Radio War Nerd EP #413 — World of Wars: Future Border Wars, Assab to Essequibo + Gaza Slaughter

John, just a note to say how much I enjoyed Erdogan Pizza. I had no idea how dire some of those moves were for you and Katherine. I should have been paying attention. And for all the pathos, it's never not funny! Inspired me to pick up the Illiad, too. Merry Xmas to you guys.

Looking forward to the Ukraine update. I’ve tried to not follow the coverage too closely to not get Ukraine brain but recent developments have been insane. From the WaPo article. “The campaign’s inconclusive and discouraging early months pose sobering questions for Kyiv’s Western backers about the future, as Zelensky — supported by an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians — vows to fight until Ukraine restores the borders established in its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union. “That’s going to take years and a lot of blood,” a British security official said, if it’s even possible. “Is Ukraine up for that? What are the manpower implications? The economic implications? Implications for Western support?”” Insert the Nic Cage ‘you don’t say’ meme here

Why does your description of how the Gulf states regard the Saudis remind me of how the 18th century European powers regarded the Habsburgs?

I think that the Guyana question is mostly escalating because the oil extraction is starting now. If you’re not that active on a dispute over an area with 100.000 inhabitants that’s one thing. But if you’re not pressing it when there’s billions of dollars of oil money at stake, then you just forfeit the credibility of your claim.

"Stockholm Syndrome" 😂😂 also, a regular dose of Klonopin, let's say 0,5mg, won't have you drooling. Just calmer, less anxious. But not chummy with your captors. This was obviously another desperate "israeli" lie.

I had to pause the episode and check my notes from the 2016 Jerusalem Film Festival because there was a government official who got to take the stage for a few moments before the opening night film (Almodovar's JULIETA), and she was booed off by the crowd of some 500-1000 attendees. It was explained to me that she was Miri Regev, then Israel's Minister of Culture and Sport, an avowed racist who, among other classy details, called Sudanese refugees "cancer". A few years ago she was moved over to heading up Transport and Road Safety for the same government, which is very funny because there's a story that came out in September of this year that she ordered her driver to run over one of Yoav Gallant's security guards. Anyway, not the same lady, but interesting and unsurprising how Netanyahu has empowered so many people in his government, as well as his media apparatus, to behave like a drunken racist singing his way home at 2 in the morning.

Everyone’s saying “Stockholm Syndrome doesn’t exist,” but it feels to me like it probably exists, even if the case it was named after is BS. People who are scared of those who have power over them start to tell themselves lies and want to kiss up to those in power, and then internalize the beliefs of those in power. Look how the bullied sometimes cling to the hope that bullies are, or could become, their friends. And you could say it exists up to the governmental scale. “Manufacturing consent” and all. So idk if people are just pedantically dissing the name Stockholm or what, but if they are saying this behavior isn’t human nature they are wroooong

Completely off-topic, but I just finished Book of the New Sun and holy shit it's good. Now rereading it.

Regarding your conversation on Vegas, I guess it's a fitting home for the Raiders.

I got two insights from my life to a couple things said. I have an uncle who was a miltary advisor for 5years to the UAE he had told me total incompetence from top to bottom in their miltary. Also my friends who's from Venezuelaen, dad worked as a engineer for the state oil company I asked him about the biggest reserves in world claim, he said its not true, basically you can say whatever but until it's verified usually by the banking system because you taking loans against it, and since theirs a money crunch I'm assuming they haven't its just not true

Why hasn't Ethiopia pursued annexation of Somalia, or at least Somaliland? That would create a much bigger coastline along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Are the Somalilanders protected, or are they considered too much trouble?

That was depressing as fuck. Thanks a lot.

Mark please stop talking about Stockholm syndrome like it's a real thing. The Swedish police made it up because they needed a way to discredit the hostages of the Norrmalmstorg robbery, as they refused to testify against their former captors after being released, and began raising funds for their defence. Rather than accept the fact that they were incompetent, and showed clear disregard for the safety of the hostages, the police enlisted the "expertise" of a psychiatrist whom they were on such friendly terms with that he was known as the Police Doctor, and he concocted the misogynistic theory of Stockholm syndrome. It is not taken seriously in academic or medical circles, it does not appear in the DSM, and near the only people diagnosing it are the media, and the police.

Your characterizations of Vegas and the surrounding suburbs are spot on (when I lived there the police in Henderson murdered an ice cream man during a traffic stop). I barely got out of there alive and am actually kind of surprised there are not more mass shootings there. Fucking grim.

Stockholm syndrome doesn't exist, it's pop psychology.

Fun Fact the "Excallibur 155mm" shell runs around 70-100k a piece. You could literally buy 100 152mm dummy shells for the same price.

Obviously I don't think any army or people is too moral for rape but I'll be more likely to believe Hamas used organized mass rape as a pre-planned strategy when someone tells me how it would serve any strategic purpose. You certainly can't believe they were as gruesome as possible on purpose and also that they intentionally try to cultivate western sympathy with "human shields," intentional martyrdom of their own civilians, and/or "Pallywood." Those strategies are mutually exclusive. And if the whole thing was just unstrategic revenge, why take hostages, something that was undeniably pre-planned, and why keep them alive and let them go instead of torture them to death?

There was a joke that Kissinger probably stole from somebody - hell, I may have heard it on RWN - that “the fighting in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small”.

The rape claims I've seen didn't really have to do with the actions of the Palestinians during the attack in Israel but were given as a reason that the ceasefire broke down--Hamas was offering to free older male hostages because they literally couldn't stop raping the young women (or, more charitably, they could stop for a second but they didn't want anyone to know what they had done to the women). Israel wouldn't stand for this and had no alternative but to go back in. I have no idea about the truth of that accusation but Israel always wanted to proceed in Gaza, and "our opponents are such savages that they would rather die than stop committing rapes" is better PR than "we were always going to go back in there to kill them kids."

Stockholm syndrome isn’t real

Was a little disappointed to hear the claims of mass rape against Hamas, but not include the horrific rape that the IDF perpertrates against women and the sexual violence of stripping Palestinian men to parade around in the streets that we are seeing. I'm sure it's been said, but it should be talked about in the same breadth.

Had to smash that like button