Agreed

Submitted by John in Michigan, USA (United States), Apr 14, 2015 at 01:30

In operas, they print a program to help people keep track of the characters and their relationships. In the ME political theater, the program is out of date the moment the ink dries. Even the Internet is hard pressed to keep up with things, and you know how fast we go!

Also, in my comments I lumped ISIS and AQ together, because they share a ideology that is hyper-violent, Islamist, and Salafist, and they oppose the royal family. However, that ignores Dr. Pipes' report that, so far, there is no evidence of ISIS involvement in Yemen. I don't know why ISIS isn't involved there, it could be practical reasons (they don't have the resources in place), it could be they decided on a division of labor with AQ, or it could be that in spite of their similarities, they currently see themselves as rivals to AQ.

Adding to the confusion is US foreign policy, which is currently incoherent and, seemingly, based on buzzwords and post-modern academic fantasies. For example, we are supporting Iranian proxies in Iraq, while we oppose these same forces in Syria and Yemen, etc. Yet, even if we had a coherent policy implemented by competent, experienced foreign policy pros, they would have a hard time with the current situation.

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