|
https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelh992/status/991947257430904832
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 09:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 13:05 |
|
|
https://www.rt.com/news/425704-russian-jet-crash-syria-latakia/ Both pilots dead, they say no enemy fire.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 12:13
|
|
|
NYT has an interactive photojournal of Benghazi: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive...WT.nav=top-news It looks a poo poo ton worse than I thought, basically like Aleppo. I haven't seen any photos of Benghazi in years, and I'm really shocked at how bad the fighting there was. I have seen photos of downtown Tripoli, which looks basically OK, so it's a surprise that Haftar's "capital" is looks like it could be in Syria. E: I was curious if the reporter had only shown the ruined parts and perhaps that much of the city downtown was intact (e.g. Damascus) but no, you can tell pretty clearly on Google Maps that basically the entire shorefront part of the city is blown to bits ("An Mursalhq" according to Google Maps), although almost all of the inland part of the city looks like it was largely undamaged. Saladman fucked around with this message at 12:39 on May 3, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 12:33
|
|
|
That NYT piece is very well done. Its worth watching on a big monitor.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 13:20
|
|
|
This is so loving stupid. https://twitter.com/jakesNYT/status/992006928623652865
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 13:21
|
|
|
Count Roland posted:https://www.rt.com/news/425704-russian-jet-crash-syria-latakia/ In this case it's probably true. RuAF has had a lot of planes lawndarting every year, particularly after picking up operations to do the good old airspace violation flights. Spotty maintenance, severely cut training flight hours for pilots, and the general atmosphere of corruption is not a great combination with an aging fleet.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 13:28
|
|
|
Sinteres posted:This is so loving stupid. Its hilarious that KSA invaded Yemen but now they need help from the US to defend themselves from those they invaded. Good work MBS.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 14:32
|
|
|
getting some major mussolini vibes tbh
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 15:20
|
|
|
V. Illych L. posted:getting some major mussolini vibes tbh From whom? Or, if my question is silly: from whom not?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 15:51
|
|
|
Dawncloack posted:From whom? well i mean the usa is clearly hitler in the Yemen situation, bailing out the less competent military ally after a botched invasion
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 15:59
|
|
|
Sinteres posted:This is so loving stupid. Very cool. How long until we’re invading Houthi occupied Yemen?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 16:45
|
|
|
Sinteres posted:This is so loving stupid. Time to write another fruitless letter to legislators.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 16:51
|
|
|
Sinteres posted:This is so loving stupid. huh, I thought the Green berets were relics of the 1970's that turned into what is today SEAL teams, I didnt realize they still functionally existed as a named unit.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 17:09
|
|
Al-Saqr posted:huh, I thought the Green berets were relics of the 1970's that turned into what is today SEAL teams, I didnt realize they still functionally existed as a named unit. uhm, the SEALs are a Navy unite, while the Green Berets are US Army Special Forces.
|
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 17:16
|
|
|
Al-Saqr posted:huh, I thought the Green berets were relics of the 1970's that turned into what is today SEAL teams, I didnt realize they still functionally existed as a named unit. Most of the time people just make references to generic special forces if SEALs aren't involved, because everyone decided they're super cool a few decades ago I guess. Plus I think there was an unfortunate association of Green Berets with Vietnam that people wanted to avoid, but I could be reading too much into it.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 17:25
|
|
|
Are the green berets more strictly training of puppet forces than the seals or delta which are assassination squads or are the rolls more mixed than that?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 17:30
|
|
|
Green Berets are the more, uh, humanistic sof group that focuses on training and language skills and making at least some tangible effort to understand local circumstances. Historically sending in GBs to train/advise is a level of involvement a full few steps below sending in 100% combat oriented sof groups. US SOF group trainings are really different in their emphasis and while there's a certain respect for the very top of the t1 pool, there's a lot of disdain between the branches at sof level. Herstory Begins Now fucked around with this message at 19:13 on May 3, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2018 19:09
|
|
|
Herstory Begins Now posted:Green Berets are the more, uh, humanistic sof group that focuses on training and language skills and making at least some tangible effort to understand local circumstances. Historically sending in GBs to train/advise is a level of involvement a full few steps below sending in 100% combat oriented sof groups. Why the gently caress should we risk a single drop of US blood in that stupid war? Edit - Sorry, that anger was not directed at you.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 01:52
|
|
|
pro starcraft loser posted:Why the gently caress should we risk a single drop of US blood in that stupid war? Playing devil's advocate: even if we didn't start it, we fueled it. Literally. We gassed up the planes what prosecuted the war. With fuel. Statistically the fuel probably originated in KSA pre-refinement.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 01:55
|
|
|
Bip Roberts posted:Are the green berets more strictly training of puppet forces than the seals or delta which are assassination squads or are the rolls more mixed than that? They can be asked to do either. Usually they get dumped out in the middle of nowhere and since they are on their own, they have a lot of different responsibilities. They're allowed to get pretty fat and lazy. And raids are generally about capturing a high value target or something else of value. Things that require more precision than a 500 lb bomb.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 04:37
|
|
|
Office Pig posted:Ahahah
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 12:50
|
|
|
The more you read about growing up in Syria, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/992158277646548993?s=20
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 20:48
|
|
|
The talk about a pending confrontation with Iran is interesting. I want to say that I think there are a lot of saneish voices that will prevail and keep it from happening, but the US admin is as packed with people who want to bomb Iran as it literally has ever been and we might well be one Israeli 'investment' in a Trump/Kushner property away from it getting greenlighted.
|
|
#
?
