NO! This is not a review of the new Star Wars movie (sorry I could not resist)…..I wrote a piece yesterday about the question of just who will be the force to take on ISIS head to head…..(in case you missed it)…..
Source: Who Will Fight the Islamic State? | In Saner Thought
Since I posted that my question has been answered……(sort of)…….
Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that 34 nations have agreed to form a new “Islamic military alliance” to fight terrorism with a joint operations center based in the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh. The announcement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency said the alliance will be Saudi-led and is being established because terrorism “should be fought by all means and collaboration should be made to eliminate it.” The statement said Islam forbids “corruption and destruction in the world” and that terrorism constitutes “a serious violation of human dignity and rights, especially the right to life and the right to security.”
At a news conference, Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman said the new Islamic military coalition will develop mechanisms for working with other countries and international bodies to support counterterrorism efforts. He said their efforts would not be limited to countering ISIS alone. “Currently, every Muslim country is fighting terrorism individually … so coordinating efforts is very important,” he said. The new counterterrorism coalition includes nations with large and established armies such as Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt, as well as war-torn countries with embattled militaries such as Libya and Yemen. Saudi Arabia’s Shiite regional rival, Iran, and its allies Iraq and Syria are not part of the new coalition.
Okay….we all can relax…..we force a commitment for a fighting force from the conflicted region…..right?
Then why am I not more excited about the news?
Is this the answer the world has been looking for……or is it a gimmick? We have been fooled in the past by these same groups….could they possibly be serious this time?
“Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.” — The Godfather, by Mario Puzo, as suggested by reasoning of Sun Tzu’s Art of War….
I’m very sure this adage is one the Said family (the rulers in that desert for millennia) has been aware of since before the time of Mohammed…. How better to keep track of those whom one considers an enemy, than to act as their friend?… The most powerful warrior, as Sun Tzu pointed out, is not the general, or the most skilled; it is the Spy….
gigoid, the dubious
Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it.
I am also skeptical…so many promises and so little action in the past….