Wanderthread

nimelennar · January 17, 2019, 12:43am

Never been prouder of Canada or of Trudeau than since he’s started to really piss Saudi Arabia off.

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 1:12am

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 1:22am

It’s tempting to explain the seemingly endless Middle East strife in sectarian terms. In Iraq, for example, it’s Sunni extremists vs. Shiite moderates. In Syria, it’s Shiite President Bashar al-Assad vs. Sunni rebels. And in Yemen, it’s a proxy war between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran. Some observers have even suggested that the whole region is on the verge of an epic religious conflagration on par with the Thirty Years’ War, which tore Protestant and Catholic Europe apart in the 1600s.

By this telling, Sunnis and Shiites have been locked in a vicious, intractable conflict since the seventh century, when a disagreement broke out over who should succeed Muhammad. Shiites backed the prophet’s cousin Ali; Sunnis backed his trusted adviser Abu Bakr. This scuffle culminated in the historic defeat of Ali’s family at the battle of Karbala, circa 680. As the story goes, the sects have been killing each other ever since — and will continue to do so until they stop obsessing over ancient history.

Perhaps the biggest problem with this historical narrative is that it ignores everything that happened between 680 and, say, 1980. Op-eds about the “ancient” and “age-old” Sunni-Shiite warfare rarely reference this crucial 13-century period — a.k.a. the entire time during which Sunnis and Shiites were supposedly in conflict. Like everywhere in the world, people in the region were definitely fighting during this time. Historians could even provide a couple good examples of battles along Sunni-Shiite lines. But sectarian identity was seldom the chief issue that brought people in the Middle East to war.

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 1:30am

nimelennar · January 17, 2019, 1:32am

I don’t get your point. Are you saying that this doesn’t indicate progress since March of last year?

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 1:34am

Has he halted the arms sales? Or is he using Rahaf etc to create political cover for himself while continuing the arms sales?

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 1:46am

(not deliberately having a “pick on Canada” day, it’s just what’s in the feed…)

Somewhat misleading headline. The actual quote:

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 1:52am

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 1:56am

Big blowup on Black Twitter today; Shaun King threatening to sue a collection of Black activists who’ve been critical of him, creating massive blowback.

I’m not in a position to judge on the merits, but most of BlackLeft Twitter seems to be in the anti-Shaun camp.

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 2:22am

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 3:22am

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 4:33am

Y’all notice which shutdown stories are getting highlighted?

Prison guards, coast guard, TSA.

All military or cop. Barely a word about anyone else. National Parks stories focus on overflowing bins, not struggling workers.

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 4:40am

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 5:49am

Interesting bit at 1:04:30 regarding nazis in the re-enactment community.

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 5:58am

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 6:07am

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 6:21am

Lotsa stuff in the comments:

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 9:04am

knoxblox · January 17, 2019, 9:58am

I was a little lost about this one until I checked out my Instagram.
Here’s the Cardi B video…

Wanderfound · January 17, 2019, 10:36am