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>if the Syrian regime were as technologically well-equipped as most Western governments, this uprising would have been a very short one. What's the gap between
by unimpressive 14y ago
>if the Syrian regime were as technologically well-equipped as most Western governments, this uprising would have been a very short one.
What's the gap between most dictatorships and most western governments look like anyway? Is it mainly Nuclear arms?
- CamperBob2 14y agoThe traffic signals in one intersection a block away from my house include six cameras. I don't know what they're all for... but I'm guessing that it would be a bad idea for me to trundle my homebrew trebuchet up to that intersection and start chucking grenades around.
- swombat 14y agoI would imagine that in an insurrection situation, disabling the camera network would be one of the first actions of a rebel army.
- pekk 14y agoWhen you are discussing "chucking grenades around" in your own neighborhood, it seems that cameras are the least of the worries for peaceful, law-abiding civilians in your area (not to mention police who are just doing their jobs). Why it is publicly acceptable to talk like Timothy McVey?
- CamperBob2 14y agoAbstract thinking isn't your strong suit, I take it.
- edraferi 14y agoA lot of it comes down to institutional strength. There's probably some good academic models for this, but I'd say: 1) Institutional cohesion and alignment with population. Many dictators have ethnically homogenous security services - their clan, tribe, whatever. People are loyal to the ethnicity, not the country or institution. That's how you get a nations military killing it's own people. In democratic western countries, the military is much more reflective of the overall population, which puts a check on that. 2) Training. Just because Syria has "jets" doesn't mean they're well-maintained, flown by skilled pilots and employed with excellent tactics. It's very expensive and time consuming to apply the tools of modern war. NATO nations spend a ton of money training their troops to improve effectiveness. Really, I think the first one is most important. Theoretically you don't get violent uprisings in western nations because democratic governments are more responsive to needs and social composition of the population.