Re: connected lights

On 9/13/2024 10:40 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sat, 14 Sep 2024 09:12:46 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
wrote:
 

You'd think the Arabs would get tired of having their ass kicked by
the Jews.

 The reason that Arabs are so horrible at winning the wars they usually
start is probably not what you think.  It's not because the Israeli
military is so great, but rather because the Arabs don't understand
why and for what they're fighting.  I can't cover the whole situation
in one hopefully brief article, so I'll just highlight the main
problem.  Note that the following is mostly my analysis and may not
conform with official dogma.
 But first, a quiz.  What percentage of the land in Egypt is privately
owned?  Take your best guess and then read this article:
 "Who owns Egypt"
<https://egyptindependent.com/who-owns-egypt/>
"For nearly another century, Egyptians have not owned more than 7
percent of the land, with the state owned - at least in theory - the
remaining 93 percent.
 "And citizenship will always remain a vague concept unless it is
translated into ownership of land, on which agriculture, industries
and services are used by the people of Egypt"
 I picked Egypt because I couldn't find much information on how land
ownership is distributed in the other Arab countries.
 Visualize the armies of Egypt and Israel facing each other.  Israel
know exactly what they're fighting for and why they are there.  The
Egyptians ask themselves "Why are we fighting for land that we can't
own"?  Or more likely, "Why are we fighting over a pile of sand? Isn't
there enough sand for everyone"?  The result is that the Arabs have no
reason to fight over land gains because they can't own the land or use
it without paying rent.  The situation is like that among all the Arab
countries, where the military is mostly from the lower classes, who
don't own any land.
 The Arab leaders are fully aware of the situation but are not inclined
to give up any land in trade for a more motivated military.  Instead,
they are motivating their army in the traditional manner.  They fight
because their tribe has been offended by the enemy and for promises of
spoils of war[1].  Depending on the alliances of the moment, the
various Arab tribes do not share a common leadership, common goals,
and common distribution of the spoils.  In other words, when they're
done fighting with Israel, they revert to fighting each other.
 Enough for now...
 [1]  The looting of the Turkish train in the movie Lawrence of Arabia
offers a clue:
"Lawrence launches a guerrilla ambush on a Turkish train"
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83OC6xDH-sM>   (6:13)
    

Yes to all that. Plus severe cultural and institutional military limitations.
As we saw the past few years in Ukraine, the Russian army doesn't have the wide and deep layers of noncoms, field officers and warrant officers in better (UK, US until recently) armies. I pointed that out right after the initial incursion and it's remained so, to their loss including flag officers (15, 16?)  lost in the field which is unheard of for US, British, Australian military.
The Arabs suffer that as well, along with officer positions given based on cash payments and party or family connections rather than aptitude, skill, merit. Enlisted/conscripts see it and know it.
Besides your note about Egyptian land ownership, the economy is run, such as it is, by the Army.  What industrial production there is (washing machines, autos, light bulbs, pens etc etc) are from Army factories along with food processing and distribution. That leaves a door open to corruption and they do all drive right through it.  The nearby States/Kingdoms are no better.
IDF, at least since Jablonsky, is a well ordered, highly trained force with extremely deep citizen support as everyone knows everyone in IDF and those networks extend after active service with amazing results. That's what built 'startup nation'.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971