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pantslesswithwolves posted:https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-786635 Couldn't you say the same of the Saudi military lol, they get brand new American toys and get the poo poo kicked out of them by the Houthis on the reg, because they suck at military.
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Feb 16, 2024 17:31
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orange juche posted:Couldn't you say the same of the Saudi military lol, they get brand new American toys and get the poo poo kicked out of them by the Houthis on the reg, because they suck at military. Any chance to post this picture of a Saudi SOF guy with the optic on his weapon mounted backwards  So to answer your question, absolutely yes.
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Feb 16, 2024 17:37
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If he makes the target look smaller, then they're less intimidating.
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Feb 16, 2024 17:38
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pantslesswithwolves posted:Any chance to post this picture of a Saudi SOF guy with the optic on his weapon mounted backwards He's just taking on a voluntary handicap to make it a fairer fight.
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Feb 16, 2024 17:43
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Muscle Tracer posted:He's just taking on a voluntary handicap to make it a fairer fight. Grindset mentality is total
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Feb 16, 2024 17:48
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pantslesswithwolves posted:Any chance to post this picture of a Saudi SOF guy with the optic on his weapon mounted backwards The quintessential gear queer. Worse so because a tacticool nerd would probably make sure his loving optic was on right.
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Feb 16, 2024 17:51
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How do you even do that? I sort of get putting it on backward for a minute, but then you look down it, say “lol I’m dumb”, and fix it.
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Feb 17, 2024 02:31
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I probably wouldn't want the tie down in front of the ejection port as well. Is the 550 cord going to the trigger guard?
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Feb 17, 2024 03:28
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Wrong Theory posted:I probably wouldn't want the tie down in front of the ejection port as well. Is the 550 cord going to the trigger guard? it looks like it might be going to the rear lower receiver push pin? I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, maybe there's some kind of flat metal eyelet attached at the end of the cord so that the pin can go all the way through.
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Feb 17, 2024 03:39
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goatsestretchgoals posted:How do you even do that? I sort of get putting it on backward for a minute, but then you look down it, say “lol I’m dumb”, and fix it. You'd only realize that if you looked through it after mounting it or had glanced at it more than the 15 minutes of fam fire you had that day in Georgia before you hit the strip club at 1430.
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Feb 17, 2024 05:01
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pantslesswithwolves posted:Any chance to post this picture of a Saudi SOF guy with the optic on his weapon mounted backwards I remember in the PX I saw a bunch of very fat guys in MARPAT, like both 350+ plus fellows at like average height which say what you want about marines but you don’t see a lot of obese ones, but then I realized they were just saudis doing an exchange tour. Jordanian guys were pretty solid though Butter Activities fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Feb 19, 2024 |
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Feb 19, 2024 17:45
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Feel free to punish me or shut me down if this is the wrong place for this. I listen to a podcast called Angry Planet. They recently had an episode called 'Can You Fight A Moral War in a Tight Space' which had a guest named John Spencer who seems to specialize in urban warfare and things like that. I used to think that Angry Planet did a pretty descent job at analyzing conflicts or just bringing qualified people on to shed light onto recent happenings. But since October 7th I feel like they have been showing more and more of their rear end on things relating to Israel/Gaza and it's been eye opening to me. At first I thought they just brought one pro Israel person on and that guest was just bad, but then in later episodes they mention the negative feedback they get and then continue to have some very pro IDF rhetoric. Anyway this latest episode had this guy John Spencer talk about how the IDF is going to great lengths to minimize non-combatant casualties and I've just been thinking about how I feel about all of this. One of the things that's been really tricky for me these last several months has been how difficult it is to ascertain the truth of this conflict. When Russia invaded Ukraine, there was obviously a lot of bad reporting or deliberate misinformation being spread but this conflict feels like it's on a whole different level. I can listen to these podcasts talking about how good of a job the IDF is doing then I go onto Twitter and see IDF soldier gleefully talking about doing monstrous things. I know I am not adding a lot to the conversation here but this looks and feels different. I feel like the US abandoned the Kurdish people. I feel like we were too slow and have done too little to help Ukraine, but we were/are doing something. Then I see and hear how many people are just so supportive of the IDF and this one just feels different. Like a larger step, the veneer wears thinner or something. Anyway, did we ever learn more about the IDFs immediate response after the Oct 7 attack? I'm specifically curious about the things that looked like the IDF destroyed a bunch (hundreds IIRC) of cars that may or may not have led to the deaths of many civilians. I feel like I've only seen speculation that the IDF acted carelessly but I'm curious if there is a clearer picture at this point.
