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RandomPauI posted:Sucks to be any country between Germany and the USSR This. Tough choices and you probably get massacred either way. For war movies Armadillo and Restrepo are good non-fiction. Wolf Warrior 2 is a Chinese war movie mimicking the Hollywood style: heroic Chinese spec-ops save aid workers and shoot terrorists in Africa. It may still be China's highest grossing film.
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# ? Sep 25, 2021 23:05 |
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# ? May 27, 2024 21:35 |
Seconding Restrepo. It's real good.
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# ? Sep 25, 2021 23:44 |
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RandomPauI posted:Sucks to be any country between Germany and the USSR Yeah lots of icky situations just all around. In-between Stalin invading Finland, grabbing the baltics and splitting Poland with the nazis it must have been deadly evident to everyone in the region that you either pick a dance partner or you're next.
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# ? Sep 26, 2021 08:38 |
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MiddleOne posted:Yeah lots of icky situations just all around. In-between Stalin invading Finland, grabbing the baltics and splitting Poland with the nazis it must have been deadly evident to everyone in the region that you either pick a dance partner or you're next. And of course Finland's most important trading partners pre-war were The UK, Sweden, Germany, France and Soviet Union. Summer 1940 didn't really leave lots of options for a country dependent on imported food.
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# ? Sep 26, 2021 10:15 |
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Famous middle eastern county, Finland.
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# ? Sep 26, 2021 10:19 |
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Yes Asia thread would be more appropriate when talking about Finns.
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# ? Sep 26, 2021 10:24 |
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the finno-korean hyperwar was worldwide and shouldn't be confined to any regional thread
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# ? Sep 26, 2021 22:49 |
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un calls on yemen’s houthis to allow stranded oil tanker probequote:The UN Security Council has called on Yemen’s Houthi rebels to quickly allow UN experts to examine an oil tanker moored off the country’s coast loaded with more than one million barrels of crude oil, warning there is a growing risk it could rupture or explode “causing an environmental, economic, maritime and humanitarian catastrophe for Yemen and the region”. from back in june, but apparently the situation is still in about the same spot. i hadn't heard about this until recently, but just another potential catastrophe to throw on the vast pile of human misery springing from this conflict. i'm surprised there isn't urgency in the international community for solving this one, as a potential spill could choke off a strategic energy shipping lane for weeks, so this has a threat to profits that the mass starvation of yemeni civilians lacks
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# ? Oct 7, 2021 04:21 |
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GhostofJohnMuir posted:un calls on yemen’s houthis to allow stranded oil tanker probe
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# ? Oct 7, 2021 04:50 |
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GhostofJohnMuir posted:un calls on yemen’s houthis to allow stranded oil tanker probe I think the Houthis agree it's a big problem. I believe they're trying to use this as a way to extract concessions of some sort. At least that's what I thought a couple years ago; I'm surprised the drat thing is still there.
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# ? Oct 7, 2021 11:49 |
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So in regards to the Kunduz mosque attack in Afghanistan, is Daesh actually at war with the Taliban? Like I'm not comprehending the sheer stupidity of Daesh making enemies with Taliban. Does Daesh really want the Taliban to keep pointlessly fighting the US and waste resources that could be spent on re-developing the country? Is this a Shining Path thing where Daesh can't handle being second fiddle and will kill their own allies to be at the top? Are they foreign agitators? Perhaps this is indicative of a division within the Taliban itself. I'll be laughing if the Taliban starts buying drones to kill IS leaders. America Inc. fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Oct 9, 2021 |
# ? Oct 9, 2021 21:25 |
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no hay camino posted:So in regards to the Kunduz mosque attack in Afghanistan, is Daesh actually at war with the Taliban? Like I'm not comprehending the sheer stupidity of Daesh making enemies with Taliban. Yes they are at war. The Taliban and IS have been actively fighting for some time. When the Taliban took Kabul they freed the prisoners of a jail, which held many militants. Except for the ISIS-K leader who was held there. Him they had shot.
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# ? Oct 9, 2021 21:39 |
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Yeah, if you don't understand how ISIS and the Taliban could be at loggerheads, you probably underestimate the degree to which ISIS's ideology, to the extent that it exists, is nihilistic and beyond the pale even for the Deobandi/other more standard "Islamist" movements.
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# ? Oct 9, 2021 23:01 |
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Yeah the Taliban's version of Islam still leaves room for weird stuff like tying ribbons around sacred trees over the burial site of your favorite martyr to direct what can only be described as "good vibes" into his grave, interpreting religious law according to your dreams, and being blessed by touching holy relics. It's a puritanical reformist movement, but very very much not compatible with Salafism.
