Tag Archives: War

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Trust the gun wielding goon with your freedom, what could go wrong?

I have this idea of a bunch of drunk cavemen leaders discussing whether or not to establish an army to liquidate the residents of a neighboring cave. They vote to do it. Then the next morning the leaders all wake up to find the general they elected to command their new cave army has launched a coup. He beheads them all and then doesn’t attack the neighboring cave after all.

Who needs an army anyways? Well, I guess Ukraine, probably Vietnam, and all those Baltic states who will soon become Russian provinces while NATO discusses what minor tool of Putin to sanction. But mostly, I think the planet’s countries don’t need armies. Throughout history, most armies only battle their own people. I’m certain we’ve got more coups than wars on the books.

Why has Thailand needed an army since 1932? They’ve had twelve coups. But the only times it was really needed against say Imperial Japan or to hedge Communist Vietnam, they never really fought. So by my count the only battle the Thai army has ever truly engaged in was against its own people. Maybe the Thai should only have cops instead. It’d be safer that way.

But it was rather comical to see the fools at the US State Department twist their words in a manner befitting a hack of Putin. As they walked around whether or not the army’s actions earlier this week amounted to a coup. I guess thousands of guys on the city streets with machine-guns is a training exercise?

Whatever. Don’t be too hard on them. They’re interested in preserving US influence in Thailand, regardless of who’s in charge. We don’t possess a US State Department interested in supporting US values. That’s weak ass stuff. Imposing your values across the world by any means is for jerks like Putin who actually care about things.

But fortunately those seeking clarity of the situation when clarity already existed were nicely assisted by history’s latest caveman asshole: General Prayuth Chan-ocha, Self-Appointed Dictator & Overlord of the Thai People. When in doubt, as always, trust the guy who’s serious enough to put guns on the street.

But it’s okay, the US is on the case. Secretary Kerry has warned of “negative implications for the U.S.-Thai relationship”. Ah, I see. I once again refer Secretary Kerry to his outstanding performance with the Ukraine crisis and remind him that people generally look at what you’ve done to determine whether you’re a serious man. If I was the good general, would take any threat Kerry offers seriously?

One Shirt, Two Shirt, Red Shirt, Yellow Shirt, whatever. Both sides are at fault in why Thai governance has been a basket case for a decade. These guys make Africa’s best kleptocrats look like freaking masters of the human race. Hey, at least Mugabe can keep things somewhat moving, even if he’s still having folks beat in back alleys. I’m pretty sure Mugabe’s got less automatic weapons on the streets of Harare today than Bangkok does.

But you know who’s not going to improve Thailand’s situation? The army. So whatever their motives, they’ve now further sent their country into the drink. The good general says he’s there to “return peace and order to the country as soon as possible”. They all say that. Some of them might even mean it. Maybe the general actually means it? But even if he does, he clearly doesn’t know anything about history. If you know history, you can already call how well this one’s going to work out. Bet money on it.

normal street corner

Well, at least the guy on the right isn’t laying a pool of blood; I guess that’s something; I guess

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Want to keep schoolgirls safe? Shoot them in the head.

We all want girls everywhere to receive extensive education. The problem is some men (not real men) are in the business of ending girl’s education because they want to live in the year 300. If you’re reading this blog, you probably think this is a bad idea. And so you desire a fair and equitable solution to ensure girls everywhere get what’s their right. Well, here’s your answer:

Shoot them in the head.

Either those men (not real men). Or the girls. Your choice. You have to pick one. Sorry.

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban for the unconscionable crime of promoting literacy. She now tours the world advancing this cause. She’s got more balls than 95% of the male politicians in Pakistan. But unfortunately, what she’s doing barely matters.

There are millions of girls in Pakistan that wake up every day with the reality that their school could end before sundown. Yousafzai is an international star, but the Pakistani Taliban remains. The situation is the same across the border in Afghanistan. A resilient Taliban has among its broad goals a return to their enlightened days where learning how to conduct basic math was an insult to their honor (not real honor).

And in keeping with these delightful themes is Boko Haram. They have an equally emphatic goal to burn down schools and eliminate knowledge. It’s even their name. Like Yousafzai, the abducted girls of Nigeria are now a global cause. Like Yousafzai, nothing substantial is going to come from it.

