Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[CamoBadger]

That's really why I can't read them, they just make ponies look TOO good. Might just because my headcanon is that the show only shows the 'bright side', and that Equestria does have dark moments we don't see. Hence my own stories being considered 'dark' because they don't have a layer of sugar over the world I think would be worse than the show states, considering the number of evil monsters and spirits running around (They did show it used to be worse with Hearths Warming Eve, but still, too sugary for my headcanon.)

[Caoimhe]

I want to see a crossover universe with something even more utopian and cutsie, say Care Bears or something.

Have it so the ponies become so nauseated and revolted by the happiness that they do whatever they can to get rid of them. It could be freakin' hilarious.

I'd pay a dollar for that!

[tylertoon2]

Ahh the Conversion Bureau. I read a lot of stories from it. Made me near Depressed and Dangerously Misanthropic for a spell. But I got better.

Anyway. They are good if you want to hate humanity and think of ponies as angels who will spirit you away into the heavenly land of equestria. In other words, doesn't support a healthy type of thinking. Most of em anyway.

As for My Little Dashie, eh it was okay, but when you start to think about it, it doesn't support healthy thinking either.

Anyway, I tried uploading the sims house but apparently I can't. It's probably something to do with the mod, or the cheats I used. Anyway I'll try to find someother way to do it. But don't hold your breath.


EDIT: Seriously how isn't there a firefox plugin to make every mention of the word House appear in Blue text?

[Guest]

If you've ever read The Dispossessed, that's kind of how I see the world of Equestria: sort of a utopia, but not one without problems or ways to improve. Obviously, since it's a kid's show, it's not as mature or in-depth (and I kinda doubt the show's creators think of it this way), but still.

Also, regarding escapism: recently watched eXistenZ on a B/C/D/F-movie compilation DVD a friend has. I enjoyed it pretty well - it's not a great film, but it does some cool things and has a few tidbits to say about escapist fantasies and the like.

Spoiler:

On a more personal note, I can empathize with the escapists. When the only thing you can realistically expect is for things to get worse, well, it feels like one has limited options. Misanthropy's not something I can get behind, though, even if I can understand it pretty well. People are stupid, easy to manipulate, and lie to themselves and others constantly, but once you get past that... we're pretty damn great, for the most part. Fun, passionate, clever, intelligent, and creative. Then again, I'm taking classes on genocide/war crimes and surveillance this year, so I might change my mind. =P But hopefully not! (I'm also going to learn how to draw! Alternatively, I'm going to fail my Intro to Drawing class!)

[222222]

@Lateral

Sorry Lateral I accidentally confused your sim with Eurumpet's. He is the beef cake. Not you.

YEAH!


@text adventure: I don't like them.
@annoying noise: when my cat, Cleocatra, is in heat and just wants to go outside to get some, and we don't let her out so she sits at the door meowing.

Edit: @TCB: I didnt find them particularly interesting
@My Little Dashie: I loved it, I cried and everything it was so great I thought. I never really consider myself escapist either, but I can appreciate a good cry from time to time. I'm not really sure about all that mentally unhealthy stuff, I guess if you look at it as a self insert maybe, but that's not really the vibe I was getting from it

[RoboRed]

...any chance anyone could recommend some of the particularly creepy ones for perusal? I enjoy creepypasta, even if its only creepypasta ironically.

I don't really look for much actively in the way of creepypasta, but Forever Faithful is one that stuck in my fav list. (as if the bloody friggin cover image isn't enough)

Although, knowing your tastes, you'll probably want something more. I doubt this story will satisfy you.

(Also, let me know if you find something more...)

[FeatherDust]

Equestria's magic is expanding and humanity will die if they aren't turned into ponies.

Lol, wat? How does that make sense?

Not having read it extensively, apparently there's some plague from Earth that's threatening Equestria somehow, and it's our fault BECAUSE POLLUTION DERP and so Celestia has more or less set off the world's slowest nuke, which creates a magic field that only Equestrians can survive (or something like that) which will eventually (~20 years) engulf the whole planet. Then they offer to pony-ize anyone who wants it. Which is not just a physical change, but actually alters the way you think; it effectively destroys the person you are and replaces it with a whole new person.

