Friday April 27th MISCELLANY!

[maxomai]

• Iran may agree to snap UN nuclear inspections. Fingers crossed.


• The Kurds are planning to separate from Iraq. I don't blame them - Saddam didn't treat them well and neither are the new regime. But there are powerful forces that don't want this to happen, including Turkey and the United States.


• Meanwhile, Syria is not complying with the UN cease fire. A formal declaration of this non-compliance is expected next week, which will lay the ground work for a Western (read: American) intervention in the near future.


• The latest trackers are in. Rasmussen: Obama up one. Gallup: Obama up seven.


• I'm a sexist pig. It's true. Among other things, I believe that women are, on average, weaker, smaller, and are an inherently attractive target for a many a less civilized man. Which is why, if anyone should benefit from the Stand Your Ground law, it should be a woman who's being pursued by a man that's attacked her repeatedly, such as a battered wife in fear of her life. So what the fuck is this shit?


• Speaking of women with guns, check out Molly Smith here. Three first-place finishes in one day at a revolver competition. Seventeen years old.


• This, timeline accurate to within a few months.


• And, oh my dear lord, not this. So, so, not this.

Comments

[arkham4269.livejournal.com]

Sadly for the U.S. and Turkey, the Kurds have been planning for this day for a long time. They were the ones that went into the new Iraqi Army in droves to get the training...and often took the equipment back with them. They have the drive, determination and most importantly the *organization* to do it.

So unless Turkey and the U.S. want to fight it out, I don't really see how we could stop them. Iraq has already been the test-bed for how to defeat U.S. technology and the Turks don't have our stuff and the Kurds don't like them so there would be no cooperation. Plus while I think it will happen, if the Kurds are smart, they won't try for the Greater Kurdistan which would encompass part of Turkey.

OTOH, if the Turks were smart they'd probably be better off letting that part of their country secede. If the Kurds do go for a long guerrilla war, it is probably cheaper to let them go rather than fight it out which will just cause bad blood. Better to make nice with a potential new ally then create an enemy which already is disinclined to like you.

[maxomai.livejournal.com]

Turkey has a real problem here, though. If the Kurds in Northern Iraq form their own state, that would form the basis for Kurds in Eastern Turkey to push for their own state. Kurdistan would have everything to gain from this, and Turkey would have a lot to lose. Once the Kurds separate, who's next? The Armenians? This crisis could be an existential threat to Turkey.

Turkey's national security interest is to kill this in the crib if they possibly can.

[arkham4269.livejournal.com]

Of course it is and I'm sure the Kurds now this and are counting on it. However if the U.S. could not do much more that 'declare victory' and go home, the Turks are in a worse spot. Eastern Turkey is already leaning towards wanting to join a newly created Kurdistan and already has felt heavy-handed Turkish reprisals.

Frankly if the Kurds are smart (which they are) they would keep things in Eastern Turkey cool and play for time while training special forces with all the good IED tech so when the time is right for Eastern Turkey to want to secede, they can make it *very* nasty for the Turks.

They really have the Turks over a barrel because the minute they attack into Iraq (or a newly created Kurdistan) they are the aggressors and they have their own enemies (like the Greeks) who will try to hinder the Turks.

Again I think the Turks need to really look at what they are losing as opposed to having a long, drawn out civil war. I've said it before, in many ways Afghanistan and Pakistan would do better to have Kandahar, Paktika, parts of Paktia and the FATA region of Pakistan break off to become Pashtustan. Then they can all be good little Talibs and let the rest of Afghanistan and Pakistan go about their business.

...that and it gives us a better chance of not killing people we don't want to when the Pashtu do something we don't like (which they probably would rather quickly)

[fengi.livejournal.com]

This shit is further proof that sabatoging the judicial process of determining self-defense works in both directions. Not only does a politicized concept designed as an end run around a trial allow a free pass to obvious cases of manslaughter and vigilantism, but the more subjective and amorphous terms mean if someone decides a clearcut - and non-harmful - defensive act doesn't fit, that's it. The larger point being that gun rights shouldn't be about making it easy to shoot people.

[entheos93.livejournal.com]

Speaking of ladies with guns, I highly recommend the KelTec P32 for that purpose. It fits very neatly with ladies clothing- conceals perfectly in a thigh or boot holster. Easy trigger pull, not hard to master, and packs more punch than you would think. There are several great .32's and .380's on this theme- that just happens to be the one I bought and I did so on endless recommendations. Great gift for the gall on the go in your life!

[entheos93.livejournal.com]

Meant gal, not gall- but I like the typo!