Islamic State - another unwinnable war?

[visualnickmos]

... though I see you have a rather different idea of 'engagement' than I do!

I certainly do.

[P. G. Tipps]

I certainly do.

You most certainly do, so Vive La Difference, visualnickmos!

[amateur51]

From now on, I would beg you and others to refer to me by my proper and only registered screen-name. To do otherwise might not officially break any forum rules but is certainly contrary to the spirit of simple forum courtesy.

Thank You.

Nice try scotty - how discourteous it is for someone to pretend to be, and to insist on being addressed as, an entirely different person, rather than living with who you are, a person with a very specific historical baggage on this very Board.

You'll be moving to Argentina next :derisivesnorterama:

[visualnickmos]

Vive La Difference

Absolument!

[P. G. Tipps]

http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/paranoia.jpg

[ahinton]

http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/wp-c...7/paranoia.jpg

Repeatedly referring to yourself, however obliquely, does you no more favours than does P. G. Tipps to tea...

[P. G. Tipps]

Repeatedly referring to yourself, however obliquely, does you no more favours than does P. G. Tipps to tea...

Ahinton, another here often reminds one of the name of an old hard-boiled sweetie one used to love to devour when one was a small child. Wasn't another the very one who recently chided one for using the all-inclusive, all-embracing 'we'? In the absence of many alternatives one does have to refer to oneself as oneself when referring to oneself, however obliquely, doesn't one?

One must add, though, that repeated references to 'tea' and 'tea-bag' alongside the name 'P. G. Tipps' demonstrate wit on a quite incomparable scale, amply illustrated by another's use of the word 'favours' instead of the rather more obvious 'flavours', for which, one suspects, somewhat more commonly-witted forum members might have opted.

Furthermore, one continues to celebrate all these recorded inventions by those clever Muslims and one does thank Mr Beef Oven for kindly bringing them to one's attention ...

Doesn't another?

[P. G. Tipps]

Nice try scotty - how discourteous it is for someone to pretend to be, and to insist on being addressed as, an entirely different person, rather than living with who you are, a person with a very specific historical baggage on this very Board.

You'll be moving to Argentina next :derisivesnorterama:

Thank you scotty ...

I would like to reassure you that I'm the same person as I've always been and perfectly happy living with who I am. I've been together a very long time and love myself dearly.

As for 'specific historical baggage' on this very Board, I didn't realise there was such a thing and, in any case, P. G. Tipps hasn't been around long enough, surely? I'd have thought those like amateur51, a much longer-standing figure on this very Board, might have accumulated quite considerably more specific historical baggage but that's just a logical hunch, tbh.

No, I'm not planning on moving to Argentina next :derisivesnorterama: ... why? ... is it some nice little village in Wales?

[ahinton]

Ahinton, another here often reminds one of the name of an old hard-boiled sweetie one used to love to devour when one was a small child.

Not this "one", who regrets his inability to identify said hard-boiled sweetie (in the mention of which your are, at least for once, clearly not describing yourself).

Wasn't another the very one who recently chided one for using the all-inclusive, all-embracing 'we'?

I've no idea. "We", being the first person plural, is by definition specific in its reference, i.e. identfiying particular individuals and at the same time excluding others; "we" therefore has no practical meaning unless it identifies those individuals and demonstrates that it refers to them alone.

In the absence of many alternatives one does have to refer to oneself as oneself when referring to oneself, however obliquely, doesn't one?

But it is not necessary to refer to oneself as often as some people are wont to do!

One must add, though, that repeated references to 'tea' and 'tea-bag' alongside the name 'P. G. Tipps' demonstrate wit on a quite incomparable scale

Does it indeed? I'd not noticed...

amply illustrated by another's use of the word 'favours' instead of the rather more obvious 'flavours', for which, one suspects, somewhat more commonly-witted forum members might have opted.

An especially poor illustration, if I may say so, especially given that "flavours" is not a word that it would occur me to to associate with "P.G. Tip(p)s" (give me fifty shades of Earl Grey any day)....

Furthermore, one continues to celebrate all these recorded inventions by those clever Muslims and one does thank Mr Beef Oven for kindly bringing them to one's attention ...

Only one? That's less than the number of inventions themselves, surely? Anyway - wrong thread.

Doesn't another?

All due credit to inventors of useful things, irrespective of those inventors' origins...

Were this kind of exchange to typify the manner in which those in positions of power seek to address the issues raised by the actions and "ideology" (if indeed there is one that could resaqonbly be called such) of IS, an "unwinnable war" might end up being the very least of the attendant problems!

[aeolium]

This seems to me a fair assessment of the merits of the policy of the US and UK:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/isis-bomb-muslim-world-air-strikes-saudi-arabia

The targets change; the policy doesn’t. Never mind the question, the answer is bombs. In the name of peace and the preservation of life, our governments wage perpetual war.

[ahinton]

This seems to me a fair assessment of the merits of the policy of the US and UK:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...s-saudi-arabia

I'm no great fan of the sound-of-his-own-loud-voice-loving Monbiot but on this I do believe that he has pirched it just about right. OK, if "the West" (whatever that is - and as though "the West" is the only part of the world at potential or actual risk of the consequences of what's currently going on in the Middle East) withdraws all of its weaponry and armed service personnel from the Middle East, the problems and the killings will continue and, whilst what happens will then, at least for the time being, be confined largely to the Middle East, there will come a time when there'll be hardly anyone left there to fight anyone else - which is pretty much the same as what might well result from continued bombings and "boots on the ground" from outside the affected areas; that's the only "argument" that I have with what Monbiot writes on this.

[teamsaint]

This seems to me a fair assessment of the merits of the policy of the US and UK:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...s-saudi-arabia

Here is an interesting place.

http://www.visitblaenavon.co.uk/en/WorldHeritageSite/TheBlaenavonStory/BlaenavonIronworks.aspx

The most advanced Iron and steel works in the world C 1800.

A very interesting day out.
Guess why this works developed, and what the market was for the Iron and steel....

Plus ca change........

[ardcarp]

I'm no great fan of the sound-of-his-own-loud-voice-loving Monbiot but on this I do believe that he has pirched it just about right. OK, if "the West" (whatever that is - and as though "the West" is the only part of the world at potential or actual risk of the consequences of what's currently going on in the Middle East) withdraws all of its weaponry and armed service personnel from the Middle East, the problems and the killings will continue and, whilst what happens will then, at least for the time being, be confined largely to the Middle East, there will come a time when there'll be hardly anyone left there to fight anyone else - which is pretty much the same as what might well result from continued bombings and "boots on the ground" from outside the affected areas; that's the only "argument" that I have with what Monbiot writes on this.

Well. I'm pretty impressed with Mombiot here; his phrase "[now we have a new reason] to dispense mercy from the sky" is just brilliant.