The ponies spend an awful lot of time explaining why humans are bastards and ponies are so much better, to a disturbing degree. And of course people who refuse conversion are shown as representing all the worst of humanity.

The author of the original story has said he didn't mean it that way, and was only trying to write a "why there are no humans in equestria" story; he was just rather hamhanded with it* and other authors picked it up and turned it really angrily misanthropic.

There are good stories in the series, but they're vastly in the minority, and between the misanthropic ones and the backlashy ones, it's just a lot of drama and stuff.

* Basically he brings up a bunch of major ethical issues and just sort of handwaves them away.

[O. Hinds]

I want to see a crossover universe with something even more utopian and cutsie, say Care Bears or something.

Have it so the ponies become so nauseated and revolted by the happiness that they do whatever they can to get rid of them. It could be freakin' hilarious.

I'd pay a dollar for that!

Did you see that thing I posted about the RTS a friend of mine is working on? (Well, more "was" than "is" at the moment, but, given that he just started medical school, it's understandable.)


By the way, on a non sequitur note, though this is in Italian rather than Latin, I rather think that it might at least not entirely lack appropriateness.

[Kattlarv]

@Cao: Haha, okay ;P Might likely take a few weeks or so till the next one though :P

@Icy: Hm... could it wait till tomorrow, since I currently am typing at 3 am, I don't really know much of anything atm xD

@Robo:

Spoiler:

@EP: (MLD) Personally kinda iffy about it. Haven't read it, but seems like it could be good, or not. And tbh, if someone DID write a clopfic about it, I am rather sure it will be aimed to "satisfy" the male in it. Not to be sexist or anything, but I've seen that concept far to many times before. And tbh, they annoy me a bit, or well, a lot. Since they paint the guy out as to be only interested in sex for their own gain. (and I know I am just me, but would personally be more interested in getting her (or him if going 63 on it) off, since if anything that would seem like a more "urgent" thing. I mean, she's been in the "real" world for like what? 10+ years? A girl got needs xD)

@Swicked: Can't help you in the creepy department, sorry. Will soon supply more in the sad, sensual and fucked up department xD

[IncoherentOrange]

@Kattlarv I find you very strange.

So I've made my first moderately-successful fortress in DF. The dwarves haven't killed each other yet, I have a stupid amount of wine, food is in good supply... but I have yet to find any metals, and I'm definitely going to need more picks.

Edit: I got some hematite. Success. Never mind on those picks.

Edit 2: Tetrahedrite leads to silver banhammers- I mean, war hammers. Platinum is a nice bonus. Kobold thief encounter. One of my miners opened up a can o' whoop-ass with her copper pick, wounding it and sending it packing. Then my militia commander was sent out to take it down. There's a dead kobold somewhere outside the fortress now. No 'fun' yet, fort's still alive with all of its original inhabitants in one piece, and migrants.

Edit 3: Mason had a strange mood and produced a... Tetrahedrite grating. Then the power went out and I lost it. Oh well, good riddance, Artifact grate. Interface has been grasped well enough. Perhaps when this fortress encounters Fun I'll look into some mods.

[Icy Shake]

So. Device Heretic's taken his alt off of Fimfiction, permanently, I missed the message, I had fucked up a few days prior when I saved all the stuff I wanted from his main page because he tended to take stuff down and put it back up from time to time, and have only managed to find a backup to Field Notes; does anyone here have How to Steal Centuries saved, or know someone who might?

Exposing my ignorance. Yes, again.:

[CamoBadger]

Watch trailer for re-made Red Dawn movie.

Notice it seems to be about Communist China invading the US instead of Russia.
Main thought: It's a prequel to a Fallout Movie

[IncoherentOrange]

Watch trailer for re-made Red Dawn movie.

I wonder if they'll one-up the original's record for acts of violence on-screen.

[RoboRed]

@Robo:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

@Kattlarv I find you very strange.

(And I mean it in the most sincere and joking way possible.)