May 4, 2018 23:40
|
|
|
Volkerball posted:The more you read about growing up in Syria, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. How does this play well with their Russian allies?
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 00:58
|
|
|
Orange Devil posted:How does this play well with their Russian allies? Wait, you think that modern Russia is opposed to Nazis?
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 01:07
|
|
|
Volkerball posted:The more you read about growing up in Syria, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. Riad Sattouf wrote an autobiographical book about his childhood in a small village near Homs in the 1980s. Here's an excerpt that's about life at school in Hafez al Assad's Syria.         Quick summary if you can't read French: Syria was very proud of its school system, as most children were at school. But it was mostly a place of brainwashing propaganda and sadistic punishment. He gives the example of the teacher coaxing a hapless child (who was the whipping boy because he looked ugly and didn't work well; part of his ugliness was because he'd been scalded with hot water straight out of the kettle to discipline him) out of the flimsy shelter of his desk by claiming to have pity on him before breaking the rod on his nose once he got out. Since the poor boy broke the rod with his nose, he had to bring the teacher a brand new one to replace it. Then the teacher immediately took the new rod on a gratuitous test run, of course. Then he tells about the atli (thrashing), a punishment that kids could be sentenced to receive at the end of the school year. So kids who missed school or contradicted the teacher could spend most of the year knowing this was waiting for them. Anyway it involved a public ceremony where they were struck twenty times on their feet in front of the whole school. So basically -- I'm not surprised. It's not like the situation in Syria has improved any since then.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 01:50
|
|
|
Jesus that is a profoundly depressing read.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 09:06
|
|
|
I've read all of three of Riad Sattouf's currently-published autobiographical graphic novel series and man it is a harsh take on Syria. He spent several years of his childhood (like 6-12? can't remember) in Ter Maela, which is just north of Homs and has been under rebel control since the start of the revolt. Some of the rest of the books is set in Libya, where he lived for a couple years as a kid, and in France, where he spent some vacations since his mom was French. The most horrifying scene from his childhood to me was still the one of the children finding a puppy and then torturing it to death and then ripping it apart and putting its body parts on stakes and running around town with it. loving horrifying. I think all his graphic novels have English translations. E: Couldn't find it so I just took photos. Rough translation follows. Also while flipping through for where that scene was, probably every other page had "son of a dog" used as an insult at least once, written both in French, and even untranslated written in Arabic.    P1: ("In the town, no one had a domestic dog. The dog is an impure animal according to Muslim tradition. The dogs you hear at night are feral dogs that are always near men. This puppy was must have been abandoned by his pack; Mom: 'What are they doing?') P2: ("Then they played football with the puppy. They did not kick it too hard. My cousins were there. They were having fun but kept their distance. A few boys seemed like they were cursing something invisible, they were taking strong poses. My cousin threw a stone at the animal, then a boy a little older than the others came with a pitchfork and stuck it in the puppy. Boy: "I have a beautiful flag, haha". Mom: "They're going to kill it, I have to help!") P3: ("My mom went to the street and I saw her try to take the pitchfork. Then, an old man came and swung his shovel at the puppy and its head broke off. Two old women came to my mother who was having a fit. Everyone started laughing. I tried to go downstairs to do something but I was too sick. My brother...") This was the end of his first book so I guess maybe that's partly why I remembered it so vividly, 4 years after I read the book, because man there is some brutal stuff in the rest of the book as I flipped through it again. Saladman fucked around with this message at 10:41 on May 5, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 10:22
|
|
|
Darth Walrus posted:Wait, you think that modern Russia is opposed to Nazis? I think modern Russia still has a lot of propaganda of their glorious victory over Nazi Germany so while they might not be opposed to the ideology, I would expect that something that so overtly looks like specifically Nazi German practices would not play well.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 12:59
|
|
|
Orange Devil posted:I think modern Russia still has a lot of propaganda of their glorious victory over Nazi Germany so while they might not be opposed to the ideology, I would expect that something that so overtly looks like specifically Nazi German practices would not play well. It's not like it's gonna be a headline on RT.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 13:12
|
|
|
Volkerball posted:It's not like it's gonna be a headline on RT. Russians don't really watch RT in the first place anyway. The sentiment of your post still holds true though.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 20:03
|
|
|
