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Ham posted:Not just that, Al Adly, the minister of interior is being investigated for coordination of/collaboration in the new year's eve church bombing which killed 23 Egyptians, the government blamed that on palestinian islamists. Thought I cross-post your post this from the old thread, because it's so fresh... Ham posted:Major news out of Egypt: Habib Al-Adly, former Minister of Interior, responsible for most deaths during the revolution and for releasing prisoners and ordering all police districts to abandon their posts paving the way for major looting has been arreted, and so has former Minister of Tourism Zuhair Garana and former Minister of Housing Ahmad Al-Maghrabi. Also, Ahmad Ezz, one of the most hated men in Egypt and a steel tycoon who engineered the 2010 parliamentary elections is also under arrest. I'm actually reeling from this. It's just so unbelievable. And then I remember that this bombing was one of those talking points about what would happen if Mubarak fell and the Muslim Brotherhood took over. Turns out Mubarak's men actually did that.
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Feb 18, 2011 00:02
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Apology posted:And then THIS guy, who seems to be interpreting the protests in terms of teabag fortunes: Coded messages? "The chair is against the wall", "John has a long moustache", all that rot.
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Feb 18, 2011 22:40
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Geek Icon posted:It's sad... but hardly anyone in the other GCC countries really care about what's going on in Bahrain right now. The royal families have declared their support for Bahrain's Emir, and no one is surprised at all by all that. Everyone else is just going on their lives, some more shallow than others. I'm hoping some poo poo gets stirred up in Dubai. It would be great if all the guest workers went on strike.
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Feb 19, 2011 01:36
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Narmi posted:Most goverments are wary of taking sides until everything is over. Ther are a lot of politics at play, which makes it really hard to stand up to the governments here. Hillary Clinton recently called a press conference denouncing the violence and saying the people had a right to protest peacefully, but reaffirming that the US supports the Bahrain government (but then again you can read this thread to see how much she believes that). What exactly would Bahrain do if we sided with the protesters? Kick us out?
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Feb 19, 2011 02:17
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Toplowtech posted:It's getting far worse with Sarkozy. There is a current diplomatic row between Mexico and France because Sarkozy decided to dedicate the "Year of Mexico in France" (it's a yearly joint cultural celebration event in France with a new country each year and this year, it's Mexico's turn) to a French woman who is currently serving a 60 years sentence on kidnapping charges in Mexico. The Mexican government decided to withdraw. Sarkozy is the smoothest diplomat since Kaiser Wilhelm II. A bit of a derail, but I'm hoping Mexico goes back and puts those festivals on, instead the Mexicans dedicate their side of the deal to the crushing defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla. It'll be like Cinco De Mayo every day for that year.
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Feb 20, 2011 16:42
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Astrolite posted:Driving them is pretty easy. Firing the main gun would be a bit more difficult, unless it's a very old model. Yeah, it's not like the entire male population of the country didn't serve in the armed forces. Chade Johnson posted:Lol if you think Gadaffi won't find refuge in Burkina Faso or some lovely country Yeah, Gadaffi will like run to France or Italy, where he can live in exile in luxury.
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Feb 20, 2011 21:42
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Paradox Personified posted:Also, a new relevant article: In Sub-Saharan Africa, boys were named "Kalash" after the Kalashnikov AK-47. This is, obviously, a better sign of things to come.  benito posted:Someone here did this as a Photoshop a while back (sorry, don't remember who). Babar went to Europe, became Westernized, and returned to rule his African kingdom, with the supposed support of the colonial power. Some have criticized the book as trying to gloss over the often bloody and messy history of French involvement in Africa: Holy poo poo. That's a blast from the past. I did that about a year ago. I forgot what the thread was, something about "real" children's books. It's nice to see someone saved it.
