6 ms·

Tell that to the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, the Viet Cong, Mao, and George Washington. Just because the government has tanks does not mean "we have tanks and nuk

Tell that to the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, the Viet Cong, Mao, and George Washington. Just because the government has tanks does not mean "we have tanks and nukes, therefore we'll win" has proven true across military history.

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
scotty79 9mo ago
Tell your history lesson to a Reaper drone. You can see how modern version of people's insurgency could look like in modern Gaza. This is exactly how would citizens vs. US play out. With Palantir painting the targets on the appropriate backs and declaring anyone in the blast radius as domestic terrorist.
- AngryData 9mo ago
  You really think the US government can bomb its own citizens with impunity and not completely destroy their own industrial base that makes bombing citizens possible? The US government would very quickly collapse. Refineries and factories don't work without people and are exceedingly vulnerable to locals.
  - tartoran 9mo ago
    Fear makes a lot of well intended people comply.
  - scotty79 9mo ago
    At the moment the government with 15% hardcore support is rounding up people on the streets en masse, violating decades of established practices, while harming industrial base that depend on work of those people. And somehow pretty much everyone peacefully goes along with it. Or get occasionally shot.
    - AngryData 9mo ago
      And? Minnesota is under strike right now and Arizona's AG just told its citizens that they can legally shoot ICE if they don't properly identify themselves or have a warrant or legal cause to arrest them. Still 95% of the nation is operating as normal, but that isn't possible when people are being actively bombed.
      - scotty79 9mo ago
        You can't imagine 95% of the nation operating as normal when they see in the news that another armed domestic terrorist cell got bombed every few days while being told the country is safer now?
    - amenhotep 9mo ago
      That is exactly the point. It's working because everyone is peacefully going along with it. They have the consent - or at least acquiescence - of the governed. That's why they have no issues. It is, therefore, not remotely relevant to your post starting this whole thread off saying that the consent of the governed is irrelevant and all you need is tanks.
      - scotty79 9mo ago
        > They have the consent - or at least acquiescence - of the governed. They don't have the consent. And all they needed to get acquiescence was a bunch of poorly trained goons with masks, weapons, suv-s and official mandate. Not a single tank was needed yet. Consent is irrelevant. The only saving grace is that actual people with tanks (ie military) might at some point say 'nah'. Which I think they did in case of Greenland. Simply because it was too weird for them as opposed to Venezuela and Iran.
        direwolf20 9mo ago
        GP is implying if you aren't committing terrorism, you support the regime. Which is... certainly an opinion.
  - nilamo 9mo ago
    The US government has made it pretty clear that we're two countries. There's the USA, and "democratic-controlled cesspools". Dropping a bomb on Chicago isn't that nuts when you don't think of Chicago as part of your country.
- bluGill 9mo ago
  What makes you think the army will go along with it? Sure some will, but expect many soldiers will rebel.
  - scotty79 9mo ago
    Army goes along with anyone that ensures continual financing of the army. Review history of any putsch ever.
    - ben_w 9mo ago
      The current US administration is not competent to ensure continual financing in real terms. If the White House keeps up current threats against allies it may find nobody willing to lend them money, and therefore the government will be forced to inflate its way to balancing the books each year; if they follow through with kicking out the undocumented migrant workers (even if they improve their current behaviour and limit themselves to *only* undocumented migrant workers), they mess up US agriculture at the same time; there is also visible corruption and self-dealing within the government. The question is the level, rather than the existence of these factors. There's been another authoritarian in my lifetime who messed with farms by actually kicking out non-native people in the way Trump threatens, demonstrating even worse corruption, and that actually did try to fund the government with inflation rather than my hypothetical of "will be forced to": Mugabe. It didn't go well for Zimbabwe, and the US military can observe what happened there and decide if that's what they want to see in the US.
  - mrguyorama 9mo ago
    They went along with Iraq despite knowing it was a lie. "We knew they didn't have weapons of mass destruction when we rolled up and didn't immediately get gassed"
  - _DeadFred_ 9mo ago
    The Navy is currently blowing up random boats in the Caribbean (including double taps on survivors) because reasons.
- pjc50 9mo ago
  Jan 6th worked, and they didn't even successfully take and hold the Capitol.
- dttze 9mo ago
  [dead]
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
Hasz 9mo ago
The US has lost multiple wars to goat herders in pickup trucks with small arms. As Ukraine has demonstrated, a shaped charge and consumer drone is highly effective against even heavy mechanized armor. ERA doesn't work well for multiple hits, and drones and HMX/RDX are cheap.

deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

scotty79 9mo ago

Tell your history lesson to a Reaper drone. You can see how modern version of people's insurgency could look like in modern Gaza. This is exactly how would citizens vs. US play out. With Palantir painting the targets on the appropriate backs and declaring anyone in the blast radius as domestic terrorist.

