the region, there has never been a western plan that did not deviate from the "what is best for us" theme. Israel/Palestine/Iraq etc. The one country that has bucked the trend and got off the lead is Iran - and that has hardly been welcomed.

Ideas of the west being a policeman are a misrepresentation - not so much a noble copper/ the blunt instrument of law, but a security guard, keeping a check on assets.

IS PR is stomach churning and appalling, but is an MBA level excerise in bare bones guerilla marketing. As a corporation, a brand, a franchise ( for that is what they effectively are), IS are up there with Ebola as todays headline grabbers. and this is not a good thing .In another world/ not too far away from our own they would be getting awards for their campaign success at coke dusted industry events.

Is ISIS a real threat to us ? Its hard to say, it harder to work through the bluster in the media.It takea a bit of work to discover who they are and how they relate to the Syria situation

anyway, I dunno. Turkey is key here, but another series of political-Economic imperatives are driving that policy.

 An interesting aside is the utter shittiness of the Iraq army and the regualr routing it takes from IS - 'parrently a divisional command costs $20M to secure- but once you have the post, you bloat your troop numbers & costs, flog the gear to all and sundry whilst actually only having a handful of squaddies kicking about the place- leaving you to skim the rest of the numbers to your personal ISA.srsly.

And your point is...your comments are a bit like the reasons the. Gun lobby quote for the daft American gun laws.
Isis, Al Qaeda, Gaddafi, Hussein, IRA......not sure how the IRA ended up in this as not like the others. Two are dictators and the other two jihadist muslim fundamentalists. So are you saying it would be good to still have Sadam...the guy who gassed his own people based on the fact that he was such a cunt he controlled it all. 
Your original comments related to US and UK bullets it's probably the mess it is because not enough of them were used.

And that is our media, meaningless sound bites , feeding us fear, no knowledge and a 'way to be'

Sigh

Off topic but interesting

Thats the spirit -JohnnyH - kill more innocents!!

why dont you and your buddy iamzero go over to Syria/Iraq and see if you csn fix the issue and save us from your warmongering rhetoric

You really dont have a fucking clue!!!

J you're rhetoric seems to sum up an insecure male psyche hoping there's a one liner 'solution' that makes this alright which probably starts with v and ends in e

You see a discussion with no answers, I see a discussion of the issues and a willingness to question and realise that any solution is going to massively long term and take a great deal of bravery that won't be backed up by a baying media nor short term popularity or economic gains


Actually that applies to most areas of governing for the greater long term good !

So it's my insecure male psyche now. Two posts ago I was angry etc. stop attacking me fella and stop the waffle you do need to look at what's wrong and look to solutions and blaming the Brits and the US don't cut it really.

so it's a bit like a crap school report...put some more effort in and try harder!!