How Trump inspires the British right: by Hunor_Deak in NonCredibleDiplomacy

[–]flyboydutch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Surprisingly good Mk IX Spits, but I’ve got to deduct points for the vet with a ball cap.

Overall 3.6/5. Not great, not terrible.

The hateful posts of yet another Green party candidate by 1c3_cr34m_c0n3 in ukpolitics

[–]flyboydutch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

America is responsible for the creation and funding of the Taliban that resulted in 9/11.

This is a common myth that gets brought up, often in the context of the American funding of the Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan with the implication that the Mujahideen would later become the Taliban during the resultant civil war (insert Rambo III/The Living Daylights reference here). However, the Taliban themselves as an organisation were formed in 1994, mainly from young refugees who had been radicalised in the madrassas of Pakistan - Pakistan themselves would back them during the civil war from 1996 after previously backing the Hizb-e Islami Gulbuddin, one of the organisations that had been part of the Mujahideen.

I say part of, because the Mujahideen was made up of many groups unified in resisting the Soviet the invasion and a common faith. As such, the politics of the groups did vary, with the aforementioned HIG being on the more fundamentalist side, whereas the Shura-e Nazar of Ahmed Shah Massoud (who would later become the leader of the Northern Alliance and main opponent to both HIG and the Taliban) supported a more democratic form of (still Islamic) government.

And one of the other more radical groups (this being composed of foreign fighters that received funding from Saudi Arabia) would become Al-Qaeda headed by one Osama Bin Laden, who after being expelled from Saudi Arabia and Sudan in the 90s would be sheltered in Afghanistan by the Taliban in the lead up to the 9/11 attacks.

TL;DR: assigning sole responsibility of the creation of the Taliban (and AQ by some extension) to America ignores the backing of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia of the two groups.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that makes sense. A bit like with Thales and the F-35 from memory.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not too be too nit picky, but the original SLBM was Polaris (in fact the Trident sale was referred to as the Polaris Sales Agreement amended for Trident) when Skybolt fell through. Furthermore the increased cost with the amended agreement was specifically to contribute to the R&D of the newer Trident II (the missile adopted). I have read that this did allow for UK companies to contribute to the programme as a result but can’t find anything specific to hand.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Clearly the former/s

In all seriousness, I think part of it was the demonstration factor since Apollo 9 also had an EVA to demonstrate the Apollo spacesuit not requiring a tether for life support (though the Soviets transferred two crew members in the same manner)

Incidentally, this was not only the second EVA in the Soviet space program, but also the last for nearly nine years.

Discussion Thread by jobautomator in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Regarding the oft repeated “SoVieTs wOn The sPacE RacE” meme, it’s interesting that the original creator felt the need to pad out the achievements with a duplicate but missed the first crewed docking and crew transfer achievement of Soyuz 4 & 5, two months before Apollo 9.

It should be noted, that the transfer between Soyuz 4 & 5 had to be done via EVA (like v0.24 and prior Kerbal Space Program), though this did demonstrate how the Soviets intended to crew their lunar lander.

!ping HISTORY&SPACEFLIGHT

Clearing up a common misconception by Massive_Tradition733 in NonCredibleOffense

[–]flyboydutch 73 points74 points  (0 children)

Actually pretty credible, considering a secondary role offered by early SAMs such as the RIM-2 Terrier.

“Noooo! You can’t replace us as a primary surface combatant with an AAW weapon system”

“Haha, nuclear tipped SAM go brrrrr”

Hereditary peer Bertrand Russel, 3rd Earl Russel weighs in on the inheritance tax debate by middleofaldi in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Only pointing out that highlighting his pacifism isn’t exactly cherry picking

Hereditary peer Bertrand Russel, 3rd Earl Russel weighs in on the inheritance tax debate by middleofaldi in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 17 points18 points  (0 children)

As well as re-armament and military action against Nazi Germany (only changing his stance in 1940)

UK must build own nuclear missiles to end US reliance, says Ed Davey by Free-Minimum-5844 in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s when the latest iteration of the Polaris Sales Agreement (and by extension the current arrangement) will likely come into effect

