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Security forces killed 2 people in eastern Saudi Arabia yesterday. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/27/us-saudi-shiite-deaths-idUSBRE88Q05920120927 tekz posted:imagine asking friends and families of 9/11 victims how unbiased they are towards Al-Qaeda. That's sort of the point. It gives the perception of a very specific group of people.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 11:55 |
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# ? Jun 9, 2024 13:47 |
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Xandu posted:This collection should have been outsourced to a Pakistani organization capable of conducting research in FATA. Women should have been used (and trained, if necessary) to ensure data could be collected from women. That literally is the The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy's "Drone Attacks—A Survey" paper which has unfortunately disappeared from the internet. The CIA's Covert Predator Drone War in Pakistan, 2004–2010: The History of an Assassination Campaign posted:But in the spring of 2009 a poll was carried out in the targeted FATA tribal area
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 12:17 |
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Red7 posted:That literally is the The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy's "Drone Attacks—A Survey" paper which has unfortunately disappeared from the internet. There might be a reason that it's disappeared: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/06/2011613931606455.html quote:As a matter of fact, the only known survey "on the ground in FATA" at the time was carried out by a "letterhead organisation" named the Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy whose conclusions can fairly be described as deeply unreliable and dubious. It claimed that 55 per cent of respondents in a survey it carried out in "parts of FATA that are often hit by American drones" (among which it curiously included Parachinar, which has never been hit and whose overwhelmingly Shia population is deeply hostile to the virulently anti-Shia Taliban) did not think that the attacks caused "fear and terror in the common people"; 52 per cent found them "accurate in their strikes"; and 58 per cent did not think they increased anti-Americanism.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 12:25 |
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haha, that might explain it then! The AIRRA web site is still around though, with the report on it now I've looked (or summary or something anyway...), even if it hasn't been updated since 2011.
Red7 fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Sep 27, 2012 |
# ? Sep 27, 2012 12:34 |
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Red7 posted:That literally is the The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy's "Drone Attacks—A Survey" paper which has unfortunately disappeared from the internet. I never saw the original paper, but considering it was a survey conducted in such a volatile area, I wonder what methodology and sampling techniques were used. Just glancing over the article, I have a suspicion this was not conducted in a scientifically viable manner. I'm not talking about the result summary, just the science behind it.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 12:37 |
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Today it's been reported that a "Syrian rebel chief abandons uprising", after a group of supposed FSA members defected back to the regime at a press conference in front of the tolerated opposition in Damascus. Unfortuantly when they were hiring the actors to play these opposition members they forgot one had already confessed to being a terrorist 6 months ago, and yet was back as a FSA commander rejoining the regime. I've blogged the details of it here.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 16:18 |
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Brown Moses posted:Today it's been reported that a "Syrian rebel chief abandons uprising", after a group of supposed FSA members defected back to the regime at a press conference in front of the tolerated opposition in Damascus. Unfortuantly when they were hiring the actors to play these opposition members they forgot one had already confessed to being a terrorist 6 months ago, and yet was back as a FSA commander rejoining the regime. I've blogged the details of it here. Look at how wrong you are I heard from my dear intelligence community friends at the Guardian comment section that FSA members must be defecting in droves, scores higher than reported and that they suffer so large losses that the rebellion might in fact already be over - the western media is simply hiding the TRUTH and refusing to show BOTH SIDES of this conflict! Russia Today every day! Now after writing all that I'll just go out and shoot myself in the head for fun
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 16:56 |
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If they're going to lie about something like that wouldn't it be useful to ensure a minimum baseline of competence from the people setting it up?
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 16:58 |
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Speaking of the Guardian there's this up now on the Live article:quote:21m ago (emphasis mine) The FSA seem to be cranking up the pressure a bit - or if nothing else, holding on for dear life.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 17:02 |
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Pureauthor posted:If they're going to lie about something like that wouldn't it be useful to ensure a minimum baseline of competence from the people setting it up? Possibly not use the same bloody name both times either. I'll be watching the Aleppo channels closely, apparently Homs is kicking off as well.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 17:09 |
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The request for anti-air rockets at the end there is pretty interesting. I'm not sure if that's the sole thing preventing them from creating an area of control, but if they had a shot at disabling more of the regime's air power that would create quite the intimidation factor for anyone wondering if they're on the right side.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 17:27 |
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If you replace all the FSA with peasants and anti-air missiles with crossbows, this reads like some history book.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 17:38 |
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There's a similar story out today, the FSA has an airbase pretty much surrounded deep in the north-western territory that they effectively control, which is where most of the reports of downed aircraft have come from. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/world/middleeast/rebels-make-gains-in-blunting-syrian-air-attacks.html?pagewanted=all
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 17:48 |
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Miruvor posted:There's a similar story out today, the FSA has an airbase pretty much surrounded deep in the north-western territory that they effectively control, which is where most of the reports of downed aircraft have come from. That's where they were using an OSV-96 to snipe at parked aircraft as well.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 17:51 |
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CJ Chivers did a really good video piece from Idlib on the fighting there and how the FSA are doing things that's worth checking out http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/09/27/world/middleeast/100000001809375/fighting-for-idlib.html
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 18:42 |
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Brown Moses posted:CJ Chivers did a really good video piece from Idlib on the fighting there and how the FSA are doing things that's worth checking out That was great. Unrelatedly, I read your blog post with the videos of the DIY weaponry. What I think you call a "DIY recoilless rifle" is neither recoilless, nor likely to be rifled. To my eyes that doesn't appear to be an attempted improvised backblast weapon at all. It looks more like a failed attempt at making a breech-loaded gun/howitzer/mortar. Someone who knows Arabic ought to know better than I do though, if they give any technical information.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 20:02 |
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In the opening of the video they mention "B-10", which I believe references the commonly used B-10 recoilless rifle. Obviously they've done a terrible job copying it, but I think it's what they were going for.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 20:13 |
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Here's one of those sequences of videos that is cute/horrible Formation of the Battalion for Children in Aleppo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8dv-dkXJ7U Training the Battalion for Children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQ4rw3CemW0 Weapons of the Battalion for Children https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6XHWXjFhXg One day they'll probably be old enough to fight with the FSA.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 20:36 |
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Here's a DIY grenade launcher from Aleppo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLMS5L6rmY8 [edit] Here's some more kids playing at war in Rastan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBafcnflKJI Brown Moses fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Sep 27, 2012 |
# ? Sep 27, 2012 20:40 |
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Brown Moses posted:Here's a DIY grenade launcher from Aleppo The total lack of reference of scale and the floor texture make it look like it's about six inches long. drat minituarists.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 21:02 |
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And as a sidenote to everything, it appears that Nakoula Basseley of "Innocence of Muslims" fame has been arrested for violation of parole.
