California Wildfires - Thanks 2020

[Eacaraxe]

Might need to go in the Off-Topic section unless you can find a recent source to back it up as "current events", but why the heck not?

Sometimes I think the world could do with a little bit of "targetted killing" of powerful people.

Al Qaeda leader taken out by 'secret' US missile filled with knives dubbed the 'ninja bomb'

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Does that count as "current"? Because I'd say drone-delivered guillotine is certainly an event, two months old maybe not current.

And remember, it's not "targeted killing". It's "targeted exports"; it's a thin, but important, distinction that US policy isn't to extrajudicially kill noncombatants. We just export high explosives, and now flechette munitions banned for a century of international law governing warfare, to certain areas of operations across the globe, and if those area of operations happen to have certain unlawful enemy combatants of note in them, oopsie.

 

[Agema]

Does that count as "current"? Because I'd say drone-delivered guillotine is certainly an event, two months old maybe not current.

And remember, it's not "targeted killing". It's "targeted exports"; it's a thin, but important, distinction that US policy isn't to extrajudicially kill noncombatants. We just export high explosives, and now flechette munitions banned for a century of international law governing warfare, to certain areas of operations across the globe, and if those area of operations happen to have certain unlawful enemy combatants of note in them, oopsie.

Two months might be good enough.

My perception of US policy is that it is to not extrajudicially kill non-combatants in too obvious or direct a way. If it wants to starve a million people with economic sanctions or happen to take out 50 shoppers along with a terrorist, that's just bad luck. The other trick, of course, is to define "combatant" in a conveniently broad way, such as 'any male aged 16-50'. This also probably gives legal safety to killing people outside that range: "Dude, that kid with a bag of apples you killed was 13 !" "Ah, but he looked like he was 16, and carrying a bag of grenades, so chalk up another raghead terrorist iced on the scoreboard, WOO-HA!"

 

[stroopwafel]

My perception of US policy is that it is to not extrajudicially kill non-combatants in too obvious or direct a way. If it wants to starve a million people with economic sanctions or happen to take out 50 shoppers along with a terrorist, that's just bad luck. The other trick, of course, is to define "combatant" in a conveniently broad way, such as 'any male aged 16-50'. This also probably gives legal safety to killing people outside that range: "Dude, that kid with a bag of apples you killed was 13 !" "Ah, but he looked like he was 16, and carrying a bag of grenades, so chalk up another raghead terrorist iced on the scoreboard, WOO-HA!"

I'm convinced U.S. policy purposefully restricts drone strikes and interventions to minimize casualties but not so much because it cares about human rights but more because it reflects badly on them when some school is hit. The ruling sentiment I guess is more indifference. Outside the public eye they show their true face. That is why there is such preference for proxies, outsourcing and extraordinary renditions. Millions of people starving because of sanctions? No one sees it and they can deny responsibilty. Some opposition group killed the wrong people? CIA was never there. Make a human pyramid out of prisoners like in Abu Ghraib? Feign plausible deniability. Suspected terrorist don't want to talk? Look the other way as Egyptians force that confession with an electric cable to the penis. Drone strike by the U.S. military? Encyclopedia sized rules of engament.

 

[Agema]

I'm convinced U.S. policy purposefully restricts drone strikes and interventions to minimize casualties but not so much because it cares about human rights but more because it reflects badly on them when some school is hit. The ruling sentiment I guess is more indifference. Outside the public eye they show their true face. That is why there is such preference for proxies, outsourcing and extraordinary renditions. Millions of people starving because of sanctions? No one sees it and they can deny responsibilty. Some opposition group killed the wrong people? CIA was never there. Make a human pyramid out of prisoners like in Abu Ghraib? Feign plausible deniability. Suspected terrorist don't want to talk? Look the other way as Egyptians force that confession with an electric cable to the penis. Drone strike by the U.S. military? Encyclopedia sized rules of engament.

Yeah, I give the USA and other Western countries some credit. One only has to look at went on in Chechnya or Syria to realise what happens when a military that truly doesn't give a damn is set loose.

Confict is inherently dirty and appalling, and it's undeniable that one of the ways Western countries deal with it is to hide a lot of the worst of it from their populations through media control, covert operations, and outsourcing. This I think is why there can be such a dramatic disconnect between the perceptions of people from the countries we fuck with and our own people. The former are experiencing reality, the latter a fuzzy, sanitised, artist's impression of reality.

 

[stroopwafel]

Yeah, I give the USA and other Western countries some credit. One only has to look at went on in Chechnya or Syria to realise what happens when a military that truly doesn't give a damn is set loose.

Confict is inherently dirty and appalling, and it's undeniable that one of the ways Western countries deal with it is to hide a lot of the worst of it from their populations through media control, covert operations, and outsourcing. This I think is why there can be such a dramatic disconnect between the perceptions of people from the countries we fuck with and our own people. The former are experiencing reality, the latter a fuzzy, sanitised, artist's impression of reality.

I think during the Bush jr years they tried to go even further by privatizing offensive/high risk operations to PMCs like Blackwater at the time as these body bags didn't have to count for military casualties that had to be explained to congress. They could perform riskier operations and keep the casualty rate artificially lower at the same time. But that idea kinda fell apart with the Fallujah massacre. Though I have no doubt they will make a major comeback. Even the Russian military outsources a lot to Wagner and they already have little scruples to begin with. Russian government didn't even warn Wagner personnel in Syria when an airstrike was imminent and offed them on the chopping block just to deny involvement.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I think during the Bush jr years they tried to go even further by privatizing offensive/high risk operations to PMCs like Blackwater at the time as these body bags didn't have to count for military casualties that had to be explained to congress. They could perform riskier operations and keep the casualty rate artificially lower at the same time. But that idea kinda fell apart with the Fallujah massacre. Though I have no doubt they will make a major comeback. Even the Russian military outsources a lot to Wagner and they already have little scruples to begin with. Russian government didn't even warn Wagner personnel in Syria when an airstrike was imminent and offed them on the chopping block just to deny involvement.

Not sure about that, I think it was just another example of outsourcing going wrong, and the military not being that prepared for the wars the US got into.