Happy birthday, Heebiegran! She's lived pretty much exactly through the American Century.
OP last: I'm not sure who Heebie means by "we" but local Muslims did almost all the fighting and dying. Not to say America didn't contribute, but IMO that has to be emphasized.
It's my grandmother's 99th birthday next weekend!
It's my grandmother's 99th birthday next weekend!
3: not to mention all the losing, all the running away in the face of a greatly inferior enemy force, all the selling or indeed just giving their weapons to ISIL, and all the treating the locals so badly that they decided they'd be better off with ISIL than with their own government. Just because you got a lot of your own people killed on an operation doesn't mean the operation actually achieved anything in particular.
I except the Kurds from this as their performance has been extremely creditable.
7: I didn't say any of them were good, in any sense. I said it was mostly their fight and eventually they've won.
I haven't really ever seen any news in the mainstream media about ISIL as a state with territory that could be conquered. It's just the new Al Qaeda, the mysterious evil Islamic terrorist group.
There were certainly lots of stories like that. They stopped when Trump won.
Or maybe I just ran out of attention.
The conservative wing of my extended family in NW Pennsylvania, highly educated, very traditional, several military officers and spouses, voted en masse for Trump. They used to criticize Obama, somewhat hilariously, and simply did not like Hillary ("I just don't trust her" said my 89 yr-old aunt before the election). They have been notably quiet about politics since Inauguration.
Could you send them a War on Christmas card with a picture of an (older) Pétain? It would make me very happy.
I did think about the tinniness of "we" when I wrote that and then got distracted. Sorry, it's inappropriate.
The conservative wing of my extended family in NW Pennsylvania, highly educated, very traditional, several military officers and spouses
This reminds me of an article I read recently about how the current republicans have essentially declared war on the FBI and much of the DOJ.
It left me wondering what traditionally staunchly conservative institutions like these that have been shived by the GOP are going to do once Trump is finally gone. Just pretend it never happened?
And a Happy 100th to heebie's grandma.
Barry! The Trip to Spain made it to Netflix and I can confirm there's a yelled phrase at the end that it sounds like wasn't there in your version. (Totally unclear whether it's in the movie's reality or is imagined there.)
Am I correct in dimly remembering that 17 is actually on topic in at least one way?
I had forgotten about Juan Cole before the OP.
It left me wondering what traditionally staunchly conservative institutions like these that have been shived by the GOP are going to do once Trump is finally gone. Just pretend it never happened?
Hmm. Fortunately, managing to pretend that the grotesquely abhorrent misdeeds of your lunatic bigoted allies never took place is kind of a speciality of staunchly conservative institutions. I'm sure they'll be fine. They'll just change the insignia or appoint a new Pope or something.
9: I don't really agree with that. I think there was extra emphasis at least among those who paid some baseline/token level of attention, like me, on its being new in trying to officially hold and govern territory, not just be an insurgency. Their ambitions toward state actorhood directly led to the specific atrocities that got them more attention - the plight of the Yezidi, especially. The OMG-creeping-sharia "national security" constituency also got a lot of boost from them calling themselves the true caliphate. I agree in the least common denominator way they were used it was just as the big scary new Al Qaeda, but at least slightly better understandings were abroad in the circles that might have more policy impact.
I like looking here from time to time. Gives you a sense for how much the Kurds have helped and now control. Once you realize that an even larger area due north of the yellow is ethnic Kurd, you understand why the Turkish government is so worried.
18: Yes, but I think the general uncertainty about a violent shift in the balance of power away from Anglo cultural dominance parallels the narrative about the uncomfortable declining cultural relevance that's part of being a 50-something white man.
9 & 21. The religious conditions Daesh was founded on (notably, being a "caliphate") required it to hold territory and expand to (eventually) rule the entire Muslim world: that's what a caliphate is. When they notably failed to do this, it was more than just a political failure. In any case, their defeat as announced by Iraq was covered reasonably thoroughly in a lot of media I encounter (the Boston Globe, The Economist, the WaPo, etc.) It wasn't front-page news in any of them, however.
