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Conflict Shitpile III - Diplomacy Defunct Edition

  1. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    Yemen - KSA has laid siege to Hodeida again. Even the US has declined to help them this time though, citing damage to the port will make the cholera/starvation situation of the country even worse and likely irreversible.

    The attack is unlikely to succeed, but the UN has warned that the area is far too densely populated for KSA to use its standard indiscriminant saturation bombing 'tactic' and has predicted a death toll of 250,000+ if the attack goes ahead in full.
  2. NARCassist gollums fat coach
    Originally posted by aldra to an extent. from what I've read (this is really only a guess) I think that the main way Russia's been able to interfere with Tomahawks is by feeding them false GPS/terrain data in the final phase of flight where the missile finds its own path to the target - telling it the target's inside a mountain (that doesn't really exist) would cause bizarre behaviour for example.

    Actually having a sample to take apart would give them access to the code - how the missile behaves, how it avoids threats and seeks targets, down to an incredibly fine detail. I mean, imagine if there were unprotected buffers in the part of the system that reads radio waves or GPS signals - by exploiting them you could shut down all of the missile's systems in midair at any phase of flight simply by bouncing a signal off of it, a signal that it couldn't ignore. Anyone with a radio transmitter (SDR card and a decent antenna) could do it too. The manufacturer would have to rewrite the code properly and update every single missile sold, or face the fact that it's now possible for a kid with a laptop and a yagi antenna to drop them into the ocean or back onto your flight deck.

    it would be an epic fail if those signals weren't heavily encrypted, lol.



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  3. NARCassist gollums fat coach
    Originally posted by The Self Taught Man But yeah, I'm extremely disappointed in Trump. He's doing exactly what we elected him not to do. He seems like his heart is in the right place but his brain is MIA or he's being fed bullshit information

    you could literally replace trumps name in that sentence and replace it with any elected western leader from the last hundred years at least, and it would still hold true.



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  4. stare rape African Astronaut (banned)
    Originally posted by NARCassist you could literally replace trumps name in that sentence and replace it with any elected western leader from the last hundred years at least, and it would still hold true.



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    It does seem that way. The last 55 years, that is
  5. NARCassist gollums fat coach
    Originally posted by aldra Ukraine - DPR has warned that the Ukraine government is preparing an attack on the EU delegation set to inspect the contact line between government and separatist forces - the goal being to blame the separatists and garner international support for further military actions. DPR's intelligence group has specifically stated that the EU delegation's helicopter will be struck with a MANPAD.


    It seems likely that Kiev has become emboldened by the latest accusations against Russia and the DPR in relation to the MH-17 attack and that a new offensive campaign will start soon.


    ***I'm writing up a new thread, just wanted to post this before (if) the attack happens.

    how did ross ulbricht get involved in this? isn't he still in jail?



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  6. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    Originally posted by NARCassist it would be an epic fail if those signals weren't heavily encrypted, lol.

    Encryption's typically not an issue when you've got access to the hardware - missile avionics is performance-intensive enough that I'd doubt you could do anything like that to protect the firmware without hamstringing the missile's capabilities.

    Basically they lost billions in R&D on those missile programs in a non-strike just to prove they were 'serious' about... something.
  7. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    Originally posted by NARCassist how did ross ulbricht get involved in this? isn't he still in jail?

    not sure if serious, but DPR = Donetsk People's Republic, the breakaway Eastern parts of Ukraine
  8. stare rape African Astronaut (banned)
    Originally posted by aldra not sure if serious, but DPR = Donetsk People's Republic, the breakaway Eastern parts of Ukraine

    He was referring to "Dread Pirate Roberts," head matey of ye Olde silk road
  9. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    yeah I figured it out after a few rereads wondering where the fuck I mentioned him
  10. NARCassist gollums fat coach
    Originally posted by aldra Encryption's typically not an issue when you've got access to the hardware - missile avionics is performance-intensive enough that I'd doubt you could do anything like that to protect the firmware without hamstringing the missile's capabilities.

    Basically they lost billions in R&D on those missile programs in a non-strike just to prove they were 'serious' about… something.

    but surely if you changed the encryption code used each time on each missile, then the enemy would have to figure which code you was using on each missile in order to spoof the signals to stop it. i wouldn't have thought there would be enough time to do that during its flight path. its like when you use tor and each time you log on its using different encryption codes, even tho they have access to the hardware they still take fucking ages if they wanted to track you, its not like they can do it within a few minutes.



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  11. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    Originally posted by NARCassist but surely if you changed the encryption code used each time on each missile, then the enemy would have to figure which code you was using on each missile in order to spoof the signals to stop it. i wouldn't have thought there would be enough time to do that during its flight path. its like when you use tor and each time you log on its using different encryption codes, even tho they have access to the hardware they still take fucking ages if they wanted to track you, its not like they can do it within a few minutes.

    oh right, I'd expect they use public/private key pairs signed to each unit based on their serial number or something, I haven't looked into it deeply enough.

