You won't think war is so cool when you're crawling away from mortars, and you put your hands in a pile of mush that used to be your buddy's face, man.

You won't think war is so cool when you're crawling away from mortars, and you put your hands in a pile of mush that used to be your buddy's face, man.

the rest of the capitalist elite

Ha hahaha hahahahahaha, ahahahahaha, ahahahahahahhahhahahaahahahaha!

You're a lawyer.

As long as there's a medic to paddle me.

under which said command bunker will be built

So that's why your house fell down!

I am annoyed and disappointed in equal measure that this didn't come to anything. Perhaps this displays some huge sociopathic character flaw that I was unaware of, but I don't care. I'm bored and I want to be entertained, and nothing less than full scale global war will do, thank you very much.

The continuing low-boil trouble in west Pakistan, and the haven this provides to the mixed bag of fantasists and inadequates playing their be-turbaned Boys Own games in east Afghanistan, remains mildly concerning, but one would have thought that if anything was going to get the jihadist nutjobs running around in the hills of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to rise up and stage some sort of takeover in Pakistan, the recently applied water-based apocalyptic wrath of Allah would have provided the ideal opportunity, what with the already fractured state being at its weakest. But no, nothing happens, except that they threaten to kill western aid workers coming over to assist the poor benighted rural peasants who have been hit hardest by the government's preference for spending on arms rather than civil improvement. Well fucking done, guys. All that running through lines of tyres with AK-47s over your head really prepared you well.

Perhaps this proves that the threat posed by a destabilised Pakistan has been hugely overstated here in the West, and that the main destabilisation issue we have to worry about is their destabilisation of the sports betting industry. And the wonderful sidebar to that is entertainment provided by the delightfully be-monikered Ahsan Butt. Every cloud, eh?

Of course, the other argument for some sort of "action" with respect to Pakistan is that, supposedly, the majority of the unspecified but oh-my-word-so-worrying,-you'd-never-sleep-again-if-we-told-you-about-them-but-trust-us-they-were-horrific-and-real-and-zomg-I've-just-come-on-my-AndyMcNab-novel terrorist plots that have been foiled over the last few years have originated from or (weasel words ahoy) "had links to" Pakistan. So much so that there has been a move, both here and in the US government, from discussing "Afghanistan" to talking about the "AfPak" (*grinds teeth*) problem. But we don't appear to be doing anything about it, apart from occasionally getting some computer games addict in an office in an airbase in the US to fly a drone over the border and blow up some villagers. And given that our own dear Gordon Brown, and now Cameron, claim that Our Boys are dying over in the sandpit to keep our streets safer here, why aren't they expanding that out into Pakistan? Otherwise, given the "porous" border and the fact it's the same people pissing about on both sides of it, what's the point? Or maybe, just maybe, Pakistan, and the dickless idiots blowing themselves up over there in the name of god knows what, isn't that much of a threat to us. Given that we're doing nothing whatsoever about it, I can only assume that's the case, but if it is, why is this Pakistani threat being talked up? Is someone out there looking to start world war 3?

Oh my, maybe it's me.

I think you you're thinking of Koreans. You lacist.

Photo Update!

Tourists take pictures:


Another angle:


Fire spreading:


South Koreans shooting back:


Artillery fire and F16's scrambling:


Looks like its getting serious!

Real updates:







:?

...continue to make merciless military attacks with no hesitation if the South Korean enemy dares to invade our sea territory by 0.001mm....It is our military's traditional response to quell provocative actions with a merciless thunderbolt.

You won't think war is so cool when you're crawling away from mortars, and you put your hands in a pile of mush that used to be your buddy's face, man.

I'd guess that one of the reasons is that South Korea are very highly US influenced. Whereas the US are no fans of the north, given the volatility between Iran and Israel, they don't want to encourage retaliation in Korea for fear of giving the israelis a blank cheque to respond if provoked.

they'd have to deal with 500,000 hungry soldiers through down their weapons and demanding to be fed, followed by 2 million hungry civilians taking their chance to cross the border and get some food and a chance at a decent life.

Reunification of the Koreas would absolutely fuck South Korea up for those reasons.

Germany's reunification was probably one of the worst things ever to happen to the country.

Also China doesn't want a mass influx either.

Man, how much must your life suck when being a refugee in northern China seems like a welcoming prospect.

Up until now, Russia had been our best bet for kicking off World War (huh!) 3. Now, however, the once great opponent who met our watery capitalist eyes over the Iron Curtain with a steely communist gaze is a broken shell of its former mass-tractor producing self. Its armed forces are barely functioning, for all the supposedly good kit they have knocking about, and they can barely pay the manpower that they still have. Moreover, if diplomatic push with their effete capitalist running dog foes comes to potential military shove it's entirely unlikely that Mother Russia would actually man up and break out the armoured divisions or the MIRVs. The majority of their wealth derives from selling us fuel, and there's a gravy train they can't afford to derail, for all of Putin's Cold War Warrior rehetoric.

We do have a treaty with Ukraine, so if they do get invaded properly, I can’t see us doing nothing about it. There will be enormous pressure from the Central and Eastern European NATO members for us to do something, so they are reassured that we’ll step in if they’re next. That or they may end up taking things into their own hands. I can’t see how we can sit back and do nothing at all if there is an actual, honest to goodness invasion. Then again, maybe the takeover of Ukraine will be another Sudentenland-esque approach which allows our fearless leaders to back down without looking like spineless cowards.

Nonsense! Right now the various EU Heads of State are writing a *very* strongly worded letter. In the unlikely scenario that that isn't enough, they're willing to write *another letter*.

Nonsense! Right now the various EU Heads of State are meeting to decide whether to writeing a *very* strongly worded letter.

whether or not Putin likes who's in charge in Ukraine gives him precisely fuck all right to invade the place

I don't know why I even bother writing this, because the tone of the posts above suggests I will be pissing in the wind, but here goes nothing.

EU+USA have seemingly been pouring billions into Ukraine over several years, finally staging a coup against a democratically elected government, putting neonazis in charge in its place.

From a Russian point of view, Putin is simply drawing a line in the sand against western neocolonialism. At least he is doing so openly, instead of using all the covert bullshit tactics employed by the west (I'm not saying he wouldn't use those if he could, mind you). Personally I am a rather terrified by the one sided coverage all this is given in the western media.

I am not suggesting "he" is right and "we" are wrong, but maybe things are a tad more complicated than him being the evil overlord - at the very least I think blaming Putin alone for things coming to this is just a wee bit naive.

While I don't dispute what you have said here, I feel it is naive to consider that Putin has not influenced the Ukraine in a similar manner to the EU. He is influencing overtly now, but I think it is safe to say that he was influencing covertly beforehand.