Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

EllisD posted:

It's like some psychotic parasite has landed itself in Qaddafi's brain and is working overtime. I wonder if he'll namedrop killdozer?

The Brazilian mind control wasp has evolved. :aaa:

# ¿ Feb 22, 2011 17:58

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 15:17

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Sivias posted:

Can we see movements like this in other parts of the world? Is China at all afraid of democracy spreading like Communist states of the past have?

Democracy and Communism are in separate categories.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2011 02:59

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

henpod posted:

Holy gently caress, is this a typo or have 10,000 people been killed? . If so, this is even more abhorrent than before, that's an insane amount.

Hard to say, since the post just above yours details 500 bodies found in a school.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2011 17:36

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Go into Libya
Dig for oil
Take it out of the country
Complain when your food is taken away

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-12550802

quote:

Oil worker trapped in Libya 'desperate for rescue'

A Scottish oil worker stranded with 300 people in a Libyan desert camp has told how the group has just one day's supply of food and water left.

James Coyle, from Erskine, Renfrewshire, said the workers were "desperate" to be rescued.

They have been trapped for a number of days, since protests in the country turned to violence. About 300 people have been killed in the uprising.

"We are living every day in fear of our lives," Mr Coyle told the BBC.

Armed looters have already ransacked a nearby camp, forcing German workers to join them. Mr Coyle said this had tripled the number the camp usually provides for.

In a radio interview he said the oil workers, who are about two-and-a-half hours from Benghazi, could not get to the airport and the UK government was ignoring their pleas to be rescued.

"We have been left without any protection whatsoever," he said. "The looters are local people armed with AK47s.

"We are living a nightmare."

Mr Coyle said locals had raided the camp next door and taken vehicles, all the food and even fridge freezers.

'Real distress'
As a result the oil workers there had been forced to move into his camp, bringing the numbers up from 100 to 300. Mr Coyle said he estimated that about 90 people in the camp were British.

"We have had to take in the Germans and other nationalities from next door as their camp has been wrecked," he said.

"We have very little food and water, maybe enough to last one day."

Mr Coyle added that conditions in the camp were deteriorating.

"It's getting very difficult here," he said. "We need a Hercules in now to get us out."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The safety of British Nationals in Libya is of paramount concern. We are doing all we can to help them, including those in camps.

"We are continuing to work up contingency plans to deal with what is a very difficult, testing and fluid situation.

"We recognise the genuine and real distress of those who are in camps in the desert, not least since it is difficult to travel to Tripoli.

"Our priority is their safety so we are advising them to stay put if they are safe where they are at the current time."

The spokesman added that the Foreign Office was pressing the Libyan authorities to re-open the military airport to help companies evacuate staff.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2011 17:51

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Banano posted:

Featured video link. Fucks sake YT

How does "Slow Smoked Pulled Pork Barbecue Recipe by the BBQ Pit Boys" get to be featured with that video?

# ¿ Feb 24, 2011 02:08

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Asianews.it (reliable?) is saying that North Korea is having a few protests, the first in Kim's history, due to the food shortage :x

http://www.asianews.it.nyud.net/news-en/First-public-protests-against-the-Kims%E2%80%99-regime-20861.html

quote:

Seoul (AsiaNews) � The wave of protests that began in the Mideast appears to have reached even North Korea. For the first time in the history of the Stalinist regime, groups of ordinary citizens have protested in three cities demanding food and electricity, sources say. The event is exceptional and confirms the economic difficulties, especially concerning food supplies, people have to face under the Communist government.

According to South Korea�s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing a North Korean source, demonstrations broke out on 14 February, two days before Kim Jong-il�s birthday, in the cities of Jongju, Yongchon and Sonchon, not far from the border of China.

The State Security Department (the all-powerful agency under Kim Jong-il�s direct control) investigated the incident but failed to identify the people who started the commotion when they met with a wall of silence.

�When such an incident took place in the past, people used to report their neighbours to the security forces, but now they're covering for each other," the source said.

