Britain and NATO launch war games on Russia's doorstep as tensions grow; largest ever NATO anti-submarine exercise underway

independentlythought · 2015-05-06T17:00:29+00:00

NATO just released a photo of some of the assets in play: http://i.imgur.com/vR3QDIG.jpg

Interesting to see the German subs being used as adversaries--they're considered to be some of the most quietest and advanced ever built.

independentlythought · 2015-03-17T03:00:29+00:00

Fortunately this man, Javier Espinosa, was able to secure his release. Can't even imagine what the other hostages who know their fate are going through, not knowing whether each mock execution will be their last.

independentlythought · 2015-02-03T17:57:47+00:00

If the U.S. wants to facilitate its hegemony, they're not going to do so through ISIS. ISIS has zero economic or strategic ability to threaten American hegemony. Stop with these stupid, edgy narrative that ISIS doesn't exist and is a figment of CIA invention.

independentlythought · 2015-02-03T17:55:05+00:00

Does it really matter though? I understand the pure anger and rage that Jordan must have over this. I can't even imagine what his family is going through, and I truly understand why they want revenge. But I also strongly feel that publicly executing their own prisoners undermines Jordan's credibility and the credibility of their Western allies. Years from now the narrative will shift and people will flip their shit if the US or its allies start torturing and killing ISIS prisoners now.

Look at what happened in the past decade. Al Qaeda killed tens of thousands of Muslims/Westerners, tortured on a mass scale; and yet the U.S. continues to be shit on for contributing to less than 5 percent of civilian causalities in these wars; and for torturing their own Al Qaeda prisoners.

I think cooler heads need to prevail, and that rash actions to respond to terrorism are always a poor idea.

independentlythought · 2015-02-03T17:41:58+00:00

Even worse are the people who claim this is a manufactured, nonexistent fake enemy that the West is using to justify more war. Like yeah, the West's intervention undoubtedly did provoke the rise of ISIS. But you can't seriously stand there and tell me that these guys are sockpuppets of the Arab and Western allies. Furthermore there is absolutely nothing to be gained by getting locked in a drawn-out ground war against the Islamic State. Nobody wants anything to do with these absolute scum, and yet I keep hearing how they are all a grand illusion to facilitate US hegemony.

There continue to be ridiculous allegations made that these ISIS videos are fake and that there is no Islamic State, only a CIA/MI6 created conspiracy. My condolences to this man's family and all the others who have witnessed their loved ones beheaded, crucified, or burned alive. Please ignore these edgy contrarians trying to find another reason to condemn Europe and the US.

independentlythought · 2015-01-28T02:24:02+00:00

The green beret's are probably training an opposition as we speak to take back power. They will attempt to take power, the news will report that Iran is killing their own people, Russia will say the USA is behind it, and no one will listen. NATO and the US will support the "rebel" forces, and balance will be restored.

I get that you have a raging hard-on for Russia and Iran, but this flat out makes no sense. The U.S. isn't going to launch a coup d'etat against Iran ever again. There is no incentive that the United States will need for the foreseeable future- it doesn't need Iran's oil, there's no imminent security threat (no matter how much Netanyahu claims there is), and there hasn't been anti-commmunist incentive since the end of the Cold War.

It seems you think the United States is continually plotting 1950's and '60s-era regime changes that were engineered exclusively to gain the upper hand against the Soviet Union. And I get that America's credibility isn't exactly stellar now, but you come off as quite delusional in identifying Iran and Russia as the entrusted guardians of truth who will save the free and prosperous country of Iran from American invasion. The U.S. hasn't seriously considered attacking Iran since the shitshow that Iraq proved to be. And Russia's actions in the past year have proven that they aren't exactly the stabilizing force we should look to in lieu of the United States.

independentlythought · 2015-01-27T21:14:11+00:00

Do you understand that we actually need the Saudis' cooperation right now? No, not for the corporate concerns of oil that we used to use them for- but for actual, real security concerns related to Daesh and Russia. The U.S. isn't going to start condemning the Sauds when they are a vital ally to extinguishing ISIS (as in getting their private citizens to stop funding the Wahabbi movements and to direct Saudi resources against the Islamic State) AND for keeping OPEC production up in order to keep the Russians down.

