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Author Topic: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!  (Read 31253 times)

tenbones

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #60 on: August 17, 2021, 03:56:52 PM »
On the plus side Heroin will flood the markets and the prices will drop. Now the Chinese will have to compete with their shitty Fentanyl.

I dunno about you guys but my games are about to get buck-wild.

tenbones

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #61 on: August 17, 2021, 03:58:33 PM »
He is just pissed he didnt get one of those sweet 'Murican rifles being handed over or dropped by the 'resistance' and is still stuck with that AK.

AK's are fine weapons sir. I'd take one over an M16, pound for pound (and I like M16's).

Nah he's pissed he's stuck GMing D&D5e. I can see it in his face. That's the look of Disadvantage and weak ass Feats, and HP Bloat.

horsesoldier

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #62 on: August 17, 2021, 03:58:45 PM »
At least the premier of Taiwan is pushing back:

https://www.reuters.com/article/afghanistan-conflict-taiwan/taiwan-would-not-collapse-like-afghanistan-premier-says-idUSL4N2PO0VG
Quote from: Premier Su Tseng-chang
We also tell foreign forces who want to invade and grab Taiwan - don’t be deluded.

The key point, here, is merely technical: China hasn't the amphibious capability to invade Taiwan. Even if they build it (and I guess that they are improving, but honestly dunno) the U.S. Navy is pretty capable to engage and sink the Chinese Navy in the Strait of Taiwan. There isn't much that you can do against four aircraft carriers, and the US Navy conducted exercises aimed to show that they can deploy exactly that in the area. The message was clear.

The remaining question is "What happens if the war turns nuclear?" Rather worryingly, China is pursuing a nuclear buildup. It appears that they aim to reach parity with the US and Russia.

But a war for Taiwan will be an air and naval one. No troops on the ground (some could be deployed along the coast as deterrence). Of course the US and their allies could still fuck-up big time and one day wake up after China is already in Taiwan. It that case there will be nothing to do.

China has been investing in missile spam, which is how you deal with aircraft carriers.

oggsmash

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #63 on: August 17, 2021, 03:59:53 PM »
On the plus side Heroin will flood the markets and the prices will drop. Now the Chinese will have to compete with their shitty Fentanyl.

I dunno about you guys but my games are about to get buck-wild.
   I am not so sure about that.  Wasnt it the Taliban that burned the fields and killed drug runners and warlords who dealt in the poppies?   It's murky enough over there so I am not too sure, but I thought the USA allies were made up of the boy lovers and the drug dealers (we protected the poppies), but they all sort of merge together since the CIA and the USA basically trained and armed what later became the Taliban as well. 

tenbones

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #64 on: August 17, 2021, 04:05:18 PM »
China's "supersonic missle" is vaporware. Just like their so-called J-20 5th Gen fighter, is basically a mutant Russian Su30 with Chinese underpowered engines that aren't worth a shit and knockoff parts that make it sub-standard.

They could try to mount an invasion of Taiwan... but they'd fail. They could possibly do bombing runs but I wouldn't count on it. Their pissant aircraft carrier doesn't carry enough ordinance (half of one of our aging Nimitz carriers) and they don't have enough support craft to protect it. Meanwhile Japan does have a navy with more than enough to take on China's hodgepodge shit-ass navy and "airforce" (quotes because most of their airforce is 50's-60's era MiGs).

And of course... you know there's a chance America might do something. With Biden in power? Who the fuck knows.

tenbones

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #65 on: August 17, 2021, 04:06:50 PM »
   I am not so sure about that.  Wasnt it the Taliban that burned the fields and killed drug runners and warlords who dealt in the poppies?   It's murky enough over there so I am not too sure, but I thought the USA allies were made up of the boy lovers and the drug dealers (we protected the poppies), but they all sort of merge together since the CIA and the USA basically trained and armed what later became the Taliban as well.

How am I supposed to run my super verisimilitude Opium Wars campaign without cheap opium?

horsesoldier

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #66 on: August 17, 2021, 04:14:55 PM »
China's "supersonic missle" is vaporware. Just like their so-called J-20 5th Gen fighter, is basically a mutant Russian Su30 with Chinese underpowered engines that aren't worth a shit and knockoff parts that make it sub-standard.