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Feb 19, 2024 21:47
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:Anyway, did we ever learn more about the IDFs immediate response after the Oct 7 attack? I'm specifically curious about the things that looked like the IDF destroyed a bunch (hundreds IIRC) of cars that may or may not have led to the deaths of many civilians. I feel like I've only seen speculation that the IDF acted carelessly but I'm curious if there is a clearer picture at this point. I think that "carelessly" implies that they blew up some civilians while intending to hit enemy combatants, I think the truth is more that they don't care if they're killing combatants, they only care that they're killing Palestinians. The genocide is not a side effect of fighting Hamas, fighting Hamas is an excuse for the genocide. Also at this point whether or not they committed any specific war crime is kind of a moot point since there are so many war crimes caught on film, audio or gleefully admitted to.
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Feb 19, 2024 21:54
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In that specific instance, the civilians were Israeli.
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Feb 19, 2024 22:11
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Electronic Intafada claims to have recorded Hebrew language interviews with Israeli civilians who accused the IDF of firing on Israeli civilians that were later pulled from the airways and references by those stations to the interviews scrubbed. I think they’re a reliable enough source, plus photographs of damage that seem unlikely to be the result of small arms fire along the quick destruction of vehicle wrecks from the festival by Israel is extremely suspicious but I don’t speak Arabic or Hebrew to like be absolutely sure to say more than at least the IDF response on the 7-8th was extremely reckless and it’s at least plausible there was an understanding if not an explicit order to prevent hostages from being taken by shooting them. Unfortunately any media with access to Israel was not willing to probe that much if at all and if there was such an order given any evidence of that order has been suppressed and they have plenty of time to deal with the forensics. I’m sure something about it will out in the years ahead because it’s too large of a conspiracy to cover up but that’s not going to happen until the media sours much more on Israel. I could see it coming out when Bibi is gone and trying to pin responsibility for it on him. E: I think Haaretz had alleged that in at least one case IDF artillery officer said they were shooting kill the hostages, but I can’t get around the paywall right now Butter Activities fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Feb 20, 2024 |
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Feb 19, 2024 23:57
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:…John Spencer… FWIW I follow John Spencer’s main podcast https://mwi.westpoint.edu/urban-warfare-project/urban-warfare-project-podcast/ . He has some interesting episodes but holy poo poo he is drinking from the IDF propaganda hose. Fake edit: ”The IDF Approach to Protecting Civilians in Urban Warfare” posted:
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Feb 20, 2024 09:49
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Hotbod Handsomeface posted:Feel free to punish me or shut me down if this is the wrong place for this. If topics like those interests you I can recommend War on the Rocks and Arms Control Wonk (Both website articles and podcasts) for non-lovely views on the topics they cover. Both have a similar model of public facing academic reporting and subscription discussion boards. As for the learning part, their respective discussion boards each have an active OSINT and peer review community and its fairly straightforward to find answers through primary sources. Its not something I'd really recommend seeing for yourself because its awful and not good to traumatize yourself like that, but in summary - The IDF is being deliberately terrible. There are people who've put together clearer pictures on specific events that have enough supporting data and none of it ever paints a flattering picture about the IDF's target discrimination and lack of restraint.
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Feb 20, 2024 14:31
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I feel like we could use a bit of levity in the war crimes thread. https://twitter.com/Lowkey0nline/status/1759661859316138278?t=tNrBooxEYwAvTe9A6_x6Tw quote:The French Libération newspaper is claiming that tunnels from Lebanon have been built with help from North Korea. What I can't tell is whether this is just propaganda run by some sort of truly incompetent failson, or if it's perfectly well-calibrated to hit exactly the soft spongy brains of people stupid enough to believe such a claim, in the same way that some scams are intentionally dialled in to hit only the most credulous of soft targets, while being blatantly ridiculous to everyone else.
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Feb 20, 2024 17:13
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Congratulations! We have finally discovered the one intuitive skill failsons have. Thinking like a mushroom
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Feb 20, 2024 19:31
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ThisIsJohnWayne posted:Congratulations! We have finally discovered the one intuitive skill failsons have. Thinking like a mushroom that's insulting to mushrooms
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Feb 21, 2024 23:44
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Egypt appears to be preparing space on the border for refugees from Gaza. Viewed charitably, they're preparing for the worst. Viewed skeptically, one can't help but wonder if Sisi cut a deal with Bibi that would make him complicit in the wholesale ethnic cleansing of the population of Gaza.
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Feb 24, 2024 18:12
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That'd have to be a hell of a deal, also not sure why anyone would trust Bibi unless it's cash in advance.
