What is ISIS, Where did it Come From, and When Did the US Know it was There?

[Steven Koteff]

I guess I'm being vague.

I'm talking about the oligarchical nature of US politics right now. I mean
I'm an insane liberal so it's most apparent to me in extremely
conservative//Tea Party politics.

Few lunatics = people with vast financial resources (Kochs, Adelsons, so
forth; I know the lack of specificity renders most of what I'm saying
fairly meaningless) who use those resources to exploit people who are
largely impoverished and afraid (aren't we all) and so
politically/intellectually impressionable (these = large bits of populace).
They push these people toward ever extremer ideas because it is in this way
that they are able to win power. I think the men-behind-the-curtain
sometimes actually buy into this extremist thinking themselves (like I
imagine that, in addition to wanting power, Trump probably buys into a lot
of say the xenophobic things he says) and actually want to spare the
country from the catastrophes they envision for it. Other times they just
want power and see this as an effective means of getting it (hence the
feeling some people get that Trump, because he believes this shit, actually
has a bit more integrity, perverse though it may be, than other candidates
in his party). Most of the time this sort of fear and the desire for
power--I imagine--eventually dovetail with one another.

I guess the mega-wealthy have always hired mercenaries of some form or
another so of course it's as true here as it is there.


On Sat, Nov 28, 2015 at 5:31 PM, Mark Thibodeau <jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Which "large bits of the populace" and which "few lunatics" in particular?
>
> J
>
> On Sat, Nov 28, 2015 at 5:34 PM, Steven Koteff <steviekoteff at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> This is great.
>>
>> Found this part interesting: 'The former Head of British MI6 says the
>> Saudi government probably not sending money, but overlooking when citizens
>> do [xiii]
>> <http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/5376/background-what-is-isis-where-did-it-come-from-and-when-did-the-us-know-it-was-there#_edn13> Qatar
>> appears to be the only country openly funding jihadist groups in Syria, but
>> the money tail appears to include a number of rich families in the Gulf.'
>>
>> Sounds very much like how extremism works in the US. Large bits of the
>> populace funded and coerced by a few lunatics with way too much money.
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 28, 2015 at 4:01 PM, Paul Mackin <mackin.paul at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/5376/background-what-is-isis-where-did-it-come-from-and-when-did-the-us-know-it-was-there
>>> -
>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>>>
>>
>>
>
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