The Dudeism Forum

Looks like the French army have recaptured two thirds of Mali "without a single shot being fired". I'm not a big fan of wars, but as counter-invasions go that has got to be the most laid-back ever. But the golden undies go to the Malian army who didn't bother to resist the Jihadis when they first 'invaded' in two Toyota Landcruisers, with a jammed AK47 and a blunt hunting knife. Then when the French re-took all of the occupied territory, the Malians arrived a couple of days later just in time to grab a couple of burgers and roll a fat one. They got so bored they had to shoot people in the head and throw them down wells just to pass the time.

The real reason the army didn't need to fight was because the French borrowed enough money from Germany to fill up one of their jets with petrol or lard or whatever they eat and no doubt dropped a load of garlic and snails on Mustapha Mohammed bin Islam (which is what all terrorists are called) scaring the living shit out of him and sending him fleeing to his desert hidout to sharpen his knife on a convenient stone.

The French are very resourceful and even make their own jets. Unfortunately rather than calling them something muscular like 'Stealth' 'Tornado' or 'Hercules' the French jets are named after moderately talented pop singers (Hence 'Rafale');

Yeah baby we do things differently here in France. We start work at 11, take a three hour lunch break, and can still win a war in time for our afternoon nap.

We can hope.
But much depends on what happens next.
From what I've read this is now standard operating procedure for the Islamist militants.
They won't engage superior forces and instead retreat to wage a hit and run terrorist campaign.

http://www.businessinsider.com/next-steps-in-mali-military-campaign-2013-1

It's a pleasant distraction for the French anyway. Especially when the french labour minister, Michel Sapin has just decalared France "totally bankrupt".
It's a bit ironic that the French get totally pissed when Moodys or Standand and Poor's reduce their credit rating but are happy to state that they are totally uncreditworthy.

Of course France are only bankrupt in the technical sense that they have completely over-borrowed and are unable to repay their debts. If they get really stuck they can always put up the tax rate for high earners as it only stands at 75% at the moment.

It's the Foreign Legion that's out there and they parachuted in just to show off (probably to make up for the guy who broke his leg last July in front of the president) They've got previous with the natives so I'm not surprised the Fuzzy Wuzzys had it away on their toes.They don't like it up'em you know.

And another thing. The first Dudeist war was in 1688. With the so called Glorious Revolution.Nobody died. Then. But it has caused quite a bit of heartache since

It really is starting to look like Al Qaeda fighting the ground war without a shot fired.
Egypt and Syria both in unrest and in the hands of Islamists. The 2 countries that invaded Israel not so long ago BTW.
In Africa we see Mali getting to a point that it needs France to invade in order to prevent it from linking up with rebels in the north of Nigeria. Basically southern Africa is gone if that happens.
And this is just a stop gap solution unless France plans on staying there.
It's suppose to be up to West African states to maintain Mali eventually but they are hesitant because that just makes it likely that they will be next to see uprisings.

We play whack a mole and they just spread without direct conflict.
It's really stacking up in a very very bad way.
Syria is headed in a very bad direction. And if that goes to all out war with Israel or even an intervention by other states then it will absolutely inflame things in Egypt and other places.
Very very bad times.

Quote from: BikerDude on February 06, 2013, 08:53:33 AM
It really is starting to look like Al Qaeda fighting the ground war without a shot fired.
Egypt and Syria both in unrest and in the hands of Islamists. The 2 countries that invaded Israel not so long ago BTW.
In Africa we see Mali getting to a point that it needs France to invade in order to prevent it from linking up with rebels in the north of Nigeria. Basically southern Africa is gone if that happens.
And this is just a stop gap solution unless France plans on staying there.
It's suppose to be up to West African states to maintain Mali eventually but they are hesitant because that just makes it likely that they will be next to see uprisings.

We play whack a mole and they just spread without direct conflict.
It's really stacking up in a very very bad way.
Syria is headed in a very bad direction. And if that goes to all out war with Israel or even an intervention by other states then it will absolutely inflame things in Egypt and other places.
Very very bad times.

There is some worrying shit out there but to put Mali in proportion there were only estimated to be a total of 3,000 jihadis in the whole country.
France has killed "several hundred" of them and no doubt the Malian army will soon eat the rest.

Quote from: Boston Rockbury on February 07, 2013, 02:36:18 PM
...to put Mali in proportion there were only estimated to be a total of 3,000 jihadis in the whole country.
France has killed "several hundred" of them and no doubt the Malian army will soon eat the rest.

Do jihadist make good burgers dude?

Quote from: cckeiser on February 08, 2013, 06:47:16 PM

Quote from: Boston Rockbury on February 07, 2013, 02:36:18 PM
...to put Mali in proportion there were only estimated to be a total of 3,000 jihadis in the whole country.
France has killed "several hundred" of them and no doubt the Malian army will soon eat the rest.

Do jihadist make good burgers dude?

Camel burgers?

If the world's economy didn't depend on oil, the Islamic threat wouldn't exist. Which tells me that Islam is NOT the religion to fear, but global capitalism. Am I wrong? This where I'll *ACTUALLY* quote a bible verse that rings true: The love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Small economic bubbles have happened all through history, but with the world so homogenized, we all bear the brunt of how the world is run.

