Will UK Finally Step Up?

Obama and his coalition is getting a lack luster acceptance……many have join the force but few want to truly involved with maybe some behind the scenes doings…….the r3eport is that we now have 40 countries signed onto the coalition deal…..France may help with airstrikes and Australia is commit troops, yes I said troops, about 600 total….so far the countires most in danger from an expanding Is, the Sunni nations, are not as enthusiastic as France and Australia.

The UK has been hinting around the fringe of helping but I think IS last act of horror may bring them on-board and in a big way…..

ISIS appears to have carried out its threat to behead yet another Western hostage, this time a British citizen named David Haines. The executioner who killed Steven Sotloff in the last video had threatened that Haines would be next. Britain’s foreign office said it is “working urgently” to verify the newly released video, reports the BBC. Haines, a 44-year-old aid worker, was captured in Syria last year, as were Americans Sotloff and James Foley. The video emerged a day after the family of Haines issued a public plea urging his captors to contact them.

In the video, the group threatened to kill another Briton. Both British men were dressed in orange jumpsuits against an arid Syrian landscape, similar to that seen in the Foley and Sotloff videos. The SITE Intelligence Group, a US terrorism watchdog, reported the video, which was also posted online by users associated with the Islamic State group. The video was entitled “A Message to the Allies of America.” Haines’ purported killer, who appeared to be the same man speaking with a British accent as in the previous videos, tells the British government that its alliance with the US will only “accelerate your destruction” and will drag the British people into “another bloody and unwinnable war.”

Lots of back and forth…….and then Cameron made his move………

David Cameron emerged from an emergency meeting this morning with harsh words for Islamic State militants in the wake of yesterday’s video that purports to show the beheading of British aid worker David Haines: Calling the execution—which hasn’t been officially verified, though a UK Foreign Office rep tells the Wall Street Journal that “all signs are that the video is genuine”—”an act of pure evil,” the BBC reports that Cameron vowed “we will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes.” In the video, Haines singled out Cameron thusly: “I would like to declare that I hold you, David Cameron, entirely responsible for my execution.” ISIS militants threatened a second British hostage, Alan Henning, with the same fate

Looks like the UK is now ALL IN……….Glad to see that our allies will step up when needed but what are they stepping up to do?

Kerry insisted it was not only “premature” to talk about what, if anything, the coalition allies will do, but was even “inappropriate” of people to be talking about how little commitment many of the members seem to have.

Over the weekend 26 nations came together to plot a course through the ISIS thing……..

The world is discussing the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Paris today, with President Francois Hollande opening a conference attended by leaders and diplomats from 25-plus countries by saying “there is no time to lose. Iraq’s combat against terrorism is also ours.” Or so hopes Iraqi president Fuad Masum, who urged those in attendance to expand the fight against ISIS to Syria, reports the New York Times. “We must not allow them to have sanctuaries. We must pursue them wherever they are.” The Times notes that, thus far, the US has OKed only intelligence gathering over Syria. More on the ISIS front:

  • Not in attendance at the conference: Iran. Though France “initially opened the door to a possible role” by the country, per the Times, John Kerry put the kibosh on the idea over fears it would dissuade Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern states from participating. Iran, for its part, says that Syria should have been invited to the table.
  • Though it was announced yesterday that several Arab nations have agreed to join the fight against ISIS, with the BBC reporting that the anti-ISIS coalition now stands at about 40 countries including 10 Arab states, specifics remain in short supply. A BBC analyst describes a “scramble to craft a coherent plan from contributions offered” by the countries. The Wall Street Journal reports that while no officials have named which Mideast states might also conduct airstrikes, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar likely have the ability to join the US campaign.
  • As far as those airstrikes go, five weeks of them (150 strikes since President Obama’s speech last Wednesday, notes the New York Times) have halted the militants’ progress, US officials tell the Journal, but the paper points out that ISIS has reacted by becoming more “stealthy.” Equipment isn’t moved in open convoys; electronic communications have been curtailed; tarps and foliage are increasingly used to shield militants from drones; and militants are hiding among locals. The upside is that “ISIS has not gained any land since the airstrikes started,” per one official. The downside is that they may be tougher to track.

Sorry dude but it is the exact time for these people to step forward and say what they will do and not do……I fear that we are in for another Iraq War…..edition 3.

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