The Political Discussion Thread

[LT. COL. John Sheppard]

Basically, the ruling Conservative Party has been accused of sending Opposition-minded voters to the wrong polling station via robocalls, thereby invalidating that person's vote, and allowing the Conservative Party to take the election.

ours is worse our pollies are going so low to and i quote 'photoshop' important, bodgy, DILLIGAF polloes inot the background

[lordofseas]

ours is worse our pollies are going so low to and i quote 'photoshop' important, bodgy, DILLIGAF polloes inot the background

But I enjoy Julia Gillard!

[LT. COL. John Sheppard]

But I enjoy Julia Gillard!

you WHAT! im talking about Bobby katter

[lordofseas]

you WHAT! im talking about Bobby katter

The man reminds me of MG.

[LT. COL. John Sheppard]

The man reminds me of MG.

??

[lordofseas]

??

They're both social conservatives with crazy ideas. :/

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

Trouble is, this is a situation largely caused by the well-intentioned Western rules of warfare. If civilians are off limits, then civilians make good cover if one is willing to break the rules. Statistically speaking, as the rules of war become more protective of civilians, the civilian-to-combatant ratio in wars gets worse, not better.

No, civilian populations make good cover for insurgents regardless of whether the rules of war are obeyed. There are plenty examples, such as the French or Ukrainian Resistance in World War 2, or the Spanish Guerrillas during the Peninsular War. The Germans in the former, and the French in the latter, had little regard for civilian casualties. But it was still very difficult for them to find insurgents.They can kill lots of people, but usually they aren't the insurgents. Reprisals also often make more of the populace side with the insurgents. Short of actively butchering the entire population, it is very difficult to actually get the right people. And even if the regime that has no problem with mass murder of an entire populace, logistically it's still very difficult to do so, and risks triggering a mass uprising.

That is actually not entirely true. The single most influential factor in any conflict of this type is the insurgency's access to an international border and the sponsorship of outside forces. As an obvious example, the swift fall of the Tamil Tigers- one of the largest and heaviest-armed insurgency groups- was not caused by a drop in popularity among the Sri Lankan population; they were crushed militarily because they were on an island and the Sri Lankan state could afford to not play by the Western rules. 20 000 deaths and an enforced media blackout throughout the war = praise from the UN for success in fighting terrorism. It's when you try to be nice that you get labeled a war criminal in this upside-down world

The Tamil Tigers were defeated because they fought as a conventional force, they took and held ground, and allowed the Sri Lankan Army to engage them directly, in a style of warfare that the Sri Lankan Army had an advantage in. When the Sri Lankans started retaking many towns, lost ground and boxing the Tamil Tigers in, the Tamil Tigers lost face, even amongst those who were sympathetic to their cause they appeared impotent, unable to fight effectively, so they lost support.

Their key mistake was thinking that simply because they were so heavily armed, they could take them on directly. They failed to fight asymmetrically, and failed to negate the Sri Lankan Armies natural advantages.

[LtColCarter]

But the fact still remains that they do get a vote in the primaries.

I didn't disagree with that...but its useless as their vote wouldn't affect a party's nomination...

[lordofseas]

Puerto Rico goes to Romney.

[LtColCarter]

Pointless

[Goose]

I didn't disagree with that...but its useless as their vote wouldn't affect a party's nomination...

Their votes do count in the primaries, so if it's a tight race their vote might count. But once the candidate is chosen, they have no more say on the matter.

[Graybrew1]

I have I have run into the most interesting study of delusion that there is. I have been posting with somebody over at Syfy that feels that Obama should have bailed out SGU...."for the arts".

Furthermore, he does not believe in the economic global crisis and thinks it is just all one big conspiracy theory.

Is this a troll or are people really that dense sometimes?

[LT. COL. John Sheppard]

this is real ad

[lordofseas]

Is this a troll or are people really that dense sometimes?

Glenn Beck, case in point.

[Graybrew1]

Glenn Beck, case in point.

This guy makes everybody else look like a rocket scientist.