Flare Sci-Fi Forums: So you think you can run the country, eh?

This is topic So you think you can run the country, eh? in forum Officers' Lounge at Flare Sci-Fi Forums.

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Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :

So many people saying they know how the world works, how to best handle a situation...but do we ever get the chance to prove it? No.

Well, now you can!

I invite (& dare I say...challenge?) those with foreign relations knowledge to vindicate their beliefs as I unveil the first online version of the patented Foreign Relations Policy Wargame. Take the helm & show us all how to serve king & country!

(Is this spam? Maybe. Do I intend it as such? Not really. Should I put it in Contests? It crossed my mind.)

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"My dear, I used to think that I was serving humanity... and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary it resents any attempt to serve it. So now I do what pleases Jubal Harshaw." ---Jubal Harshaw, Stranger In A Strange Land

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Or more likely the Flameboard, depending on how things go. So, let's see what I get...

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love's function is to fabricate unknownnness
--
E. E. Cummings
****
Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! And party everyday.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Oh, sign up? But I want to invade Kamchatka now!

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love's function is to fabricate unknownnness
--
E. E. Cummings
****
Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! And party everyday.

Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :

Yes, well....one needs players before playing, eh?

Posted by Curry Monster (Member # 12) on :

Oh boy.

Yeah, go ahead, invade Russia. Get nuked off the face of the earth.

But then hey, if you've read 'The bear and the dragon', you'll know all about an invasion of Eastern Russia. (Terrible book).

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"More beer, more beer, more beer, more beer! ARSE!"
- Ode to God.

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Funny, I've just started reading Clancy (Red October, Patriot Games, part of Clear and Present), and so far he's pretty good. Did he deteriorate over time or what?

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Eh ... as Tom Clancy goes, I like him. I of course like his early books the most ("Sum of All Fears" and "Clear and Present Danger" are my favorites), and the last of his I read was "Rainbow Six" which I enjoyed (I love the N64 version of the game, BTW). I haven't read "Bear and the Dragon" yet, but Clancy's books do seem to be taking a twist to the wierd ... i.e., the U.S. seems to go to war in every single one of his latest ones. Ah well.

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My roomate is a stupid, often-drunk, country-listening, non-cleaning, non-choring redneck ... kill him now ...

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

My problem with Clancy's later books is that they're just so damned LONG. Or it could just be that I have less time to myself to read them in than I used to.

Personally, I loved Red Storm Rising, even if it IS terribly dated now, Red October, and Cardinal of the Kremlin.

Of COURSE there's military action in Clancy's books. I mea, the guy writes military fiction, doesn't he? You can't have much military action without a battle of some kind.

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Oh, so, anyway ... tell us more about this game, Shik

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My roomate is a stupid, often-drunk, country-listening, non-cleaning, non-choring redneck ... kill him now ...

Posted by Vacuum robot lady from Spaceballs (Member # 239) on :

I'm of the opinion that, like the Star Trek films, Clancy has an alternating pattern of good / bad novels. (not counting the books where it boldy states 'TOM CLANCY'S POWER PLAYS' while really written by someone else.)

Anyway, Rainbow Six really was excellent, and I was talking with a friend of my Father's who happens to be in JTF-2, and he said the he thought it was remarkably accurate. Nothing more, less I'd be dead.

The Bear And The Dragon seems alright, (p. 76), but it really is quite long. Oh well, it's a small price to pay than to read hacks like Dale Brown, and others.

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"...you know, Omega, there's a phrase you might want to look up. It goes something like "paranoid arrogant fuckwit who has more chance of ejaculating to the moon than he has of ever convincing a girl that he's a viable prospect for marriage." -PsyLiam, September 16, 2000 10:23 PM.

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

First: There doesn't need to be a war. IIRC, there wasn't really a war in The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, or The Cardinal of the Kremlin. The only other one I've read is Red Storm Rising, which did have a war. I also started Clear and Present Danger, but never finished it. Maybe I'll go back to Clancy after I finish the book I'm reading now... Hm...

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"It's like the Star of David or something. But without the whole Judaism thing."
-Frank Gerratana, 17-Aug-2000

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

You know, another military author I like is Larry Bond, although his most recent two have been disapointments.

