Militant Islamist fighters on a tank take part in a military parade along the streets of northern Raqqa province June 30, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Stringer
U.S. Seeks Coalition Against Islamic State, But Military Partners No Sure Bet -- Reuters
(Reuters) - The United States is intensifying its push to build an international campaign against Islamic State jihadist fighters in Iraq and Syria, including recruiting partners for potential joint military action, Obama administration officials said on Wednesday.
Britain and Australia are potential candidates, U.S. officials said. Germany said it was in talks with the United States and other international partners about possible military action against Islamic State but made clear it would not participate.
"We are going to work politically and diplomatically with folks in the region," President Barack Obama told reporters on Thursday. "And we're going to cobble together the kind of coalition that we need for a long-term strategy as soon as we are able to fit together the military, political and economic components of that strategy."
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My Comment: I call this the "coalition of the unwilling".
4 comments:
Some more of your old hardware there WNU. Sometimes I think of the old USSR as a giant Army/Navy surplus store with a perpetual clearance sale for third world customers.
A little bit of history about me .... when the Soviet Union fell apart my uncle (who was in the military) wanted me to go around the world to sell the old surplus gear that Russia had in their warehouses (the advantages of being able to speak colloquial English). I declined .... selling weapons is not my thing (too much negative karma).... but it is true .... when you look at the amount of weapons that the Soviet Union/Russia/Ukraine sold off .... the numbers are just staggering .... and what an incredible waste.
Years later .... when I saw the movie starring Nicholas Cage who played a character like Viktor Bout .... I shuddered .... I could have been him. Aside from the fact that my first name is also Victor .... Viktor Bout and I had the same opportunities .... but I chose a far far far different road.
Oooh, came close to being notorious! Well you're still alive and possess most, if not all of your conscious. Not bad in this world.
On a side note:
The West has made great gains in catching up on the weapons trade.
In the late 1980s and 90s the opportunities that I had to to make money .... exporting alcohol from Russia, arranging licenses between Russian arms manufacturers and Chinese manufacturers, even with a Canadian company to manufacture shotguns in China .... the opportunities were enormous. I was tempted but the respect that I had from the people that I loved was my barrier .... just could not do it.
20 years later .... no regrets.
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