So. Device Heretic's taken his alt off of Fimfiction, permanently, I missed the message, I had fucked up a few days prior when I saved all the stuff I wanted from his main page because he tended to take stuff down and put it back up from time to time, and have only managed to find a backup to Field Notes; does anyone here have How to Steal Centuries saved, or know someone who might?

Exposing my ignorance. Yes, again.:

Ugh...I swear, ever since I first stumbled upon Eternal, it seems like DH's existence has just been constantly plagued by some force of ne'er-do-well hacking bastards who live to torment him for whatever reason. I still don't know the whole story, but I wish these folk would just leave him the fuck alone. People like that need to get a life. It's sad that he's disappearing.

In other news, Terry Pratchett.

[Kippershy]

I don't suspect anyone cares about the Kerbal stuff anymore, but...
Grr...

...shortly after that the same rocket (well, mass of rockets) loses control and blows up a couple times while still in the atmosphere. This requires way too much luck.
...that or I should be paying attention to the weather, I suppose.
Maybe I should be launching in the Kerbal morning...

I'm putting way too much effort, and sacrificing far too many Kerbal-ens, just for the chance to kill three with style XD

I'll hand it to you, it can be pretty tricky and sometimes it does explode purely because the parts choose to do so. (No joke, I've had fully functioning designs that should have no problem simply explode because of chance TO explode.)

However, a lot of it relies on making sure your design isn't top heavy, making sure it's stable, making sure that there's enough thrust, making sure you have an advanced SAS module (+ press T to activate it), adding a minimum of three wings (though four work better... not delta wings, pick out the actual wings in command&control) and if you want to be even more efficient, managing thrust using shift+control AND managing the stack order properly.


Basically my designs always rely on four or five of the biggest liquid fuel boosters at the very bottom each having 2 of the biggest fuel tank + 1 more big fuel tank for building purposes, stacker, one of the biggest liquid engines with two more fuel tanks, stacker, then a smaller liquid fuel engine and one large fuel tank (or small).


That always does me fine, as the biggest trouble is always with the atmosphere -- you fly a lot easier once you break through the thick atmosphere.

[Kippershy]

Crimson Wings: okay, did you know about legion dusters?
Crimson Wings: 'cos apparently they're an item.
Katarn is now Away.
Crimson Wings: Ahhh, I see. it's a quest variable item
Crimson Wings: when you do L.R
Crimson Wings: the duster that the guy gives you changes depending on who you side with
Katarn is now Online.
Katarn: hm
Katarn: well..there is Ulusses duster
Katarn: and there is Courier's duster
Katarn: If you choos stop the nukes..I think then it's old US flag on your back
Katarn: anything else - NCR or Legion
Katarn: though I don't know what would there be, you you nuke em both
Crimson Wings: Holy shit
Crimson Wings: the independant route duster is called "Blackjack"
Crimson Wings: hahahha
Katarn: lolwat
Crimson Wings: which I know, makes sense. but obviously, you can think what went through my mind
Katarn: yup
Crimson Wings: 'cos it has a black spade and 21 on it
Crimson Wings: it's called Blackjack
Crimson Wings: Fighting chance is the legion version
Katarn: I think this should be mentioned in PH disquss thread
Katarn: :D
Crimson Wings: The great bear = NCR
Crimson Wings: Old World Justice = house
Crimson Wings: doing it now

[Cptadder]

Watch trailer for re-made Red Dawn movie.

Notice it seems to be about Communist China invading the US instead of Russia.

It's not, it's in fact about Communist North Korea drops a magical EMP on the west coast and invades a small town of no strategic importance and occupies it. The original has the Soviets invading with their Cuban allies.

Watch trailer for re-made Red Dawn movie.

I wonder if they'll one-up the original's record for acts of violence on-screen.

Considering how stupid its looking of course.

Look for those that don't know here's Red Dawn in a nutshell. The Soviets invade and start rounding up people, a rag tag group of young people band together to fight them and we get to see the classic steps and counter steps of insurgency/counter insurgency and at the end the brave young Americans are 95% dead and the Soviets "win" in they secure that territory but ultimately lose the fight for America because you can't invade a country the size of the United States without movie magic.

