|
Jut posted:We judge political parties on a regular basis. It's called opinion, and is something we are encouraged to do as part of the democratic process. Our views only hold weight when it comes to ballot time. It is OUR responsibility and right to judge parties, not the courts. Maybe if you spent less time reading dictionaries and more time interacting with real world examples you'd realize what a stupid retort that is. You're literally responding to me saying you're treating anything called a political party the same by saying all political parties are the same as a way to disprove my point. Or, maybe, instead of reading dictionaries you could at least pick up an encyclopedia to offer yourself some chance of understanding context instead of trying to use direct dictionary definitions as support for your opinions. A political party is not a political party is not a political party. Your reductionism of things to dictionary definitions not withstanding, calling the NDP a political party for being the machinery through which a facade of legitimacy was maintained in a modern dictatorship is foolish. Claiming they're called a political party so they should be treated the same as any political party in a liberal democratic context is blind ignorance masked in democratic rhetoric.
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 02:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 20:17 |
|
|
farraday posted:Maybe if you spent less time reading dictionaries and more time interacting with real world examples you'd realize what a stupid retort that is. You're literally responding to me saying you're treating anything called a political party the same by saying all political parties are the same as a way to disprove my point. Words have specific meanings, dictionaries list the commonly accepted meanings. You're claiming that the NDP isn't a real political party (and therefore don't deserve to run in the Egyptian elections), which seems to fly in the face of the commonly accepted definition of a political party. quote:"political party
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 02:29
|
|
|
Lexical definition are near worthless because they're generally designed to be over broad. But hey, you've read a dictionary so clearly you know what you're talking about. When you get to the I's I have some words you might want to look up.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 02:33
|
|
|
Brown Moses posted:The Guardian says it's MILAN AT Missiles, which is apparently what the Libyan army uses as well. Old news but I couldn't resist... CQ finds a dead mercenary with a sign hanging from his neck "Now I have a Anti-Tank Missle, Ho Ho Ho" from Libyan John McClane. http://www.nbc.com/news-sports/msnbc-video/libyan-rebels-hope-for-more-advanced-weaponry/
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 05:22
|
|
|
Providing advanced weapons to the rebels will make the recipient of those arms the de facto leaders of the rebellion. Who is getting these weapons will be very important for the future of the country.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 06:35
|
|
|
farraday posted:Lexical definition are near worthless because they're generally designed to be over broad. quote:But hey, you've read a dictionary so clearly you know what you're talking about.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 08:12
|
|
|
Hey guess what! I snapped a few (not terribly interesting) photos from Bahrain here! I went over to the other side of town to go to the market area, and we drove by some of the armed troops. They're stationed along the highway there near where the Pearl Roundabout was. I wasn't, er, very good at taking these pictures, I was honestly a little nervous to try. So I kinda missed on a few. Here's a picture of part of an armored vehicle and stuff. There were also some tanks, but like I said, I wasn't very good at taking pictures of armed men from a moving vehicle. I'm no journalist!  This next one is a view from a bridge down to the Pearl Roundabout area in Manama, Bahrain. That's where they tore down the Pearl Roundabout monument somewhere, I'm not exactly sure where. But somewhere down there. Nothin' down there now but construction vehicles and the occasional troops.  Here's a picture that doesn't have any troops in it, but is kinda interesting. There's several buildings with big murals of the King of Bahrain or the Prince or other political figures on them. It's kinda Big Brother-ish I guess, but kinda cool at the same time. This is some financial center or something money-related.  Those are the main interesting ones I took, I'm afraid. I hope they're not too big to break frames or whatever, they're not TOO big. I've got other, less-interesting photos of Bahrain if anyone wants to see 'em, too. Pictures of the neat Bahrain World Trade Center, or the market area, or more big buildings with political figures on them, or other random buildings. If I manage to get any more photos of something interesting, perhaps I'll share 'em here. I hope it's, like, legal for me to take these photos, I don't want to get in trouble...
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 09:20
|
|
|
Jut posted:Next you'll be saying that legal definitions are worthless because they don't agree with your point of view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_definition Learn something you ignorant Jut.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 09:28
|
|
|
HJE-Cobra posted:Hey guess what! I snapped a few (not terribly interesting) photos from Bahrain here! Thanks for the photos. That's pretty interesting. Have you seen any protests yourself?
