…in retaliation for the Islamic State ritual sacrifice of Jordanian military pilot Moaz al-Kasasbe. Lt. al-Kasabe has been reportedly burned alive by the death cult: the New York Times is visibly ill at the idea of showing the footage to that, and I can’t make myself blame them*. You need to know who you’re fighting; but some stuff you don’t need in your head.
No links to the reported plans because the Jordanian response is currently being reported at a level that’s just a half step up from Internet rumors. But I will say this: we forget, sometimes, that the relatively civilized and not-entirely-grotesque state of foreign affairs that we ‘enjoy’ today is the product of a sixty-year American hegemony over half the world, and a twenty-year one over all of it. Burning people alive is from older days. Older, nastier days: it will be interesting to see whether Jordan decides to indicate that it’s going to go back to those days too when it comes to their response. I hope not: the pax Americana was a good thing, all around. We’re going to miss it, when it’s finally gone…
Moe Lane
*Just that, though. I can easily blame them for a whole other bunch of things that are related to this story.
Well, they did threaten to do that if their pilot was killed. You really shouldn’t threaten to do things that you’re not actually willing to do.
Also note that credibly threatening to kill a whole bunch of there people posed exactly zero deterrent to these guys. It’s not like Jordan was asking for the world here, either. Just don’t murder this guy.
Dying for Jihad just means that they go to Paradise and get the 72 virgins/goats/raisins [depending on translation]. So ISIS does not see the execution threat as a threat. It would if a little John J. Pershing was added to the mix. Pig blood or fat should be involved.
I know, it is a tactic that has worked in the past. So it is forbidden.
As alluded below, my guess is ISIS don’t think Jordan will carry through.
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It’s a valid concern – if Jordan does carry through, they have some domestic security issues to consider… but if they don’t, then they have *other* domestic concerns.
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So .. does Abdullah feel lucky?
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Mew
Reading back over my post I realized that I embarrassingly used the wrong form of ‘their’ and no one has corrected me on this. Is this site on some kind of bizarro Internet?? Where am I? Who ARE you people??
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Sorry, I used to comment a lot on the AVClub. Different atmosphere
I said this about ten years ago, but this is Kipling’s World, and we’re returning to it.
Gods of the Copybook Headings?
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Should I note the irony of the pestilence interpretation of the “white horse” and Disneyland?
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Mew
By memory:
A widow weeps in sleepy Chester,
weeps for her only son.
There is a grave on the Pabeng river,
a grave that the Burmans shun.
And Subader Prag Tewheri
tells how the work was done.
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Danegeld and The Dykes.
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This was all avoidable at one point in time.
Here you go.
Oh, and with respect to the Pax Americana: There are far uglier things out there than a loud, drunk, American tourist.
(What is that saying about people knowing what they want and deserving to get it good and hard? I think it applies here.)
It’s an H.L Mencken quote: Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — A Little Book in C major (1916)
ISIS believes Jordan is “decadent, westernized, and weak” .. and are about to find out if they’re right.
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Mew
I was shocked at how much of that was going around during the insurgency.
Any enemies we captured, were captured flagrantly violating the laws of war. But somehow drumhead trials and summary executions were unthinkable.
I see no problem with this… show how the Civilized World executes its capital criminals, then for the Cultural Relevance twist stick a ham slice in each of their mouths and bacon-wrap their Unmentionables before burial.
Kowalski – I do know this: King Abdullah came up the hard way through Jordan’s special forces, with a specialty in counterterror, so he’s one tough dude when push meets shove.
Frankly, I think if I had to pick somebody to be point-man for the entire world’s response to the Daeshbags, I’d say it’d be a tossup between him, Netanyahu or Sisi, ideally the three of them working together.
I’d feed them to the dogs or the pigs, but I wouldn’t want to harm the animals.
Ed Morissey over at Hot Air mentions that ISIS has started to execute troops that retreat but there’s no link, anybody else heard anything about it?
Jordan responds by announcing execution of jihadist prisoners « Hot Air
You’re absolutely right: the “Pax American” was a good thing. WAS…
Remember, they don’t just want to destroy the Pax Americana.
They want to destroy the whole Westphalian system.
And they’ve been doing a bang up job of it.
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Naturally, they believe this will somehow bring peace on earth, rather than any logical consequence.
Rome had multiple periods of peace and turmoil, both during and well after the Republic.
There is no reason to believe that the Pax Americana is gone for good.
The first two are dead looks like Jordan’s going make good on their promise. And now that the pax Americana is dead it’s going to be the left that misses it most.
And, after spitting on the military, will be the first and loudest to scream “Soldier protect me”.