This new one looks to be the same except they are going to drop a even worse enemy in there. America has half as many veterans as North Korea has population because a nation of twenty four million can not fight and occupy a nation of three hundred million. You can't have a solider for every 250 civilans and hope to hold an occupation, and the nature of America's demographics means there are literally millions of miles of land you can not place troops on because you can set eight soliders to guard a town of two thousand and we have over seven thousand towns of two thousand or less. The simple geographics don't work and this assumes North Korea sends it's entire military force to America, every last solider, every last cook and range master and brand new training cadet.

The Soviets had a similar problem but then they were just there to weaken America by doing a super large scale smash and grab with the West Coast as the only place they intend to hold on to with a defense line built on I-15.

But the major flaw if what I've heard correctly is that the movie loses the twist message of the original, namely that war is hell and that a properly lead military can quash any insurgency by simply focusing enough time, men and material on the subject and enough aid and out reach on the population. (And before anyone asks, our recent brush fires have had a problem with the "men" side of the counter insurgency triangle as in we've been trying to quash that for years with only 1/10 the required forces because... politics and lets leave it at that)

[Kattlarv]

@Inco: Oh come now, you can't just have noticed this just now ;P

@Robo:

Spoiler:

[Ketchup]

One does not simply invade the United States.

The defenders would probably win. The US has a lot of troops, vehicles, veterans and armed civilians, and simply a lot of civilians, as Adder said.

It'd crash much of the global economy. The US is quite a center for world trade.

The US has a lot of friends, and NATO would come running. That's a lot of troops already, but backed by most of NATO, no single country, IMO, could hope to take them without WMDs. Then there wouldn't be a country worth keeping, and retaliation would be heavy. Nobody uses nukes because everyone is afraid of them. Everyone is.

Just an impractical idea. In Red Dawn, NATO dissolved and the US was alone and taken by surprise. And they lost.

[Kippershy]

The only way to take over the U.S would be this:


Oil runs out, first world chaos ensues as the governments haven't properly planned & converted infrastructure over to hydrogen. One government has (or a selection of same region governments)... let's say, Russia + China have converted.

Russia and China aren't 100% buddy buddy, but if they were in that situation, they'd see the most sensible thing to do would be to team up and join in unity.
Pan Asia ensues (as in, all countries in Asia become 'one' in a USSR style takeover led by AFRF/ChiCom forces).


During this time, the American government becomes nothing, literally nothing. What power they did have is now obsolete, the riots and the gang warfare have delved to feudal levels -- even the military cares for its own rather then the populace as a whole.

NATO is disbanded, the EU is disbanded, hell, even the UK falls back into the ways it once was perhaps, kingdoms arise when the young and hungry fight between themselves and develop leadership circle types not seen since medieval times.


The Pan Asian forces now wait, equipped with superior technology (as in, it works / is mobile), superior numbers, the ability to feed themselves and organise themselves efficiently...
They move on through Europe, conquering as they see fit -- taking what resources they would like/need.

Britain or mainland Europe becomes a springboard for vessels that set off from the British/Norwegian coast on route to New York.



America is still in shambles, the population drastically lower as food reserves have run out and production has been drastically lowered by loss of infrastructure.
Many have killed themselves out of desperation or died of hunger.
Those few that live - live either in the life of a roaming bandit or by farming.


When the invading forces roll in, the opposition is minimal.
Some people welcome them as the liberators they always dreamed of.
Some people welcome them for the peace and security they offer if you give up peacefully.
Others simply have no choice, without food or hope they give in.

The rest stand defiantly until the bitter end.



Thus, the U.S has been invaded... successfully.

[Ketchup]

Yeah, once oil runs out, food would become hard to acquire. If you think about it, most of our food comes from areas in other parts of the continent. Without gasoline, low food transportation and likely mass hysteria and hunger. And we are running out of gas. Fast.
In its current state, the US is a superpower, though many things can go wrong, and bring it to its knees, or China, or India.

[IncoherentOrange]

@Kattlarv I find you very strange.

(And I mean it in the most sincere and joking way possible.)

One of the newest. Yep.
I've held this perception for a while, waited to confirm it. This isn't a bad thing.

...We're all different, after all.