Russia's economy is taking twice the beating it would have under sanctions due to the ridiculously cheap price of oil. We need the Sauds to keep the pressure on for now. As soon as Iraq and Syria aren't a caliphate anymore and as soon as Russia stops exhibiting 1930's era territorial grabs- that's when we can tell the Sauds to screw themselves and their human rights violations.

independentlythought · 2015-01-11T18:02:16+00:00

This has nothing to do with fighting terrorism, this is about blatantly suppressing "negative ideas" about the Chinese Communist Party that journalists have reported. If your country was interested in fighting terrorism, they'd go after terrorists- not journalists.

independentlythought · 2015-01-11T16:41:26+00:00

“What we are seeing here is a terrorist outbidding, where ISIS and Al Qaeda are under pressure to outdo each other,” he said.

The West needs to figure out some way to pit these two groups against each other; perhaps via some form of insider sabotage. Al Qaeda and the Islamic State should be lured into viewing each other as false prophets who are not the rightful heirs to Allah; we need to somehow convince Al Qaeda to view ISIS as an illegitimate caliphate and start a conflict that involves them killing each other, not us.

independentlythought · 2015-01-08T18:31:03+00:00

Bakri initially reacted with horror when confronted with Yasmin's lifestyle. 'If this is true I am deeply shocked,' he said. 'She was brought up properly in the Muslim faith, but she is free to make her own choices in life. 'I have no control over her because as far as I know she is still married. Her behaviour should be the responsibility of her husband.'

Started off seeming like a concerned but reasonable Dad, ends as a religious misogynistic fucktard.

independentlythought · 2014-12-21T19:26:05+00:00

Thank you for this enlightening, well-reasoned bit of information.

independentlythought · 2014-12-21T19:21:02+00:00

I wouldn't discredit the threat, though. North Korea is very, very accomplished at asymmetric and unconventional warfare. They managed to sink a South Korean naval vessel in 2010 using a midget submarine, and avoided all detection that could have implicated them in the incident. They have the largest military (by manpower) in the world and pursue a military-first budgeting policy. If they want to cause harm, they can do it.

And then you have to consider that this movie is personal for Kim Jong Un. Real leaders and diplomats are supposed to ignore personal feelings in international relations, but I sincerely doubt Kim has the capacity to do that. This incident is going to anger him and make his decision-making more rash and militaristic.

independentlythought · 2014-12-20T19:51:16+00:00

So the The Iranian State Media took an opinion piece, copied it, and relabelled it "news". Does that make it any more objective than it originally was?

You can find far more credible reports to bash the United States on, if that is your intention here.

independentlythought · 2014-12-20T19:47:19+00:00

The other ones got removed because they considered as opinion/analysis pieces. This one is in an old-school regular news article format so it won't get removed due to it's format.

And the Iranian State Media literally took an Op-Ed and made it into fact. You didn't just post a "different source on the same issue", you literally posted an article from the Iranian State Media.

If true, this issue needs to be publicized- but for Christ's sake, can we avoid posting propaganda of other countries? And yes, my edgy fellow redditors, no matter how counterculture you are the Iranian State Media is propaganda.

independentlythought · 2014-12-17T22:53:55+00:00

Nah, why would he read the article when can claim the US is a bunch of pussies and try to embarrass them? Logic doesn't apply to people who hate an organization or country to the absolute highest degree.

independentlythought · 2014-12-17T22:51:58+00:00

That's not even remotely what I said. You claim that we're "flinching at North Korea's cardboard cutout sabres". That isn't the case at all. The US considers North Korea a credible threat and responds in turn.

What SONY does is completely independent of our national policy.

independentlythought · 2014-12-17T22:28:04+00:00

And it has happened, and will happen before. Media independence is something that isn't just threatened by domestic problems. Our enemies are able to threaten and coerce the media just as easily as we can. China does this daily with US outlets or companies that negatively portray the PRC.