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Feb 24, 2024 18:33
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Cugel the Clever posted:Egypt appears to be preparing space on the border for refugees from Gaza. Viewed charitably, they're preparing for the worst. Viewed skeptically, one can't help but wonder if Sisi cut a deal with Bibi that would make him complicit in the wholesale ethnic cleansing of the population of Gaza. I guess, the charitable explanation seems simplest and most likely? what "deal" would they even cut? the takes on this are kind of weird to hear. NPR framed egypt's opposition to potentially accepting refugees as "they don't want to be a part of facilitating that happening". but like, drat, they're refugees and it's obvious that egypt is not on the side of israel. just imagine applying the same argument to turkey or europe refusing syrian refugees during the govt campaign against its civilians there: "they don't want to be a part of facilitating that happening". there'd be wholesale outrage. or imagine the US turning away people at its border "they don't want to be a part of facilitating that happening" regarding abuses in latin america, instead of allowing people to make asylum requests. terrible. the more obvious explanation of egypt not wanting refugees has to do with the politics of the current government and the history of the muslim brotherhood in that country
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Feb 24, 2024 20:14
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pmchem posted:I guess, the charitable explanation seems simplest and most likely? what "deal" would they even cut? I think the obvious explanation is "Israel will not let the refugees back into Gaza after they leave and Egypt doesn't want a permanent refugee population"
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Feb 24, 2024 20:21
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SMEGMA_MAIL posted:E: I think Haaretz had alleged that in at least one case IDF artillery officer said they were shooting kill the hostages, but I can’t get around the paywall right now Do you have a particular article in mind? I have a subscription and am happy to confirm/summarize.
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Feb 24, 2024 20:21
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Stultus Maximus posted:I think the obvious explanation is "Israel will not let the refugees back into Gaza after they leave and Egypt doesn't want a permanent refugee population" i think there's a more complicated history here (like with almost everything in the middle east). sisi really, really hates the muslim brotherhood, and hamas is an offshoot of that. all of egypt's actions must be viewed in that lens. egypt would be just fine with hamas being destroyed in 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/egypt-keeps-former-powerhouse-muslim-brotherhood-out-politics-2022-07-29/ quote:In 2013, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, then armed forces chief and now president, removed the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi from power after mass protests against his rule. https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/30/egypt-sisi-muslim-brotherhood-history-repression-nationalism-democracy-opposition/ quote:After the coup d’état that brought Sisi to power, parallel to the state-led media campaign that sought to create and sustain a reservoir of support for what was called Egypt’s “second revolution” was a drive to portray the Muslim Brotherhood as “fifth columnists.” The Brothers were routinely depicted as being agents of either the Qataris and/or the Turks. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/egypt-cauldron-gaza https://archive.ph/8l1Pt quote:Turmoil in Gaza is not entirely a bad thing for the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. In many respects, his government would be happy to see Israel eliminate Hamas, an organization that grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood—the Islamist group that is Sisi’s bête noire. if refugees, including many people either members of, or sympathetic to hamas, end up in egypt -- that creates a large set of new risks for sisi's very survival. he has tried to avoid that for purely political reasons, and that's one of the reasons egypt put so much effort over the years into maintaining a border wall with gaza: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Gaza_barrier, which was substantially expanded beginning in 2020
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Feb 24, 2024 20:41
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Also, eventually Israel would begin policing and controlling the Palestinian refuge camp on Egyptian soil making it de-facto part of Israel.
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Feb 24, 2024 20:54
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Electric Wrigglies posted:Also, eventually Israel would begin policing and controlling the Palestinian refuge camp on Egyptian soil making it de-facto part of Israel. Why would they do that?
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Feb 25, 2024 09:13
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That's more or less what happened to Gaza
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Feb 25, 2024 11:19
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Dance Officer posted:That's more or less what happened to Gaza I mean yes, but in Gaza there were only the Palestinians, a relatively minor force with a wrecked economy and limited foreign support, to oppose them. In Egypt you have a nation state with considerably more clout, an actual military(albeit of suspect readiness), allies of its own, etc. who would object. Not to mention that Israel reaching into Egypt to de facto claim a chunk of their territory for "policing" reasons would be a great way to piss off everyone in the region or make them worry they're next.
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Feb 25, 2024 11:31
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Dance Officer posted:That's more or less what happened to Gaza Wellllll Gaza was seized during the 6 day war. It wasn't really part of Egypt before that either, though Egypt did control/administer the place on and off. I don't see why Israel would police a Palestinian refugee camp located in a 3rd country. Over the decades there have been such camps in Jordan and Lebanon, I don't think Israel was policing any of those.
