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Sergg posted:Imagine second-hand Navy SEALs without an Air Force or reliable logistics supply chain operating with an intelligence network that's a tiny fraction the sophistication and size of the US DoD. And then imagine them having to give even less of a gently caress about war crimes.
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Aug 19, 2018 14:08
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In real news, it looks like the alliance between Sadr and Amiri may have broken down. With the finalization of the election results, the parties now have a 3 month deadline to form a majority coalition.
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Aug 19, 2018 14:25
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One of the other reasons the Pentagon is saying Erik Prince's plan is bullshit they don't accept: It would obliterate the NATO task force, cause there's no way the other NATO members who've signed up to operate in Afghanistan would just keep on trucking if they were suddenly serving alongside PMCs instead of US military.
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Aug 19, 2018 14:26
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Panzeh posted:Yeah, no these are Colombian, Filipino, and some local guys getting hired on. This is not meant to be an efficient military operation, but a profitable one. Is it solely for labor cost reasons? Legal and political reasons also make sense... why hire litigious US citizens when you can get some soldiers reasonably experienced with counterinsurgency from Latin America/SE Asia?
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Aug 19, 2018 14:45
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it's been long enough since PMCs were a real thing for most posters I guess to forget that most outfits are a small number of US ex-troops for VIP missions and then everyone else is like Filipino or from Latin America that get paid poo poo to just stand around outside bases im guessing the US military to PMC pipeline particularly dried up once Obama canceled most of the lucrative contracts during his admin. Until now prince has mostly been living in Beijing working for the Chinese to oversee their operations in Africa so probably even more so
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Aug 19, 2018 17:21
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Berke Negri posted:it's been long enough since PMCs were a real thing for most posters I guess to forget that most outfits are a small number of US ex-troops for VIP missions and then everyone else is like Filipino or from Latin America that get paid poo poo to just stand around outside bases Maybe there were people getting paid poo poo in contracts with other governments, but all the US contracts were lucrative. You could make drat near 6 figures standing around a base in Kuwait for 6 months, and guys that were riding around Baghdad were making hundreds of thousands and were all from SOCOM or special forces in other militaries. You had to have a US security clearance to be a part of those contracts so it's not like they could just grab anyone. Volkerball fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Aug 19, 2018 |
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Aug 19, 2018 21:28
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Snipee posted:Is it solely for labor cost reasons? Legal and political reasons also make sense... why hire litigious US citizens when you can get some soldiers reasonably experienced with counterinsurgency from Latin America/SE Asia? It's pretty much just labor cost, though Prince's promise that they'll be under the UCMJ is hilarious when you consider how many of his contractors are not US citizens in the first place.
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Aug 19, 2018 21:37
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Snipee posted:Is it solely for labor cost reasons? Legal and political reasons also make sense... why hire litigious US citizens when you can get some soldiers reasonably experienced with counterinsurgency from Latin America/SE Asia? One thing he talks up a lot is his plan to embed them more closely with their Afghan army counterparts, so that they live and fight and coordinate together, hardening the Afghan army. As I recall he points to the history of American small wars in the Caribbean as a model. There's several reasons the regular military wouldn't want their men using these kinds of tactics: 1) they expose the soldiers to higher casualties, due to being closer to the action in more isolated posts while also being more vulnerable to insider attacks, 2) It means small detachments would have less supervision, and hence be more likely to commit atrocities/otherwise misbehave. By replacing regular US personnel with contractors it may be easier to justify such risks, or at least that's my impression of Prince's argument. Also it looks like there's going to be another ceasefire starting Monday Eid al-Adha. Government hopes it will last until November but it's not clear if the Taliban are willing to extend it so long. The Taliban are also reportedly releasing prisoners.
