Priory_of_Sion

Cephalopods manipulation of RNA could mean they don't really rely too much on DNA to evolve over the eons of time.

Trump warned Russia in order to not start WWIII, what a monster 

5 minutes ago, Mighty_Zuk said:

So with 44 targets hit, some of them hit twice or 3 times, the claims that 23 hits were recorded are now false.

 

 

Overall, yeah it seems really strange. But I don't think the US would go as far as doing a false flag attack and with such credibility. There's too much to lose here for the US. And I don't think they've changed their mind about Assad either. There's still no replacement for him and the west has realized that quite some time ago.

If it was a "false flag" it would have been done by Tahrir al-Sham or one of the other related jihadist rebel groups using the gas to kill off some expendable children in order to garner international support that has wavered off. 

14 minutes ago, LoooSeR said:

   I think that he will not get ass kicked, look at how our position shifted just after 1 jet got shot down - Turkey got a greenlight to get into Syria and create declared zone between Kurds in Afrin and rest of "Rojava". And amount of forces that Turkey can use in Syria is far greater than what we can.

I don't they have an officer corp of any quality and thus aren't that capable, especially after the recent purges of the Turkish military. However, I see what you are saying. 

7 minutes ago, LoooSeR said:

National embarrassment for fighting against declared enemies in the interest of his supporters?

I think it would be an embarrassment for Turkey to get its ass kicked by Russia/Assad as the Turkish military barley seems to be able to handle the lightly armed militants in Operation Euphrates Shield. Imagining them going on the offensive against the SAA/Russia/IRGC/Hezbollah seems like a losing effort. Though it would be something to consolidate power around. 

4 minutes ago, Bronezhilet said:

I don't think the Syrian air defence actually engaged them. At least, I haven't seen reports that they did.

I'm skeptical that 36 Tomahawks just failed, but I guess that's plausible. No reports that they hit anywhere else. 

31 minutes ago, Bronezhilet said:

24 hits out of ~60 launched?

 

Ouch.

Wonder if this is the first time that Tomahawks have been fired into a country with a halfway decent air defense. 

1 hour ago, Collimatrix said:

 

 

IMO, the first thing that would happen if the Assad government were to fall is that the rebel groups would all turn on each other.  It would be far from the first time that they've collapsed into infighting, and without any common enemy whatsoever, the civil war would go into round 2.

Knowing that Assad's government represents Syria's Alawite, Shia, Christian, Druze, and non-religious peoples you can also expect some good ole ethnic cleansing if these groups cant fend for themselves against rather well armed jihadis. 

Wouldn't be surprised if retaliation means rockets fly into Tel Aviv 

Wondering how Iran, Hezbollah, misc Shia militias are reacting, as they might take this more seriously as an existential threat than the Russians seeing this as old great power politics. 

yo

4 minutes ago, Collimatrix said:

Not that there's any evidence this was nerve gas, mind.  The insurgent forces have cooked up lesser chemical weapons on their own before.

 

Fortunately for the world, the competence of jihadis does not rise to the level of competence displayed by insane Japanese cultists.

Jihadis do have more friends in high places than Aum Shinrikyo though. Imagine what they could have done if they were state sponsored 

Apparently one of the doctors associated with the rebels in the aftermath of the attack helped kidnap John Cantlie

I'd imagine NATO has shifted to more of a counterterrorism alliance these days, but I mostly agree that the original purpose isn't really there and counterterrorism gets really messy and complicated which makes an alliance burdensome at times. Meh. 

Even factoring in overestimates, the Houthis are one mighty fine fighting force while armed with a couple of AKs and a janbiya. 

I also see the Houthis are still comparing Abrams to lighters. 

Lets not give them more targets. 

Anti-Saudi coalition protest in Sanaa on the 2nd anniversary of the start of the Saudi intervention. Lol @ the gender divide. 

President Hadi, the Saudi-backed impotent in Aden, has been sentenced to death for treason against Yemen by the Yemeni courts. 

1 hour ago, Collimatrix said:

 

Hmmm, where have I heard this before?

Oh yeah, that's right.

 

Also, it's a little creepy that they ask which human organ I will eat next at the end of the video.  How did they know?

LEARN THIS ONE COOL TRICK

French Foreign Legion recruiting by region 

Quote

The UAE, which masterfully captured Aden with an amphibious landing in August 2015, had vowed to make the city a model for the rest of the country. A year and a half on it still refuses to let in journalists, so it is hard to measure its success. Security has improved, say locals, but governing institutions remain sorely lacking. Destitute refugees from Aden arriving in Djibouti insist they have seen no evidence of the billion dollars the Emirates claims it is investing in reconstruction. In the territories it has captured, the coalition’s forces battle over the spoils. Mr Hadi’s own southern tribesmen are but one of four forces scrapping for control of the port and the airport. Al-Qaeda is another.

A decent little article 

Can't get over how much Yemen looks like Mars.

Also these videos show again and again Saudi vehicles being isolated and KO'd. Jesus they are awful at warfare. 

1 hour ago, Belesarius said:

Meanwhile in Bulgaria...Some former wrestler has been reading John Ringo novels.

 

https://tacairnet.com/2017/03/22/a-bulgarian-man-just-bought-an-attack-helicopter-to-combat-potential-terrorism-by-himself/

This doesn't help the eastern european stereotype 

"The dumbest fucking guy on the planet" states that Saudi ability to counter extremism is unmatched. He really lives up to his moniker. 

The city of Taiz has been under siege by Houthi/Saleh forces for almost 2 years now. 

You can conclude on this that the Saudis aren't fighting in Taiz as they would have already left. So who is running Taiz?  

3 hours ago, Xlucine said:

Dammit, I just bought Darren's book

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/ornithoscelida-rises-a-new-family-tree-for-dinosaurs/

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7646/full/nature21700.html

Ok, so going back to feathers on dinos with this new phylogeny. Would the sauropods + other basal dinos not having feathers make sense now as they aren't in the clade of the feathered theropods and ornithischians?