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# ? Oct 10, 2021 00:17 |
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Yeah it's hard to overstate just how much folk islam includes all kinds of seemingly bizarre syncretic stuff that wouldn't even be recognizably islamic to non-local eyes in many cases. To say that stuff is not compatible with ISIS' particular brand of salafism is an incredible understatement
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# ? Oct 10, 2021 00:33 |
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no hay camino posted:So in regards to the Kunduz mosque attack in Afghanistan, is Daesh actually at war with the Taliban? Like I'm not comprehending the sheer stupidity of Daesh making enemies with Taliban. The Taliban is simply an insular, nationalist resistance/government-in-waiting, while IS is an internationalist revolutionary movement that explicitly rejects state divides. It's a huge mistake to believe that because they're both comprised of Muslims, they're natural or automatic allies - to IS, the Taliban are no different from the corrupt materialists governing so many other Islamic nations. This famous New Yorker article has a decent basic overview of the history of IS in Afghanistan: quote:Isis established its first stronghold in Afghanistan in Nangarhar’s Achin District, on the country’s eastern frontier. Achin abuts the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, or fata, a mostly ungoverned region that is home to various Islamist groups. The border is demarcated by the Spin Ghar range, sheer, jagged peaks that mellow into foothills with lush river valleys. As early as 2010, militants from the fata fleeing Pakistan Army offensives started entering one of the valleys in Achin, called the Mamand. “They came with their wives and children, on foot,” Asil Maizullah, a tribal elder there, told me. “They said that they were enemies of Pakistan. We said, ‘Then, you are welcome.’ ” BTW, the fact that ISIS is in lowercase in that article has no special significance - it's just that the New Yorker uses a special font for acronyms that translates poorly when copy-pasted. Darth Walrus fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Oct 10, 2021 |
# ? Oct 10, 2021 01:03 |
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North Africa doesn't really make it into this thread or English media much, but Tunisia got a new government yesterday after the semi-self-coup in late July when the president suspended parliament and dismissed the prime minister in what was almost certainly unconstitutional. All of them pretty much, including the new PM, are technocrats, mainly academics at the University of Tunis, and are from outside the regular political picks. The current president was faculty of law at the University of Carthage for years, so presumably he just picked a bunch of his old colleagues or at least people he knew of. Parliament remains suspended. The semi-self-coup remains fairly popular although protests against his action seem to be getting larger - though still fairly small.https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/thousands-protest-against-tunisia-leader-with-government-awaited-2021-10-10/ shows a video of a recent one which looks like maybe a couple thousand people against the "creative" interpretation of the constitution. The protest sign they zoom in on at the end of the video says "the people want the constitution to be respected." Still on the ground though, unless you happen to be at that particular street in Tunis where the protests are and on a Sunday, you'd have a hard time knowing there was anything going on from what friends in Tunis tell me. It's still unclear if this is going to be one of those "ends justify the means" types of situations where there was some hard-to-do house cleaning, or if it will be a slide into a new period of strongman rule and disillusionment from people invested into the parties that Presdient Kais "Robocop" Saied just sidelined. He particularly sidelined the political Islam party Ennhada, but he has a rather syncretic belief set himself and doesn't fit into any "pro/anti Islam" or "left/right wing" paradigm, at least in Tunisian political terms - obviously he is very socially conservative by Western standards. Saladman fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Oct 12, 2021 |
# ? Oct 12, 2021 09:49 |
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I'm reading this piece about Syria that comes from a very clearly slanted viewpoint and something I find very odd is how for some people regressive Islamic radicals can simultaneously be heroic freedom fighters against United States Imperialism (in Afghanistan) and then also destructive enemies of civilization in the pocket of US imperialism, in Syria in this case. The article doesn't even seem interested in noting the difference between the different Jihadi groups in the country, look at this: quote:Many of the groups later consolidated into the Al-Nusra Front whose elite fighters came from Chechnya, Dagestan, and included Uyghurs from China’s Xinjiang province among other places. You'd swear to god from the way this bit is written that the Al-Nusra front took over Palmyra and destroyed it, and not ISIS, which I guess inconveniently were probably the faction in Syria most thoroughly targeted for destruction by America, far moreso than the Assad regime. khwarezm fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Oct 17, 2021 |
# ? Oct 17, 2021 19:55 |
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khwarezm posted:I'm reading this piece about Syria that comes from a very clearly slanted viewpoint and something I find very odd is how for some people regressive Islamic radicals can simultaneously be heroic freedom fighters against United States Imperialism (in Afghanistan) and then also destructive enemies of civilization in the pocket of US imperialism, in Syria is this case. Also I suppose it depends on which rear end in a top hat is getting more money from the CIA/KGB/ISI at any given point.
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# ? Oct 17, 2021 20:03 |
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khwarezm posted:I'm reading this piece about Syria that comes from a very clearly slanted viewpoint and something I find very odd is how for some people regressive Islamic radicals can simultaneously be heroic freedom fighters against United States Imperialism (in Afghanistan) and then also destructive enemies of civilization in the pocket of US imperialism, in Syria in this case. Because those people do not care about the conditions on the ground, just whose chess piece (or perceived chess piece) is being advantaged or disadvantaged.
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# ? Oct 17, 2021 21:06 |
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khwarezm posted:I'm reading this piece about Syria that comes from a very clearly slanted viewpoint and something I find very odd is how for some people regressive Islamic radicals can simultaneously be heroic freedom fighters against United States Imperialism (in Afghanistan) and then also destructive enemies of civilization in the pocket of US imperialism, in Syria in this case. The answer is that is a very bad article, written by a chump.