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Aug 19, 2018 21:58
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If this is true, then wow. https://twitter.com/LawkGhafuri/status/1031315217404313600?s=19 The PUK and KDP were expected to align with Maliki and the Badr brigades in the aftermath of the election. This would make the Iranian factions the opposition. That would be a pretty complicated matter considering they have their own army. Volkerball fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Aug 20, 2018 |
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Aug 19, 2018 23:59
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The guy literally said he wants to use the model of the East India Company to prop up an unpopular local despot in Afghanistan. Why wasn't this already a thing yesterday
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Aug 20, 2018 00:21
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Volkerball posted:If this is true, then wow. Al-Sadr has made pro-Iranian statements recently, hasn't he?
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Aug 20, 2018 00:40
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Throatwarbler posted:The guy literally said he wants to use the model of the East India Company to prop up an unpopular local despot in Afghanistan. Why wasn't this already a thing yesterday What does that even mean? The East India Company wasn't even that good at propping up local rulers outside of India, and a not unsubstantial part of that came from Company men literally marrying into the local aristocracy (in many of these cases the children of such marriages were raised as Muslims, many Company men even kept harems). Does it mean to run the whole thing "like a private enterprise"? The EIC wasn't as similar to a modern multinational company as some modern people think, in India they essentially operated in the same manner as any other local ruler. For much of their history in India they were officially kind of a vassal of the Mughals, first taking charge of taxation and other revenue operations in the Bengal on behalf of the Mughals (actually to their benefit in that the Mughals increased their revenues through this) then eventually taking on more of a direct administrative role as the Mughal Empire declined, eventually rendering their relationship to the Mughals irrelevant (though important to keep up as long as possible for the sake of legitimacy and keeping the loyalty of the local aristocracy). Or is he specifically thinking of the Anglo-British war? I guess if you think acting on faulty intelligence arising to place a previously deposed king on the throne and then fight a needless war for several years as a good idea, then sure go all in. The first Anglo-Afghan war was kind of a farce, what predicated it was the fear of many in Britain and the Company that Russia had designs on Afghanistan. They believed that the new king was friendly to Russia, and therefore they had to act, despite the fact that they had reports from an expert well-travelled in the region and resident at the Kabul court that the new king actually sought friendship with Britain, this was disregarded partly because the man primarily responsible for intelligence operations in the region despised this expert and also because he and other officials were friendly to the deposed king Shura resident in the Punjab at the mercy of Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh Empire. They thus belived that in this deposed king they had someone whom the Afghan people would rally around against the usurper and who would guarantee them an ally in Afghanistan. You can guess how that went (apologies for not remembering a whole lot of names).
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Aug 20, 2018 00:51
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Randarkman posted:What does that even mean? Well in the context of the quote I shared Prince was talking about embedding US forces with the ANA, however more generally he envisions a scenario in which the war will feed itself, through development of Afghanistan's mineral wealth. Wealth which will be funneled into the hands of private security contractors. That is to say he seems to see the East India company as a model for sustaining engagement in Afghanistan while shifting the costs of the conflict off of US citizens and onto Afghanistan's as yet undeveloped resources. Buzzfeed posted:But the details have never been made public. Here is the never-before-published slide presentation for [Erik Prince's] pitch, which a source familiar with the matter said was prepared for the Trump administration. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/aramroston/private-war-erik-prince-has-his-eye-on-afghanistans-rare  slide reported to be from Prince's presentation to the Trump adminstration. It's not hard to see why it might appeal to President Trump. Of course the idea that you could profitably mine in Helmand before peace strikes me as utter fantasy, although then again, America's strategy in Afghanistan hasn't been much less fantastical over the past decade. Squalid fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Aug 20, 2018 |
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Aug 20, 2018 01:10