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# ? Sep 27, 2012 23:37 |
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Apparently a lot of Aleppo is covered with pungent smoke right now. Speculation is that either a plastics factory caught fire or that the FSA is setting tire piles on fire in mass in an attempt to provide concealment from the Syrian Air Force. Other than that there's not much news coming out of the city at the moment.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 01:46 |
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-28/us-withdraws-staff-from-tripoli-embassy/4285240quote:A US judge has ordered the alleged filmmaker behind a video that sparked protests across the Muslim world be detained without bond after being arrested in Los Angeles. Huh, fraud you say? Didnt expect that.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 02:39 |
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SynthOrange posted:Huh, fraud you say? Didnt expect that. He went to great lengths to try to hide the fact that he directed the film. The guy sounds like a scumbag. The fact that he was out on parole for bank fraud was known day one of the big press coverage.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 02:41 |
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Sorry, I glossed over that bit just among all the other crazy details of that whole affair. Bank fraud must have been the least remarkable of them.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 02:44 |
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Brown Moses posted:CJ Chivers did a really good video piece from Idlib on the fighting there and how the FSA are doing things that's worth checking out I'm both inspired and terribly saddened by the fatalism at the end. They won't give up but they seem to think they can't win. gently caress it's a messed up war. I wish there was something that could be done.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 05:05 |
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steve1 posted:Are you Syrian or have you just spent time in Syria? On that note, are there any known Syrian SA posters? I'm Syrian-Chilean :iamafag: Like 4th generation though so don't ask me anything that's not related to how to make bitchin' kibbeh. Also, anybody got any updates of the situation in Lebanon? I'd ask about Jordan too but nobody cares about Jordan, it's the Suriname of the ME.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 05:37 |
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SexyBlindfold posted:I'm Syrian-Chilean :iamafag: Western Sahara gets no love either.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 05:59 |
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CommieGIR posted:He went to great lengths to try to hide the fact that he directed the film. The guy sounds like a scumbag. I am pretty sure that his probation also said that he cannot be involved with computers. You know, because he is a convicted scammer.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 08:23 |
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It barely qualifies as MENA, but Kenya claims that they've captured the last al-Shabbab stronghold in Somalia: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/kenya-says-somali-rebel-city-falls-fighting-near-beach/
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 08:40 |
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Heavy fighting in Syria's largest cityquote:The major rebel group in the city -- the Tawhid Brigade -- says on its Facebook page that its members have entered the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood to fight pro-government Kurdish gunmen. Anyone an idea just how pro-government these Kurdish gunmen are?
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 12:12 |
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Volkerball posted:Western Sahara gets no love either. What's been happening in Mali? Last I heard people were pissed off at Islamists bulldozing everything but they were apparently to powerful to dislodge.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 12:21 |
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Munin posted:What's been happening in Mali? Last I heard people were pissed off at Islamists bulldozing everything but they were apparently to powerful to dislodge. Not anything good. The Islamists in power are implementing their particularly harsh version of Sharia law. In this case, 5 men who allegedly robbed a bus had a hand and a foot amputated. The Economic Community Of West African States(ECOWAS)is planning to send troops, with the approval of the Malinese government, to help dislodge the Islamists. Political Whores fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Sep 28, 2012 |
# ? Sep 28, 2012 12:29 |
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Pieter posted:Heavy fighting in Syria's largest city I believe their Facebook page claims it's the PKK, who said they'd ally against the FSA, so this might be pretty significant. Of course, today is overtime at the rumour mill, so who knows?
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 12:41 |
I must have missed something somewhere. What is PKK's beef with the FSA and why do they consider the existing regime preferable to anything resulting from a FSA victory?
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 14:37 |
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Pieter posted:Heavy fighting in Syria's largest city It's a really weird world we live in when guerrilla squads have facebook pages.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 15:27 |
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Iran's Fars News Agency confuses The Onion with a real news organisation and reprints one of their stories (uncredited)quote:Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 15:51 |
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Brown Moses posted:Iran's Fars News Agency confuses The Onion with a real news organisation and reprints one of their stories (uncredited) How the hell do these kinds of people always manage to be so awful and so laughable at the same time?
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 15:54 |
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Slashrat posted:I must have missed something somewhere. What is PKK's beef with the FSA and why do they consider the existing regime preferable to anything resulting from a FSA victory? Maybe if the Turks are supporting the FSA then the PKK just feel inclined to oppose them?
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 16:02 |
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# ? Jun 9, 2024 13:47 |
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The FSA have stated that they oppose an independent kurdish region in Syria, and will fight Kurds to prevent it. At least according to some interview with Riad al-Asaad on a turkish blog, not sure if that's the official stance.
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# ? Sep 28, 2012 16:13 |