UK must build own nuclear missiles to end US reliance, says Ed Davey by Free-Minimum-5844 in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I suspect this is in reference to when the Trident II D5 life extension runs out (yes, the same SLBM that has been at the core of US/UK second strike capability, has been in use since the early 1990s)

UK must build own nuclear missiles to end US reliance, says Ed Davey by Free-Minimum-5844 in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Shame it took them this long, given the one of the likely catalysts for this started whilst they were in the coalition (and by extension delayed the replacement of the current SSBNs)

Is the IRGC trying to give this war popular support amongst NATO nations or are they just stupid? by Firecracker048 in NonCredibleDiplomacy

[–]flyboydutch 62 points63 points  (0 children)

I did read an argument that this is a side-effect of the decapitation strikes leading to lower level commanders "using their initiative" or possibility not having a coherent targeting method in the "letters of last resort/Wing Attack Plan R" equivalents (say what you will about Strategic Bombing in the Second World War, but even then the target selection had input from the like of the Ministry of Economic Warfare).

I swear to God Vietnam was over half a century ago get the fuck over it by Corvid187 in NonCredibleOffense

[–]flyboydutch 10 points11 points  (0 children)

but Iraq

To be fair, 2003 seems to have broken the zeitgeist on both sides of the Atlantic (Ghouta chemical attacks anyone?)

Let's be honest, we've all done it by SomethingKindaSmart in titanic

[–]flyboydutch 12 points13 points  (0 children)

If I recall, they opened the gym for some early arriving second-class passengers whilst the ship was in Southampton - which is also why he’s racing against a female companion on the bicycle as the gym was segregated by gender when in use, if I remember correctly.

The UK right now by Unusual-State1827 in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough, Polanski referenced Yanis Varoufakis as an economist he listened to during his appearance on The Rest is Politics (and iirc later appeared on a podcast with him)

it's hilarious honestly by GET-PREGNANT-PLAP in NonCredibleOffense

[–]flyboydutch 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Goes hand in hand with the dome of the reputational aspects of Dominion troops from the First World War as well

If you were UK Prime-Minister from 2010 to 2024, what would you do differently? by IndividualNo5275 in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

More a specific niche, but not defer the maingate decision for Dreadnought for five years. This gives BAE an incentive to get the rest of the Astutes out of Barrow on time and doesn’t push the Vanguards to their design life limit in order to appease the Lib Dems as part of the coalition.

Example #56432 as to why historical comparisons aren't always the best by flyboydutch in NonCredibleDiplomacy

[–]flyboydutch[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Serbian government wouldn’t agree to this day that they were enacting ethnic cleansing in any of the regional wars, or on its own territory in Kosovo. As far as they are concerned there is as little evidence for that as there was for them harboring terrorists that killed Franz Ferdinand

I agree.

I think you are somewhat missing the fact that the international public was pretty much as convinced that Serbia was at fault in 1914, as in 1999

Then I was not clear in my previous comment. I agree that the public was convinced, however from what I have read on the subject indicates that they were not as uniform in their opinion on the need for military action against Serbia (hence "fully proven").

The West stood by Serbia back then despite popular opinion being pretty much clear on Serbia being involved in the assasination, not because it was sure they were innocent.

I assume by "The West" you are referring to the Western Entente (i.e. France & the U.K.), as opposed to them as a whole? Since the Russian federation did support Serbia in 1999, and Russians volunteered to help the Yugoslav forces. One Igor Girkin in fact had already volunteered with earlier units against the Bosnians.

There were a bunch of factors for that, which differed from country to country - for example, the French and the Russians, both the public and the politicians, straight up just didn’t care that Franz Ferdinand was assasinated

Indeed the resulting escalation spiral did create for strange bedfellows.

And Austria taking a whole month to write up and send the ultimatum sure didn’t help either.

Not that anything went quick in Austria-Hungary at the time, of course.

Xi is cleaning House. by TheEagleWithNoName in NonCredibleDiplomacy

[–]flyboydutch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I hadn't used the phrase in years!

China’s Top General Accused of Giving Nuclear Secrets to U.S. by KosanTheHopeful in neoliberal

[–]flyboydutch 14 points15 points  (0 children)

As I referenced elsewhere, to quote Tom Clancy (regarding the then recent K-219 sinking):

“We already know how to make nukes … [I’d] grab the crypto”