We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Where did ISIS fighters go too before the battle of Ramadi? [and] The United States is imposing radical changes on Baghdad

Click here to access article by Elijah J. Magnier from Middle East Politics.

You may have already noticed translation errors from the original article written in Arabic. Still, one can get the implications that the author, a Kuwaiti reporter, is making as to the real involvement of US forces in Iraq. 

It appears from this report that the new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is, for several reasons, much more amenable to US influence than the former Prime Minister al-Maliki; and the US is using this influence to both appear to be aiding Iraq in the battle against ISIS while securing the lives of the latter's troops. The US objectives appear to be the carving up of Iraq as seen by the author and his sources:
The Iraqi Prime Ministre is aware of the possibility that the U.S would like to see 3 Iraqi cantons, one for the Kurds, one for the Sunni and another one for the Shia. The Americans are also supporting the Turkish presence in Iraq, to meet the say of the French Intelligence Service director who said: The Middle East will never be the same as before. What is becoming more clear now that ISIS is a toy used by players for their agenda and plans to reshuffle the map of the Middle East”.