This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Defense cinematic universe. Cute phrase, might repeat in future.
There is no military now that is actually self sufficient in the way they wish to be, autarky is a impossible and leveraging comparative advantage is the ideal optimal solution. Hamas and Hezhollah employment of rocket and ATGM munitions are not autarkic, just as Israeli employment of Boeing-purchased JDAMs are not autarkic. But if Israel were to be entirely self sufficient, they just switch from precision weapons to whatever they have, meaning imprecision weapons. On a cost to probable kill ratio, an available resource of precision weapons fulfills multiple objectives, and if that resource is denied than the objective fulfilment prioritization matrix changes, usually to the detrimental of 'minimize civilian casualties'. Hamas might state a preference to kill only Israeli soldiers, but with the specific precision of their own hands they choose to kill civilians on livestream instead of rushing to kill more soldiers with their limited - and externally supplied - cache of arms.
With regard to Israeli munitions depth, cor all of Erdogans pretensions, premier Turkish contractor Rokesan is actually close to Israel manufacturers having jointly supplied Azerbaijan in the region and to a lesser extent having information exchanges in Libya. If the US stops supplying Israel, Rokesan is the most likely backstop, and Hanhwa is also sniffing around to supply. This must all be balanced against internal Israeli capabilities: they can manufacture their own precision or imprecision weapons, but taxing Israeli companies provides outsized purchasing power to obtain munitions externally compared to employing factory workers to crank out shells and bombs.
Israels military is uniquely unsuited for policing operations, which is the precise conflict style Hamas and Hezbollah are directing operations towards but that is because Israeli overmatch in direct actions has pushed attention solely to policing and peacekeeping. Israel could have pivoted and curbstomped Hezbollah in 200...6? but USA imposed a ceasefire and put in UNIFIL, which is technically a win condition by externalizing the policing responsibility. Israel rotations for the reservists have normalized, and Israelis on this board can confirm how many people are in sustained mobilizations - my own observations show intermittent mobilizations among different rear echelon units, with sustained operations confined to units already tasked with the respective areas of operations. I only know one guy in the 143rd, and he's not actually mobilized at the moment even though he flew back to serve, because his role is not specifically relevant to the current CONOPS.
Long term policing actions truly is the most irritating and difficult type of military/civil management exercise, and no country has truly succeeded at that. Ironically the absolutely trash tier Arab militaries - who are still trash tier against even the (slightly) degraded Israeli post-2007 military - are uniquely suited to long term policing actions, with a surplus of bodies to post on corners and a lack of consideration for smacking heads indiscriminately. Arab militaries are happy enough to subjugate their own populations now, and getting shekels to crack skulls is something few military men will object to.
More options
Context Copy link