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Squalid posted:Well in the context of the quote I shared Prince was talking about embedding US forces with the ANA, however more generally he envisions a scenario in which the war will feed itself, through development of Afghanistan's mineral wealth. Wealth which will be funneled into the hands of private security contractors. That is to say he seems to see the East India company as a model for sustaining engagement in Afghanistan while shifting the costs of the conflict off of US citizens and onto Afghanistan's as yet undeveloped resources. the full powerpoint presentation reads like Prince wants the US to drop all pretenses and just straight-up colonize Afghanistan he also claims he'll reduce US troop and contractor presence to zero, which is technically accurate in the most deranged way possible: he isn't going to remove all American personnel, he's just going to have them serve under the Afghan flag so they're not technically a US military presence. he calls this 'Afghanization'. he proposes establishing an Afghan Air Force staffed entirely with American personnel from the maintenance crews on up, and using US PMC aircraft, but flying under Afghan markings. he wants to place PMC employees in high-level support and 'advisor' positions in the Afghan government and military high command. the eventual end goal is to have the PMC's employees permanently embedded at all levels of the Afghan military and government. he specifies that the PMC personnel deployed will exclusively be American ex-military, deployed in small groups with most of their combat power coming from Afghan National Army auxiliaries operating under them. oh, and just in case you didn't know where his priorities lie, 'Initiate Strategic Mining' is intended to be part of Phase One of the pilot program, he wants to have profitable resource extraction operations up and running before this enterprise has expanded outside of two provinces. this plan is both cartoonishly evil and laughably stupid, which is to say I expect the president to sign off on it within the year Mister Bates fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Aug 20, 2018 |
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Aug 20, 2018 02:49
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Squalid posted:Well in the context of the quote I shared Prince was talking about embedding US forces with the ANA, however more generally he envisions a scenario in which the war will feed itself, through development of Afghanistan's mineral wealth. Wealth which will be funneled into the hands of private security contractors. That is to say he seems to see the East India company as a model for sustaining engagement in Afghanistan while shifting the costs of the conflict off of US citizens and onto Afghanistan's as yet undeveloped resources. 
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Aug 20, 2018 07:47
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Taliban kidnap 300 holidayers. Right after cancelling ceasefire...
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Aug 20, 2018 20:37
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LeoMarr posted:Taliban kidnap 300 holidayers. Right after cancelling ceasefire... doesnt seem that great of a vacation choice
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Aug 20, 2018 21:42
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Mister Bates posted:the full powerpoint presentation reads like Prince wants the US to drop all pretenses and just straight-up colonize Afghanistan Lol he really does want to make himself king of afganistan
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Aug 20, 2018 21:58
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Who could've predicted this wouldn't go over well https://mobile.twitter.com/borzou/status/1031662837469532160
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Aug 20, 2018 23:10
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Kurtofan posted:doesnt seem that great of a vacation choice I dont think they were internationals. Afghanis on holiday. Still not a good idea traveling in the crosshair
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Aug 20, 2018 23:15
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In all likelihood 'holiday' just means visiting relatives.
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Aug 21, 2018 06:27
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Today's the 5th anniversary of the Ghouta Sarin attack.
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Aug 21, 2018 15:24
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If you want to jump back in time and see the response of these forums you can click below https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3390388&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1110 I'm still waiting for Russian to publish it's 2014 report on the March 2013 Khan al-Assal Sarin attack, where they named the specific brigade and type of DIY rocket used, claiming it was the same type of rocket used on August 21st 2013, especially since Reuters reported OPCW sources saying the same type of Sarin was used in Khan Sheikhoun in 2017, Damascus on August 21st 2013, and in Khan al-Assal. For some reason they've only ever released it to the UN and never made it public. Anyone I've spoken to who has actually read it has said it was awful, which might explain why they won't publish it. A little while ago I had an expert, Cheryl Rofer, examine the report Ted Postol wrote with the help of PartisanGirl, she concluded: quote:Postol is operating from a naive set of assumptions, based on limited experience in a first-year chemistry laboratory, presumably the experience of his informant. The result is a wrong-headed approach to the problem and nonsensical demands of Kaszeta. Nothing in Postol’s argument sounds like it was written by a chemist or someone with a working knowledge of chemistry. On October 20th I'll be debating him live at Goldsmith's University about the Khan Sheikhoun Sarin attack, I'm hoping there will be a livestream. We've both been given 20 minutes to present our work on the case, then we've have a moderated debate.
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Aug 21, 2018 15:39
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https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1032338104831692801
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Aug 22, 2018 20:49
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WTF is al-Baghdadi, a cat in a human suit?