The various Taliban factions, Boko Haram, and so on, all have one thing in common. They are all lunatics. You can negotiate with them all you want, but they’re not going to change their minds. When a belligerent psychopath produces a moral and physical threat to your values, and is beyond reason, you’re left with two options:

a) Ignore them

b) Shoot them in the head

For years, the world chose option (a) with regards to Boko Haram. Despite all the noise of the last week, I assure you, the planet is still choosing option (a). Want to save these girls? Don’t login to a computer program unless you’re prepared to advocate for option (b). Want to support Yousafzai’s cause? Lobby for option (b).

You hate the idea of Western “boots on the ground”. You despise war. You are the first to shout at the West when it throws its weight around in the world like a “bully”. You wouldn’t pay $4 a year in extra taxes if it meant funding a UN force in Nigeria. But you’ll get onto Twitter and tweet your support for the girls all day. Sorry, you can’t have it both ways.

If you do not choose option (b), you are accepting that you don’t really care. In this case, don’t bother speaking your mind about “your girls”. You’re just a hypocrite who likes to support causes for a while. Until you don’t care anymore, or move onto the next trendy cause that has your support for exactly twelve calendar days.

1) Push your local representative to get a UN or AU force on the ground in northeastern Nigeria. Then push for them to establish an international offensive force to comb the bush until every Boko Haram zealot is shot in the face.

2) Push your local representative to keep a small Western footprint in Afghanistan. Then push for them to make sure that Western footprint enables the Afghani security forces to comb the mountains until every Taliban is shot in the face.

3) Push your local representative to pressure Pakistan to mount offensives into Yousafzai’s homeland until every Pakistani Taliban is shot in the face.

Or, do nothing. Or, don’t care. Or, login to a social media program and generate a bunch of pointless words or hashtags. Any of these will result in more girls getting abducted or shot in the head.

Your call.

girl-school_full_600

Afghanistan circa 2012; a man with a gun will either burn down this school or another man with a gun will keep it safe

#shootevilmenintheface

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Now that you’re paying attention, you can learn they’re all doomed

I’m starting to believe there is no such thing as real breaking news anymore. Instead, we are treated to old themes that the media usually ignores, but then makes new when they bother to cover. In raising these issues, the goal is to grab your brains long enough for them to acquire cash via the grasp of your eyes.

When they’re done with you, the crisis will remain, but the media doesn’t care because at that point they’ll move onto the next catastrophe and hope to catch you with that. In the meantime, the world burns on.

We’ve blogged a few times on Nigeria and Boko Haram, so I’m not going to rehash the background. If you know anything about this situation your initial reaction was probably along the lines of:

“Why is this a surprise to anybody?”

While the majority of the planet was at the mall, Boko Haram has been brutally executing young girls and boys for years. It’s just that this time they’ve decided to kidnap girls from a school instead of taking them onto the playground and shooting them in the head.

I don’t understand the new mass hysteria from either the planet or a Nigerian people who’ve suddenly decided to take to the streets in protest. It’s okay to overlook when Boko Haram burns children alive, but now that they’re in the mass kidnapping business we need to do something? Nothing about that line of thinking makes sense.

Oh, the Nigerian Army needs reform? It’s been that way since 1963. Get in line. Oh, the Nigerian government is a structured kleptocracy that is unresponsive to the needs of the people, even for the most basic of security needs? Where have you people been for four decades? Oh, at the mall, right. Sorry.

When you make it a point to disregard a problem? Don’t come back later when something ‘dramatic’ happens and then shout your outrage that the evil exists.

I’m calling this right now. How can I do that? I’m not a genius, I’m an idiot, but I just read things. At least you’re reading this. Your neighbor probably reads nothing.

a) The Nigerian Army and government are incapable of rescuing these girls

b) Negotiation is the only option

c) But Boko Haram is run by psychopaths who won’t negotiate

d) Even the most precise, expensive surveillance assets offered by the West will not locate these girls

e) If it takes France years just to find one abductee in this lawless, limitless ground, what chance do we have with hundreds of girls?

They’re doomed, friends. Life is shit. These girls have just had their lives destroyed. I recommend you either get over it, or start paying attention on a routine basis. Only when we as a planet make it a point to watch en masse will we be able to determine what we’re going to do to ensure this never happens again.