[CamoBadger]

The problem with "the US being invaded" ideas is that there are too many people here who will not allow the country to be occupied. I don't care how strong your military is, how how badly outnumbered the locals are, if they really don't want you there, you will not be staying forever.

Best example I can think of is when the soviets invaded Afghanistan (basically the event which the movie Red Dawn seems to follow). Afghans didn't want them there, and they made damn sure the soviets had a shitty time in staying. The Afghans had inferior weapons, inferior training, and definitely inferior numbers, yet they still ended up forcing the Soviets to leave, simply because they bugged the shit out of them by blowing up supply lines and pecking at patrols so much that they couldn't stand being there anymore.

Same would happen with the US. I know for damn sure I won't be submitting to someone else for any reason, and I've met plenty of people in my life who feel the same.

RANT OVER

[Cptadder]

The problem with "the US being invaded" ideas is that there are too many people here who will not allow the country to be occupied. I don't care how strong your military is, how how badly outnumbered the locals are, if they really don't want you there, you will not be staying forever.

Ancient campaigns have demonstrated if you willing to conduct full sweep and clear missions you can win, but to blunt that's genocidal. The Nazi's did this at times during the second world war and it occurred during Vietnam as well on a much smaller scale were army units simply destroyed all property, captured or kill the entire local population and it was done on roughly the same scale in Afghanistan at points by the Soviets but only in very specific geographic locations and they warned the locals first unlike in Vietnam when it was spontaneous or during WWII when it was limited to territories.

Afghans didn't want them there, and they made damn sure the soviets had a shitty time in staying. The Afghans had inferior weapons, inferior training, and definitely inferior numbers, yet they still ended up forcing the Soviets to leave, simply because they bugged the shit out of them by blowing up supply lines and pecking at patrols so much that they couldn't stand being there anymore.

This is close to the truth but misses it a touch, the Afghans did not fight alone and had raw superior numbers of soldiers on the ground, granted most "soldiers" were of the militia/irregulars quality. (In case your wondering there is a military shorthand for the worth of troops that goes from Militia up to Special Forces) but they only started the war poorly armed. By the end they had Saudi Arabia purchased AK-47s, Egyptian mortars, American Stinger missiles and a horde of captured and smuggled in Soviet weaponry identical to what their enemies were using. They may have started the war with Mosin Nagents and Enfields but they ended it a full armed and equipped fighting force supported by the Arabian countries via Pakistan with American assistance.

Same would happen with the US. I know for damn sure I won't be submitting to someone else for any reason, and I've met plenty of people in my life who feel the same.

There's a difference between not submitting and doing nothing. Not submitting general involves long hikes into the wild and lots of nights spend hiding, doing nothing means living your life under occupation and not helping the occupiers. You can fight, you can abstain or you can collaborate. Everyone understands about collaborators but most people seeing abstaining and fighting as the same thing because they put the conflict on the spiritual or mental rather than the physical level.

I just think that the people who bring us artificial diamonds would then have engineered a way to produce synthetic crude oil, which would be very inefficient but, none the less, economically viable when it could no longer be found naturally.

Sorry to burst your bubble Swicked but this falls under urban myth, we have had artifical made oil for a long time now.
Synthetic oil exists, it can be refined from Biomass, coal, natural gas or shale. Oil shale is itself a synthetic oil of sorts as it's not petroleum. We've had the tecnology since the 1930s and it's widely used today for lubrication applications and alternative fuels.

The problem as always is economic viability, I can make oil from many grasses and crops like corn but I need the price of gas to be high enough to not lose money on the deal. Also in the case of synthetic oil from coal, natural gas and shale is that extraction is all energy intensive which here in America we burn yet more oil and coal to create so we don't do much better than breaking even in the long run lots of times when you factor in transportation and harvesting costs.

Btw, I really doubt America will ever stop using oil.
We just don't adapt to things.

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century by Kevin Phillips which was published in 2005 is a great book for reading about how countries adapt or rather don't adapt. The first second about the rise and fall of Empires is the one you want to read about how the Danish, Spanish and British empires rose and fell and how similar a comparison we can draw between the Danish, British and American experiences between the fact that each country was well situated to take advantage of the next great power source, be it the wind and ocean trade on a massive scale with the Danish, coal with the British and Oil with America.

The second section deals with Religiosity in America, don't let the title of the book fool you as it's less to do with a hypothetical Theocratic America then how Fundamentalism sells... religion to be exact. It's a fascinating read about Christian Denominations splinter off and become very Fundamentalist and attract large numbers of followers. Over time they get less fundamentalist and start losing members so they loosen the rules even more and become less popular until a new group splinters off and repeats the process.

The third section is about Debt and Financial problems of the US banking industry. But since it was written in 2005 and it's 2012, four years after the 2008 meltdown... it's just kinda sad to read. Mostly because of exactly how many things shook out as Phillips predicted they might, even if they did not predict they would hire the guy who caused the mess to fix it.

[Ketchup]

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if we had such technology right now and it was just being somewhat suppressed by the oil companies that have all this equipment and land they've invested in and want to continue to turn a profit on. They, of course, would IMMEDIATELY back synthetic crude oil if that was their only choice left, though.

Money is the motivation. It gets us what we want as long as it exists, and humans are greedy. We like having things.
But we started a rant on that a few months ago and it wasn't too pretty.
The possibility that certain technologies, which are cheaper/more effective/cleaner than the aging, but still incredibly profitable procedures that we use today exist but aren't in the light due to suppression from companies that use those old techniques, is quite plausible to me.
One thing I've thought of, though somewhat unrelated, are the technological developments that governments make for their armies. They often end up being too expensive, despite improving effectiveness or survival chances of their soldiers. The US has cancelled many programs because they went off budget.

[CamoBadger]

Ancient campaigns have demonstrated if you willing to conduct full sweep and clear missions you can win, but to blunt that's genocidal. The Nazi's did this at times during the second world war and it occurred during Vietnam as well on a much smaller scale were army units simply destroyed all property, captured or kill the entire local population and it was done on roughly the same scale in Afghanistan at points by the Soviets but only in very specific geographic locations and they warned the locals first unlike in Vietnam when it was spontaneous or during WWII when it was limited to territories.

Yes, but in today's world there is nobody on earth who is willing to do such a thing. Not only would even trying it risk pulling most other countries into stopping you, but the utter lack of morality needed to do such a thing would need to be shared by every individual in the military doing this (or an incomplete understanding of what they're doing, usually from dishonest explanations from their command). Those things are just too hard to ignore; no point in trying to kill every single civilian if it would lead to getting your own country bombed into oblivion by their allies, and hope to god your soldiers and followers don't find out your plan because anyone with a heart or a sense of good will turn around and turn you into paste.

This is close to the truth but misses it a touch, the Afghans did not fight alone and had raw superior numbers of soldiers on the ground, granted most "soldiers" were of the militia/irregulars quality. (In case your wondering there is a military shorthand for the worth of troops that goes from Militia up to Special Forces) but they only started the war poorly armed. By the end they had Saudi Arabia purchased AK-47s, Egyptian mortars, American Stinger missiles and a horde of captured and smuggled in Soviet weaponry identical to what their enemies were using. They may have started the war with Mosin Nagents and Enfields but they ended it a full armed and equipped fighting force supported by the Arabian countries via Pakistan with American assistance.

I am fully aware of the Afghan's military capabilities (they're better off as militia), and honestly the only things they've really got going for them is the absolute not-giving-a-shit if they die to protect their way of life, a sense of pride which makes giving up worse than a sin, and their knowledge of the land; basically the two strongest things to look for in a fighting force. True, we did provide them with weapons, but not very high quality ones (aside from the stingers which were absolutely useless for taking down Russian Helicopters, so we can ignore those), and presumably we had green beret teams on the ground to help teach the afghan militias, but they were never confirmed. Either way, we only helped them a little in comparison to their own tenacity and dedication to forcing out the Soviets.

[222222]

@oil: even without oil, america still has massive coal deposits that will last several centuries, so the government wont just collapse without oil, liquid fuel only makes up about 40% of energy consumption in the US after all. And I think we will convert to all coal before we convert to hydrogen. Not that I think we will convert to all coal, I just know we won't ever use hydrogen fuel because of how massively inefficient it would be and because we have no infrastructure in place to transport the fuel.

