The coalition of 41 Arab Nations

R

river

Excluding , Iran and Lebanon .

This coalition of these 41 nations has ;

44,000 armoured vehicles

4million combat troops

5million reserve troops

2,500 fighter jets

21,000 tanks

461 assault helicopters

All lead by , Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud .

A kind of concern , wouldn't you think ?
 
No such "coalition" exists of course, any more than there is a"coalition" of all English-speaking countries.

I call this an islamophobic fake story.
 
This: http://www.standeyo.com is a rather funny nutcase site. It has all the classic trademarks of design-by-fruitcake: the clashing fonts, the lurid colours, the junk biblical "prophecies" and so on. I'm mildly surprised to find tinfoil hats are not on sale. :D
 
exchemist said:
This: http://www.standeyo.com is a rather funny nutcase site. It has all the classic trademarks of design-by-fruitcake: the clashing fonts, the lurid colours, the junk biblical "prophecies" and so on. I'm mildly surprised to find tinfoil hats are not on sale. :D
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I can't disagree with you here

But he did predict the earth-quake in Alaska , through historical analysis of earth-quake graphs . From the past .
 
exchemist said:
No such "coalition" exists of course, any more than there is a"coalition" of all English-speaking countries.
Click to expand...

It isn't a fantasy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Military_Counter_Terrorism_Coalition

https://imctc.org/English

I'm inclined to think that Islamic countries allying together to fight terrorism in their midst is a good thing. I'm a bit skeptical about how effective it will be, since some of these countries are known as promoters of Islamic fundamentalism (Wahabism in Saudi Arabia's case) or as state-sponsored safe-havens for terrorist radicalism (Pakistan for instance). So it looks to me like they are all saying the right things, but behaving as they see fit. (Most countries do that, they talk a 'globalist' line while tending to act in what they perceive is their own best interest. China's currently the world's champion at that game.)

So I don't think that simply adding up their military strength tells us very much, unless a significant fraction of them are prepared to act in concert. A number of them did join the coalition against ISIS (as did the Europeans) but as always the US seems to have carried most of the load (apart from Syria, Iraq and the Kurds, who were directly threatened).

Other than fighting ISIS, I don't really see the Muslim world coming together to engage in any big military adventures. The Saudis did gather a coalition (separate from the anti-terrorist coalition) to join them in fighting the Houthis in Yemen, but that just fell apart in recent days when a UAE-backed faction favoring bringing back an independent South Yemen centered on Aden fell upon the Saudi-backed faction based in Aden that favored a unified Sunni ruled Yemen, forcing the latter to flee to Riyadh. So right now, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seem to be at odds. The UAE seems willing to allow the Shi'ite (and Iranian-allied) Houthis to control what once was North Yemen in order to end the Yemen civil war (or at least the UAE's role in it), while the Saudis violently oppose any armed Iranian surrogates on their southern border.

My point is that forming the Arabs (or the Muslim world more broadly) into a tight military alliance seems to be like herding cats.

Is there reason for military concern in this area? Obviously. It's perhaps the least stable part of the world, apart from sub-Saharan Africa where capabilities are far less. (They can't even control their own territories in many cases, let alone project power across borders.)

Nuclear weapons in Pakistan and soon in Iran are major areas of concern. Next to North Korea perhaps, I think that Pakistan is the biggest nuclear threat on the planet. Pakistan has nukes, is halfway to being a failed state as it is, extremely unstable and infested by crazy militants. It's easy for me to imagine its central government falling apart and the territory turning into a collection of cantons ruled by nuclear-armed Islamist warlords. (I expect that threat keeps Indian military planners up at night.)
 
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Yazata said:
It isn't a fantasy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Military_Counter_Terrorism_Coalition

https://imctc.org/English

I'm inclined to think that Islamic countries allying together to fight terrorism in their midst is a good thing. I'm a bit skeptical about how effective it will be, since some of these countries are known as promoters of Islamic fundamentalism (Wahabism in Saudi Arabia's case) or as state-sponsored safe-havens for terrorist radicalism (Pakistan for instance). So it looks to me like they are all saying the right things, but behaving as they see fit. (Most countries do that, they talk a 'globalist' line while tending to act in what they perceive is their own best interest. China's currently the world's champion at that game.)

So I don't think that simply adding up their military strength tells us very much, unless a significant fraction of them are prepared to act in concert. A number of them did join the coalition against ISIS (as did the Europeans) but as always the US seems to have carried most of the load (apart from Syria, Iraq and the Kurds, who were directly threatened).

Other than fighting ISIS, I don't really see the Muslim world coming together to engage in any big military adventures. The Saudis did gather a coalition (separate from the anti-terrorist coalition) to join them in fighting the Houthis in Yemen, but that just fell apart in recent days when a UAE-backed faction favoring bringing back an independent South Yemen centered on Aden fell upon the Saudi-backed faction based in Aden that favored a unified Sunni ruled Yemen, forcing the latter to flee to Riyadh. So right now, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seem to be at odds. The UAE seems willing to allow the Shi'ite (and Iranian-allied) Houthis to control what once was North Yemen in order to end the Yemen civil war (or at least the UAE's role in it), while the Saudis violently oppose any armed Iranian surrogates on their southern border.

My point is that forming the Arabs (or the Muslim world more broadly) into a tight military alliance seems to be like herding cats.

Is there reason for military concern in this area? Obviously. It's perhaps the least stable part of the world, apart from sub-Saharan Africa where capabilities are far less. (They can't even control their own territories in many cases, let alone project power across borders.)

Nuclear weapons in Pakistan and soon in Iran are major areas of concern. Next to North Korea perhaps, I think that Pakistan is the biggest nuclear threat on the planet. Pakistan has nukes, is halfway to being a failed state as it is, extremely unstable and infested by crazy militants. It's easy for me to imagine its central government falling apart and the territory turning into a collection of cantons ruled by nuclear-armed Islamist warlords. (I expect that threat keeps Indian military planners up at night.)
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Thank you, I stand corrected. I was not aware of this grouping.

My ignorance may be partly because the inaugural meeting only took place in Riyadh last November and that it has yet to forge any practical joint programmes. So it has yet to do anything the world might notice. In fact, in spite of the name, it does not in fact seem to be primarily a "military" alliance at all, but more an agreement for cooperations between counter-terorrism efforts in the fields of intelligence, media/propaganda and financial oversight, plus possible joint military counter-terrorism actions.

I agree with you: I see no prospect whatsoever of it being a real military alliance under the control of Mohammed bin Salman. Certainly not something that would become anything like a sort of NATO of the Arab world. It looks to me more like a statement of intent that the Arab world recognises it needs to deal with the scourge of muslim terrorism and will have a cooperate to do so. Full marks to MbS for taking the initiative. If it goes anywhere it should make the world a safer place, eventually. But it may prove little more than a talking shop issuing pious expressions of good intent.

MbS is moving quite fast in Saudi itself to liberalise and curtail the influence of the clerics. I wish him well with that, but people seem worried that he may be reckless - going too fast and provoking a reaction.
 
Yazata said:
Other than fighting ISIS, I don't really see the Muslim world coming together to engage in any big military adventures.
Click to expand...
When the generation that got handed their ass by the Israelis has died off, the memory faded, they might try that again.
Meanwhile, they aren't as united in fighting ISIS as appears on the surface.
 
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