The ongoing ISIS massacres

[dannubis]

They got a bunch of money from looting a bank. I don't see how they can maintain decent revenue.

Gifts from abroad. You know, from our dear Saudi allies ?

[C0ckney]

elok: i think you're considering this from a western economic perspective, that is how will ISIS provide employment, services, encourage people to start a business - and what about their balance of payments? none of this stuff really matters. we're talking about the basics, the things that people do to keep body and soul together. there are several million people living under ISIS*, and each of them needs to eat, cook, drink, clothe themselves, travel from one place to another, move goods to trade etc. all of this requires that some economic activity takes place and all ISIS has to do is tax that activity to fund itself, in much the same way, albeit more crudely and arbitrarily, as a normal government does. in afghanistan for example, a much poorer country, the taliban have little difficulty in funding themselves.

there are other means as well. although groups like ISIS are very much against drugs, there are all kinds of other smuggling operations that can be undertaken. the taliban in its early days, was partly funded by a pakistani trucking mafia, that moved goods from pakistan to former soviet republics and iran. there is also oil, which even in the rude state of wartime production (look for videos of what's happening in syrian oilfields) will find a market at the right price; another activity for ISIS to tax, or even become directly involved in.

* in fact it's unclear how much local governance is actually being done by ISIS, as there are many local iraqi groups also involved in the conflict, many of whom have strong local links, and thus are better placed to actually run towns and cities.

[C0ckney]

there are other things, like special taxes on minorities, or just seizing their property.

[molly bloom]

Would you mind not putting others' words in my mouth?

I assure you of no desire on my part to put anything in your mouth.

[molly bloom]

You left out the part where they're black, and therefore possess concern-repelling melanin in high levels. .

Yessss, well as they're Nigerian based (and staffed) the melanin quotient went without saying- or so I thought. Southern Nigerian Muslims dismiss them as being made up of the kind of people you would hire to do the work other people won't do.

The problem is also to do with the relative poverty of northern Nigeria in comparison with the resource rich south.

Shakespeare has Julius Caesar put it well :

CAESAR
(to ANTONY) Let me have men about me that are fat,

Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.

He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous.

[molly bloom]

So, should we demonstrate we've learned our lesson, and get behind all the dictators?

How does that differ in the main from previous decades ? Mobutu, Suharto, Pinochet, Somoza, Diem.... all have something in common, other than having interesting surnames.

[Sava]

ISIS Says It's Burning Marijuana Fields In Syria

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/27/marijuana-syria-isis_n_5722080.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

I retract my opposition. Let the bombing begin.

[Kidlicious]

Go ovr there Sava, and stand in the smoke.

[Bereta_Eder]

Hopefully the ISIS will stay put to see if the burning goes well and will be turned to peace loving hippies
(they already have the hair style)

[Sava]

Go ovr there Sava, and stand in the smoke.

The awesome thing about plants is that they grow just about anywhere.

[molly bloom]

The awesome thing about plants is that they grow just about anywhere.

Nothing grows inside the head of Kidicious. Accidentally some very small tumbleweed occasional rolls across in a desultory fashion, about the deserted swathe, but that's all....

[Dr Strangelove]

Yessss, well as they're Nigerian based (and staffed) the melanin quotient went without saying- or so I thought. Southern Nigerian Muslims dismiss them as being made up of the kind of people you would hire to do the work other people won't do.

The problem is also to do with the relative poverty of northern Nigeria in comparison with the resource rich south.

Shakespeare has Julius Caesar put it well :

The other day I was talking to a patient who has a brother worked for an Amreican intelligence agency in Nigeria. He had something to do with monitoring internet crimes. He claims the US has a list of over one million Nigerians involved in internet criminal activity.

[Uncle Sparky]

What would we do with a million new OT posters?

[Sava]

We (or Aeson) could sell the services of their unique clicks to other sites looking to boost ad revenue.

[Dauphin]

I assure you of no desire on my part to put anything in your mouth.

Then why not edit the post to have the correct poster attributed the quote?