Islamic State is the lefts new Palestine?

[Hermit]

In many cases, the blame should sheet home on the big corporations who manufacture and sell arms to anybody, with no ethical qualms. One could argue that western nations are complicit to some degree in this trade, but in a globalised world, corporations of this nature are increasingly laws unto themselves...

Yes, corporations go for making profits regardless of the moral implications, but I suspect that you are underestimating the role of governments. In the 1980s Ronald Reagan and the US Congress approved a billiion dollars' worth of weapons, military training to be given the Mujahideen. Guess what the Mujahideen metamorphosed into, and what those weapons and the training finished up being used for? And keep in mind the buying power of a billion dollars 35 years ago.

That was a deliberate choice as part of the cold war struggle against the Soviet Union. One with some unfortunate long-term consequences, but a choice with a political rationale, rather than merely grubby profit making.

Power struggles have nothing to do with profit making? Oh boy, you have come along way from your SDS days if that is what you think.

Edit: What Trinity said, except I think the connection between political and economic struggles is not a recent one.

[JimC]

What I'm seeing here in the UK though, is the government increasingly becoming the (willing) puppets and enablers of the corporations. There is a mutual interest in lining each others' pockets and exchanging favours, no matter what cost (when they can get away with it) to the environment or the public. We lose billions from big corps because of tax evasion and I'm not even going to start ranting about the TTIP which, on the surface, seems to favour the corps more than the governments but as they're all in bed together, I don't think it's worth splitting hairs over.

And when you are bed with a Tory minister, you are going to be fucked in some rather unusual ways...