VORTEX, about a war in South Africa, is excellent. This is in apartheid days, so you can guess who 'da bad white man is ...

CAULDRON is about a war in Europe, where France and Germany unite and set about after a Polish pipeline to revive their economies. The U.S. and England go to war against them, and the big question is, where is Russia going to go after a military coup?

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My roomate is a stupid, often-drunk, country-listening, non-cleaning, non-choring redneck ... kill him now ...

Posted by Vacuum robot lady from Spaceballs (Member # 239) on :

Richard Marcinko.

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Marcinko? Doesn't he write the books w/ that biker-gang-looking guy on the covers? "Rogue Warrior", or something like that?

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"It's like the Star of David or something. But without the whole Judaism thing."
-Frank Gerratana, 17-Aug-2000

Posted by Vacuum robot lady from Spaceballs (Member # 239) on :

He IS the biker dude. And former commander of SEAL Team Six. Call him a 'biker dude' and you'd be eating your testicles at best.

Seriously, he's pretty good, despite the average of over 20 F Words a page. But, hey, that's SEAL talk.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

It's also incredibly boring.

In my admittedly narrow opinion, of course.

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love's function is to fabricate unknownnness
--
E. E. Cummings
****
Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! And party everyday.

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

TSN, I said "latest" book about wars ... and, actually, when you think about it, his cold "war" novels are set during a war ...

In "Debt of Honor" the U.S. is at war with Japan ...

In "Executive Orders", U.S. ground forces go to war with the combined forces of the unified Iran/Iraq, while the Navy skirmishes with India ...

I'd imagine the U.S. is at war with Russia or China during "Bear & The Dragon"

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My roomate is a stupid, often-drunk, country-listening, non-cleaning, non-choring redneck ... kill him now ...

Posted by Curry Monster (Member # 12) on :

Believe me, Clancy takes a steady downturn as time goes.

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"More beer, more beer, more beer, more beer! ARSE!"
- Ode to God.

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Jeff: You said all the latest ones have wars. First said that there has to be a battle in order to write miltary fiction. I was pointing out to him that the early ones didn't all have wars in them. In effect, one could say I was agreeing w/ you. :-)

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"It's like the Star of David or something. But without the whole Judaism thing."
-Frank Gerratana, 17-Aug-2000

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

And you're right. The early ones have tension, and sometimes conflict, but you really couldn't call them 'War' books

Although, part of "Cardinal of the Kremlin" is set during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, "Patriot Games" includes quite forceful bits of the strife between Irish factions, and even "Hunt for Red October" has a gunfight and brings war perilously close.

I'm about to but a 'what if' book involving the called-off German Invasion of England during World War II.

Anybody know if there's any good war books out there that involve attacks on Australia?

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

[This message has been edited by First of Two (edited September 21, 2000).]

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Did the Japanese ever get that close to Australia?

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My roomate is a stupid, often-drunk, country-listening, non-cleaning, non-choring redneck ... kill him now ...

Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :

East Timor...Papua New Guinea...Coral Sea was basically on the doorstep...

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

Mostly I meant fiction, or hypothetical writings. I can't get enough of alternate histories and the like.

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :

When are you going to send out the e-mails for those who join?

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Me: "Why don't you live in Hong Kong?"
Rachel Roberts: "Hong Kong? Nah. Oh, but we can live in China! Yeah, China has great Chinese food!"

(discussion with fellow classmate, 9/5/00)

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Speaking of Tom Clancy ...

Ben Affleck will be the THIRD actor to play Jack Ryan in "Sum of All Fears." Ford said "no".

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Since I was a young boy, I played the silver ball. From Soho down to Dryton, I must have played them all.

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Unless, of course, they changed the villans. There aren't any evil Indi... Native Americans, you know.

And he wanted to change the ending, too, IINM. I won't ruin it, not having read the book myself, but I'm talking MAJOR change.

This is all assuming that it gets made in the first place.
http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/sumofallfears.html

Spoilers abound.

On a different note, the movie "Patriot Games" needed another hour, at least. I mean, Lt. Cmdr. Jackson got, what, three lines?

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw