Star Wars Quirks

Anyone who watched both Battle of Britain and Dunkirk understands which of the two is a better war movie

@CWO:

I can’t recall the details, but Peter Perla’s book The Art of Wargaming decribes a professional wargaming exercise conducted by the British army a few years (about five or ten, I think) before WWI.  The scenario included a German violation of Belgian neutrality and a British expeditionary force being sent to the Continent.  The exercise apparently revealed that Britain had an inadequate military transportation capacity to deal with such a situation in a satisfactory amount of time.  Perla speculates that the British officer who played the role of Britain in the wargame must subsequently have experienced a disconcerting sense of deja vu in 1914 when he saw a very similar scenario being played out in real life.

The Officer was Henry Wilson, a future Field Marshal and Director of Military Operations. He was capable of looking at a map, and thus saw that clearly the Germans would come through Belgium (though he, like the entire French High Command, assumed it would just be through the Ardennes instead of the whole on flanking attempt that it was).

After the initial Moroccan Crisis and increasing tensions with Germany, Wilson was probably THE key figure in organizing Anglo-French military cooperation. Wilson eventually had plans to move the entire BEF (all six divisions, plus the cav) to France and be fully ready for combat by no latter than M-15 (the Germans expected them on M-12). The organization was essentially flawless, however political dithering and fears of German invasion eventually screwed it all up and we had the 4 divisions plus the cavalry moved over that we all know about.

As to the question: Britain was not going to sit back and let Germany assume hegemony over the continent, just like she hadn’t let France assume hegemony over the continent 100 years earlier. The Liberals would dither, and it could take awhile, but with men such as Churchill in charge of their military, Britain was going to war.

Also, MANY people don’t seem to know, that regardless of the government, the British military and foreign offices took war with Germany as a matter of fact, to the point where they had a treaty with the French (kept secret from the government) that the Royal Navy would assume responsibility over the entire French Atlantic coast in the event of war with Germany, allowing the French to concentrate their fleet in the Med. Lord Grey had the wonderful task of informing Parliament that they were duty bound to guard the French coast from any German excursion. Needless to say the liberals took it well  :-D

True, there is no hell in Judaism (its from pagan Norse mythology), though the Aryan Jesus talks of throwing liars into a lake of fire to burn for ever and ever. Nice chap, even if he didn’t care for gentiles. Not that he was a real person, natch.

I have no faith, I’m not a moron.

I’m just interested to know why people who do think they can influence God’s plan for them by praying.

@Jermofoot:

@Gargantua:

Call it Progress.

Call it Change.

Call it Reform.

Call it War.

Like rolling the dice in Axis and Allies, anything can happen and there are no garuntees; But if you don’t like the gameboard and you want to improve your control of “progress/change/reform/victory” for your side, you have to move your pieces in play to “take the chance” on better results.

What Peters is saying is that the Bush administration set the pieces in order to contribute to a possible “roll of the dice” in Egypt; and that some credit is deserved for this.

Anyways - want to know who I think deserves Credit? And like Deanin his time, I was lamblasted for saying had a “level of grace” about this process?

Mubarak.

Unlike Assad, or Ghaddafi, Mubarak saw the writing on the wall, knew what was at stake and basically resigned without a shot fired - all the while knowing he would likely face criminal proceedings. �You have to have some respect for that.

Call it dumb.

Some change.  Where is Egypt now?  In complete turmoil right now.  What an improvement.

@Gargantua:

What was wrong with the Iraq war again?

Sorry, I tuned out to the news on it for about 5 years… far away up here in Canada you know.

IMO, at the time, there was no significant justification for it.  It seemed pretty clear to me the motivation for it was not what was being sold to the American public, who ate it up anyway post WW2.  And the conflict of interest, cronyism and outright corruption involved in bidding contracts, infrastructure, supply, etc. just about makes me sick.  And hardly anyone even cared.  The public was duped and we are paying for our bamboozle.

Like politics, Sausage is ugly when made.

I wonder what the “world” said about the American Civil war during the 1860’s.  “It’s in complete turmoil right now”.

The “turmoil” in Egpyt is a piddlance in comparison to the turmoil in Syria… or what we saw in Libya.  Considering the players, the location, and the stakes, it is a fairly well moderated shift.  There aren’t 1000’s of people dying in the streets.

The “shift to what” is the question we should be asking.

@djensen:

It worked!

Wait until you see Young Grasshopper’s setup. It’s pretty darn cool.

Saw it, and mightily impressed, but i’m curious how does one get such a large size map? or how does one make one?

For those interested in the help and sacrifices of their allies . . .
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/canada.html

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/07/23/omez-warren.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/afghanistan/casualties/total.html

Note - in addition to a naval force and over 2000 troops (including the renowned Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry), the Black Watch and the Joint Task Force 2’s are all in the muck.  Meanwhile hundred’s of millions have been earmarked for humanitarian aid and the RCMP and Canadian army instructors are training Afghan police and military units.

Just in case you cared.

Jeepers :) I think we can all agree that “ctm” is right. Let’s leave it at that

On 2002-04-19 16:14, Mr Ghoul wrote:

What would you suggested they do.

Become less dependent on oil. Pull out of the middle East, 1st Saudia Arabia, and then on.

When the USSR invaded Afganistan, they got hit with numerous terrorist attacks. When they pulled out, the attacks stopped.

BTW, before the U.S. pulls out they should help the Israelis pull their people out of the West Bank and Build that Wall they so desperately need.