"In distress", my ass.
Or instead of escorts or attacks, Pakistan could just end their "under the table" support of drone use in their effectively ungoverned areas, and make their official and unofficial policies match by telling the US to take a hike.
They probably won't, though. It's easier and more convenient to continue the hypocrisy of publicly pissing and moaning about the drones while giving a private winkwinknudgenudge to the drones taking action in areas the Pakistani military can't or won't go, knowing that the US will most likely continue to take the slings and arrows (so to speak) without serious complaint.
edited 10th Apr '14 2:31:57 PM by Nohbody
All your safe space are belong to Trump
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Nohobody: We know and that is part of the problem.
The gist of it is that if they were really serious about their complaints it would be trivially easy for them to stop the drone attacks. If the US chose to ignore the pound sand comment splashing the drones would be easy, effective, and most definitely to the point.
Silas: Because the drone doesn't have pilot is why. That they are quite likely to ignore polite please leave gesture. Especially given the current history of the drone strikes. You smack a drone out of the sky gets the point across without killing anyone and stops the threat cold.
Who watches the watchmen?
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
Plus you get some cute drone wreckage to play with.
Oh really when?
rollin' on dubs
Pakistan has been playing both sides against the middle:
- The pro-Taliban elements in the ISI and their government support the Taliban but with out "official" approval. There were lots of rumors of Pakistani aircraft dropping supplies to the Taliban. With the drone strikes they can now send "aid" to the Taliban because "drones". And since they are angry at the US, they are not (for now) angry at their government.
- Those who want to usurp the pro-Taliban groups get the US to fire missiles in the tribal areas, weaken Al Queda and keep their hands clean. Foreign fighters have poured into the area, some are even in the Kashmir region. That has to make several Pakistani officials nervous, so if the US offs lots of them, no biggie. They won't be around to start trouble after the US leaves.
- All sides get tasty PR and get to whip up anti-US anger. Any problems can be blamed on the trigger happy CIA and the US forces.
edited 12th Apr '14 8:49:24 AM by TairaMai
All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be a case on The First 48
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Pretty much. Lots of dirty politics involved in the drone strikes in Pakistan on all fronts.
Who watches the watchmen?
HGW XX/7
Pakistan's big concern is the same thing it has been since the days of Gandhi and Jinnah: India. For the ISI, an Al-Qaeda or Taliban ruled Afghanistan is vastly preferably to an Indian puppet, not least because it would put them in the neat little sandwich they already have India in. The thing about the Indo-Pak cold war (because that's essentially what it is) is that it doesn't have the same dynamics of the US-Russia one: India is bigger, has a much larger economy, is richer, and arguably more advanced. Pakistan is shit-terrified of India; and for them, the good thing about the Taliban was that they, whilst undoubtedly arseholes, were hated by everyone, whilst a new government in Kabul might, they fear, be tempted to view New Delhi as a potential trade partner and bulwark against Pakistani interference. It's a similar hell to the one China is in re: North Korea; it harms prestige and could ultimately backfire horribly to keep supporting them, but the alternative is worse. Hell, a very large part of Pakistan's enthusiastic participation in the original campaign to arm the Mujahideen was to prevent India's Soviet allies getting a prime piece of real estate on Pakistan's doorstep.
Still, there has been a bit of a thaw in Indo-Pak relations since the low-point in 2008 after the Mumbai attacks, though how Pakistan will feel about the potential election of Narendra Modi (and Modi about Pakistan) is yet to be seen. Thing is, Pakistan is able, and possibly willing, to drastically destabilize Afghanistan if they want to. Drones will not help one bit: the big concern of Afghanistan and the US should be to establish a foreign policy framework that will allow Afghanistan to avoid taking sides in the conflicts of it's neighbors.
Schild und Schwert der Partei
Beware the Crazy Man.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Afghanistan hating Pakistan doesn't help either, in that regard. There was that report of the US having to stop Afghan Intelligence from backing the anti-Pakistan faction of the Taliban, if I recall...
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
There was a request to rename the thread so I've done so.
Please feel free to comment on the name change and suggest better names for the thread.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Sounds good to me. It covers the full gamut of drone stuff which is not limited to drone strikes but also Domestic Drone use.
The title is a big of an exaggeration but I can see where there is some honest concern
Open source Graffiti Drone. Initially used to make some art. But because it is open source there is the potential, like with most tech, to be abused.