Korean sources told AsiaNews that this represents a crack in the prevailing mindset. �Different factors are at play. On the one hand, the country�s worsening economic situation is certainly one reason. The regime is in fact unable to feed most of its people. On the other, changes at the top are another as Kim Jong-un gets ready to succeed his father on the throne in Pyongyang.�

The younger Kim is �feared by the population,� the source said. �He is viewed as bloodthirsty and mad. �Almost everyone thinks he was behind the military attacks against ROKS Cheonan and an island under South Korean control, which led to restrictions on humanitarian aid from the South. This has further worsened standards of living in the North. North Koreans are ready to do just about anything to stop the succession.�

So, uh. Yeah?

# ¿ Feb 25, 2011 03:26

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Nucleic Acids posted:

Didn't this guy do a cartoon celebrating the use of white-phosphorous rounds against Palestinians a couple of years ago?

It's like if Glenn Beck did comics.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2011 05:15

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

That Korean Air plane is just circling outside of Tripoli.

edit: It just disappeared! KAL3927 / HL7461

Jack Napier fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Feb 25, 2011

# ¿ Feb 25, 2011 16:56

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Is flightradar usually this glitchy or is this for real?

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ¿ Feb 25, 2011 17:07

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Brown Moses posted:

There's reports of Libyan air space being closed, so planes must be turning back or circling until they receive a new destination.

But they disappear off the radar like they never existed.

It's sort of exciting.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2011 17:11

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

THE HORSES rear end posted:

Every time there's a revolution or protest of any type, anywhere, aging Leftists like Pilger try to shoehorn in their bullshit ideology about neo-liberalism and IMF KKKapitalism. It's kind of like a herpes infection in that it's not dangerous but it's annoying as gently caress and will never ever go away.

I was at the anti-Mubarak protest in NYC and I was not surprised at all to find that there were aging Leftist blowhards there handing out flyers attempting to shoehorn in the Egyptian uprising with their stupid ideology.

Ironic War Criminal, is that you?

# ¿ Feb 27, 2011 01:08

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Roark posted:

Ever heard of Italy, Spain, Greece, most of South and Central America, South Africa, South Korea, India, or the Balkan nations, among others? The US has its problems with corruption and its political system, but we're a drat beacon of cleanliness and functionality compared to some other democracies.

You're not entirely wrong, but Central & South America and South Africa had our influence(and training on death squads) on regime change to play into their current affairs.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2011 19:55

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Brown Moses posted:

That's about $7000.

The sad thing is, it would work(or has?) in America.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2011 00:37

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Twitter saying Egyptians have sex tapes and poo poo flooding out of the Secret Service building.

Hashtag #amndawla

http://twitter.com/ShadyMokh
http://twitter.com/MahyAshmawy

First image is supposedly a sex tape of an arab princess

Jack Napier fucked around with this message at 22:03 on Mar 5, 2011

# ¿ Mar 5, 2011 21:57

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

quadratic posted:

Wow.

Also http://twitter.com/MahyAshmawy/status/44128705139843072 is claiming that Mubarak is in Cairo along with his wife and sons.

Can you translate some of the stuff I posted after the edit?

# ¿ Mar 5, 2011 22:06

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Brown Moses posted:

I read on the BBC all the tanks suddenly just left the city, along with the troops.

So are those Egyptians in the building at the moment, taking copies of everything or what?

I'm guessing so.

Shredded folder titles

Names, specialties

Shredded mountains

Apparently they used a simple slice, it should be easy to reassemble. I'm hoping they bag it up and take it all.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2011 22:17

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Rooney McNibnug posted:

I haven't seen this posted in this thread yet, and it seems like something that shouldn't be under the radar:

Egypt faces new turmoil: Looted state security files

quote:
Israa Abdel Fattah, 32, a labor organizer and blogger, shared her personal file with McClatchy and marveled at the thoroughness of the surveillance, which included detailed transcripts of e-mails sent from her personal Gmail account and phone conversations she'd had with her ex-husband. The feeling of violation was indescribable, she said.

Apparently these files are being passed along like crazy.

I'm sorry but Gmail is SSL secured, how exactly do they obtain transcripts of something like that? Is the content unsecured when you send it, did they get it from an unsecured source destination, or did Gmail give them access?

