Stalins Organ

Small groups of special forces??? Really?? so that would be NOT withdrawing all COMBAT support then? And in fact tha wold be an admission of failure of course.........an entirely perdictable one IMO...one which fully accords with what I believe the situation is - that the ANA and Govt cannot survive without foreign COMBAT support. Those Pashtun areas that were not controlled by the Taliban amounted to how much of Afghanistan in 2001?? Air strikes aer useless unless the Taliban decides to engage in some vaguely conventional warfare. It is entirely possible that they may make het mistake of doing so again.........but they do not need to IMO - as they did through the 1990's I see them as infiltrating the cities, subverting the Govt, and generally turning Afghanistan into a hell hole of intrigue, death, poverty and ignorance again. How does this war end? - 5 mb pdf from CSIS, which says, in part exec summary: The fact is that the problems I have outlined are well known, and no-one actually knows how they will be solved. Airstrikes and small elite forces do not sound like a real solution to me. As an aside and completely unrelated, the "this is not a solution reminds me of someone saying that 22mm armour was not a solution to getting a medium velocity 45mm gun into a suitable position to kill enemy tanks in 1941!

And the difference is what?? Do you REALLY think the ANA will be capable of resisting the Taliban on its own without ISAF combat forces? The VC had been wiped out - the Taliban have not. You use IEDs and suicide bombers to destroy the government infrastructure and the willingness of people to be part of it and/or obey it. If the govt can't function then the Taliban can take over quite easily - as has been demonstrated in places like Waziristan. Assymetric warfare again.

I think that the Taliban are going to "win" - the current Afghan Govt (from this distance) seems corrupt and incapable of obtaining the "moral support" of hte population. the Taliban, OTOH, seem to be able to use terror and violence and religion to secure motivated support from enough of the population to matter. so to me it seems completely analagous to vietnam, where the Govt exists solely while it has vast amounts of support from overseas - and once that is gone (end of 2014??) it is just a matter of time until it falls. whethe or not AQ then end up basing themselves in Afghanistan again, and, if so to what extent, is another question entirely. but IMO the west should not have bothered trying to set up democracy there - "we" should "just" have smashed the Taliban, put in a minimal effort to set up another Govt, and gotten out. then if hte Taliban go the AQ way again they get smashed again - as often as required until they get the message, or the population gets sick enough of it to be motivated to not let it happen, or every 10-20 years otherwise.

Yeah - pure spam and nothing to do with Jagex - I've had a couple in the last 6 mths & fwd'd them - like you was surprised to get a reply!

I remember x-ians getting a bit upset - don't recall any riots per se. Nor anyone getting killed. Apparently no-one got killed because of this image either (warning - image may offend!)

Cool - thanks for the resurrection - great thread - I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed JC's writing

The littler guys notice their lack of mass!!

Come to think of it I'm sure DiF would make a good App...

That was last MONTH!!

Amazon App store only sells inside the USA - my credit card does not work - will this be available anywhere else?

Unfortunately Amazon App store will only sell to a US credit card number!!

Cool - i've not actually kept up with te CM family - so "Touch" looks exactly the ticket. along with a bunch of other games that "you might also like" such as Rommel in Africa, Korean War, Quatre Bras, and others!! It strikes me that the old SSG "Battlefront" series would be the right size for apps too....hopefully..... thanks :)

I've just got my 1st smartphone & was wondering if anyone knows of some decent wargame apps out there?

Along with a few other warbirds IIRC - maybe a Spitfire, certainly at least a P-40 or 2 according to the poster on the wall here at work

Would he have admitted it if he did?

And both are or were Presidents of the USA, and human beings, and male too - and have any number of other things in common. I'm sure there are a couple of lawyers from illinois who are friends with each other, somewhere.......

Care to expand why you thnk he would have a problem?

Abraham Lincoln actually - which is mentioned right there in the article that it seems you did not bothe to read. You got a problem with that?:cool:

Why would anyone be? It was on loan to Bush, and the new pres has differnt tastes.

Thought the opening ceremony was great, and haven't heard any sob stories from day 1. Which Olympics are you 2 watching?? the Grinch version??

For the fragments of course. Looks a bit strange tho - IIRC people hit through body armour generally complain like shirt about the kinetic energy - something this thin "absorbing" all that energy - I'd like to see an explanation of it.

It is amazing how science always seems to trump woo.

Indeed - the King abandoned the title "Emperor of India" in 1948 - as I say - before then doesn't count. Toodle pip old chap

BCE doesn't count. Once upon a time teachers had diplomas, electricians and accountants had certificates, as did most engineers. Back in those days (somewhat after BCE) - like the 1960's - degrees here were for the academic elite. whether they went on to beome "leaders of society" was another question. Indeed in many cases people were selected to go to university because they were ALREADY leaders of society who were deemed to need a bit more academic background. and of course soon everyone confused cause and effect.

Which is entirely understandable in an age where there are a llot of demands on time. Why do you think it is strange?? IMO the vast majority of people have always only been interested in "getting by" at some level or other - it has only ever been a small minority who want to learn for the sake of learning and go on to do something more remarkable than "getting by".