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Aug 22, 2018 20:54
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You're thinking of al-Garfieldi.
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Aug 22, 2018 21:08
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Mister Bates posted:the full powerpoint presentation reads like Prince wants the US to drop all pretenses and just straight-up colonize Afghanistan cool, we going full east india company plus video game villain now.
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Aug 22, 2018 21:37
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Thread https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1032355263502852096
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Aug 22, 2018 22:05
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According to PressTV MbS offered Assad money if he would renounce Iran and Hezbollah. https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/08/22/571927/Mohammed-Bin-Salman-urged-Assad-to-cut-ties-with-Iran-Hezbollah
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Aug 23, 2018 01:41
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Throatwarbler posted:According to PressTV 
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Aug 23, 2018 04:24
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Throatwarbler posted:According to PressTV MbS offered Assad money if he would renounce Iran and Hezbollah.
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Aug 23, 2018 08:22
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https://twitter.com/Cirincione/status/1033336806740307968 We're obviously not going to stop arming them any time soon, but not refueling the planes carrying out these attacks seems like it would be a good start.
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Aug 25, 2018 14:04
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I don't think we have enough reasons to dislike the Saudis. Have another. quote:ATAQ, Yemen (AP) — Again and again over the past two years, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States has claimed it won decisive victories that drove al-Qaida militants from their strongholds across Yemen and shattered their ability to attack the West. https://apnews.com/f38788a561d74ca78c77cb43612d50da
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Aug 26, 2018 02:39
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Count Roland posted:I don't think we have enough reasons to dislike the Saudis. Have another. Toplowtech fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Aug 26, 2018 |
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Aug 26, 2018 03:35
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lmao, after they wrecked our two big dick skyscrapers and the pentagon itself, surely that's all in the past now and it's totally okay to let them keep their guns and cash this time around and they'll beat up that evil Iran and its proxies for us. *cue Curb Your Enthusiasm music a couple decades later after another terror attack or dozen on US soil*
CrazyLoon fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Aug 26, 2018 |
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Aug 26, 2018 04:56
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CrazyLoon posted:*cue Curb Your Enthusiasm music a couple decades later after another terror attack or dozen on
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Aug 26, 2018 09:22
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Thousands of Al Qaeda fighters with tanks are preparing to launch an offensive from Idlib on Aleppo. http://tass.com/world/1018662 quote:MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. Several thousands of militants with heavy weaponry and armored vehicles gave gathered in Syria’s Idlib province to launch an offensive on government-controlled regions of Hama and Aleppo, the head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria, Maj. Gen. Alexei Tsygankov, told reporters on Saturday.
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Aug 26, 2018 10:06
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Could be that someone is looking for an excuse for what they'd like to do to Idlib soon. https://warontherocks.com/2018/08/prisoners-of-idlib-turkey-russia-america-and-the-fate-of-syrias-last-opposition-stronghold/ I read that Russian "consolation officer" as doing the propaganda for the coming offensive.
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Aug 26, 2018 13:11
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ThisIsJohnWayne posted:Could be that someone is looking for an excuse for what they'd like to do to Idlib soon. You might be on to something https://mobile.twitter.com/RT_com/status/1033238796291198976
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Aug 26, 2018 14:03
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Throatwarbler posted:Thousands of Al Qaeda fighters with tanks are preparing to launch an offensive from Idlib on Aleppo. That sounds super fake. Russia's been freely bombing in Idlib whenever they've felt like it anyway, so why wouldn't they just bomb the gently caress out of these guys if they see them organizing? If it does turn out to be real though, good--Nusra had short-term success by breaking the siege of Aleppo the first time they tried something like this, but the second time was considerably less successful, and in both cases concentrating their forces for open assaults left them vulnerable to being destroyed by superior firepower. Really though this has phantom army written all over it given that the SAA has been openly building forces in the area for weeks now. Dr Kool-AIDS fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Aug 26, 2018 |
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Aug 26, 2018 14:11
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