10. For better or worse, "we" contributed a lot of ordnance and a lot of signals intelligence, plus rumored up-close assistance when things got pointy. Overwhelming firepower (plus Kurds, as ajay pointed out) is one reason the local troops didn't all run away this time.
22. The Kurds aren't superhuman. They got kicked out of Mosul pretty easily by the Iraqi army a month ago.
None of this means the end of Islamic terrorism, of course. Decades of war have made a mess of the whole region, so plenty of scope for new organizations (and old ones like al-Qaeda) to make trouble.
The Kurds aren't superhuman. They got kicked out of Mosul pretty easily by the Iraqi army a month ago.
Killing Kurdish civilians is literally the only area in which the Iraqi army has shown any degree of operational competence in its entire history. Plus, if they'd fought for Mosul they would have lost US support.
I would have expected Trump to be making a huge fuss over this -- that only he was able to defeat Isis, because only he was sufficiently ruthless etc. He's said this a little, but it really hasn't been a big story. Is this really because he realizes a narrative of triumph wouldn't mix well with his goal of generating more fear?
When the right wing finds its Leni Riefenstahl, the movie will be called "Triumph of the Comfortable yet Perpetually Aggrieved."
Maybe the President should make a speech to some returning soldiers. I bet there's a Mission Accomplished banner somewhere in storage he could use.
I haven't really ever seen any news in the mainstream media about ISIL as a state with territory that could be conquered.
Really? Do you mean recently, or ever? Because it's been very widely covered in this sense for the last three years in the media I read, and the BBC, the FT and the Guardian are all pretty mainstream.
(The BBC decided some time ago to call it "so-called Islamic State", which I am sort of hoping they extend more widely. "Emmanuel Macron, the so-called president of France." "The earthquake hit Quito, the so-called capital of Ecuador, early this morning.")
30.2 It may have been an Islamic state but as recent developments among other things have shown it was hardly the Islamic State.
Slightly OT: more reassurance from the Arms Control Wonk podcast on North Korea: https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1204543/up-close-and-personal-with-the-qiam/
"We're not going to war with North Korea. Because Iran, which doesn't even have nuclear weapons, gave a missile to its proxies to fire at the airport in the capital of a major ally, and our response was to hold a press conference!"
31: well, yes, but since when did we second-guess people's decisions on what to call themselves? We don't talk about the so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or Radio So-Called Free Europe, or (a particular travesty) so-called Best Western hotels.
Does anybody actually say or write "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" who doesn't live in North Korea?
"DPRK" is fairly common, at least in natsec-ish press.
"The Islamic state" is a weird one, though. If someone named themselves "The King of France," the BBC might stick a "so-called" in there.
I only read the naturalist secular press for the articles.
37 is kind of what I'm getting at.
I don't understand the problem.
There we're more offended that they claim the title "University" than we are by the use of the word "The".
And then saying ISIS or ISIL or IS or Daesh could still be seen as smuggling in that assertion via initialism.
There turns out to be a 2,200-word article on various names of ISIS, but there appears to be no option that gets rid of this aspect.
"The pretender to the Calpihate"?
"Daesh" in Arabic comes with a heavy layer of sarcasm which is why it's used.
Chrissie Hynde used that for her middle eastern tour.
45 Heard a story about her storming off the stage in Dubai because the audience were acting like pricks.
44: Could you elaborate? Is that intrinsic to the words, or the way they're said?
There is also a 900-word article on all the organizations, characters, and brands which changed names to avoid the association.
It doesnt really mean anything it just has an ugly sound.
It looks like it sounds kind of nasty in Arabic and those associations have been hammered in by pejorative use, making the group itself disavow that name.
