Does Trump wear boxers or briefs?
He’s the Commando in Chief.
TMI45
Check out this site, which my office mate showed me: https://syria.liveuamap.com/. They have one for Ukraine, too; crowd-sourced near real-time reports plotted to the map, often with video or pics.
That’s an interesting map. Where are all the reports of the bombing the US/France and UK did?
That didn’t cause any known casualties.
Has anyone seen any reports of damage from our great bombing run?
(per my son, who’s a conflict mapper) It’s great for feeds, although the map has a bit of a pro-Rebel bias (not that there’s anything wrong with that). This one is a bit pro-YPG/SDF: syriancivilwarmap.com and this one is pro-Assad: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1liqnO9iSvshTLwgPB3q9sJTgfUI
Wikipedia actually has a pretty solid map for the war, but it’s slow to update: Template:Syrian Civil War detailed map - Wikipedia
I know nothing, but, since the US told Russia where they were bombing, you can expect Russia told Syria and they evac’d their people.
Well, except the dudes you don’t like.
Ivan: Abdul, the Americans are attacking. Make sure your guys are out of there.
Abdul: Roger. Well, I won’t tell Aziz. He was flirting with my girl. And Ahmed never buys when its his turn for schwarma. I’m assigning them to clean the toilets at ground zero.
Ivan: Good call. Hmm, Sergei still owes me money. I know it’s in his quarters…yeah, I think he gets to clean the windows tonight.
Per these maps, man, you have to think the OpSec folks in any organized military have their work cut out for them these days…
If there were any casualties its likely some low level employees and soldiers would have been ordered to stay behind to die to provide Assad and Putin with some official casualty figures to pass to the UN.
lol - very, very true. My son gets most of his info from various tweets and leaks, vets and corroborates what he hears, and then updates and projects where he expects forces to go next (tbh, he’s pretty darn accurate with said projections). He’s still finishing up school, however, so he had to recently put his own on the backburner until he’s done. However, he was getting news orgs occasionally reaching out for comment and he had to explain he’s just a lowly college student in DC, not a member of a three-letter organization or someone on the front lines.
I told him, “You know, someone might actually pay you to do that…” and it put a gleam in his eye.
Absolutely. The CIA used to have, and may still have, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), which back in the day collected and collated tons of open-source media about stuff around the world, to merge with classified data. I’m sure they and other agencies have something similar for the Internet age.
https://taskandpurpose.com/israeli-intel-officials-trumps-syria-strike-accomplished-nothing/
When the Isrealis start quoting The Good, The Bad and The Ugly at you.
“If you want to shoot – shoot, don’t talk,” an Israeli diplomatic source told Ynet. “In the American case, this is mostly talk. They themselves show actions are not going to follow.”
Sorry if this is too personal. But I’m really curious what would cause a teen boy to get interested in conflict mapping (which I’ve never heard of it before.). The folks that I’ve heard doing this before like the guy who tracks all of North Korea artillery (I think Timex or somebody post some of his stuff years ago.) are middle age, grognard types.
I do hope the CIA or somebody equivalent hires your son, we could really use good intelligence officers.
Not at all! I love bragging about him when the moment calls for it. My son has a weird talent, something developed from when he was very young. He memorizes maps. I mean… ANY map. Then he’s had a longstanding fascination in other nations and cultures, staying up all hours at night reading almanacs since he was maybe 6. I just kept feeding the passion, which seemed to come from him not just finding his place in the world but truly exploring and understanding the human condition. From his perspective, one of the greatest catalysts for change is warfare. The lines change. The government changes. The people die and eventually others are born amidst the chaos. Perhaps this is his way of trying to gain some semblance of control over the worst parts of humanity, but he’s been following various conflicts for years and years.
Right now, you can name a random village somewhere and chances are good he can instantly point to it on a globe, describe features, trade, demographic breakdown by ethnicity and faith, and general government info. Any place in the Middle East, and you’ll likely receive a detailed breakdown of troop emplacements, rumors, and intrigue.
It’s kinda freakish (he once did this at a party, and people were floored). He’s been studying abroad every chance he could get, which thankfully is easy through his school. When there, he would simply wander out by first by bus but then by foot to find various landmarks (most recently he covered the majority of Scotland and a good chunk of Ireland & northern England while attending Edinburgh).
He’ll be finishing a double major in International Studies and History this May. Frustratingly, he’s still a little shy and doesn’t have the same kind of confidence you or I might have with such a gift so few people actually know about it. But online? Oh, it’s another story there.
Serious suggestion, if he is thinking about the private sector I have heard good things about Raytheon as an employer, particularly for new grads
Wow, and I thought I was good with geography. Years spent playing board and computer war games, plus the son of a travel agent, but he’s clearly in another league. Best of luck to him.
Much appreciated, to both of you :)
Hell yeah, @Dan_Theman, brag about that boy! That sounds amazing. I’m super jealous of both of you - him for his gift, you for having such an incredible kid to help grow into a no-doubt incredible adult.