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 11:20
|
|
|
 You guys are fun, farraday and JutJut posted:Ham, do you know anything else about the political power plays going on over there? Does it look like the military council may make a play for power during the elections? Any chance of them pulling a Iliescu? The military council at this point can't really do anything but follow on with reform. I know it's hard to believe but the group with the actual power in Egypt are in fact the people. Why do you think Mubarak, his sons and his closest allies got arrested? Why was the NDP only dissolved now? So even if the council is against reform, they have no choice but to move along with it or be removed by their own officers from within the army. As for the elections themselves, right now it's uncertain but the military has officially announced it will not be producing any candidates from the military institution, however there are rumors they might back Amr Moussa.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 11:22
|
|
|
Bashar al-Assad has announced that emergency law will be lifted next week. We'll see.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 11:33
|
|
|
Ham posted:The military council at this point can't really do anything but follow on with reform. I know it's hard to believe but the group with the actual power in Egypt are in fact the people. Why do you think Mubarak, his sons and his closest allies got arrested? Why was the NDP only dissolved now? So even if the council is against reform, they have no choice but to move along with it or be removed by their own officers from within the army. As for the elections themselves, right now it's uncertain but the military has officially announced it will not be producing any candidates from the military institution, however there are rumors they might back Amr Moussa. I also recall the military council issuing a statement that they 'would not tolerate' an extremist Islam Egypt.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 11:41
|
|
|
Lascivious Sloth posted:Thanks for the photos. That's pretty interesting. Have you seen any protests yourself? No, I didn't see any protests myself, directly. The first week I was here in Bahrain, when protests were still allowed, I was heading back to the hotel after work, and a crowd was starting to form for a protest that was starting soon. It hadn't quite started yet, though. Actually, that reminds me, I have a few photos I took from the hotel of some of the cars going towards that protest.  This was taken at like the end of February or March 1st or thereabouts. I think this one was a pro-government protest, there were a few different protests for different reasons apparently. I never saw the big ones that were going on down at Pearl Roundabout, and those were the anti-government ones I believe. Here you can see some more traffic and cops directing traffic. And a well-known statue thing there. That's on some of the money, even. It's on the 1 Dinar bill.  This photo shows some of the traffic backup caused by preparations for the protest.  But I didn't get to see the protest itself, unfortunately. These three photos were all from the first week while I was here in Bahrain, and protests were still allowed, but they're not allowed anymore. HJE-Cobra fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Apr 17, 2011 |
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 11:43
|
|
|
Ham posted:
I only ask because of what happened following the Romanian revolution in '89. The transitional government backed by the military, after assuring the populace that they would not be seeking power, decided they wanted to run for election, dissolved the communist party, gave themselves exclusive rights to broadcast on state media, then went batshit on the people who overthrew Ceausescu, killing more people that he did during the protests. As long as the transitional council stay true to their announcement that they will not be producing candidates then great.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 12:08
|
|
|
Speaking of Bahrain, here's a guy's account of how things are over there:quote:Since the Gulf soldiers came to Bahrain, life in the Shia villages and suburbs of the capital, Manama, has been non-stop intimidation, violence and threats. Even trying to move around in normal ways has become life-threatening. They are trying to beat down the opposition with a long campaign against us. quote:Later that night (I was unable to leave the house I was in), we heard a group of people, 100 or more, chanting: "Bahrain is free, Gulf Shield out." I was watching from the rooftop when the riot police ran in from a main road and started shooting rubber bullets and tear-gas cartridges. quote:At the checkpoint by Bahrain Mall, which is the entrance to the village of Daih, the man in charge had a Saudi accent, but he was masked, in civilian clothes with an automatic rifle. My card was taken away with another officer to check my name against a list. They have pictures and names of all the people at Lulu and on the demonstrations and have posted them on Facebook with notices saying: "Bring these people to justice, they are guilty people." quote:In Sanabis, there was no sign of any protest, and as I was walking I was shocked to see riot police cars followed by unmarked cars entering the village fast and shooting randomly. They stopped near a school and about 100 armed riot police and masked armed civilians came out, roaming around the village shooting at anything that moved. quote:In Salmaniya medical complex [which has been under military occupation for three weeks], a cousin of mine worked at the appointments centre. After his shift he left the hospital and police stopped him at the exit, checked his ID card and noticed his Shia name. They accused him of racism for not giving appointments to Sunnis and beat him up. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/16/bahrain-eyewitness-riot-police
