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>...there's no such thing as "no negotiations with terrorists" no matter public rhetoric or legislation. I've heard this as well. A professor was flying into a

>...there's no such thing as "no negotiations with terrorists" no matter public rhetoric or legislation. I've heard this as well. A professor was flying into a less than stable area or Afghanistan and for some reason they were descending just like a normal commercial flight. "What are you doing, we're going to get shot down!". He was used to a steep descent or a spiral to the runway to minimize the risk of getting hit. They then explained they had a deal with the local warlord. The military provided barrels of used oil from all their ground vehicles, and in exchange they don't fire on the airplanes as they takeoff or land. The warlord burns the oil for heating, and the military doesn't need to deal with (hopefully correctly) disposing of large quantities of used oil.

gnfargbl 3y ago
You have to wonder how much of that transaction is saving face? The warlord doesn't have to deal with the messy business of trying to shoot down jets belonging to a well-funded army; the military doesn't have to deal with the difficult business of engaging a warlord with local connections and support. Both sides get to wink and imply that they each got the better end of a "business deal". It's Clausewitz in reverse -- commerce as a de-escalation of war by other means.
- savanaly 3y ago
  It's the Coase theorem [0] in action! No matter what the laws may or may not be against shooting down planes, the socially efficient outcome of planes not being shot down was arrived at through negotiation. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coase_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coase_theorem
- ozfive 3y ago
  Shall we get into the great vowel shift of 1450?
filoleg 3y ago
Ayup, another example I can remember of is that swedish professor who went ahead and hired services of a PMC to extract her grad student and his family from Iraq[0]. Background: the student vent to visit his family back in Iraq as his town was under an ISIS attack, which is how he ended up getting stuck there. 0. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-swedish-professor-helped-rescue-grad-student-isis-controlled-iraq-n947866 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-swedish-professor-hel...
- fragmede 3y ago
  The untold stories from the security department of all the FAANGs from the invasion of Ukraine would take more movies than there are Marvel movies.
  - mdekkers 3y ago
    That wasn’t as exciting as you appear to think it was. I have family from Ukraine (now living with us) and worked with a lot of Ukrainians (and Russians) when the shooting war started. Most of my current contractors are displaced Ukrainians. There were no “Zero Dark Thirty” style extractions.
ahhppahjh6698 3y ago
Or they could go after them like we went after those damn pirates in the late 1700s.

gnfargbl 3y ago

You have to wonder how much of that transaction is saving face? The warlord doesn't have to deal with the messy business of trying to shoot down jets belonging to a well-funded army; the military doesn't have to deal with the difficult business of engaging a warlord with local connections and support. Both sides get to wink and imply that they each got the better end of a "business deal". It's Clausewitz in reverse -- commerce as a de-escalation of war by other means.

savanaly 3y ago
It's the Coase theorem [0] in action! No matter what the laws may or may not be against shooting down planes, the socially efficient outcome of planes not being shot down was arrived at through negotiation. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coase_theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coase_theorem
ozfive 3y ago
Shall we get into the great vowel shift of 1450?

filoleg 3y ago

Ayup, another example I can remember of is that swedish professor who went ahead and hired services of a PMC to extract her grad student and his family from Iraq[0]. Background: the student vent to visit his family back in Iraq as his town was under an ISIS attack, which is how he ended up getting stuck there. 0. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-swedish-professor-helped-rescue-grad-student-isis-controlled-iraq-n947866 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/how-swedish-professor-hel...

fragmede 3y ago
The untold stories from the security department of all the FAANGs from the invasion of Ukraine would take more movies than there are Marvel movies.
- mdekkers 3y ago
  That wasn’t as exciting as you appear to think it was. I have family from Ukraine (now living with us) and worked with a lot of Ukrainians (and Russians) when the shooting war started. Most of my current contractors are displaced Ukrainians. There were no “Zero Dark Thirty” style extractions.

ahhppahjh6698 3y ago

Or they could go after them like we went after those damn pirates in the late 1700s.