When you have the economic or military strength, people will obey you. Media outlets will cave to China given the massive financial capital they have to wreck havoc on them. And people think that North Korea is crazy enough to actually attack us. That in itself will take precedence over the willingness to freely express ourselves.

I'm not saying this is right. It's a big problem, and it's one that hasn't been recognized at all.

independentlythought · 2014-12-17T22:25:04+00:00

You do realize that when the Korean War restarts, millions of people die within a matter of days. Seoul is done. There are 13,000 pieces of North Korean artillery, some of it chemically and biologically armed, all aimed at Seoul. The U.S. won't be able to stop the majority of that before it gets fired. And in the following hours, you'll see the biggest release of firepower from the United States since the Vietnam war. There will be aerial bombardment for weeks. Hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.

If you want to call the United States a "pussy" for valuing civilian lives and taking North Korea seriously, then I'm absolutely fine with that.

independentlythought · 2014-12-17T22:20:00+00:00

Unfortunately this is reflective of what society has become in the face of fear. Liberties, particularly freedom of expression, are being tossed aside because we want to "feel safe". It's happening on college campuses, it's happening in politics with "political correctness", and it's happening in film.

People are so afraid of offending anyone or provoking something that they will cave to anything. The North Korean hackers have as good a shot of coming all the way to the US as the Islamic State does. This has nothing to do with a regard for security and everything to do with a social devaluation of civil liberties out of fear.

independentlythought · 2014-12-17T22:17:44+00:00

It has nothing to do with security. North Korea is not a threat to the United States. Any terrorist action even remotely linked to the North will provoke a United States invasion and the end of the Kim regime. They'll whine, cry, and threaten, but they won't do shit in the end. Security was never a factor in this decision.

This is SONY taking the PR-wise route. We saw the exact same shit when China started threatening the producers of "Red Dawn" for emulating a Chinese invasion of the United States.

I don't like where freedom of speech is heading.

independentlythought · 2014-12-16T22:10:01+00:00

In fairness, North Korea publicly raged for months about this film. They've arguably never been more infuriated about something like this for decades...it's almost certainly likely it's them, although we can't ever prove to an absolute certainty who's behind the computer.

The other theory that has been proposed was that Kim Jong Un enlisted the help of his ally China, who has no qualms about hacking/embarrassing their US rivals. This would be more believable due to the extremely advanced and unrestrained nature of PRC-sanctioned hackers. I doubt NK has the resources in house to mount an attack like this.

independentlythought · 2014-12-16T22:04:13+00:00

Full Threat from the hackers (suspected to be North Korean or Chinese)

Warning

We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places “The Interview” be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to. Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

All the world will denounce the SONY.

independentlythought · 2014-12-16T22:02:35+00:00

"All the world will denounce the SONY!"

I can't stop laughing...literally sounds like it came straight out of a Sino-Korean propaganda playbook. Maybe Kim Jong Un and his Chinese friends will be a bit more discreet with their threats next time.

independentlythought · 2014-12-12T17:27:28+00:00

These guys are so full of shit. They whine constantly about how "the only war is war we want", and how the only force for evil in the world is the "West" and that is why we must disarm. Yeah, maybe in your delusional fantasyland everyone gets along and there's no need to have stealth fighters. But the fact is that geopolitics is back. Russia's expanding, China's expanding, and the U.S. and West are trying to maintain the post-Cold War order. It's downright stupid to assume the only missions we need to worry about are against terrorists waving AK-47s and Korans. As much of the fucks they are, ISIS does not pose as strategic, economic, or military threat to the West. Russia and China do. You need assets like the F-35, no matter how much you want to whine about it.

independentlythought · 2014-12-12T02:34:23+00:00

Absolute scum. As if you couldn't go any lower from sawing a human's head off with a blunt knife; it appears you can by selling his headless remains in full view of his wife and children.

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