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    igotmilkAleksander Chan
    5/21/15 8:35am

    Let’s pat ourselves on the back for the indirect (Cough cough Bush & Neocons) creation of ISIS.

    Middle East you’re welcome.

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      Tom Friedman's Mustache Waxigotmilk
      5/21/15 8:43am

      Might wanna check your history books. ISIS has existed since the late 90s.

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      15 Year Old Gay Sissyboyigotmilk
      5/21/15 8:46am

      Might want to **cough cough** read a fucking history book.

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    StenchofaburnerAleksander Chan
    5/21/15 8:42am

    While these fuckers are wrecking havoc everywhere they advance to, I wonder how their spread will eventually affect the Rojava region of North East Syria. I am surprised media is not covering more what is going on there because it is, from the looks of it, a very interesting development involving Kurds in the region. Basically, they have established a direct democracy with the guiding principles of gender equality and sustainability. Or so it seems. I say “or so it seems” because there are few sources in mainstream media that have covered it so we got to take their word for it. If it is indeed the case, it’d be the most interesting development to come from that region in many decades.

    ETA: On page 3 of google results I finally found a piece in The Guardian covering this from last October.

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      puddinpopStenchofaburner
      5/21/15 9:24am

      Well on a positive side (?), once ISIS breaks through to the Russian Caucuses, we'll be friends with Putin again right quick....so he can keep fucking Ukraine in the ass.

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      The Homework OgreStenchofaburner
      5/21/15 9:27am

      I imagine this is why:

      Mainly, it seems, because the Rojavan revolutionary party, the PYD, works in alliance with Turkey’s Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), a Marxist guerilla movement that has since the 1970s been engaged in a long war against the Turkish state. Nato, the US and EU officially classify them as a “terrorist” organisation. Meanwhile, leftists largely write them off as Stalinists.

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    handyAleksander Chan
    5/21/15 8:39am

    I visited this site in 2004 while spending a month in Syria. The amount of irreplaceable relics being ruined is just devastating. Notwithstanding the human cost.

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      EatTheCheeseNicholsonhandy
      5/21/15 9:32am

      I always wanted to visit Palmyra as a kid. Looks like I’ll never get the chance now.

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    djdeejayAleksander Chan
    5/21/15 9:06am

    What’s ISIS’ official reason for destroying ancient cities and ruins?

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      fludbluddjdeejay
      5/21/15 9:24am

      They are considered idolatrous and thus detract people’s attention from god, the ban on any kind of artistic representation of physical objects is a common theme throughout Islam which accounts for the big taboo on images of Mohammed. IS having the most hardcore interpretation of Islam of them all are logically taking this to the nth degree.

      The Islamic State will bust up a few artefacts with sledgehammers for the cameras but in reality they will be looting and selling them on the black market for millions. Sales of historical artefacts constitutes one of the largest sources of income for IS after oil revenue and extortion, the sheer amount of cash they generate will go to purchasing weapons and paying for thousands of more fighters rushing up to join them.

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      djdeejayfludblud
      5/21/15 9:43am

      So ISIS is basically reverse Indiana Jones?

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    lobstrAleksander Chan
    5/21/15 9:28am

    Palmyra.... Palmyra... your town’s... on fire.... Palmyra....
    Giddyup, a-oom papa oom papa mow-mow
    Giddyup, a-oom papa oom papa mow-mow

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      JonezBeechyAleksander Chan
      5/21/15 9:11am

      My response to this makes me so uncomfortable. I understand why they’re murdering and torturing and raping the people in the towns that they capture (because they’re scum), but what is the point of ruining your own priceless cultural history?

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        puddinpopJonezBeechy
        5/21/15 9:45am

        They do not see it as theirs. They see it as the history of the infidel...the foreign invader who worships false idols in their home.

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        GronkyKongJonezBeechy
        5/21/15 10:24am

        The history is false. The are on a jihad cleansing bullshit mission thing, everything must die.

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      A House In VirginiaAleksander Chan
      5/21/15 2:22pm

      I just want to say that sometimes Gawker commenters make me feel like an alien.
      NOT HERE. Thank you.

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        A House In VirginiaAleksander Chan
        5/21/15 3:21pm

        At least we still have Epcot World Showcase Palmyra.

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          Monsterparty711Aleksander Chan
          5/21/15 9:13am

          Perhaps I am being too glib (maybe Tom Cruise can help) but isn't ISIS, unlike Al Qaeda, a mobile Army that seeks to set up a government based on Sharia Law? Shouldn't they be fairly easy to bomb into oblivion? I mean it's not like they are attempting to blend in with the local population. They have camps, command centers, recruitment videos, they wear all black in a desert environment.....

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            MichaelAleksander Chan
            5/21/15 9:01am

            I work near Palmyra, PA so I did a double take reading the headline. Then again, the town isn’t really that ancient. Just lots of sinkholes.

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