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Iraq Shuts Down Internet Access As Mass Protests Turn Violent (euronews.com) 55

Posted by BeauHD from the cut-the-cord dept.
dryriver shares a report from Euronews: Iraq's government shut off internet access, imposed curfews and deployed elite forces to secure key facilities on Wednesday amid widespread protests aimed at toppling the country's regime. Five people were killed and more than 200 were wounded in the largest display of public anger against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's year-old government. Domestic instability could prove to be the final nail in the coffin of Abdul Mahdi's fragile coalition government, sworn in last year as a compromise between rival factions after an inconclusive election.

Counter-terrorism troops were deployed to Baghdad airport where its men fired live ammunition and tear gas at protesters, preventing them from storming the facility. They were also deployed in the southern city of Nassiriya after police "lost control" when gunfights broke out between protesters and security forces, police sources said. Curfews were later imposed in Nassiriya and two other southern cities, Amara and Hilla, the police sources told Reuters, as protests that began on Tuesday over unemployment, corruption and poor public services escalated. Demands on Wednesday included the "fall of the regime" and government and political party buildings set ablaze in two other southern provinces. According to blockage observatory NetBlocks, internet connectivity has fallen below 70% in the capital Baghdad. Additionally, social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as WhatsApp, all appeared to have been disabled across Iraq except in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region which has a separate internet infrastructure.
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Iraq Shuts Down Internet Access As Mass Protests Turn Violent More

Iraq Shuts Down Internet Access As Mass Protests Turn Violent

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  • Elite forces? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @08:57PM (#59263656) Homepage Journal

    Iraq has elite forces? I remember the last "elite forces" they had.

    • Yes, Elite Forces (Score:5, Informative)

      by DesScorp ( 410532 ) on Thursday October 03, 2019 @12:26AM (#59264074) Journal

      Iraq has elite forces? I remember the last "elite forces" they had.

      Actually, Saddam's Republican Guard were pretty good troops. Norman Schwarzkopf himself was impressed with them, especially their armored corps. The RG got the best men, the best training, and the best equipment. In addition to the T-72, a pretty good tank, the RG also had British and French equipment. The pathetic shambling men you saw surrendering to CNN camera crews in the Gulf War were conscripts.The RG were composed of hand-picked career military professionals. Ask our guys who were there. The RG were well respected as a military force.

    • You talk big like someone who won the war.

    • Well, they also referred to "security forces" which generally appears to mean police in a non-European country, so I would guess that "elite forces" means the regular army.

  • So why are the US spindoctors trying to unleash the next revolution there?
    Are we done with Iran, Venezuela and Yemen already?
    Or didn't they want yet another army base ?

    • Just like Afghanistan, the problems were solved by bombing. This must be some other unrelated problem.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Agripa ( 139780 )

        Just like Afghanistan, the problems were solved by bombing. This must be some other unrelated problem.

        Before they held elections it was possible to show that civil unrest would result simply because representation was so low. I do not know why anybody would expect different.

        The same thing happened in Gaza.

    • Re:Didn't we bring Democracy to Iraq a few years a (Score:4, Insightful)

      by BardBollocks ( 1231500 ) on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @09:42PM (#59263772)
      war profits. here's the thing. The US blows up a region and their war manufacturing makes billions EVEN if it becomes a mess and short term political aims are not met. endless war is a business. I am just waiting for US Taxpayers to catch onto the scam.

      • We've held up the scammers and crooks as role models and leaders. The taxpayers are too busy figuring out how to cheat the system to care about making it work.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Agripa ( 139780 )

          We've held up the scammers and crooks as role models and leaders. The taxpayers are too busy figuring out how to cheat the system to care about making it work.

          Were there any alternate examples which were not scammers or crooks? The problems are systematic.

          Taxpayers do not have a choice in the matter or rather the choices are made for them.

    • Yes.

      Then Obama was elected.

    • Yeah, but they abused democracy by voting for the wrong guy, we can't have that.

      A bit like what Egypt did.

  • We should went all the way with the golf war!

  • ...the despotic US-backed regime that has replaced a bunch of other despotic US-backed regimes that followed the US invasion of Iraq & hanging of the leader of the former despotic regime might be replaced soon. I wonder which country will back the new, undoubtedly despotic regime?

    I wonder if Iraq could do any better if it didn't have another US-backed regime?

    • Re:So... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 ) on Thursday October 03, 2019 @12:36AM (#59264098) Homepage

      After the continued and extended abuse at the hands of the US and EU, it is inevitable that Iraq will totally align with Iran and then what a mess the neocons have made of the situation because in that you can add Syria and Lebanon and just to make it really interesting, Russia and China.

      Yeah you corporate Republican and corporate Democrats animals, killing brown people for fun and profit, well, it all blew up in your face, now you have nothing left but South America, good luck to South Americans, they will need it.

      USA your government so full of shit, even the propaganda is starting to sound really tired, just sort of giving up because nobody believes anything coming out of the USA government or USA corporate main stream media anymore and clearly they know it, which impacts on the delivery of the propaganda.

      Honestly you are in desperate need of the re branding that a thorough democratic reform can bring along with many prosecutions for corruption and inevitable windfall of confiscated assets that will accompany it. They are not worth protecting, they were a bunch of self indulgent, lead addled (actual lead poisoning, of the water pipe and car fuel variety), who made really stupid decisions, thinking more about their ego and their genitals than the country.