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 16:09
|
|
|
  Happy news for Egyptologists everywhere - Zahi Hawass, newly appointed Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs - has been sentenced to one year in prison, removal from his job as minister and a $1800 fine for neglecting to put into effect a court ruling regarding a conflict between his former institution (where he held the title of Chief Archeologist) and a citizen over a piece of land.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 17:57
|
|
|
I guess one of the advantages of the US spending more on its military than the rest of the world combined is that it doesn't run out of bombs a month into a war.quote:Less than a month into the Libyan conflict, NATO is running short of precision bombs, highlighting the limitations of Britain, France and other European countries in sustaining even a relatively small military action over an extended period of time, according to senior NATO and U.S. officials. http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/04/american-exceptionalism Naturally, this will just mean a re-escalation of American involvement in the Libyan conflict, assuming it doesn't end shortly which seems increasingly unlikely.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 18:25
|
|
|
That is both hilarious and sad for so many reasons.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 18:33
|
|
|
I don't think its sad at all. Would that everyone runs out of bombs some day.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 18:35
|
|
|
How are u posted:I don't think its sad at all. Would that everyone runs out of bombs some day. Though preferably not because they've used them all.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 18:38
|
|
|
Ham posted:
That is good news, I was very surprised to hear he had returned to his old haunts after all that had happened.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 18:38
|
|
|
Quoth the Jut "Grow up", at least Romania seems to be paying you well, I'd return the favor but lets be honest, you're not worth it. And honestly, this is the best you can do? Really? "Colossal human being"? Well, whatever job you have in Romania I hope it doesn't involve being creative. In other news http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201141715495475107.html Yemen was quite for several weeks as the opposition and the rpesident seemed to be trying to step away from violence, possibly because they weren't sure who would win. But this incident follows several others in the past week which means things are coming to a head. In nearby Oman, the government is pouring money onto any civil problems http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gSaCBhzX4uBKYXdLQvEKoNIaIZJQ?docId=6591209 And in Syria http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011417131422534165.html The promise to drop the emergency law has a short horizon, but protests are ongoing and the anti Bashar tenor here could very well break resistance to outright repression.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 18:38
|
|
|
How are u posted:I don't think its sad at all. Would that everyone runs out of bombs some day. They're not running out of bombs. They're running out of precision bombs. That's less positive.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 18:46
|
|
|
If I remember right there are retrofit packages (the JDAM) for dumb bombs that make them decently accurate to their targets that cost basically nothing compared to a Tomahawk or cruise missile. The US shouldn't run out of those for a while.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 19:25
|
|
|
Party Plane Jones posted:If I remember right there are retrofit packages (the JDAM) for dumb bombs that make them decently accurate to their targets that cost basically nothing compared to a Tomahawk or cruise missile. The US shouldn't run out of those for a while. For US bombs. Which won't fit on French or British planes.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 19:47
|
|
|
CeeJee posted:For US bombs. Which won't fit on French or British planes. Germany started buying the JDAM packages a couple years back as well but since they aren't participating, then yeah, NATO is going to be relying on US stores soon.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 19:49
|
|
|
The article is still pretty off base though. The final comment "Typically, the British and French militaries buy munitions in batches and stockpile them. When arsenals start to run low, factories must be retooled and production lines restarted to replace the diminished stock, all of which can take time and additional money, said Elizabeth Quintana, an aerospace analyst at the Royal United Service Institute in London." seems to be frankly wrong in this context. Both the PAveway IV and AASM guided munitions which are, from what I gather, the most recent additions to their forces are currently being produced, so the question of retooling and restarting makes no sense. I think the larger issue they're having is that both munitions are fairly new and therefore do not have large stockpiles, while being preferentially used for accuracy. Older munitions, with preexisting stockpiles would face that problem, but these two are clearly in production. While there is a point to be made about spending money on bread not bombs, as I believe the saying goes, the likelihood of running out of precision guided munitions seems low.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 19:58
|
|
|