While "Daesh" has no other meaning in Arabic, it is very similar to the Arabic word دعس (Daes), meaning "one who crushes (or tramples down) something underfoot". It also resembles the Arabic word داحس (Dāhis), the beginning of داحس والغبراء (Dāhis wa'l-Ghabrā', or "Felon and dust"), which refers to the Islamic concept of the Jahiliyyah and can be loosely translated as "one who sows discord". Both words obviously have a negative connotation in Arabic culture, undermining the group's claim to have revived the Caliphate, leading to the group objecting to it as a pejorative name.
49: Thanks.
I have in my apartment several items of Osama brand cutlery, which someday I may investigate if I stop being lazy.
The Goat Farmers of the South East changed their branding a few years back.
27: This puzzles me too, that he hasn't flogged the shit out of it. The only other idea I can come up with is he's still smarting from the military telling him repeatedly the best option was the one Obama had already gone with. Maybe his hatred for Obama messed with his normal fluency in rewriting history.
On the Kurds, Iraqi Army, etc, this on Hezbollah is interesting.
In many cases, members belong to the same family or clan, or are close friends. Indeed, this is true of many local and foreign militias that have participated in Syria's civil war. These social solidarities may contribute to the effectiveness of these militiasSubstate actors finding ways to mobilize and cohere in ways a lot of Middle Eastern states haven't.
"The Islamic state" is a weird one, though. If someone named themselves "The King of France," the BBC might stick a "so-called" in there.
Because there actually is a definable entity called "France" which definitely doesn't have a king. There isn't a definable entity called "Islam" that definitely doesn't have a state, any more than there's a definable entity called "socialism" that the US Socialist Party definitely doesn't represent. IS was a state, and they called themselves Islamic.
The BBC didn't mind talking about the United Arab Republic, back when there was one, even though it didn't include all or even (I think) a majority of Arabs, and also included a fair number of non-Arabs. The IRA didn't get a "so-called" even though there was definitely an Irish Republic, with an army that definitely wasn't the IRA.
54: Yes. It is absolutely the triumph of the policy of Obama and Obama's State Department. It's a living demonstration of Trump's incomprehension of national interest. (To the extent he's even aware of this, and if it isn't on cable he likely isn't.)
The BBC didn't mind talking about the United Arab Republic, back when there was one, even though it didn't include all or even (I think) a majority of Arabs, and also included a fair number of non-Arabs. The IRA didn't get a "so-called" even though there was definitely an Irish Republic, with an army that definitely wasn't the IRA.
It did mind letting people hear Gerry Adams's voice, though.
52.2 Every time I meet a youngish Osama here I do the math.
59 Born before 1993? No problemo. Before 2001? Your parents are kind of dicks. After 2001? I'd like to punch your parents in the face.
It did mind letting people hear Gerry Adams's voice, though.
No, it didn't.
As it happens your dear president is my namesake, at which I am unamused.
I can't even play bridge anymore because of the bidding.
As it happens your dear president is my namesake
Ouch. First name only, or a complete namesake?
First (dare I say Christian?) name only. But as Moby points out, the asshole has stolen one of my verbs too.
66: ah, that's not so bad. I have a relative in the same boat, but it's a commoner name over here.
You may find it's strikingly rare in the Roc.
Could you just pick of Chinese name, the way Chinese people here decide to go by names that the locals can say here?
70 Really? What's the Chinese for "Muerto de Hombre"?
I'm sure google translate knows all. It's: 人死亡
That's a mark you could make with a sword.
Analogously to the process with makes "America" 美.
Or rather, makes "Unites States of America" 美.
37. The BBC calls this guy King Arthur Pendragon without scare quotes in spite of the fact that his legal name (he changed it) is Arthur Uther Pendragon, and he's king of nowhere. They're pragmatic about this sort of thing, for instance they frequently refer to Richard Starkey as Ringo Starr.
If you can make a name for yourself as "King of France" in showbiz or politics or whatever so that it has better name recognition than Walt Someguy, they'll be happy to call you that as much as you like.
美! 美! 美!
