I think it’s worth remembering that the greatest capability of the US military isn’t killing people; that’s relatively easy.
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@c0dec0dec0de @aeva only from the nation's perspective. huge W for arms industry
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@c0dec0dec0de @aeva only from the nation's perspective. huge W for arms industry
@SnoopJ @c0dec0dec0de personally I was cheering for drugs all along
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@SnoopJ and like it's not like I go out of my way to fill my head with government propaganda, quite the opposite really, but it's a somewhat common occurrence for people to try to convince me the necessity of war / solving problems with violence / etc when it comes up that I'm a devout pacifist, so like I feel like I would have heard of something by now and I'm really weirded out that I can't think of anything
@aeva you might say that the contradictions are heightening
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@SnoopJ@hachyderm.io @aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place I mean, if I had to pick a winner of all the wars and and military conflicts I've seen play out in my lifetime that the US was involved in, I would start a list that begins with "Halliburton".
Cause I think that's it. If the entire history of European and US meddling in the middle east and other places hadn't already convinced one that 'violence is a great way to shuffle the pieces on the board and that's it', well, the post 9/11 history of Iraq and Afghanistan...
While I am Very Loud and blow off steam publicly, I genuinely think no strategy out of these types of situations can be achieved without building something. And a nation state can't build a society in the way that people need; it can enforce one, or perhaps reinforce one, but, well... anyway. People have to build it. -
@SnoopJ@hachyderm.io @aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place I mean, if I had to pick a winner of all the wars and and military conflicts I've seen play out in my lifetime that the US was involved in, I would start a list that begins with "Halliburton".
Cause I think that's it. If the entire history of European and US meddling in the middle east and other places hadn't already convinced one that 'violence is a great way to shuffle the pieces on the board and that's it', well, the post 9/11 history of Iraq and Afghanistan...
While I am Very Loud and blow off steam publicly, I genuinely think no strategy out of these types of situations can be achieved without building something. And a nation state can't build a society in the way that people need; it can enforce one, or perhaps reinforce one, but, well... anyway. People have to build it. -
I wonder what the USA's win/loss ratio is since the cold war, because I'm under the impression it's not great. Or at least, I just figure if we actually won any wars in the last few decades surely I would have heard about it. I say this without any sarcasm though: the 24 hour burger king deployment thing does make me feel irrationally proud of my country.
@aeva the US has been pretty good at the war part of war and godawful at the nation building part after from what I've seen of recent history.
Desert Storm 1 and the war(s) in the Balkans went about as well as can be expected for the areas from what I can tell. Iraq 2 became a disaster pretty much immediately after the us "won" and drove Saddam's government from power. It's pretty clear that the powers that be were completely blinded by ideology and naked greed.
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@aeva the US has been pretty good at the war part of war and godawful at the nation building part after from what I've seen of recent history.
Desert Storm 1 and the war(s) in the Balkans went about as well as can be expected for the areas from what I can tell. Iraq 2 became a disaster pretty much immediately after the us "won" and drove Saddam's government from power. It's pretty clear that the powers that be were completely blinded by ideology and naked greed.
@beeoproblem oh right I forgot about saddam, hahahaha wow ok that meets the criteria, thank you
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@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place @SnoopJ@hachyderm.io ah, yeah, no, you're right, sorry. I knew that wasn't what you're asking (re: Halliburton)... my actual answer to your question was there (I think, or at least, I tried to, anyway), which was "no, none of them".
I get that "victory" is a subjective thing but I'm pretty sure I'd say basically all of the military actions the US has taken (that I can think of) have been failures, and usually not because of unit strength or combat tactics but because of completely misguided reasoning and long term planning. Even Bin Laden: yeah, he's dead. And.. what did that actually accomplish? etc, etc. I'm not crying any tears over him or anything, but... well, he wasn't exactly in power or capable of much by that point.
I think a lot of things are likely to involve, or end in, violence, but I am also highly suspicious that it is capable of achieving "victory" except in very specific circumstances. This probably starts touching on "just war" theory and all that, now that I think about it. -
@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place @SnoopJ@hachyderm.io ah, yeah, no, you're right, sorry. I knew that wasn't what you're asking (re: Halliburton)... my actual answer to your question was there (I think, or at least, I tried to, anyway), which was "no, none of them".
I get that "victory" is a subjective thing but I'm pretty sure I'd say basically all of the military actions the US has taken (that I can think of) have been failures, and usually not because of unit strength or combat tactics but because of completely misguided reasoning and long term planning. Even Bin Laden: yeah, he's dead. And.. what did that actually accomplish? etc, etc. I'm not crying any tears over him or anything, but... well, he wasn't exactly in power or capable of much by that point.
I think a lot of things are likely to involve, or end in, violence, but I am also highly suspicious that it is capable of achieving "victory" except in very specific circumstances. This probably starts touching on "just war" theory and all that, now that I think about it.@SnoopJ@hachyderm.io @aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place (which is, you know... I feel like I am agreeing 100% with all your positions and morals here, if I'm not mistaken?)
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@SnoopJ@hachyderm.io @aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place (which is, you know... I feel like I am agreeing 100% with all your positions and morals here, if I'm not mistaken?)