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Feb 21, 2011 02:24
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Xandu posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JosiAgoiWow That's an FN-303 Less-Lethal Launcher, made by the Belgian arms company, Fabrique Nationale. They're essentially high-powered paintball guns, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be capable of killing someone. The Boston PD had all of theirs destroyed back in 2007 because of a lawsuit stemming from an officer missing a target and hitting an innocent bystander in the eye, killing her, during the near-riot following the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004. e:fb
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Feb 21, 2011 04:28
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If Mohamed Bouazizi doesn't become Time's Man of the Year for 2011, then that whole publication isn't worth the paper it's printed on.
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Feb 21, 2011 15:55
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Darth123123 posted:Libya has WMD right? They gave them up decades ago, and it was just chemical weapons, no nukes or biologicals. If he still had them, he'd be recreating Halabja in Benghazi and Tripoli right now.
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Feb 21, 2011 19:41
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Intel5 posted:I'm just ranting here, but we spend billions on the latest and greatest military toys, and now we have a veritable carte blanche of international opinion to use them to save lives, and our president is standing around holding his dick. We could have air superiority over Libya within hours, it may do fuckall for stuff that's happening on the ground, but they wouldn't be able to drop bombs on their own people anymore. Actually, air superiority would also mean that their anti-aircraft guns would be more concentrated shooting down aircraft that are violating Libyan airspace and shooting down Libya aircraft than chopping up civilians. Which would also mean that the same AAA would soon be priority targets as soon as they engaged.
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Feb 21, 2011 19:57
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Ace Oliveira posted:The Iraqis weren't trying to topple Saddam's government themselves, though. Well, the Kurds and Shi'a tried to do that in Gulf War 1 and look where that got them.
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Feb 21, 2011 20:06
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Here's the big question: if there is (and likely will be) an intervention into Libya that unseats Gadaffi, what message does that send to Bahrain, Yemen, and other nations? Because everything Gadaffi is doing is being done on a smaller scale in those places. Bahrain might not be using anti-aircraft guns on people, but besieging hospitals and beating protesters unrecognizable comes close.
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Feb 21, 2011 21:39
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Greyhawk posted:Shouldn't your skies be filled with Italian fighter planes? I've read that Italia has put its air bases on full alert and sending its planes south earlier today. Now that I think about it, it's likely standard operation procedure so the Italian air force can prevent Libyan planes from bombing merchant ships or even Italian soil. I know, it's not likely but the situation is so unstable now that anything is possible.
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Feb 21, 2011 22:05
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Nenonen posted:AA guns are always dual purpose. Other posters have mentioned the use of heavy (German 88mm and 128mm) flak guns against tanks in WW2, but heavy AA is not used any more as missiles have replaced them. Rapid firing small calibre AA guns however are still very popular, and they are also very effective anti-infantry weapons due to their high rates of fire, especially as mounted versions such as the Soviet ZSU-23/4 Shilka (four barrels of 23mm caliber). With just one second burst, it can fire In World War 2, the Americans used this Quad-gun .50 machinegun setup as a towed anti-aircraft gun or mounted in a half-track. They expected heavy German air presence inhibiting action on the ground so they made lots of them. However, after the Falaise pocket, German airpower was almost non-existent, so, they used the guns for clearing out snipers and enemy emplacements. One tactic was to find the tree a sniper was in, aim for the trunk, and cut the tree down with machinegun fire and have the sniper fall into it. The Allies had a name for the Quad-.50s. They called them "meat-choppers".
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Feb 21, 2011 23:09
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Daeren posted:
Wasn't he a junior officer in the (original) revolution? I forget what rank he had prior.
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Feb 21, 2011 23:47
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Because he wanted to seem like a man of the people, a humble leader of the Jamahiriya, rather than 'overlord for life.'
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Ewan posted:France are part of NATO. It's tricky with them, 1967 withdrawal and all, but yes, as of 2009, they are currently part of NATO. Don't they have the DeGaulle stationed in Toulon?
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Feb 21, 2011 23:55
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DarkCrawler posted:Egypt's modern air force is as large as Israel's but I guess they lack the experience and knowhow. Still think they could keep Libya's skies clear, and I think their intervention would not be as hated. The Egyptian air force was in Mubarak's pocket, remember? They're the ones who did the low-altitude flyby of Tahrir Square to harass the protesters.