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# ? Oct 17, 2021 22:00 |
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Rent-A-Cop posted:It's the "An rear end in a top hat fighting an rear end in a top hat is depressing no matter who wins" conundrum. fixed
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# ? Oct 17, 2021 22:06 |
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khwarezm posted:
If Al Nusra ended up as successful as ISIS was at their peak we would been bombing them too. US foreign policy never has trouble finding uses for jihadis, either as "moderate" rebels or next week's punching bag.
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# ? Oct 22, 2021 12:45 |
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Apparently a military coup attempt in Sudan. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/25/sudan-coup-attempt-khartoum/ quote:NAIROBI — Sudan’s military on Monday detained the prime minister, dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency, plunging the country’s fragile democratic transition into disarray.
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# ? Oct 25, 2021 12:43 |
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Rust Martialis posted:Apparently a military coup attempt in Sudan. welcome to two days ago lol
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# ? Oct 26, 2021 18:33 |
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Rust Martialis posted:Apparently a military coup attempt in Sudan. The coopers won OP I accidentally liked a post titled"Sudan military coup fires on anti coup protestors" and was friended by an Assad loyalist with gas attack denial litterer on his FB Good times
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# ? Oct 27, 2021 02:39 |
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59230564quote:Khalid Payenda told the BBC that most of the 300,000 troops and police on the government's books did not exist. shocking
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 07:25 |
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Wasn't this explicitly part of the reporting for 2013's "This Is What Winning Looks Like"?
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 15:54 |
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Absurd Alhazred posted:Wasn't this explicitly part of the reporting for 2013's "This Is What Winning Looks Like"? The US knew this. Obama hid the facts
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 16:16 |
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Absurd Alhazred posted:Wasn't this explicitly part of the reporting for 2013's "This Is What Winning Looks Like"? Yeah it's very unsurprising. Not only have there been many reports of this over the last 20 years this same poo poo happens in part conflicts and other countries.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 16:24 |
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Count Roland posted:Yeah it's very unsurprising. Not only have there been many reports of this over the last 20 years this same poo poo happens in part conflicts and other countries. I was almost going to say nothing because I'm sure I've also read this about the ARVN.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 18:18 |
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Would it have been too difficult to, I don't know, hold a military parade so you could verify the number of men dressed in uniform carrying a boom stick? Or would this only have resulted in the generals giving their extended family a crash course on how to march in step?
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 18:37 |
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Well if you do that nobody is garrisoning the provinces...
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 19:43 |
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Nenonen posted:Would it have been too difficult to, I don't know, hold a military parade so you could verify the number of men dressed in uniform carrying a boom stick? Or would this only have resulted in the generals giving their extended family a crash course on how to march in step? I don't think any country in the world has military parades that involve literally every solider in their army. I mean I could be wrong about that but it sounds like it would be a logistical nightmare and I'm sure there are better ways to account for all soldiers.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 19:51 |
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If your army is mostly ghost soldiers then the problem is that you have corrupt as hell officers who you can't trust with the most basic logistical task (accurately reporting how many soldiers you have). The issue isn't how you choose to count the soldiers, its that your army would rather lie to you than fight the war
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 21:33 |
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This isn't a joke question. Wouldn't most armies lie about their size and willingness to fight in a war? I'm going to assume that this problem didn't exist explicitly to the Afghan Army. I'd think that almost every army around the world/over time would over exaggerate its numbers and willingness to fight, if for no reason other than propaganda.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 21:47 |
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Charliegrs posted:I don't think any country in the world has military parades that involve literally every solider in their army. I mean I could be wrong about that but it sounds like it would be a logistical nightmare and I'm sure there are better ways to account for all soldiers. I don't think the idea would be so much one giant completely impractical military parade that involves literally every solider in the army, but more-so some sort of inspector/team of inspectors arrives to the 13th Brigades or 8th Regiment's or whatevers barracks with no prior notice and requests to see them muster for parade. In a non-corrupt as hell military thats a fairly easy thing to have happen, and a quick and easy way to make sure the soldiers actually exist. And have enough basic enough level of military discipline/training to march in formation.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 21:51 |
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YoursTruly posted:This isn't a joke question. No, you lie about that to the enemy or other nations. Victorious armies tell themselves the truth, no matter how hard it is. One of the reasons America lost all these bushfire wars is because the US military embraced a culture of success theater and self-deception. In the wars America won, the military actually overestimated the strength of the enemy relative to itself and prepared accordingly.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 21:54 |
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YoursTruly posted:This isn't a joke question. this is more about grift and payroll than posturing. US generals don't receive lump sums of cash for numbers of recruits. their money comes when they go into procurement for lockheed at retirement. taking kickbacks and lying is the lowly recruiter's job
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 22:11 |
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# ? May 27, 2024 21:35 |
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OctaMurk posted:No, you lie about that to the enemy or other nations. Victorious armies tell themselves the truth, no matter how hard it is.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 22:28 |