Lethaface

These weren't 'police actions' but just offensive phases in a (bloody) asymmetric war for control of Indonesia which began shortly after Japan surrendered and ended in 1950. Part of the mission during the whole deployment was protecting local communities against militia's using them for their own purposes in the battle. Similar like the hearts and minds idea of Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.

I guess it depends on the beholder. I have never made a study or analysis about this subject (nor will I ever) but I'd say it is pretty rare to read about why certain decision, positive or negative, have been made in 'plain text' right from the decision maker. Usually there's some layers of PR people (window) dressing such communication. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on what communication styles people prefer. I personally subscribe to the 'no news is good news' adagium and think empty updates or window dressing are a waste of (my) time. But other people obviously differ. In the end it is what it is, everything can theoretically be improved upon but energy can only spend once so choices have to be made.

My soul has also been scratched enough so no desire to watch that footage in detail. And indeed, whomever was behind this the blame has probably been cast already in the hearts and minds of those involved.

Not everything makes sense, I don't agree with the preoccupation that it must be Palestinians or that the Israeli regime won't lie. It would indeed be dumb, but believing that no other explanation could exist is just plain naive imo. Especially given the history of this conflict. It wouldn't be the first time.

I can understand, but I thought the post was rather inhumane. My grandfather has served in the Dutch colonial war for Indonesia and has probably killed several hundreds of Indonesian 'rampokkers' or rather armed mobs / militia's who were also terrorizing the local populace. He was there 4 years on daily patrols and 'cleansing' operations (that's what they were called at the time, not ordered against the populace to be clear). I recently did a deep dive into his experiences. In the end my personal opinion is that both wars were (politically) unjust, but that doesn't mean the soldiers involved are or were 'guilty' by definition. They were mostly trying to do the right thing / their assignment, although of course not everything was 'shining'. FWIW I don't want to put anything in your mouth with regards to the justification of killing of Palestinians who just try to live their life, given the circumstances they were born in. But I had to refrain myself reacting to that post more harshly. I thought it was, inhumane to put it mildly. I respect soldiers who do their duty. Edit: I also respect the fact you replied, we might not agree on everything but that in itself is not necessarily something bad.

Agreed. First and foremost this is a humanitarian disaster, I got send a video of aftermath but didn't want to watch it. Edit: to be fully clear, same goes for any civilian casualties on any side. Israeli, Palestinian, Jew, Muslim, whatever; we are all human.

That video is said to be an old video, although I agree that it is best to reserve judgement for a bit.

Not that I concur with that statement but you liked a post which called Palestinians rabid dogs who need to be shot.

The explosion doesn't look like an ammo storage hit. In that case the whole hospital would have been gone.

https://nos.nl/artikel/2494450-aanval-op-ziekenhuis-waar-gazanen-schuilden-autoriteiten-spreken-van-honderden-doden There is now many speculation and misinformation, probably both sides will blame each other whatever the reality is. Let's see.

People who order the bombing of a hospital deserve the same faith as the Hamas leaders who order slaughter of innocents or Russians who order hospital bombings. They don't deserve drawing breath imo.

So stop giving Sisi millions per year in (military) aid. He is a dictator, like Mubarak was before him. So is MBS / S. Arabia and all the other Arabian regimes where we are happy to do business with. Egypt is dirtpoor, why do we expect them to fix Israels problem? We also don't want more refugees. Lebanon has MANY Syrian refugees and is also dirtpoor. I understand their position, even if they are dictators. The west is rather hypocrite when it comes to the middle east. If they, one day, realize the power they hold and start caring about people they can use their influence over oil. But that will cost the rich autocracy money, and us. PS All governments depend entirely on the people who pay their bills.

The question imho is whether they wouldn't have been spotted and tracked if the top side of the drone would have been painted. And if so, how often does that exact feat occur and is painting every drones topside worth that offset? I don't know, it sure sticks out on this video but wouldn't it have stuck out anyway? It's a rather large moving object. Usually drones are up in the sky flying around, you'd have to be observing their launch/retrieval area anyway to notice it; which is usually quite far from the front I presume and it's rather lazy of them to launch them directly from their command post, if that is what it was.

To my eyes this didn't look like an HIMARS strike, I mean it was a small shack probably not too sturdy and it was still standing with a a hole of a few m wide blown in it. There were many smaller 'shrapnel' impacts around it though, so could be the tungsten ball HIMARS round?

Hamas surely isn't going to bring any solution except for more violence. In a way both the extreme sides of the political spectrum in Israel and 'Palestine' need eachother. The only country which can, imo, actually change the situation is Israel. But obviously at the moment they aren't occupied with such changes.

If it is only hammering while the situation stays the same it is guaranteed to repeat in a dozen years orso. Unfortunately people seem to forget about that until it happens again and again.

I have no qualms about Hamas they will probably fight from hospitals. Anyway personally I was no fan (understatement) of the Israeli regime because of their conduct, but indeed they don't bomb hospital intentionally afaik. The matter was more how to move people from a hospital given the order to move out or North Gaza. I just read reports about Israel in conclave with USA and UN regarding safe zones so hopefully that will allow civilians a way out of the destruction.

https://www.defensie.nl/actueel/nieuws/2023/10/13/nederland-doneert-extra-patriot-raketten-aan-oekraine NL will (also) deliver more Patriot missiles for the winter. Fwiw at significant cost of own operational strength.

Indeed, apart from the logistical challenges of moving such a mass of people in such a short time without (probably) sufficient electricity/fuel/water/food/medicine there are many people in hospitals who would have issues moving even in a fully functioning western country. Plus Hamas will probably hinder the movement as they (also) don't care about Palestinian lives

thanks for clarification, too bad! In that case strange why they blur the lower side of the foto , or was it Ukr asset that made the foto?.

Another ship seem to have issues with smokers in Sevastopol:

Ok good to know you support laws of war only for agressors and don't care about innocent lives of 'human shield'. You are calling for genocide? Gazans have babies too you know, if you see them as humans that is.

MMM you know how the UN views the current occupation? Also, you are quoting but don't post the source. You are also missing out the ethical cleansing of groups like stern. Still my point was that the people living in the area which were driven out from their homes didn't do anything to deserve that. At the same time I think it is better to keep this thread about the current war.

If it is same as the first one, RTS. I have the first edition, just looked it up and played it for 5.4 hours total. Each to his own but compared to the depth / immersion I get from CM I thought it was like 'meh'. Some interesting features of course, but imo CM was way ahead. Who knows this one is much better, but I'll surely won't buy it unless reviews/let's play manage to convince me this one is very different.

Oh I agree that it would be good if Hamas leadership and ideology is surgically removed from this plane of existence. But that doesn't mean the laws of war should be applied selectively.