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Feb 22, 2011 00:11
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Ducky posted:This would be even funnier if the guy lead that van into a bollard.
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Feb 22, 2011 16:46
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Patter Song posted:Libyan naval vessel near Malta wants to defect. It probably doesn't have anything worthwhile armaments like cruise missiles on it, because it would likely be pulling a Potemkin on Gadaffi right now.
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Feb 22, 2011 20:42
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Brown Moses posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61m567lqL74 After that 60 Minutes interview, I thought she was going to stay out of the spotlight, because, I mean, it's great her son is a hero and all, but I got the impression she'd rather have an alive son than a dead martyr. Then again, maybe she realized that it's all bigger than him. Anyway, good work.
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Feb 22, 2011 22:45
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Namarrgon posted:No guys we can't just interfere! Those Libyans have to do it themselves! If everything Alex Jones and the NWO nutters said about the UN was true, I think I would probably respect the organization a lot more.
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Feb 23, 2011 00:09
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BIG HORNY COW posted:One problem with a no-fly zone is that the Libyan AA network would immediately be involved. If you want total air superiority its gonna involve SEAD and that means attacking ground targets - missile launchers and the associated radar systems, as well as static and self-propelled AA guns. So, that would mean that those Libyan AA guns would 1) not be chopping up large numbers of protesters and 2) be blown the gently caress up, preventing them from chopping up large numbers of protesters. I see no problem with this.
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Feb 23, 2011 01:34
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Apology posted:There must be a handbook or something out there Sound like strappado, also known as Palestinian hanging. If I remember correctly, the dead guy the contractors posed with at Abu Ghraib died from being beaten while hung like that.
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Feb 23, 2011 05:11
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I think if that happened, it would've still persisted because of the American presence in Japan.
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Feb 23, 2011 05:17
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Sivias posted:That makes it sound like they're sending out one aircraft at a time, and their Air force is only like 7 aircraft strong. Looking at the Libyan Air Force page on Wikipedia, that number might be closer to the truth than you think. quote:Aircraft: Dassault Mirage F1BD/ED That page also says they have over 200 Aero L-39ZOs and Soko G-2s, which are Czech and Yugoslavian light attack fighter/bomber trainers, but they were also made in the '60s, so who knows how many are still flight-worthy.
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Feb 23, 2011 20:44
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Sivias posted:What the gently caress has this guy spending all his oil money on for the last 42 loving years!? No kidding. He supposedly has 124 multi-role versions of the Mig-23, but the note to the side of that says "Most are grounded", which means anywhere from that they're being cannibalized for parts or they're fuel-hogs that they can't fly most of them. Going back to the no-fly zone talk, it's starting to sound like it's easier and easier to do. Almost like sending 2 Eurofighters and wiping out the entire airforce, Iron Eagle style.
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Feb 23, 2011 20:51
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MotoMind posted:I'd like to think that someone somewhere in Libya will be playing Front 242 - Funkadafi to mark the momentous occasion of Gadhafi's fall from power. This has been popping up in my playlist while on shuffle so often over the last few days that I take it as divine providence than mere coincidence.
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Feb 24, 2011 23:37
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Spiky Ooze posted:It's nice to see Benghazi is happy as hell right now, like Egypt was: Holy poo poo, that's beautiful. I was going to say that Wedeman say that he felt like an Allied soldier entering a liberated European town was a bit of hyperbole, but, gently caress, he can actually say that. Who is that guy in the fatigues and the boonie hat? A rebelling Libyan soldier or Wedeman's personal protection? He's seen giving the peace sign to the camera and carrying the anti-Qaddaffi Libyan flag, but, having not really seen what a Libyan soldier wears, I have no idea.
