I found this friends and enemies chart. It does come in handy

[LiberalArkie]

[Raine1967]

1. Excellent chart.

Kinda sad to see so many red enemies on this list.

[PowerToThePeople]

2. by this chart

Iraq and Iran should be our most likely allies in the region.

[Fred Sanders]

4. And NOT Saudi. Saudi is the regional evil empire, no contest. And allied with.....Israel.

Why not just withdraw the American Emoire from the whole region and let them sort it out?

Why does America think it has to meddle in everything? Because of it's excellent track record of results?!

Because for some reason it's citizens still manage to tremble in slack-jawed fear as their trillion dollar a year military is not enough to protect them and give cover to folks in lands half a wolrd away armed with pick up trucks, blac flags, total religious madness.....and an Internet connection?

Get over it America, the world is sick and tired of your pretend fear and victimhood.

[PowerToThePeople]

5. definitely not Saudi. n/t

[Fred Sanders]

6. Dictatorial and oppressive U.A.E. was the world's fourth largest arms buyer last year....not on the chart.

It is not Islam that is to blame for the violence, it is the bloodthirsty and/or power lusting dictators and cults and gangs that rule the region.

[lark]

15. I've heard Saudi Arabia funds ISIS

so why are they showing as enemies?

[alfredo]

22. ISIS was giving them bad press.

[stevenleser]

3. Not sure this is right re: the US and Turkey. Other than that it looks good at first glance.

And shows how complicated that region is.

Turkey is a member of NATO, has US bases and is a US friend.

[LiberalArkie]

7. Turkey is one of those on again off again things

Kind of like white racist parents having a daughter who marries a black man. It is just complicated.

[geek tragedy]

12. Ally in name only. They lean pro-ISIS, and if they can't be counted on against ISIS,

they really can't be counted on for anything.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

16. Not pro-ISIS, anti Kurd

And ISIS is putting a lot of pressure on the Kurds.

I would fault the chart for saying that Iran and al-Qae'ida's relationship is "complicated". That might have been true ten years ago, but these days, it's pretty obvious that they're enemies. The U.S. and Iran's relationship is now "Complicated" instead of being pure enemies.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Fred Sanders]

18. Turkey is a full NATO member.

Twelve countries were part of the founding of NATO: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1952, Greece and Turkey became members of the Alliance.

[dolphinsandtuna]

19. Turkey belongs in the friend set.

The Gulf states are mostly crazy and we shouldn't have anything to do with them.

[smirkymonkey]

8. K&R! Thank you for posting.

Very interesting chart.

[magical thyme]

9. we fund the country that is essentially committing slow genocide

against the Palestinian people. Rhetoric aside, I think we pretty squarely stand as enemies to the Palestinian authority.

Until we stop enabling Israel, yellow doesn't cut it. Actions speak louder than words.

[former9thward]

14. We fund the PA.

So I don't see how we "squarely stand as enemies to the Palestinian authority." And there is no "slow genocide" going on. The West Bank, governed by the PA and jointly policed by Israel and the PA, is doing well and is prosperous. The basket case in the area is Gaza which is governed by a terrorist group, Hamas, which murdered its way to power, and is completely controlled by them.

[dolphinsandtuna]

20. More and more of the west bank is being confiscated by Israel

More and more of Gaza is being bulldozed.

Israel's policy has been genocide ever since it started. Sometimes their leaders admit it, sometimes not, but anyone paying attention knows it.

[former9thward]

21. If Gaza is being bulldozed Hamas is doing it.

Israel is not in Gaza. Israel has always offered land swaps in the West Bank. Always rejected by the Palestinians who want no two state deal. They want one state and that one without Jews.

[erronis]

10. Not to nit, but friendship is not symmetrical

Just because lots of countries are shown "liking" (god how I hate that facefook word) the U.S., it doesn't mean that the U.S. actually "likes" those countries. Sometimes some country loves another because of its foreign aid but hates it because of its meddling in internal corruption.

And I guess that "friendship" is all based on which entities in which countries. The "intelligence" agencies in many countries actively take out foreigns from friendlies and sometimes even nationals.

And of course, this all shifts hour by hour. One negative speech about some foreign operation might put you in the cross-hairs of an unfriendly.

[irisblue]

11. 19 Saudis with box cutters do not seem friendly

The Bush family might feel differently.

[Snotcicles]

13. I think curtain Corporations and Industries should be listed also. nt

[calimary]

17. That's pretty interesting.

Useful too. Simplifies things in some ways. Always helps to see things laid out like that. Sometimes helps you make more sense of things.

[raging moderate]

23. The ISIS-ISIS nexus should have a yellow face.

Since the ISIS leadership has been killing people who come to join and then want to leave, their relationship with themselves seems pretty complicated to me.