Quote from: Hominid on February 08, 2013, 10:31:48 PM
If the world's economy didn't depend on oil, the Islamic threat wouldn't exist. Which tells me that Islam is NOT the religion to fear, but global capitalism. Am I wrong? This where I'll *ACTUALLY* quote a bible verse that rings true: The love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Small economic bubbles have happened all through history, but with the world so homogenized, we all bear the brunt of how the world is run.

It does seem that poor people are the easiest targets for radicalisation. You don't get too many middle class suicide bombers. And the Middle East would be an irrelevance to the West without oil. No doubt there is a religious component to how things play through but the background momentum is economic. You have to look for the one who gains.

Quote from: Boston Rockbury on February 09, 2013, 07:20:51 AM

Quote from: Hominid on February 08, 2013, 10:31:48 PM
If the world's economy didn't depend on oil, the Islamic threat wouldn't exist. Which tells me that Islam is NOT the religion to fear, but global capitalism. Am I wrong? This where I'll *ACTUALLY* quote a bible verse that rings true: The love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Small economic bubbles have happened all through history, but with the world so homogenized, we all bear the brunt of how the world is run.

It does seem that poor people are the easiest targets for radicalisation. You don't get too many middle class suicide bombers. And the Middle East would be an irrelevance to the West without oil. No doubt there is a religious component to how things play through but the background momentum is economic. You have to look for the one who gains.

Except for every one of the 911 bombers and the London Bombings.
Every one of them where college educated. In London they where doctors and the "mastermind" was a Brain Surgeon.
It's nice to think that this is the result of ignorance and poverty but nothing bears that out.
It's the result of beliefs.
We should take them at their word. Typically terrorists are pretty open about what they want and why they want it.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/brain-surgeon-linked-to-bombs/story-e6frf7lf-1111113880389

http://livingtext.wordpress.com/2007/05/19/hijackers-notes-from-911/

http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Soldiers-Hijackers-They-Were/dp/B00375LNG0

Quote from: BikerDude on February 11, 2013, 12:42:06 PM
Except for every one of the 911 bombers

If they can afford to drive Porsches then I guess they can't be poor. You got me there dude!

Quote from: Boston Rockbury on February 11, 2013, 01:04:13 PM

Quote from: BikerDude on February 11, 2013, 12:42:06 PM
Except for every one of the 911 bombers

If they can afford to drive Porsches then I guess they can't be poor. You got me there dude!

Actually your point is taken though.
I suppose that if we want to traffic in generalities then (in at least the instances of the "big" plots) the perpetrators are generally educated people from generally uneducated countries.
Can you say "conflicted"?
What happens when common sense crashes head long into Bronze Age superstition and generations of cultural indoctrination?
A person can be educated and comfortable and still support this sort of cognitive dissonance thanks to religion and culture.

Quote
We have been lulled into ignoring just how strange and insupportable many of our religious beliefs are.  How comforting would it be to hear the President of the United States assure us that almighty Zeus is on our side in our war on terrorism?  The mere change of a single word in his speech—from God to Zeus—would precipitate a national emergency.  If I believe that Christ was born of a virgin, resurrected bodily after death, and is now literally transformed into a wafer at the Mass, I can still function as a respected member of society.  I can believe these propositions because millions of others believe them, and we have all been taught to overlook how irrational this picture of reality is.  If, on the other hand, I wake up tomorrow morning believing that God is communicating with me through my hairdryer, I'll be considered a nut, even in church.  The beliefs themselves are more or less on a par—in so far as they are in flagrant violation of the most basic principles of reason.  The perversity of religion is that it allows sane people to believe the unbelievable en masse.

One of my favorites..

Quote
Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence what so ever.

Quote from: BikerDude on February 11, 2013, 01:38:14 PM

Quote from: Boston Rockbury on February 11, 2013, 01:04:13 PM

Quote from: BikerDude on February 11, 2013, 12:42:06 PM
Except for every one of the 911 bombers

If they can afford to drive Porsches then I guess they can't be poor. You got me there dude!

Actually your point is taken though.
I suppose that if we want to traffic in generalities then (in at least the instances of the "big" plots) the perpetrators are generally educated people from generally uneducated countries.
Can you say "conflicted"?
What happens when common sense crashes head long into Bronze Age superstition and generations of cultural indoctrination?
A person can be educated and comfortable and still support this sort of cognitive dissonance thanks to religion and culture.

Quote
We have been lulled into ignoring just how strange and insupportable many of our religious beliefs are.  How comforting would it be to hear the President of the United States assure us that almighty Zeus is on our side in our war on terrorism?  The mere change of a single word in his speech—from God to Zeus—would precipitate a national emergency.  If I believe that Christ was born of a virgin, resurrected bodily after death, and is now literally transformed into a wafer at the Mass, I can still function as a respected member of society.  I can believe these propositions because millions of others believe them, and we have all been taught to overlook how irrational this picture of reality is.  If, on the other hand, I wake up tomorrow morning believing that God is communicating with me through my hairdryer, I'll be considered a nut, even in church.  The beliefs themselves are more or less on a par—in so far as they are in flagrant violation of the most basic principles of reason.  The perversity of religion is that it allows sane people to believe the unbelievable en masse.

One of my favorites..

Quote
Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence what so ever.

I quite like all that sort of shamanic stuff  - you know Carlos Casteneda and what have you. Does that count as bronze age? I dig the idea of taking some freaky mushrooms and being able to see the world through the eyes of an eagle or a wolf or a republican.