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Feb 25, 2011 00:05
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Probably Hates You posted:So what happens to all of these assets that are seized and frozen after Gheddafi is eventually captured/killed? It's a gray area, but, and I've brought this up before during the Egypt protests, that, following what happened with Ceausescu's estate following his deposing and execution, guys like Mubarak and Qaddaffi are so entwined with the state that anything owned by the state is technically their property. The reverse of this is also true. Once deposed, if Qaddaffi or any of his family try to claim they own said seized assets, they may (likely will) be asked for receipts of ownership. Since they fled a country and said documents may have been burned, or, more likely, the items were purchased under expense accounts that ultimately go to the national treasury, the assets default to the state. The same state that just deposed them.
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Feb 25, 2011 11:01
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smn posted:Spotted this innovation via the twitterfall #tripoli stream (original link lost, sorry): But, what are they going to call it? A Tripoli High-ball?
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Feb 25, 2011 18:21
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Namarrgon posted:That would be a nice dent in my student debts... Just gotta make sure that they pay up front.
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Feb 25, 2011 20:03
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Why are they even bothering with sanctions? Qaddafi will like not survive the weekend, let alone the week or so that it'll take to get the sanctions implemented.
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Feb 25, 2011 20:53
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Finlander posted:Yeah, I suppose you're right. A new word is required. No reason not to do that, either. A couple already exist. Democide usually means "government-sanctioned murder of it's own people", while politicide can be used to describe mass-murdering political opponents (although it can also mean the death of a political system, like the dismantlement of the apartheid state in South Africa, or political suicide).
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Feb 25, 2011 22:02
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The Brown Menace posted:Ayman just replied to my Tweet. Please tell me this got on to the air.
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Feb 26, 2011 01:21
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bich posted:Qadaffi's next step is to have all his supporters wear werewolf costumes and say that Libya is haunted so everyone runs away and he can buy up all the property for cheap And he would've gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling demonstrators.
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Feb 27, 2011 00:09
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Second-largest refinery in the Middle East just got blown up. In Iraq. Apparently, it was big enough that my friend's mom called him just a couple minutes ago. Young Freud fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Feb 27, 2011 |
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Feb 27, 2011 03:47
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Sivias posted:Widespread protests in China could have as widespread economic and political consequences as protests in Saudi Arabia. Egyptian- or Libyan-intensity demonstrations in China would loving wreck the American economy, considering how much poo poo we've outsourced to them.
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Feb 28, 2011 07:28
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Sivias posted:Sounds like the fall of the Mayan empire. They built too big and too fast for their society to sustain. Overpopulation, peasant revolt, and the decline in trade. Their whole society vanished from the records and dispersed into the wilderness. The end of the Mayan long-count calender in 2012 is around the corner.
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Feb 28, 2011 08:11
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Hipster_Doofus posted:Bring it on. I dunno about others, but I am more than happy to endure a (more) lovely American/worldwide economy if it is caused by this wonderful, ever-growing wave of revolution we are witnessing. In fact, it'd be pretty loving trivial compared to the sacrifices of each and every one of these people who are willingly risking/giving their lives for the freedom and the futures of others. Actually, this is how I view it: Secretary: Boss, I've got some bad news! Big Boss: What is it? Secretary: Oil prices have increased up out distribution costs by 300%! Big Boss: That's okay. We'll just jack up our prices to keep our profit margins. Secretary: But that's not all of it. The workers in China are out protesting for higher wages and equality! The sweatshops are on fire or have been taken over by the workers! The entire stock has been looted! Big Boss: That's horrible. Secretary: Even if the situation stabilizes, we're looking at an enormous cost. We can never go back to the way we do business in China. It'll be like having to pay the equivalent for minimum wage to do business over there from now on. That and benefits. And overseas distribution costs due to increased oil prices. Big Boss: Well, because of the increased cost of distribution and manufacturing, I guess we'll have no choice but to return back to the United States. Luckily, we've weakened the unions enough that we can still make a profit. Secretary: Well, sir, about that... Big Boss: 
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Feb 28, 2011 08:33
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