DARPA uses Drones to create Wifi Hot Spots or mobile communications relay hubs This can also likely has uses outside of the battle field.
edited 17th Apr '14 1:07:05 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?
betaalpha
Heh, if drones can spray paint graffiti, they can spray paint, well, paint. Criminy, as well as obliterating hard to reach vandalism that could make stuff like retouching bridges a lot easier.
*CoughuncensoredwifihubsintoNorthKoreacough*
Oh, speaking of which... South Korea Rejects North’s Offer to Jointly Probe Crashed Drones
edited 17th Apr '14 1:08:50 PM by betaalpha
So, the Portuguese Navy has a drone now (AR 4 Light Ray). However, the first demonstration...
The second one went allright, though.
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Heh. No honor among thieves. I am not really surprised at the tech approach. IR tech has steadily gotten cheaper over the years and mounting cameras on RC vehicles is old news as well.
Who watches the watchmen?
Jupiterian Local
In other news, this is all kinds of awesome:
Indiana Solo
saw a similar thing a couple months ago, it's quite impressive.
I'm baaaaaaack
V
Non-profit group sues FAA over UAV flying ban
Texas-based EquuSearch filed a lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC, asking the court to over-turn a two-month-old FAA order prohibiting the non-profit organization from using unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) as part of its search efforts.
“The FAA order should be set aside because it is unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not otherwise in accordance with the law,” wrote Brendan Schulman, the attorney representing EquuSearch and volunteer Gene Robinson.
EquuSearch has been using UAVs to help search for missing people since 2005. The UA Vs are flown under 400ft and operated only by unpaid volunteers, according to the lawsuit. But the FAA ordered the non-profit organization to stop using UAVs in an order dated 21 February, calling the flights “illegal” under the FAA’s rules.
In Schulman’s legal complaint, he argues that the FAA has not formally issued regulations concerning small UAVs, and is relying on unenforceable policy statements to order EquuSearch to stop flying the aircraft.
The FAA has been working to define regulations for UAVs since 2007. The agency has a deadline to initiate a rulemaking process on small UAVs below 24.9kg (55lb) by the end of this year.
The FAA responds that it has a process for allowing public agencies to fly UAVs in commercial airspace called a certificate of authorisation or waiver (COA), meaning that Equu-Search could be added to a COA if named in a public agency's application.
However, the FAA has granted less than 550 COAs as of last December.
"The FAA is reviewing the appeal," a spokeswoman says. "The agency approves emergency certificates of authorisation (COAs) for natural disaster relief, search and rescue operations and other urgent circumstances, sometimes in a matter of hours. We are not aware that any government entity with an existing COA has applied for an emergency naming Texas EquuSearch as its contractor."
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
-rolls eyes- good grief not this crap again. Hobby planes have very low carrying capacity as do the popular quad copters. there is a reason their bodies are made out of plastics and Styrofoam. Most are lucky if you can mount a camera on it and still be able to fly it.
Who watches the watchmen?
Wandering Jew
Drones banned from Yosemite, other national parks.
Wandering Jew
Night Clerk of the Apacalypse.
Just like the Russian Missiles they really and totally have, that totally legit mass missile test launch, their highly advanced flying boats that are totally not outdated designs, their totally not fake stealth plane, and their really guys this is not a copy of a drone the US was using about half a century ago.
Who watches the watchmen?
I know this was a page or two back, but this is indeed the case. The Air Force has a drastically lower level of collateral damage with drone strikes than the CIA, because the CIA doesn't need a whole lot in the way of authorization. They also aren't brought up in a military school of thought, collateral damage is something that is rather extensively addressed as a consideration in military operations. The CIA is an intelligence agency conducting pseudo military operations outside of its lane. The only reason we don't hear about tons of collateral damage from CIA SAD is because, drum roll, they are all Delta/JSOC/SEAL/CCT/TACP types.
Simply put, it's a consideration that our institutions actually make an attempt to address, rather successfully most of the time. If the CIA was an organization where airstrikes organized and authorized by them and not requested through us was supposed to be one of their responsibilities, they would have collateral damage in mind too.
But it's not, they are supposed to be an intelligence agency first, and a paramilitary organization second. This hasn't been the case since 9/11.
edited 12th May '14 9:18:52 PM by Barkey
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
Now to be fair to Iran, that totally not fake stealth plane looked really cool.
<Disregard>
edited 12th May '14 9:19:58 PM by Barkey
Pakistan also has a population that for generations has been bracing for nuclear war and really knows how to hold a grudge, let alone the dangerous government takeovers...
No. It's better not to underestimate their determination.
"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur