The Asymmetrical Age

[Sidhe]

I don't know, WWI was about the epitomy of symmetrical warfare.

The archetypical war of attrition: how many men can we send against heavilly defended poditions before we realise it's pointless, even with tanks it never worked. Cutting their supply lines left us in the best place, but at the end of the day, why did we bother? Now we expect assymetry to be the answer? And it isn't, war just seems so barren of results, since it became about something other than right and wrong.

 

[ironduck]

Another clearly asymmetrical conflict that was 'won' by the underdog was the Soviet-Afghan war. Although the Afghans were aided by the US it was essentially the second largest army in the world against a bunch of guerillas using stingers against attack helicopters.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Sure. Just saying asymetrical warfair isnt a new thing. The key thing being a free press reporting the actions of an elected government to its constituents within a liberal democracy precludes the use of overwelming force against an dramatically inferior foe because those constituents wont stand for it for an extended time.

The advent of the conditions to allow asymetrical warfare in no way preclude symetrical warfare.

Fair enough. It is probably accurate to say that history has gone in and out of eras of national monopoly or near-monopoly on warfare.

The archetypical war of attrition: how many men can we send against heavilly defended poditions before we realise it's pointless, even with tanks it never worked. Cutting their supply lines left us in the best place, but at the end of the day, why did we bother? Now we expect assymetry to be the answer? And it isn't, war just seems so barren of results, since it became about something other than right and wrong.

Oh, don't get me wrong. The idea of warfare doesn't exactly give me a hard-on.

 

[nc-1701]

Something to remember is that guerrillas/militias or whatever you want to call them CAN'T win a war all they can do is cause massive 'War Weariness' Think in Civ terms; your fighting and winning but they keep poping up everyware and revolting back with culture. Your winning but your war weariness just gets worse and worse as time goes on. If I remember correctly the casualtie ratio in Vietnam was 58,000 USA to 2,000,000 NVA or 1/20 so there no way they could win since we have more people to begin with. I don't know the ratio in Iraq or Lebanon but I'm willing to bet its massively unbalanced toward us.

 

[GarretSidzaka]

I think Israel has been planning this Invasion for over a year. Hezbollah is an excuse.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

If Israel doesnt have war plans for each of its neighbors, anticipating every likely and unlikely scenario, then its military should resign en masse.

 

[Alpine Trooper]

I would have to disagree that we've enetered a new era of conflict. Israel is trying to limit civilian casualties and therefore is going to have a more difficult time eliminating members of Hezbollah. The I.D.F. is fighting a typical guerilla-urban warfare battle and we've seen similiar situations arise in history.

But with the dawn of new technologies spurred by American militarism, we're bound to enter a new era of conflict soon.

 

[Spartan117]

If Israel doesnt have war plans for each of its neighbors, anticipating every likely and unlikely scenario, then its military should resign en masse.

exactly, it is likely every country in the world has thought about many scenarios for war.

 

[El_Machinae]

I wonder how many of the missles are now being fired by people who would have been unwilling to fire, except that they were attacked?

I'm not even being an apologetic, I think that Nationalism has changed the face of warfare. It would be damn hard to attack any country in such a way to convince all of the civilians and militia to back down. The truth is that many people, including civilians, are potential combatants and will act if pushed.

So, while it seems 'Hezbollah' (in this case) is continuing the fight, I can't help but wonder what percentage of the combatants believe they're acting in self-defense.

I mean, Bozo, imagine that soviet tanks rolled into New Jersey and crushed the army, and then crushed the militia - eventually they'd do something that would cause civilians to pick up guns too. Meanwhile, soviet radios would be sqwauking back and forth declaring that 'the militia is crafty and hidden among the populace' - they'd have no clue what was actually militia and what was civilians who're trying to defend themselves.

Hezbollah doesn't fully work for my little essay, because they're centralised and trained. They were also armed ahead of time, and I suspect that they're volunteers. So, while the hunting rifle shooting at Israelis might be a farmer or a soldier, the rocket launcher likely is a soldier.

 

[Alpine Trooper]

People seem to forget that Hezbollah is a social movement; that's a lot more dangerous.

 

[El_Machinae]

You know, this is just another form of MAD.
"There's nothing you can do to Hezbollah that will protect you from revenge"

But because the "D" is not destructive enough, both sides feel the lumps taken are worth hitting first.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

I mean, Bozo, imagine that soviet tanks rolled into New Jersey and crushed the army, and then crushed the militia - eventually they'd do something that would cause civilians to pick up guns too. Meanwhile, soviet radios would be sqwauking back and forth declaring that 'the militia is crafty and hidden among the populace' - they'd have no clue what was actually militia and what was civilians who're trying to defend themselves.

First of all, the Russians would climb out of their tanks and think they took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Vlad: Ivan, did you find any Americans yet?

Ivan: Nyet. I tried speaking in English to the natives, but they answer in Spanish. Where are we?

Vlad: I knew it! We're too far south, lets turn the tanks north and roll out!

 

[GarretSidzaka]

If Israel doesnt have war plans for each of its neighbors, anticipating every likely and unlikely scenario, then its military should resign en masse.

Does that make War Crimes of Aggression okay then?