They could try to mount an invasion of Taiwan... but they'd fail. They could possibly do bombing runs but I wouldn't count on it. Their pissant aircraft carrier doesn't carry enough ordinance (half of one of our aging Nimitz carriers) and they don't have enough support craft to protect it. Meanwhile Japan does have a navy with more than enough to take on China's hodgepodge shit-ass navy and "airforce" (quotes because most of their airforce is 50's-60's era MiGs).

And of course... you know there's a chance America might do something. With Biden in power? Who the fuck knows.

Missile spam, not super weapon. You don't need a supersonic missile, you just need enough to get past missile defense, which has never been seriously tested.

oggsmash

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #67 on: August 17, 2021, 04:18:23 PM »
   I am not so sure about that.  Wasnt it the Taliban that burned the fields and killed drug runners and warlords who dealt in the poppies?   It's murky enough over there so I am not too sure, but I thought the USA allies were made up of the boy lovers and the drug dealers (we protected the poppies), but they all sort of merge together since the CIA and the USA basically trained and armed what later became the Taliban as well.

How am I supposed to run my super verisimilitude Opium Wars campaign without cheap opium?

  I guess cheap is relative?  I know on TV they always have stacks and stacks of drugs regardless of actual cost....

Pat
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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #68 on: August 17, 2021, 04:21:54 PM »
The US Navy would have Taiwan as the fifth, unsinkable carrier, so, along with their aviation the US could even redeploy a number of Air Force squadrons on the island (which would become a support center overnight - Taiwanese train for this since forever, the way Israeli train against a surprise attack from their neighbours). All of this under a "dome" of AEGIS ships and Patriot batteries.

My best guess is that a modern war of this kind will be over in a matter of days, maybe even less. You can be sure that every time a Chinese SSN sails there is a Virginia-class US sub with a torpedo already aimed at her and someone with the finger on the red button. This is SOP for the area. Much has been said about these "faster-than-light carrier-sinking" missiles, but I'm still unconvinced. The best hope for China is to somehow achieve strategic surprise - and that would need someone really, really asleep on the bridge.
A comparison between Taiwan and Israel is false. In Israel, the military is well funded, well-respected, and everyone serves. In Taiwan, the military is treated poorly, underfunded, and far too few of the younger generation are participating. And the military they have is exhausted and stressed out, because of the constant need to respond to almost daily incursions by the Chinese air force. Taiwan's public seem to be expecting the US to do everything, which is a mistake. If China rolls over Taiwan in a quick and successful invasion, the US will not rescue them. Taiwan needs be able to be able to hold out. The US will probably intervene in that case.

No, what worries me is the "stealthy" expansion currently underway in the South China Sea, with all these small islands and atolls being steadily converted into potential military bases by China. Every then and now someone worries about that, but not enough IMHO.
China has 10,000 ships in the fleet they're using to invade the South China Sea. They're ostensibly civilian, but they're controlled by the military. China is both serious, and a serious threat. The US needs to be working more heavily with Australia and the Philippines to counter this.

Reckall

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #69 on: August 17, 2021, 04:24:55 PM »
In their defense, they discovered that they had to rush there while they weren't still prepared for it.

That guy GMing looks like a weak-ass 5e Module GM. Just oozing lack of confidence.

  He is just pissed he didnt get one of those sweet 'Murican rifles being handed over or dropped by the 'resistance' and is still stuck with that AK.

Either that, or we are looking at actors. Kabul folded so fast that the Taliban dressed up some dudes and sent them to the Presidential Palace "for showing" while they tried to organise their real invasion ASAP.

Remember: when I posted how that Taliban honcho admitted that they were caught flat-footed and unprepared I was not joking.
For every idiot who denounces Ayn Rand as "intellectualism" there is an excellent DM who creates a "Bioshock" adventure.

