StrangeSox

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 07:53 PM) Again, much like Iraqis did, under seemingly much better local circumstances. The structures and political realities in Iraq and NK are not at all similar. But any time you're talking about military action and "Iraq" comes to mind, I'd hope it would give everyone cause for a long, long pause.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 07:52 PM) And of course we won't. We will appease them with bribes, since that has worked so well for the past 60 years or so. Seoul appears to still exist, and it's doing well to boot. I'm sure they're prefer that to American military bluster and another preemptive war.

A full-scale ground assault through mountainous regions would be a lot harder than rolling across the desert, too. How did people live like this under decades of MAD for major US, Russian and other NATO/Warsaw cities?

QUOTE (Felix @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 06:03 PM) This truly is a shame. Some of my favorite games growing up were LucasArts productions, including Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, any of the Monkey Island games (although lets not kid ourselves, they weren't the same from the third release onward), the early Star Wars Jedi Knight games (Dark Forces, DF2, JKII, JA, KOTOR, KOTOR2 etc.) and of course the X-Wing vs Tie Fighter games. Big chunk of my childhood just got shutdown. That was my reaction, too, but then the article pointed out that the studio really hasn't done all that much in a while.

I don't think our intelligence agencies have a whole lot of information on NK, either. That study covers both that aspect and the hypothetical fading away of the NK army as well, finding it much less likely than what we saw in Iraq.

This analysis seems legit: http://www.iiss.org/publications/strategic...ce-on-the-kore/

I'm trying to find someone who actually knows what they're talking about discussing likely scenarios and outcomes and not coming up with anything worthwhile.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 05:35 PM) Thinking about how effective the Iraqi military of the 90's was, with tons of more capital to invest in their military, I really get the feeling that NK is a paper tiger. That's not a gamble I'm willing to make on behalf of Seoul.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 04:52 PM) Yeah. I just find it odd that we don't negotiate with terrorists, but we do negotiate and pay off state-sponsored terrorist leaders. Real politik (also we have a good history of both negotiating with and funding/sponsoring terrorists!)

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 04:51 PM) Yeah I wasn't assuming nuclear. I was assuming thousands of tomahawk missiles exploding wherever the batteries are located, with the hope you knock out 75% of them in the first hour or whatever and then make another strike after that. Again, no idea if that's feasible or not. As soon as the first strike is detected, the missiles are going to be launched. You need to wipe out a hell of a lot more than 75% within maybe a minute if you want Seoul to be left standing.

I don't know why you're assuming nuclear, but either way, there's little to no chance that you get everything in the first wave. edit: x-post but still works! I'm sure Seoul, Japan and the US all have numerous weapons pointed at known NK military installations and facilities. It's the same MAD strategy from the Cold War, only we're not talking about global annihilation. But there's no way you get everything at once.

Because a preemptive strike will directly lead to Seoul getting obliterated? That's exactly why they have that s*** aimed at Seoul in the first place. How cool would you be with this first-strike policy if it was Chicago (and thus, you) that was facing obliteration if a move was made?

whew

ugh

mlb's gameday is not working very well so far this year.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 01:48 PM) Yeah, because Eric Gordon and Rudy Gay are amazing. The wings are pretty damn thin right now beyond like 6 guys. At this rate we're going to prove that NBA basketball is and always has been terrible!

That's a shame. Too bad he didn't take that advice when he was an employee of the University of Iowa and publicly shamed a student who was a sexual assault victim. But I don't know what legal consequences would be at issue there. He's apologized for other things like yelling at people before. You'd think this guy who "just made a mistake" in trusting one student over another and publicly calling the victim a liar would feel some remorse and publicly apologize for his actions.

Has Alford ever apologized for his "mistake" of trusting Pierce and for the statements he made to the press at the time that amounted to calling the victim a liar?

I don't think there's any dispute of Alford's involvement there. Trying to arrange a "prayer session" where you force the victim to confront her attacker directly is f***ed.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 12:30 PM) One other thing to consider is the girl was a student/athlete. Not sure how this is relevant beyond Alford maybe having even more leverage, at least from the girl's perspective, if she's there on scholarship. Maybe, maybe not. Irrelevant to Alford actions. Well, by definition, yeah, I'd think they were lying. But that wouldn't justify me taking any actions similar to Alford's, especially when there's such a huge power imbalance as there was there. Stop trying to make Alford's actions here, actions meant to silence an alleged sexual assault victim, as the outpouring of some bleeding-heart coach who's the real victim here for his misplaced, naive trust. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe he's even more of a terrible person than I'm giving him credit for and was just looking to sweep this under the rug. It's certainly happened before. Don't know, not relevant to your continued excuse-making for Alford's s***ty, inexcusable actions.

Wouldn't tehre be some sort of "witness intimidation" protection for a victim?

S3 was probably the slowest up to that point but it was still good and S4 is some of the best TV ever.

how is that not a crime though? it's pretty clearly intimidation.

I don't know how he didn't get charged with obstruction of justice, to be honest.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 3, 2013 -> 12:15 PM) And why did he pressure the girl? Because he trusted and believed Pierce which turned out to be a huge mistake. Right, so trusting Pierce was a mistake that is completely forgivable. Issuing a statement that you support your players, believe he is innocent and that an investigation will clear him is a 100% reasonable thing to do. But, uh, you keep forgetting a critical part. You know, the part where Alford decided to pressure the girl into silence. The part where he tried to prevent a legitimate investigation into a sexual assault from taking place. The part where he abused his power and position to attempt to silence the voice of a victim. The part where he was a moral monster. That is his mistake, not trusting Pierce. Plenty of people believe friends and family members to be innocent without trying to silence the alleged victims, because that is an unquestionably s***ty and immoral thing to do. I really hope you have some sort of blinders in this case and don't actually think Alford's actions are legit simply because he "trusted the wrong person" when applied broadly. Because that's a pretty f***ed view.