    What I suggested was just an example of how catastrophic it could be if a hostile party found flaws in your weapons systems that you weren't even aware of - not necessarily that it'd be that easy... That said there are levels below the encrypted data, like controlling drivers for the radio that sends and receives signals - the radio itself doesn't care what data is being sent or received, it's just supposed to pass them on.
  12. Are the Cossacks still in the LPR? Are they still beefing with the DPR? How bad do you think they regret not taking Marioupol after the first Minsk agreement like they took debaltsevo after the second? Is there any indication it might be self sustaining in the future? Have the Canadian arms reached the front lines yet? How's the recruitment drive going for arms on the DPR side? Any end in sight?
  13. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    sorry, didn't see this post. have been busy moving, will have to get back to you on most points.

    Originally posted by yum Are the Cossacks still in the LPR?
    Are they still beefing with the DPR?
    How bad do you think they regret not taking Marioupol after the first Minsk agreement like they took debaltsevo after the second?
    Is there any indication it might be self sustaining in the future?
    Have the Canadian arms reached the front lines yet?
    How's the recruitment drive going for arms on the DPR side?
    Any end in sight?

    as far as I know the DPR and LPR are on fairly good terms, conflicts in the past weren't significant enough to trigger open conflict, just problems with co-operation. There are still plans to retake Marioupol, not sure how solid they are though.

    I don't know about Canadian arms - that seems more like a domestic political issue as they're unlikely to make a significant difference on the ground. US ATGMs (Javelins from memory) have already been delivered and will continue to be.

    No, I don't see it ending anytime soon. The Ukraine military (especially in the state it currently is) and volunteer battalions will not be able to retake the entire DPR/LPR, and if they try to raze the area and simply annihilate the population (more than they already have) Russia will step in, triggering a wider war. The only sane end to this would be for Ukraine to recognise sovereignty of the breakaway regions, but without deep co-operation their economy could not survive. Further the extreme 'nationalists' control the volunteer battalions and a large chunk of the military, so it's likely Porky would be Ghadaffi'd if he even considered a peace agreement... And none of his likely successors will be any more pragmatic than him.

    Besides, after what the US did to trigger the war, there's no way Porky's (and Kolomoisky's, and Tymoshenko's) handlers and financiers would allow what they perceive as a 'Russian victory'.





    I've been reading this guy's twitter lately:

    https://twitter.com/SufihaqAI

    claims to be a rebel in idlib but almost exclusively cites US BBG sources like RFE and NATO info sources. alternately claims that Russia owns ISIS and ISIS is the 'first line of defence against assad'. Constantly calls for journalists that don't toe the line to be assassinated. Good times.
  14. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    The rebel groups in Southern Syria have completely imploded and lost public support when they stopped being able to hoard food and medical suplies, and Israel's in full panic mode because large swathes of the SAA and Hezbullah want to retake the occupied Golan. It's unlikely an operation will take place any time soon, but Israel has been stepping up airstrikes in response despite the steadily rising risk of interception.

    Nasrallah has been talking about Hezbullah directly taking part in the Yemen 'war' once Syria winds down but there don't seem to be any solid plans... Yet
  15. stare rape African Astronaut (banned)
    Oh good, I was just starting to lose hope that the world was going to end
    The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
  16. benny vader YELLOW GHOST
    theres another potent conflict going on that will effect you and me - the trade one.
  17. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    Originally posted by benny vader theres another potent conflict going on that will effect you and me - the trade one.

    Yeah, I haven't been following that terribly closely, all I really know about is the public dickwaving. Pretty sure Pepe Escobar's done a lot of analysis on it though
  18. benny vader YELLOW GHOST
    i didnt either.

    just kept reading headlines regarding billions upon billions worth of tariffs.
  19. aldra JIDF Controlled Opposition
    Originally posted by benny vader i didnt either.

    just kept reading headlines regarding billions upon billions worth of tariffs.

    http://www.atimes.com/article/even-trade-war-wont-derail-made-china-2025/

    Pretty good article on the matter. Looks like the core of it is that China is working to strategically build their tech industry to outperform US production by 2025 and in response the US is trying to reclaim domestic production from the global supply chain.


    This is the main reason why the US has always had such a hate-boner for Communism and Socialism - if they could be made to work smoothly, capitalist companies would be unable to compete with government-supported socialist production and capitalist states would lose their primacy on the international markets. It seems to me that we're seeing this again with Trump demanding that China stop subsidizing development of their tech industry (link).
  20. benny vader YELLOW GHOST
    Originally posted by aldra http://www.atimes.com/article/even-trade-war-wont-derail-made-china-2025/

    Pretty good article on the matter. Looks like the core of it is that China is working to strategically build their tech industry to outperform US production by 2025 and in response the US is trying to reclaim domestic production from the global supply chain.

    i still dont think that was the case.

    donald just doesnt look like a someone whos aware of these things. i believe that he just looked at the papers and saw the trade deficits and decided that he had to do something about it ala knee jerk style.
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