111–120 of 140 posts
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Disorganized pseudo-infantry (i.e. pissed off individuals with guns) will always be inferior to organized paramilitary forces with armor.
Not with popular support it's not. For proof that the opposite is actually true see Vietnam/Iraq/Syria/Gaza/Egypt, etc.
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Yeah, that worked really well in Ludlow. I can't think of any other cases in the US where armed civilians were up against automatic weapons. I'd be delighted to see some more examples.
There are more than enough examples around the world if you are actually interested in learning that you're wrong.
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You already have the National Guard out in Missouri, and they have Blackhawk helicopters which have chain guns as their standard armament. The idea that in the US civil militias could really hold their own against the state is an absurd fiction. Unless significant portions of the armed forces defected to join an uprising and managed to take their equipment with them, then it would be very one sided. The militias will…
I just have to say, for a long time, I have read sentiments like yours. Namely that, because the government has the big arms, they can win a fight against a civil militia. I would argue that we need to look no further than the middle east and how intense urban warfare really is to see that big weapons don't help. When you can't reliably root out the enemy force from the civilian force it is very hard to apply your bi…
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Sometimes it goes down that way, if the military feels it needs to hold back and win the narrative, not just the ground. On home soil it may well do this, but equally it may go completely nuts if it feels subject to a genuine existential threat. Look to the end of the Tamil Tigers for an example of what a modern military is capable of against insurgents when it pulls out all the stops. - http://www.newyorker.com/maga…
Comparing the Tamil Tigers and a popular uprising of 200 million armed Americans is laughable. Your mistaken notion that a rebellion can't fight a sophisticated military has been decisively disproved over the last decade in the middle east. Plausibly debated 15 years ago but now we know you're wrong. ISIS took control of a large part of Iraq and Syria and they started with small arms. They took over army bases and st…
If it is more fragmented then it gets more complex as national solidarity breaks down at that point. Sure the army won't shoot Americans, but propaganda can start to redefine who counts as American.
ISIS did take over well equipped army bases with AK-47s, however only because the people with the equipment were not trained and ran away instead of using it.
And the IDF has only ever been in limited engagements against Hamas. They have never tried to completely destroy them militarily.
My point with the LTTE was never that a rebellion cannot fight a sophisticated military, just that if a sophisticated military uses total war tactics, they can utterly annihilate a foe.
What stops armies from doing this against a weaker enemy is not capability, but politics. The US could have nuked Vietnam for instance, but politically it would have been unjustifiable.
Ultimately, it is the attitude and makeup of your military that protects you from them, far more than the personal ownership of guns.
Edit - Regarding common conspiracies. My personal bet at the moment, ignorant and uninformed as I may be, is that there are a bunch of secessionists with power in Missouri and that this explains the bewildering actions of the Ferguson police.
It would seem a very good explanation for the actions of many of the authorities involved in the situation. Though, then again, so would complete incompetence, so in truth I am 50/50 on this.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sometimes it goes down that way, if the military feels it needs to hold back and win the narrative, not just the ground. On home soil it may well do this, but equally it may go completely nuts if it feels subject to a genuine existential threat. Look to the end of the Tamil Tigers for an example of what a modern military is capable of against insurgents when it pulls out all the stops. - http://www.newyorker.com/maga…
Comparing the Tamil Tigers and a popular uprising of 200 million armed Americans is laughable. Your mistaken notion that a rebellion can't fight a sophisticated military has been decisively disproved over the last decade in the middle east. Plausibly debated 15 years ago but now we know you're wrong. ISIS took control of a large part of Iraq and Syria and they started with small arms. They took over army bases and st…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just have to say, for a long time, I have read sentiments like yours. Namely that, because the government has the big arms, they can win a fight against a civil militia. I would argue that we need to look no further than the middle east and how intense urban warfare really is to see that big weapons don't help. When you can't reliably root out the enemy force from the civilian force it is very hard to apply your bi…
Sometimes it goes down that way, if the military feels it needs to hold back and win the narrative, not just the ground. On home soil it may well do this, but equally it may go completely nuts if it feels subject to a genuine existential threat. Look to the end of the Tamil Tigers for an example of what a modern military is capable of against insurgents when it pulls out all the stops. - http://www.newyorker.com/maga…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some years back I was in the position of managing a few systems for a nonprofit. It had been awarded equipment through a donation program. Some of this was usable. Some ... was not. One particular item turned out to be such a white elephant that it was literally more sensible to try to sell it and replace it with something more economical. Which other branches of the nonprofit were doing, though I never convinced the…
Let me guess. Was it actually a white elephant?
A white elephant would have been more useful.
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If we're lucky, those massive armored vehicles will be parked behind the station, and left to deteriorate. They're so expensive to operate, small departments are loathe to actually use them. If we're unlucky, we get the events in Ferguson, MO.
Some years back I was in the position of managing a few systems for a nonprofit. It had been awarded equipment through a donation program. Some of this was usable. Some ... was not. One particular item turned out to be such a white elephant that it was literally more sensible to try to sell it and replace it with something more economical. Which other branches of the nonprofit were doing, though I never convinced the…
I once worked for a non-profit with a video production program for teenagers. They accepted some 1970s film editing consoles that were donated by a local college. The executive director did not realize just how impractical and cost-prohibitive it is to teach kids how to edit movies on 16mm film. I was pretty proud of myself when I found someone to take those editing consoles.