Because you know what? Next week you won’t hear a word about these girls on the news. The majority of them will still be alive, abducted, and in turmoil. But you won’t see them on the screen, because the world will have moved on. I invite you to not forget. Make it a point to stay informed. Either that, or go back to not caring. Whatever your conscience is comfortable with.

criminal evil dude

The fact that this man is smiling, tells you all you need to know about how he views our modern world and its desire to stop him

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Why did this take so long?

It’s usually just not that hard to know who will win.  Folks get paid billions to inform leaders what’s “really going on”.  I find this humorous when a five year old could call this game.

So Bashar al-Assad, Dictator & Murderer, Former Medical Professional, and Child of Satan has been in the human life extinguishment business for over three years.  He’s able to do so for a variety of reasons.  To keep this post relatively brief, let’s just go ahead and acknowledge one key advantage while ignoring the rest for a moment:

Assad has all the tools of modern combined arms warfare at his disposal.  His enemies do not.

Armored vehicles, jets, and heavy artillery are machines that make Death happy.  Assad’s had them in play almost from the beginning.  At first, the rebels had the initiative because it took time for the Syrian Army to learn how to use these weapons in a coherent and skilled manner.  They’ve figured it out.

And they’ve also come up with some really neat inspiring methods.  All hail the dark ability of mankind’s children to butcher each other in the most unique ways.  Who would have thought that a 55 gallon drum would be one of the world’s most effective urban warfare munitions?  Well, enjoy it, because I’m sure we’ve not seen the last of that tool, in Syria or elsewhere.

Honestly, I’m shocked the rebels have lasted this long.  I think the only thing going for them is Assad, even with Hezbollah reinforcements, just simply does not have the manpower to take this to the end stage.

All the while the Western world and a few Gulf States have claimed to support the rebels with the things they need to win, or at least survive.  The problem is that nothing they’ve been given thus far is a game changer when you compare it to the weapons handled by Assad.

Assad is given new vehicles by Russia.  Qatar hands out body armor.  Syria gets replacement parts for its attack aircraft.  The United States delivers combat rations.  No chances to guess who wins this one.

Oh, but wait, things are changing?  Maybe?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-rebels-who-received-first-us-missiles-of-war-see-shipment-as-an-important-first-step/2014/04/27/61ec84d8-0f53-4c9f-bf0a-c3395819c540_story.html

Guess what kids, this isn’t going to change anything.  Nothing.  This is just enough to make stupid people think the Western world is doing something to help, when they aren’t.  It’s the illusion of support.

Here’s a short battlefield tutorial for those who think Call of Duty is an accurate representation of modern war.  It does not matter how many man-portable anti-tank missile systems you have when:

1) Your enemy clearly has more armored vehicles than you have missiles

2) Your enemy can still call in the necessary air & artillery strikes on all your positions; before they let their vehicles get into your anti-tank missile’s range

3) Your enemy, when required, can still switch tactics and send in the light infantry (Hezbollah) ahead of the tanks to slay your anti-tank missile teams before the armor is brought up

Thus, despite what the Washington Post says, this changes nothing.  It’s just noise.  Sure, some Syrian armor is going to get caught, but it’s not enough.  The Syrian rebels have had variations of accurate and powerful Russian made anti-tank weapons they’ve stolen from the army for years.  It’s never changed the course of the war.

But let’s just say for a second this matters, it still begs the question:

Why did this take so long?

So apparently the West doesn’t give sophisticated weapons to the rebels because of terrorist chain of custody concerns.  Well, what does that have to do with the TOW system?  Why didn’t we hand these out like they were candy two years ago?  A TOW system needs at least three guys to use it right, or a truck to move it around.  They aren’t putting this thing in their checked airplane baggage.  Or sneaking it past some drunken border guard.

They should have handed these out in the thousands two years ago.  They probably have a limitless amount just sitting in NATO warehouses where they’ll run out the clock until they’re demolished at the end of their shelf life.

But the true explanation gets back to what we talked about earlier, both above and in previous posts.  Russia and Iran are in this to win.  The West is not.  War’s over.  Sorry.

The guy in this article, Adwa, says of the delivery “It’s psychological more than physical.”  But then he just about sums it up when he says this:

“The government’s friends were more faithful than our friends,”

They should chisel those words onto the West’s tombstone.  Adwa’s a brave man, but he’s on his own.  And in the end, even if it takes ten years, he’s going to lose.

syriatankrocketus

A textbook study on why tactics are irrelevant when your strategy is complete garbage