Ras Al Khaimah, one of the poorest emirates of the UAE (no oil or gas), has started developing its tourism industry. The appeal is authenticity -- no gigantic skyscrapers like in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, no huge highways, no gargantuan shopping centers, no frantic crowds. Just the desert, the mountains, and bedouin tribes living traditionally with their camel herds. Obviously, to cater to the tourists who come attracted by this authenticity and rusticity, millions of dollars are getting poured into gigantic luxury hotels and shopping centers, because of course.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 14:04
|
|
|
Orange Devil posted:How does this play well with their Russian allies? Uhhhh, you may be new to this subject but the current Baathist Syrian government is a no-poo poo National Socialist party founded in the 1940's. Yes, that kind of National Socialism complete with the ethno-nationalism focus, a strong man personality-cult dictator, and soldiers in jackboots goose-stepping around while secret police disappear the undesireables. Russia is perfectly aware of this and is pretty far down that rabbit hole themselves. See also Russian funding of such groups across Europe.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 15:41
|
|
|
Warbadger posted:Uhhhh, you may be new to this subject but the current Baathist Syrian government is a no-poo poo National Socialist party founded in the 1940's. Yes, that kind of National Socialism complete with the ethno-nationalism focus, a strong man personality-cult dictator, and soldiers in jackboots goose-stepping around while secret police disappear the undesireables. Just like Saddam, the founder of the Baathist movement was inspired by both Hitler and Stalin. He was even part of the Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party. IMO the ability of dictators to look to both men for inspiration is a pretty good argument for horseshoe theory at the extreme ends of the spectrum, since totalitarianism becomes its own ideal.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 16:01
|
|
|
Saladman posted:I've read all of three of Riad Sattouf's currently-published autobiographical graphic novel series and man it is a harsh take on Syria. He spent several years of his childhood (like 6-12? can't remember) in Ter Maela, which is just north of Homs and has been under rebel control since the start of the revolt. Some of the rest of the books is set in Libya, where he lived for a couple years as a kid, and in France, where he spent some vacations since his mom was French. My god that is grotesque.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 16:43
|
|
|
Orange Devil posted:I think modern Russia still has a lot of propaganda of their glorious victory over Nazi Germany so while they might not be opposed to the ideology, I would expect that something that so overtly looks like specifically Nazi German practices would not play well. Yeah but in Russia "fascist" and "nazi" means "anti-russian" so as long as Syrian regime is not anti-russian they are not fascist.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 22:35
|
|
|
Herr Bazooka posted:Yeah but in Russia "fascist" and "nazi" means "anti-russian" so as long as Syrian regime is not anti-russian they are not fascist. I can confirm that. The term has taken a really weird life of its own in Russia. The best comparison would be how in America the extreme right is quick to brand anything it doesn't like as 'communist', even if the word doesn't really make sense in that context.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2018 23:46
|
|
|
Saladman posted:This was the end of his first book so I guess maybe that's partly why I remembered it so vividly, 4 years after I read the book, because man there is some brutal stuff in the rest of the book as I flipped through it again. The Nib, an online publisher, ran a comic on the subject of Syrian schools by a Syrian woman. https://thenib.com/education-in-fear-growing-up-in-the-assad-regime-syria    It's a short comic and a quick read so I'd recommend everybody interested follow the link and read the whole thing. Observers are pretty consistent in describing Syrian schools as insane.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2018 02:51
|
|
|
Warbadger posted:Uhhhh, you may be new to this subject but the current Baathist Syrian government is a no-poo poo National Socialist party founded in the 1940's. Yes, that kind of National Socialism complete with the ethno-nationalism focus, a strong man personality-cult dictator, and soldiers in jackboots goose-stepping around while secret police disappear the undesireables. I'm not new to this subject, unfortunately. Herr Bazooka posted:Yeah but in Russia "fascist" and "nazi" means "anti-russian" so as long as Syrian regime is not anti-russian they are not fascist. Gimmick Account posted:I can confirm that. The term has taken a really weird life of its own in Russia. The best comparison would be how in America the extreme right is quick to brand anything it doesn't like as 'communist', even if the word doesn't really make sense in that context. Thanks for these posts, this clears some things up for me. How does Russia teach the rise of Nazism and the second world war (excuse me, the GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR) in terms of causes? I'm starting to fear they place it in a context of "plucky little Russia under threat from all sides by perfidious Europeans, just like with Napoleon and the Crimean war" rather than any examination of specific Nazi ideology. Is that correct?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2018 10:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 13:05 |
|
|
It looks like Hezbollah and its allies won a majority of seats in the Lebanese election, though Hariri seems likely to remain as PM because the PM of Lebanon always has to be Sunni.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2018 14:14
|
|