of all of this precision-guided civilian-casualty-free surgical striking will indeed be millions and millions and millions of civilian deaths
You really don't understand the scale of "millions and millions". You are waaaaaaaaay off. For a shock-and-awe extreme bombardment campaign in the heart of Baghdad and other major cities, and 9 years of occupation, the ridiculous and inaccurate "high-end" estimates are a million people being killed, with most studies settling around the 100,000-150,000 killed range.
After seeing what a disaster occupying Iraq was, the US would have to be unbelieveably stupid to try that again on Iran - a country with a more than twice the population. Since that isn't feasable right now, this is going nowhere.
Iraq was a study into how best to fuck up what should have been a straight-forward occupation. If the President who chooses to invade Iran doesn't again throw away years of pre-war study specifically covering occupation strategies relevant to the regional cultures, then we should have something far more successful the next time. If only they hadn't fucked it up in Iraq.
North Korea has announced that it has entered a period of formal mourning following the death of Kim Jong Il lasting from the 17th, the day of his passing, until the 29th.
The news was released in a brief communiqué in the name of the ‘State Funeral Committee’.
Chosun Central News Agency announced the news, stating, “The body of National Defense Commission Chairman Kim will lie in state at Kumsusan Memorial Palace during the period of mourning from the 17th to the 29th. Visitors will be received between the 20th and 27th. The ceremony for his parting will be performed on the 28th in Pyongyang.”
“Central memorial meetings to honor Chairman Kim will open on the 29th,” it went on. “At that time in Pyongyang and sites in every province there will be an artillery salute and 3 minutes silence, and all official vehicles and vessels will sound their horns.”
Second update: NK Borders Ordered Closed Before Death Announcement http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01700&num=8549
North Korean border guard units received orders at 1AM on the night of the 18th to close the border with China with immediate effect.
An inside military source told Daily NK this morning, “At 1AM on the night of the 18th a ‘Special Guard’ order was handed down to the unit. All officers who had finished work were recalled to the base and have been on emergency duty ever since.”
“At the time even commanding officers did not know about the contents of the order, and as per the order to completely close the border, normal patrols in groups of two were stepped up to groups of four. We only learned that the General had died from special broadcasts,” the source added.
Thus, it is clear that the North Korean authorities took steps to avert civilian unrest and potential mass defection attempts by shutting down the border and reinforcing patrols prior to announcing Kim’s death.
Third update: NK Shuts Down on News of Death http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01500&num=8552
Following the official announcement of Kim Jong Il's death today, North Korea has imposed rigid social controls, including the complete closure of markets.
An inside source told Daily NK this lunchtime, "The jangmadang is closed and people are not allowed to go outside. Local Party secretaries are issuing special commands through local Union of Democratic Women unit chairwomen, and the chairwomen have been gathered at district offices for emergency meetings."
According to the source, National Security Agency and People’s Safety Ministry agents have been deployed in streets and alleyways to control civilian movements. There have not been any signs of public unrest to date.
Kim Jong Il's sudden death has apparently caught people off-guard, the source revealed, commenting, "Nobody had the slightest idea about the General’s death even right before they saw the broadcast. You can hear the sound of wailing outside."
That news agency gets the majority of their info by cell phone conversation with North Koreans who live along the Chinese/Russian border, which is how we're able to get updates from the inside.
I think we have government because we all agree pure anarchy is bad.
What does 'pure anarchy' mean anyway? Serious question.
Most people haven't looked seriously into the work done in the past 50 years on stateless societies. Some experiments like Somalia show that the fall of the State leads to improved economic conditions (compared to its neighbors, not teh whole world). Dubai implemented private law when they designed their new society.
Anyway, State-form governments killed half a billion people in the 20th Century between wars and democide, so stateless societies have to at least be that bad before they're dismissed.
Some experiments like Somalia show that the fall of the State leads to improved economic conditions (compared to its neighbors, not teh whole world).
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahaha. I cannot believe you just trumpeted warlord-run Somalia, where there is no longer infrastructure to support food distribution or medical provisions or ANYTHING, as an example to promote your idea of anarchy! What a complete joke!
You mean like how they handled Operation Fast and Furious? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fast_and_Furious
Are you an idiot? Because there's no two ways about it. If you really think that article is applicable to giving another nation-state a fake intelligence lead is ANYTHING like what you posted, you are simply an idiot.
Stop posting unrelated things that don't help the topic at hand! You weren't even related to the parent poster!
It wouldn't surprise me if the drone was mostly COTS components wrapped in a custom airframe... commercial tech is pretty advanced these days, especially if you have a big budget.
I imagine that's exactly what this UAV is. Now our super-secret, top-of-the-line stealth geometry and RAM-coated UAVs probably have all of their vital components manufactured at government-owned chip fabs and are purposefully designed to be reverse-engineering-proof, much like the components of the JSF export models.
I think you mean "frickin". "Frigin" isn't in the urban dictionary yet; if you feel strongly about it, add a definition.
Cause in case of a sheep missing, you trust the wolf on saying it was really the bear. Riiiight. ^^
The only thing I know for a fact, is that I have not experienced any of it with my own senses, and so everything I think I "know" about this subject comes from other people, probably all of which have also not experienced it with their own senses but gotten it from even more sources, and so on and so on. With everyone in all those chains having their own set of perceptive biases in their senses and brains, and their own interests. I can choose who to trust and who not. But most people just trust whatever fits their own model of reality best, disregarding that it might be wrong. And the same is true for everyone of you too.
So unless it has a noticeable effect on me personally, instead of wasting my mental resources on this, I use them for something that has a bigger effect on improving my life and keeping what I have.
How about you?
Great, so you don't even know if Mexico is a real country existing south of the US.
Somebody ought to cross ball point pens with coat hangers so that the pens will multiply instead of disappear.