

Mosul Seized: Jihadis Loot $429m to Make Isis World's Richest Terror Force - joosters
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mosul-seized-jihadis-loot-429m-citys-central-bank-make-isis-worlds-richest-terror-force-1452190

======
jacquesm
That's enough to field an army of a considerable size in that region. It will
be decades before the region will find a new stable configuration and there is
absolutely no telling what that will be like. Stuff like this does not bode
well for the future.

~~~
dingaling
> That's enough to field an army of a considerable size in that region

During the Angolan civil war, UNITA was earning over $150 million _per year_
through diamond sales on the international market ( back in 1980s money ). In
some years they tripled that.

But it wasn't enough to maintain sufficiently sophisticated forces to resist
the Government forces simply because when you're a pariah, training and
experience cannot be purchased at any price.

The Angolan Government was able to buy cutting-edge kit but more importantly
could hire mercenaries and technical experts ( such as the Israeli team that
tracked-down UNITA's leader ) that transformed their use of their equipment,
whereas UNITA's kit largely went unused or underused once the South Africans
had withdrawn their expertise.

------
sp332
They're moving south very quickly - they're fighting in Tikrit already
[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-
east-27800319](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27800319)

~~~
jacquesm
Al-Jazeera writes that Tikrit has fallen:

[http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/iraqi-
city-...](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/iraqi-city-tikrit-
falls-isil-fighters-2014611135333576799.html)

------
myth_drannon
Such a strange situation where US State department supports the same rebels in
Syria, but when they cross the border to Iraq they fight US allies/US. Mind-
bongling. Many times when I think about world news, images of "The Player of
Games"/Banks novel popups in my mind.

~~~
vonmoltke
The State Department does not support ISIS. In fact, ISIS is the primary
reason the Syrian rebels are not getting significant practical support from
the West right now.