[Cptadder]

Yes, but in today's world there is nobody on earth who is willing to do such a thing.

1979 The Cambodian Genocide
The Khmer Rouge spends four years eliminating minority groups in Cambodia

1994 the Rwandan Genocide
The Hutu goverment organizes death squads and kills close to a million of the Tutsi.

1995 Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian soldiers

2003 to Present, the Darfur conflict
Sudanese of Arab decent kill those not of Arab decent in a deliberate policy of pacification by elimination.

There are plenty of countries and places were such a policy can be implemented and if they don't have oil resources no one will care. There are always rumors about China and the Uyghur minority might be getting in a one sided throw down one of these days. There are half a dozen places in Africa where conditions are such that a government sanction genocide could be conducted. Then you have situations like Israel and Palestine where both sides have the goal of the elimination of the other, both Israel hardliners who want to drive the Palestinians into the sea and the Palestinian Hamas who simply want the destruction of the state of Israel. That conflict is not going anywhere fast except into another oppression campaign or bombing campaign.

So at present, no there are about nine places on earth were we could suddenly lose two million people from a genocide campaign if conditions swing the wrong way.

Not only would even trying it risk pulling most other countries into stopping you

Unless it's a oil rich country the chances of anyone except the Chinese intervening these days is pretty small. There's worrying reports coming out of Libya with their native christian population getting lots of threats, likewise in Pakistan and swapped with rumors of small scale anti-Muslim pogroms the government had to break up in India. If shit goes south in Libya there is no stomach to do anything but aid the survivors, if things go wrong in Pakistan or India except a full blown war and possible nuclear exchange because lets they wanted to invade and conquer each other since each was brought into existence by the British redrawing maps.

Hope to god your soldiers and followers don't find out your plan because anyone with a heart or a sense of good will turn around and turn you into paste.

Standford Prison experiment Once you dehumanize the enemy... anything is possible.

True, we did provide them with weapons, but not very high quality ones (aside from the stingers which were absolutely useless for taking down Russian Helicopters, so we can ignore those), and presumably we had green beret teams on the ground to help teach the afghan militias, but they were never confirmed. Either way, we only helped them a little in comparison to their own tenacity and dedication to forcing out the Soviets.

I am literally gobsmacked by this statement... By 1983 a third of the mujaheddin were armed with weapons purchased directly by the CIA or agents on behalf of the CIA, by 1985 it was closer to 100% with money being managed by CIA agents yet supplied by third party countries. All being handed over to Pakistan to be distributed to the mujaheddin bands as they left Afghanistan for training with Pakistan and CIA special forces teams.

The air war was the reason why the Afghans almost lost and the Soviets almost won because the threat the Hind represented. So I am gobsmacked to see you say the Stinger was useless. A massive part of the covert CIA war was getting their hands on a weapon that could down helicopters from attempts with 12.7mm machine guns to the Redeye and the SA7 to 20mm Oerlikons cannons.

Heck they even made a movie Charlie Wilson's War about how America got into the Afghanistan war and how exactly a single congressman Charlie Wilson played such a huge role in that war.

Of course the movies changes some things from the historical account but the outline is identical to actual history. Yes there was a Texas Congressman, Yes he was a hard drinking social party animal who hated Communism and wanted to fight Communists everywhere. And yes he surrounded himself with beautiful women and took a belly dancer to meet with a bunch of Fundamentalists Muslim. And yes he really did go behind the CIA's back to expand the war by selling the exact right people on it and then forcing the CIA to go along with his wants and selling Regan on the idea. That story is one of the most fascinating bits of American history that's never going to be taught in any public school history class. It's much to interesting.

[Icy Shake]

Ugh...I swear, ever since I first stumbled upon Eternal, it seems like
DH's existence has just been constantly plagued by some force of
ne'er-do-well hacking bastards who live to torment him for whatever
reason. I still don't know the whole story, but I wish these folk would
just leave him the fuck alone. People like that need to get a life. It's
sad that he's disappearing.