That's either patriotism or an attack of 8-armed aliens with clubs.
||
As this is vaguely the live politics thread, can anybody confirm or contradict my feeling that this is the better outcome?
|>
80: I haven't been following, but yes, it's probably marginally better. In that non-hereditary kleptocracy is marginally better than hereditary kleptocracy.
Give us ten years or so and we'll find out here in 美.
美國, more correctly. But 國 is just country, so it doesn't really translate USA.
The point here being, Chinese script is bullshit.
If English had a logographic system for writing, I'm certain the script for "country" would be obscene.
If English had a logographic system for writing, I'd be in Europe learning Chinese, instead of teaching Chinese people English in Asia.
Somebody needs to let them know that the barista will be more readily able to shout their name if they say their name is "Tim."
That "Guo" looks really strange. The stuff in the box doesn't look anything like the simplified Chinese character.
疸拿
Daná, pimple-grasp. It's a stretch, but I think it'll work.
70
What!?! I bet we can crowd source you an amazing Chinese name. In the Motherland, I only go by my Chinese name, even on official documents (e.g. bank accounts, residence permit paperwork, etc). Officials would rather have a name they can read tied to me than some incomprehensible scribble that matches my passport.
Semi-related to the OT, I saw the new remastered Lawrence of Arabia in theaters last night. It was my first time and the film is absolutely breathtaking. Definitely one of the best films I've ever seen. I also discovered that my MIL used to hang out in the desert around Aqaba with the PLO, but she is vague on the details.
Continuing on 70
What initial sound does your last name start with?
Google translate let me pick simplified or traditional. I went with traditional because I figured simplified was probably like when they tried to change English spellings to things like "lite" and "tho".
好汉子
Means 'badass' in Chinese. It's a good start for a nickname, if you don't mind giggles and stares.
88
For traditional vs. simplified, guo used to have a sword in the middle, and now it has king.
It's in a box, and it comes after ＂美＂。What's there to think about? The problem is that all the menus stateside are traditional, so you get like an unusual vegetable or something and the font is tiny to start with and it's all in ancient Chinese secret.
92 is I think fairly accurate and I am just mortified by it.
It's in a box, and it comes after ＂美＂
What is 'Land of the Donut Bacon Double cheeseburger."?
94
Plus, lots of vegetables have been translated differently by Chinese immigrants in America than they were on the Mainland or Taiwan.
93: That's a dagger axe you heathen. That looks nothing like a sword.
96
That translates into: (feiguo, rhymes with meiguo)
肥国
Also, looking at simplified it's jade in the middle, but when I was in the "spreading socialist values class" we were taught it was king as well. I guess there's a double meaning of king's treasure?
95: Difference in degree enough to be in kind. Chinese characters are already super-elitist and unnecessarily complex by world writing system standards, so simplification, tacky as it may have seemed in cultural context, was a good thing by my lights. Japan did it postwar, and I bet the Republic would have done so too eventually if the Communists hadn't come to power.
98
My scanty knowledge of weaponry brings shame upon my ancestors.
戈 is dagger axe but 或 is territory. Not sure how they got from A to B there.
There's a meme among JHS-age students who use the Japanese NicoNico videosharing site to "worship" Ronald McDonald as a religious icon. The transliteration "believers" use is 怒鳴奴, which comes out as something like "enraged animal-noise guy".
63: Why? Every time it comes up, it's in the form of "No Trump", which ought to be a state to be desired.
102
They discussed it in Spreading Socialist Values class, but I forgot. Also, I doubt it was historically accurate.
104: And if I have a strong hearts hand, I still feel compelled to say "No Trump."
80. FWIW The Economist hoped Ramaphosa would win, but thought it unlikely.
OT: Do podiatrists usually have Dremel tools out or should I run?
109: I'm already working on not having the most damaged ankles on the blog and you can take over again soon. There's no need to get dramatic.
They have a war on Christmas tree and a war on Geeks candles holder.
Apparently, the bottom of my foot is not so very different from a rusty bit of metal in terms of how you knock crud off.