Pat
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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #70 on: August 17, 2021, 04:43:41 PM »
The Taliban have held a press conference where they said they value women and are committed to their rights. Of course the kicker is those rights still have to fit under Sharia law, so there are all kinds of ways this could go wrong. But this is still a remarkable shift for the Taliban, especially when compared to 20 years, so there's at least some reason to hope it won't be as bad as first expected.

https://news.yahoo.com/u-evacuations-flights-restart-kabul-143952540.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejtxhfNheWw

This matches that interview from a couple days ago, when a reporter was called by a member of the Taliban's leadership in Doha, while she was on the air. One of the things that came out of that interview is there is a sharp divide between the frontline Taliban soldiers, who are often very conservative, hardline, and intolerant; and their leadership, who are media savvy and want to avoid becoming a pariah state.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0XrkRxKxSM
« Last Edit: August 17, 2021, 04:46:20 PM by Pat »

SHARK

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #71 on: August 17, 2021, 04:45:38 PM »
He is just pissed he didnt get one of those sweet 'Murican rifles being handed over or dropped by the 'resistance' and is still stuck with that AK.

AK's are fine weapons sir. I'd take one over an M16, pound for pound (and I like M16's).

Nah he's pissed he's stuck GMing D&D5e. I can see it in his face. That's the look of Disadvantage and weak ass Feats, and HP Bloat.

Greetings!

Right on, brother! I love the M-16 and the AR. But geesus--I would never say "NO" to an AK-47. There are absolutely rock-solid reasons why the AK has been a global weapon choice for 60 years.

AK-47's are *sweet*.

The Taliban GM needs a good game mat to place on the table and he'd be good to go! ;D

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
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Shrieking Banshee

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #72 on: August 17, 2021, 04:47:07 PM »
The Taliban have put out a statement that they value women and are committed to their rights.
This is deeply retarded. You don't fight grueling guerilla warfare and make death lists for collaborators if you are a great believer in human rights. Like if it turns out they actually just wanted to bring sunshine and rainbows to Afganistan, then sure.
I just find that EXTREMLY unlikely.

And much more likely that their media personalities are blowing hot smoke to the western reporter class that they know will say whatever they want them to say because they hate their home countries more then they hate them.

Pat
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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #73 on: August 17, 2021, 04:50:04 PM »
The Taliban have put out a statement that they value women and are committed to their rights.
This is deeply retarded. You don't fight grueling guerilla warfare and make death lists for collaborators if you are a great believer in human rights. Like if it turns out they actually just wanted to bring sunshine and rainbows to Afganistan, then sure.
I just find that EXTREMLY unlikely.

And much more likely that their media personalities are blowing hot smoke to the western reporter class that they know will say whatever they want them to say because they hate their home countries more then they hate them.
It's not about respect for human rights, it's about their desire to be accepted as a legitimate state.

SHARK

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Re: Biden's Presidency, all hail the Taliban!
« Reply #74 on: August 17, 2021, 04:55:51 PM »
China's "supersonic missle" is vaporware. Just like their so-called J-20 5th Gen fighter, is basically a mutant Russian Su30 with Chinese underpowered engines that aren't worth a shit and knockoff parts that make it sub-standard.

They could try to mount an invasion of Taiwan... but they'd fail. They could possibly do bombing runs but I wouldn't count on it. Their pissant aircraft carrier doesn't carry enough ordinance (half of one of our aging Nimitz carriers) and they don't have enough support craft to protect it. Meanwhile Japan does have a navy with more than enough to take on China's hodgepodge shit-ass navy and "airforce" (quotes because most of their airforce is 50's-60's era MiGs).

And of course... you know there's a chance America might do something. With Biden in power? Who the fuck knows.

Greetings!

Yeah, man. Japan is always serious about everything. In everything they do, they are serious about getting things right. Even while small in numbers, from what I understand, through the years and various systems and programs, the Japanese always seek to embrace the best technology available to them, and then train like Romans. The Japanese Air Force, their amphibious troops, their helicopter forces, their airborne troops, all train constantly to a very high level of excellence. I would assume that the Japanese Navy also is like-minded, and can no doubt bite surprisingly hard.

Diplomatically, the Japanese have also been bold with the Chinese, telling the Chinese to go fuck themselves, and if the Chinese really think they can step on Japan, that China is welcome to fuck around and find out! ;D

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
"It is the Marine Corps that will strip away the façade so easily confused with self. It is the Corps that will offer the pain needed to buy the truth. And at last, each will own the privilege of looking inside himself  to discover what truly resides there. Comfort is an illusion. A false security b