      Their incompetence has well and truly earned being fucked over, thrown to the baying wolves, having the crown tear them apart in the court of public opinion as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] but of course take as many prisoners as possible in line with justice and the real rules of law.

      • So that ethic divide that has sent Iran and Iraq to war with each other for so many years will magically heal?

        • You mean Saddam Hussein... Pretty sure he's out of the picture.

          Most of Iran's leadership is from southern Iraq, the Shi'ites. Saddam was the leader of the Sunni minority which suppressed the Shi'ite majority. Hence sectarian violence flared up about 5 mins after the Americans arrived in Baghdad.

          So Iraqs majority is aligned with Iran's leadership and it was Saddam standing in their way. What Iran really fears is Israel becuse Persians (the majority population of Iran) and Israelis really really get alo

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Agripa ( 139780 )

        Yeah you corporate Republican and corporate Democrats animals, killing brown people for fun and profit, well, it all blew up in your face, now you have nothing left but South America, good luck to South Americans, they will need it.

        Actually it has blown up in Europe's face but they are too cagey to call the US out on it. One might argue that it is their fault for not getting involved in place of the US but I doubt they could have done better.

        Honestly you are in desperate need of the re branding that a thorough democratic reform can bring along with many prosecutions for corruption and inevitable windfall of confiscated assets that will accompany it. They are not worth protecting, they were a bunch of self indulgent, lead addled (actual lead poisoning, of the water pipe and car fuel variety), who made really stupid decisions, thinking more about their ego and their genitals than the country.

        It is difficult to prosecute when the problems are systematic. It is not like US politicians vary significantly in corruption.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shotgun ( 30919 )

      "After my sixth marriage, I started to think that the problem might be me."

      Maybe there is nothing but despots to choose from in those countries?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Agripa ( 139780 )

      ...the despotic US-backed regime that has replaced a bunch of other despotic US-backed regimes that followed the US invasion of Iraq & hanging of the leader of the former despotic regime might be replaced soon. I wonder which country will back the new, undoubtedly despotic regime?

      I wonder if Iraq could do any better if it didn't have another US-backed regime?

      The previous regime (Saddam) was also backed by the US until he was not.

  • If guns are so bad why is it the communications governments cut first?

    • Because those are the easiest to cut, and make coordinating the guns harder. Taking guns is a slow and steady oppression. Comms blackout is a quick and reactionary one.

      • Also when you try to take someone's gun, they can always try using it to stop you. Much safer to take their means of communication.

    • Because if you don't know where to send guns, troops, fuel, or food, it's very difficult to organize a war. It's also far simpler to commit atrocities if communication with outside forces, who might send money or troops, are strictly controlled.

  • Seems most all the instability in our world is courtesy of the US exporting democracy at gunpoint and then leaving puppet nations that fall into anarchy as soon as we hand over stewardship. The US should be held to account for the messes they have made and the millions of lives destroyed by their fascist imperialism

    • "Leaving" and "imperialism" as you stated don't really fit together. "Imperialism" usually means, "not leaving", like the Europeans did for a few hundred years that screwed a lot of places up. And there is a lot of instability in the world you can't blame on the US. When India and Pakistan go after each other with nukes it will be hard to make a case that it's the USA's fault, but I'm sure a lot of people will try.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • It's not the imperialism of the 19th or 20th centuries, for sure. It's a different destructive force born of similar ideology. And it's far less beneficial to the invader than true Imperialism, it's basically just enriching a bunch of defense contractors by picking the pockets of the taxpayers and killing millions of innocent people (mostly in the invaded countries, but also Americans).

        Congratulations to the USA on the fact that there are several countries they haven't screwed up. The UK will have to take t

        • India situation is a fault of Mongol invaders adopting Islam but failing to make entire India to adopt it. There would be some conflict eventually even if Britain never invaded in the first place. Pakistan is just another India but with Muslim majority population. Conflict is unavoidable. After all if Mongols converted Pakistan using force then why can't India do the same but in reverse direction?

        • You are right about all that. My post was too simple, but it did elicit some good replies, including yours. And with that I return to my policy of never commenting on things even semi-political on /. Thanks to all who replied to me for letting me ease out of my hasty post above rather than be flamed out.

      • "Leaving" and "imperialism" fit perfectly together, once you know how to do it.

        Old school imperialism, where you send your troops somewhere, invade a place and run it, had a few fatal flaws that we quickly discovered. It's expensive to run a country. And it's not quite popular at home to send your troops somewhere, who get to fight and maybe get killed there. And the people you run the country for aren't too happy about it either.

        Our new way of imperialism is much more appealing. You let them declare "indep

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Agripa ( 139780 )

        "Not leaving" includes just discretely supporting the regime you want like the US did with Saddam.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      Yes and no. Nation building really has not worked. Some argue the Marshall Plan and Japan after WWII are success stories but we should remember those were already nations, with a developed of national identity. That was nation re-building not nation building.

      You don't have that sense of identity or at least not loyalty in the middle east. Syrians first loyalty is to their sect not their nation for example. Its not as simple as here we will momentarily tamp down the violence (using violence generating

  • Here, people just wander some streets, holding signs with references (not even jokes) on them, singing kumbaya, and then wonder why the politicians feel entirely unaffected, and just go ... "No.".

    Unless you stop caring if they harass, imprison, torture or even kill you, you're not gonna change a thing.
    Best you can get, is politicians acting as if they did "something", so they can call it "done".

    The trick is, to realize that cops and soldiers are also just people, and there is a point where they side with th

  • Meanwhile weapons of mass destruction...

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