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Feb 25, 2024 14:29
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A Palestinian refugee camp right on the Israel border could be a source of future attacks against Israel, so either the Egyptian government will have to suppress those or the Israelis will. This exact problem led to the Israeli invasion and occupation of Southern Lebanon. Maybe the Egyptians will figure out how to keep everything quiet.
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Feb 25, 2024 15:17
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OctaMurk posted:A Palestinian refugee camp right on the Israel border could be a source of future attacks against Israel, so either the Egyptian government will have to suppress those or the Israelis will. This exact problem led to the Israeli invasion and occupation of Southern Lebanon. Maybe the Egyptians will figure out how to keep everything quiet. Agreed. Which is why I find it strange that Egypt is building this facility in the first place. Hedging against Gazans being forced out? A secret agreement with Israel to host a camp? A sort of processing center, after which Gazans will move on to some other country? It's clear many in the Israeli government want to simply expel Gazans en masse. I don't yet see why any other state would accept this but the construction has me wondering what is being negotiated behind the scenes.
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Feb 25, 2024 16:00
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The Israelis cause a lot of problems for their neighbors, who's going to keep them quiet? I just don't see why the world should be concerned about the safety and security of a people actively involved in the genocide of their neighbors. The Israelis don't seem to care that much about their own security either, eradicating the Palestinians and stealing their land seems more important to them. I don't see how pissing off the rest of the world with their actions does anything to improve their security.
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Feb 25, 2024 16:33
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pmchem posted:I guess, the charitable explanation seems simplest and most likely? what "deal" would they even cut? pmchem posted:NPR framed egypt's opposition to potentially accepting refugees as "they don't want to be a part of facilitating that happening". but like, drat, they're refugees and it's obvious that egypt is not on the side of israel. just imagine applying the same argument to turkey or europe refusing syrian refugees during the govt campaign against its civilians there All that's just wild speculation based on the thinly-veiled exterminationist rhetoric which has long been pervasive on the Israeli right, but 
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Feb 25, 2024 16:38
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Cugel the Clever posted:Sisi is at the head of a personalist dictatorship and any help he can get to maintain his lock on power is no doubt welcome. Egypt's economy is not doing so hot under Sisi's direction and assistance in the form of (sufficiently indirect and deniable) aid could overcome the reluctance around the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly if the open-air prison on the Egyptian side of the border can be highly controlled. What carrot could Israel offer Egypt though? It doesn't have anything like the sort of cash Egypt needs. And don't say the Gulf states will provide the money. I mean, they might, but they've been pumping billions into Egypt for the past 10 years, and what do they have to gain by Israel expelling Gazans? Palestinians are viewed as either troublemakers or people unfairly driven from their lands-- neither one encourages other states to take them in.
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Feb 25, 2024 16:53
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Count Roland posted:What carrot could Israel offer Egypt though? It doesn't have anything like the sort of cash Egypt needs. And don't say the Gulf states will provide the money. I mean, they might, but they've been pumping billions into Egypt for the past 10 years, and what do they have to gain by Israel expelling Gazans? Most cynically? 'This will permanently lance the Gaza boil and we will take all the bad press, you just have to run the camps and take arab money for them (because there's no UNRWA picking up the bill anymore) until the conversation runs to permanent resettlement'. e: to be clear, I don't think this is actually the conversation that's happened, I think this is just Egypt doing prompt planning rather than having the world watch a few hundred thousand people die in the desert on their border. Somewhere deep in the far right corners of the Israeli government I wouldn't be too surprised if this was the thought pattern.
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Feb 25, 2024 16:55
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Mustang posted:The Israelis cause a lot of problems for their neighbors, who's going to keep them quiet? It's an article of faith for the Israeli right (and center-right) that the rest of the world hates Jews and will never help them, so they are justified in protecting themselves by any means necessary, rest of the world be damned.
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Feb 25, 2024 16:59
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Cugel the Clever posted:The potential big difference between the two cases is that the governments of Europe were generally genuinely against the crimes of the Assad regime and the refugee camps were European countries being reactive—not collaborating with Assad. either way we agree that NPR explanation is poo poo, as your argument is basically that egypt is intentionally complicit
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Feb 25, 2024 17:08
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I think it was a local public radio politics show where one reporter speculated the construction was probably Egypt hedging its bets in the event that desperate Palestinians broke through the border wall in the chaos of an Israeli assault of Rafah. Egypt might not be planning on accepting anyone voluntarily but if there's a breach it's better in their minds to have a big secondary boundary rather than a million people streaming in and going every which way.
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Feb 25, 2024 17:34
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