Party Plane Jones posted:If I remember right there are retrofit packages (the JDAM) for dumb bombs that make them decently accurate to their targets that cost basically nothing compared to a Tomahawk or cruise missile. The US shouldn't run out of those for a while. IIRC, the JDAM was developed and deployed when the U.S. started running out of laser-guided bombs during Kosovo. They're decently accurate. The JDAM's CEP, the area that they can conceivibly hit a target with 95% accuracy, is something like 3-13m with GPS uplink (30m with inertial guidance). Paveways are supposedly more accurate, with a CEP of 1-6m, thanks to tele-video and laser guidance. For a comparison, the CEP of unguided ordinance during the Vietnam war was something like 100m. For even a bigger degree, the CEP of so-called "precision strikes" in World War 2 was something like a mile. Even with the best pilots and the best sights, only 20% of bombs hit within a 1000 feet of targets.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 20:41
|
|
|
Young Freud posted:IIRC, the JDAM was developed and deployed when the U.S. started running out of laser-guided bombs during Kosovo. That was the first time they were used in combat, but they were developed after Desert Storm because the laser guided bombs couldn't see through sand storms, smoke, and cloud cover. Most of the bombs used in that war were unguided bombs. Basically they wanted an all weather bomb that was cheaper than a cruise missile. Using existing dumb bombs was a nice bonus.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 21:44
|
|
|
t3ch3 posted:
Given the backlash towards Obama regarding American action, I seriously doubt he'd be willing to step up American involvement. It would be political suicide.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 22:12
|
|
|
Jut posted:Given the backlash towards Obama regarding American action, I seriously doubt he'd be willing to step up American involvement. It would be political suicide. There's been no backlash that would constrain Obama in any real way.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 23:29
|
|
|
evilweasel posted:There's been no backlash that would constrain Obama in any real way. The Republicans have been predictably using it as a stick to beat him with. poo poo sticks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 23:45
|
|
|
But the Republicans have been suggesting that Obama should escalate the American military presence. If he does just that, their response will almost certainly be that he's just not doing enough. You're not going to see Graham and McCain turn into doves overnight.
|
|
#
?
Apr 17, 2011 23:47
|
|
|
Jut posted:The Republicans have been predictably using it as a stick to beat him with. poo poo sticks. The republican response has been largely mocked and ignored because lots of them were, unfortunately for their current position, on record as blasting Obama for not intervening when he hadn't yet. Nobody cares about it they've not made anything stick.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 00:00
|
|
|
t3ch3 posted:But the Republicans have been suggesting that Obama should escalate the American military presence. If he does just that, their response will almost certainly be that he's just not doing enough. You're not going to see Graham and McCain turn into doves overnight. They would be willing to use it as evidence Obama hated our troops during any budget talks that might involve cutting any military program though. Realistically speaking though, they'll do that anyways citing Afghanistan which people may actually care about. Also realistically any cuts to our military programs will be so minor as to be near worthless anyways. Yeah, Libya isn't a major issue for anyone.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 00:00
|
|
|
Live blogs April 18th AJE LibyaFeb17.com Guardian quote:For those joining us, here is a recap of events in Libya: quote:Rebels in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi are shipping food, medical supplies and weapons, including anti-tank rounds seized from Libyan army depots, to their fellow fighters in Misurata, according to reports. quote:Some 1,000 people have been killed and 3,000 injured in Misurata alone within the past six weeks, a senior medic tells the AFP news agency. Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Apr 18, 2011 |
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 08:28
|
|
|
quote:Good morning and welcome to our coverage of Libya and other developments in the Middle East. quote:Misrata, which seems to be assuming the symbolic importance of Sarajevo in the Bosnian war, has come under bombardment again today.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 09:55
|
|
|
quote:The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, says the UN has reached an agreement with the Libyan government on providing humanitarian aid in Tripoli. The Associated Press reports that the deal to establish a "humanitarian presence" in the Libyan capital was agreed yesterday by his special envoy to Libya and Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief. But no word on Misrata.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 10:36
|
|
|
Brown Moses posted:I can't escape the feeling that Gaddafis thugs might take their anger at the coalition out on anyone the UN sends to Tripoli. I don't think even Gaddafi would be short-sighted enough to attack UN humanitarians directly. Then again most of us have used that sentence with different subjects quite a lot in the past few months.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 10:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 20:17 |
|
|
I don't think it'll be ordered by Gaddafi, probably some of his supporters would get wound up by the bombing and decide to take it out on the UN. Here's some news of things heating up in Syria: quote:Syrian forces killed eight protesters overnight in the central city of Homs in confrontations after the death of a tribal leader in custody, a rights campaigner told Reuters. Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 10:50 on Apr 18, 2011 |
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2011 10:47
|
|