AngryData 9mo ago
You really think the US government can bomb its own citizens with impunity and not completely destroy their own industrial base that makes bombing citizens possible? The US government would very quickly collapse. Refineries and factories don't work without people and are exceedingly vulnerable to locals.
- tartoran 9mo ago
  Fear makes a lot of well intended people comply.
- scotty79 9mo ago
  At the moment the government with 15% hardcore support is rounding up people on the streets en masse, violating decades of established practices, while harming industrial base that depend on work of those people. And somehow pretty much everyone peacefully goes along with it. Or get occasionally shot.
  - AngryData 9mo ago
    And? Minnesota is under strike right now and Arizona's AG just told its citizens that they can legally shoot ICE if they don't properly identify themselves or have a warrant or legal cause to arrest them. Still 95% of the nation is operating as normal, but that isn't possible when people are being actively bombed.
    - scotty79 9mo ago
      You can't imagine 95% of the nation operating as normal when they see in the news that another armed domestic terrorist cell got bombed every few days while being told the country is safer now?
  - amenhotep 9mo ago
    That is exactly the point. It's working because everyone is peacefully going along with it. They have the consent - or at least acquiescence - of the governed. That's why they have no issues. It is, therefore, not remotely relevant to your post starting this whole thread off saying that the consent of the governed is irrelevant and all you need is tanks.
    - scotty79 9mo ago
      > They have the consent - or at least acquiescence - of the governed. They don't have the consent. And all they needed to get acquiescence was a bunch of poorly trained goons with masks, weapons, suv-s and official mandate. Not a single tank was needed yet. Consent is irrelevant. The only saving grace is that actual people with tanks (ie military) might at some point say 'nah'. Which I think they did in case of Greenland. Simply because it was too weird for them as opposed to Venezuela and Iran.
      - direwolf20 9mo ago
        GP is implying if you aren't committing terrorism, you support the regime. Which is... certainly an opinion.
- nilamo 9mo ago
  The US government has made it pretty clear that we're two countries. There's the USA, and "democratic-controlled cesspools". Dropping a bomb on Chicago isn't that nuts when you don't think of Chicago as part of your country.
bluGill 9mo ago
What makes you think the army will go along with it? Sure some will, but expect many soldiers will rebel.
- scotty79 9mo ago
  Army goes along with anyone that ensures continual financing of the army. Review history of any putsch ever.
  - ben_w 9mo ago
    The current US administration is not competent to ensure continual financing in real terms. If the White House keeps up current threats against allies it may find nobody willing to lend them money, and therefore the government will be forced to inflate its way to balancing the books each year; if they follow through with kicking out the undocumented migrant workers (even if they improve their current behaviour and limit themselves to *only* undocumented migrant workers), they mess up US agriculture at the same time; there is also visible corruption and self-dealing within the government. The question is the level, rather than the existence of these factors. There's been another authoritarian in my lifetime who messed with farms by actually kicking out non-native people in the way Trump threatens, demonstrating even worse corruption, and that actually did try to fund the government with inflation rather than my hypothetical of "will be forced to": Mugabe. It didn't go well for Zimbabwe, and the US military can observe what happened there and decide if that's what they want to see in the US.
- mrguyorama 9mo ago
  They went along with Iraq despite knowing it was a lie. "We knew they didn't have weapons of mass destruction when we rolled up and didn't immediately get gassed"
- _DeadFred_ 9mo ago
  The Navy is currently blowing up random boats in the Caribbean (including double taps on survivors) because reasons.
pjc50 9mo ago
Jan 6th worked, and they didn't even successfully take and hold the Capitol.
dttze 9mo ago
[dead]
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]

Hasz 9mo ago

The US has lost multiple wars to goat herders in pickup trucks with small arms. As Ukraine has demonstrated, a shaped charge and consumer drone is highly effective against even heavy mechanized armor. ERA doesn't work well for multiple hits, and drones and HMX/RDX are cheap.