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 17:11

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Tevryr posted:

Gadhaffy to speak to reporters airing on CNN in "moments"
They've been waiting half an hour. I'm sure he's just busy adjusting his collar and buttons.

Live.cnn.com has the stream, apparently. Gonna watch this.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 22:45

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Brown Moses posted:

The journalists have been tied up for 7 hours waiting for Gaddafi, while Zawayi burns to the ground.

Apparently he left! Too many reporters or just a gimmick to get them out of Zawiyah?

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 23:36

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

^ They're just skeet-shootin.

Narmi posted:

I have to admit, the BBC's mapmaking of the Libyan revolution has gotten significantly better,

Click here to view the full image

they're starting to close in on the Guardian, but still have a ways to go.

Click here to view the full image

(both are from March 9, around 1:30 ET)

The Guardian is just more adept at using Microsoft Visio.

Jack Napier fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Mar 9, 2011

# ¿ Mar 9, 2011 18:55

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Lareous posted:

It's nice to see Office Depot taking action and deploying their anti-aircraft capabilities when the rest of the world can't make their mind up.

EDIT: Bigger version.

I removed the guy behind him for those that want to turn it into an Av or something:

# ¿ Mar 9, 2011 20:12

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Mad Doctor Cthulhu posted:

There is nobody alive that's quite as hosed as Gaddafi.

He's only as hosed as long as his ego keeps him in the country. Not being a target of American interest, he could literally retire where-ever he wants.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2011 20:36

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Patter Song posted:

Not really. Over the course of his reign he pissed off many of the usual dictator havens (S. Arabia hates his guts, for example, and they were willing to take in people like Idi Amin). If he did flee, especially at this point (mass-murder in front of the world's cameras doesn't go over too well), he'd have to go to a real shithole like Burkina Faso.

Depends on how much money he still has in possession.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2011 21:15

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Rkelly posted:

Are the reports of 50km away from Benghazi false? Hearing both ways right now. Hope they have a little more time. Maybe France can run bomb some poo poo right quick.

In less than an hour? Assuming they're travelling at 30mph.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2011 21:40

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

ChubbyEmoBabe posted:

Let me shake the Obama administration 8 ball....

"Strongly Condemn"

I literally just saw that on Al Jazeera after I read it.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2011 22:25

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

Anyone got a GIF of the dancing that guy was doing on top of the tank? Criss-crossing his hands?

# ¿ Mar 18, 2011 22:35

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

What is #Dostor2011?

# ¿ Mar 19, 2011 10:02

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

In Iranian tech news, Iran puts skill points into Deep Packet Inspection

quote:

LONDON, March 18 (UPI) -- Iran appears to have developed a system for identifying computer users on a network designed to block surveillance, a member of the Tor Project says.

Tor software, distributed free, hides computer IP addresses and encrypts e-mail and other communication on the Internet. The software was originally developed at a U.S. military lab and is now open source.

Andrew Lewman, Tor's executive director, said Iran apparently has obtained Deep Packet Inspection, equipment that allows the reading of Internet traffic as it is transmitted. He said Tor has known for years it was vulnerable but did not take steps to thwart that type of technology in advance.

"We're trying to have an arms race really slowly," he said.

Lewman said the number of Tor users in Iran more than doubled to 2,800 after the 2009 presidential election. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election to a second term was widely perceived as fraudulent and it set off a wave of protest in Tehran and some other cities.

Iran now appears to have advanced a step beyond China in its ability to track or block dissidents online, Lewman said.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2011 18:54

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

IM_DA_DECIDER posted:

I bet the US is pretty pissed that they don't have working F-35s yet while France and EADS are having such nice sales shows. Guess who'll be offering discounts on F15 and F16 planes soon?

I get the impression the F-35 will be like those glitchy devices that are neat but most of the learning will be on how NOT to screw it up. How reliable are Eurofighters?

edit: Eurofighters look to be pretty reliable

# ¿ Mar 19, 2011 19:22

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 15:17

Jack Napier: Aug 5, 2010; by Ozma

New Division posted:

^^^^^

Gonna laugh my rear end off when F-22's start falling out of the sky because the desert sun was too much for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Grt9mdSeZw

# ¿ Mar 19, 2011 19:33

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