Yeah, now it's gotten to the point that it's impacting his ability to get a job; several companies have basically told him they don't want to hire him because of what he published under his alternate account. It really is awful, and I hope he's able to cover his tracks going forward, but it does serve as an object lesson in the need to secure one's anonymity online.

Ancient campaigns have
demonstrated if you willing to conduct full sweep and clear missions you
can win, but to blunt that's genocidal. The Nazi's did this at times
during the second world war and it occurred during Vietnam as well on a
much smaller scale were army units simply destroyed all property,
captured or kill the entire local population and it was done on roughly
the same scale in Afghanistan at points by the Soviets but only in very
specific geographic locations and they warned the locals first unlike in Vietnam when it was spontaneous or during WWII when it was limited to
territories.

Yes, but in today's world there is nobody on
earth who is willing to do such a thing. Not only would even trying it
risk pulling most other countries into stopping you, but the utter lack
of morality needed to do such a thing would need to be shared by every individual in the military doing this (or an incomplete understanding of
what they're doing, usually from dishonest explanations from their
command). Those things are just too hard to ignore; no point in trying
to kill every single civilian if it would lead to getting your own
country bombed into oblivion by their allies, and hope to god your
soldiers and followers don't find out your plan because anyone with a
heart or a sense of good will turn around and turn you into paste.

CaptAdder already responded better than I ever could, but I'd point out that Europeans were able to pull off the full sweep and clear in the last few hundred years, and the US did an alright imitation at least as recently as the Civil War, and at the very least had internment camps in the Philippines. And really, he is right about the fact that if it happens outside of Europe or an oil-rich country, nobody with any power actually cares. As for the idea that the soldiers would be a problem...I don't actually know where you got that idea. Sure, we had problems getting soldiers to intentionally shoot at enemies as recently as World War I, but pretty much fixed that through (grossly simplifying here) the magic and techniques of advertising--whatever anybody tells you, there's no country in the world that can out-propaganda the USA.
Moving on to Camo's point, in the context of an invasion of America there's not too much of a difference between a vanilla modern invasion where you just ask the occupied to make your life a living hell and a classical we-will-do-what-it-takes-to-win invasion. Almost every sizable military--and economy--on the planet is an ally of the US through NATO or otherwise or is one of the ones doing the invading. Seriously, if you're willing to go against NATO plus Japan, Australia, South Korea, Israel, and further miscellaneous allies, you should be able to handle the residual. If you aren't China or Russia you couldn't even begin to make it look like a fight unless you went straight to nuclear war. Even if you are one of the other great powers, you are stymied by the fact that the absolute naval dominance of the US is almost unparalleled in world history, the exception being perhaps the British empire at certain points in the nineteenth century. Sure, any large country can at least make a show of defending its territorial waters, and can even disrupt naval power elsewhere through submarine fleets, but only the US can project naval power abroad and at scale.

@cptadder
As I said in the post, I am not surprised we have the means to make synthetic crude oil :P

Even going beyond that, it's worth remembering that at different price points, other options become cost-effective. Wind already isn't too bad, solar is improving, and breeder reactors are estimated to be economically viable when oil costs above $200/bbl. Additionally, Brazil has shown that the reason we don't have tri-fuel cars in the US (gasoline, ethanol, natural gas) is because we made a policy decision not to; Brazil mandated that all large fueling stations and all new filling stations include alternative fuel pumps, and car companied--including American car companies, including for example GM which now sells only tri-fuel cars in Brazil--now sell tri-fuel vehicles and make acceptable profits thereon. Frankly this is insane, because right now the US has more fracking natural gas than we know what to do with.
Erumpet also has good points about coal, but we are appropriately working hard to get off coal, especially given our superabundance of natural gas.

[222222]

@tri fuel cars: the three fuels are gasoline, ethanol, and methanol. Methanol comes from many sources besides natural gas, natural gas is just the cheapest. But the US government is supporting flex fuel cars with subsidies, and car manufacturers are taking advantage of them. The problem is there isn't currently an infrastructure in place to deliver ethanol/methanol or the supply in the US to make it worth it, yet.

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