Russia may send troops to Middle East

[sabra]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150886025247&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Russia may send troops to Middle East
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Putin says Russia will consider contributing troops to an international force for the Mideast if UN approves deployment.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

1. that'll help get the party started. n/t

[sugapablo]

2. WWIII. Here we come, baby! n/t

[me9399]

6. coicidence or not?

they tested the emergency broadcast system 3 times this morning over a 90 minute period.

think its related to whats going on right now?

[Posteritatis]

10. Uh, what? They'd be UN peacekeepers. (nt)

[fasttense]

3. Then China, then England then the US, wait the US is already there.

[Recursion]

4. I think we'll have to sit this one out

5 years ago, maybe we could have been asked to send peacekeepers (25 years ago we were in fact asked to, and did, and they got blown up). I don't think anybody is going to want to see the US occupy another ME country at this point though; if we go in that essentially blocks Russia from participating (they can't be seen as cooperating with another US occupation). Conceivably England would go but it would mean the end of Blair's government. The other Commonwealth countries are a possibility.

My own suggestion is an Arab League peacekeeping force. Let's see if all these friends of the benighted Lebanese and Palestinians can put their troops where their mouths are.

[megatherium]

7. Yes, we have better things to do than get blown up.

The last time we participated in a peace-keeping mission in Lebanon, which was in the wake of the 1982 Israeli war in Lebanon, we got hit by the ugly suicide bombing of the Marines barracks (which killed 241 Americans). That attack was by Hezbollah, which also attacked the French. The French retaliated against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard positions in Lebanon.

[High Plains]

9. That's because that peace-keeping mission morphed into the US

taking sides in a civil war. If you start sending shells the size of Volkswagons into the hills of Lebanon like the US did, you shouldn't be surprised if someone strikes back. The bombing of the Marine barracks was not an act of terror, it was an act of war. And it worked.

[IronLionZion]

11. I'm sure Syria will be happy as pigs in mud to send troops to Lebanon

because you know they have to help their poor Lebanese neighbors you know. Strictly benign peacekeeping of course with no self-serving agenda of any kind...:sarcasm:


The US marine barracks were not blown up because of peacekeeping. They were blown up because Ronald Reagan was an ignorant dumbass and told their people the troops were supporting the Lebanese Christian government when actually they were just trying to protect the airport and keep both sides apart in the airport area.

I'm interested in seeing what the Russians think they can accomplish. Meanwhile isn't there something in North Korea we should think about....?

[BushOut06]

5. The fundies will be eating that up

That's how they believe Armageddon will occur. They believe according to Revelations, the armies of the world will converge at Megiddo, a plain in Israel. They interpret this to mean UN peacekeeping forces.

[BrotherBuzz]

8. Megiddo is Armageddon

This Mid East neophyte has been following the events as they unfold on a National Geographic map entitled Holy Land and have been learning a bit of ancient history in the process. Thanks for the tip.

The Mount of Megiddo is located on the south side of the Plain of Esdraelon, or Plain of Jezreel, running from Haifa to below Nazareth in northern Israel. On the opposite side of the valley can be seen Nazareth, the home town of Jesus Christ until His ministry began, when He moved to Capernaum on the north shore of The Sea Of Galilee.

The name Megiddo is derived from the original Hebrew word pronounced har-Megiddon, from which we get the English pronunciation Armageddon - a name well familiar to those who study Bible Prophecy. Megiddo in Hebrew means something like rendezvous, or place of troops.