Images from Bush vs. The Axis of Evil

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

Indian submarine INS Vagir, c. 2017. India signed a major deal in 2015 with Japan for a purchase of ten Soryu-class submarines, to replace their older diesel-electric attack boats.

While India still maintains some links with Russia, the Russo-Chinese alliance led them to rethink their military provision agreements, given Indian territorial disputes with China. As such, they have been developing procurement relations with Japan, Korea, and Iran.

Iranian single-use drones being tested in India. India has invested heavily in large numbers of drones from Iran, using them to deadly effect in recent skirmishes with Pakistan and China. Indian and Armenian use have been a very effective advertisement for Iranian drones, and many governments in the Developing World buy Iranian drones these days (the Kenyan military is a particularly large customer).

While India remains technically neutral in the Second Cold War, they have security agreements with Iran with regard to mutual areas of concern, and a quiet Understanding with the Bangkok Regional Security Treaty nations about containing China.

Indian troops in the Ladakh Region in 2020. A series of skirmish actions took place throughout 2020 along the border between India and China. Beginning with small incidents, the clashes gradually saw large-scale firefights and attempted border crossings by Chinese forces, but escalated sharply with Indian use of drones, which forced Chinese troops to withdraw but brought both countries to the brink of something considerably larger until eventually the situation was de-escalated (thanks in large part to Russia absolutely not wanting to see their biggest ally go to war with a major trading partner). However, the situation remains…bitter, with China feeling humiliated thanks to not insignificant losses of personnel and equipment, India driving their forces back, and their deficiency in drone power.​

 

[CalBear]

French president Jacques Chirac announces that French troops in Lebanon have found and killed leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah who was actually hiding in countryside of Lebanon instead in Iran where from Americans tried to find him. This ws bit humiliating for Americans and it is believed that this helped Wellstone win '04 election. This action too boosted French image when they were able to show that French are not just cheese-eating surrender monkeys.

You SO need to cut this shit out.

 

[Lalli]

You SO need to cut this shit out.

Excuse me nyt I dont really see what is problem on this post.

 

[Whiteshore]

Senior General Than Shwe of the Union of Myanmar, whose State Peace and Development Council has ruled Myanmar since the crushing of the 8888 Uprising in 1988 until the present-day. Like Ne Win before him, Than Shwe has become infamous for his repressive rule over Myanmar and his highly-superstitious behavior, remaining in power as the oldest ruling non-royal head of state into modern times ever since he seized power in 1992. Infamously, in recent years, Myanmar has been rumored to be developing nuclear weapons, especially with how Myanmar, after the fall of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq, is often considered amongst the worst dictatorships in the world with them and the Taliban's Afghanistan constantly topping international indices as lowest in press freedom and the Democracy Index.

Poster for the 2008 Rambo movie, which takes part in Myanmar and features the Tatmadaw as the villains. With the defeat of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea and strict Chinese and Russian/Vostokoslavian censorship being something that Hollywood had to contend with, a few works would be infamous for portraying the Union of Myanmar, along with other similar dictatorships, as villains as obvious stand-ins for China or Vostokoslavia.

 

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

Polish Air Force Dassault Mirage 2000N, photographed c. 2011. The Mirages, provided by France, were an early component of Poland's nuclear deterrent, able to deliver stand-off nuclear missiles against potential targets within Vostokoslavian territory. While starting to show their age, they were still highly capable aircraft, beloved by their pilots...and, as a Polish Minister of Defence commented, 'more than able to wipe Russian cities off the map'.

The Mirage 2000Ns were retired in 2015, replaced by the Rafale N variant (a variant developed during the late 2000s as a means of delivering nuclear weapons).

In the conventional sphere, the Polish Air Force - following the retiring of Soviet-era aircraft - is comprised primarily of a mixture of Rafales, Czech Aero -170s, and F-35s, and is a participant in the European Future Combat Air System.

Polish GROM special forces operators on an exercise c. 2016. Despite being a relatively new force, GROM have gained a reputation as being one of the better special forces units in the European Union, and regularly train with counterparts from both the EU and the United States. Additionally, while this has not been confirmed, there are rumours that GROM operators regularly take part in operations alongside French special forces in Africa, in particular against Vostokoslavian 'mercenary' forces, both to gain valuable combat experience and more particularly to gain experience against the kind of enemies they may one day face in a major war, given how it's an open secret that Vostokoslavian PMC forces are essentially an arm of the Union itself. The same rumours indicate that GROM have a particularly fearsome reputation in such fights, and are responsible for a high volume of kills among enemy mercenary forces.

Poland and its fellow Intermarium states tend to have favourable military ties with France in general, seeing them and Britain as those of their allies who are most serious about containing the Vostokoslavian menace.

Czech Air Force Aero-170 taking part in a military exercise with other Intermarium Bloc nations in 2018. The Aero-170 is a supersonic trainer/light multirole fighter developed by the Czech aircraft manufacturing corporation Aero Vodochody over the years immediately following the beginning of the Second Cold War, the beneficiary of increased defence spending and R&D following Russia's return to the superpower table (as well as the beneficiary of financial support from other neighbouring allies, who wished to take advantage of Czechia actually having an aerospace industry). The 170s are in use by all members of the Intermarium Bloc (forming the entire combat basis of the Estonian Air Force, at present), as well as having been sold to several other EU countries and to friendly nations beyond Europe.​

 

[dorkasky]

Hezbollah soldiers and tanks mobilizing against US Marine forces, late 2002.

Alberto Nisman, Argentine lawyer, later assassinated in 2015. He claimed evidence for Argentina's coverup of the AMIA Jewish center bombing in 1994 in Buenos Aires, which suspected Iran/Hezbollah as the mastermind and then Argentine President Cristina Kirchner covered it up allegedly due to friendly ties. It caused the fall of the Kirchner government in late 2015.

Kaesong Industrial Region, Korea. Since the Second Korean War, Kaesong has been rebuilt with chaebol money and North Korean labor. The Unification Church's businesses have been very influential in rebuilding the area and industrializing it.

 

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

Warrior IFV, one of twelve (plus spare parts) donated to the Irish Army by the British Army, c. 2019. With the British gradually replacing their Warrior fleet with the Boxer IFV, and with the Irish retiring their Scorpion light tanks, this donation was seen as making eminent sense.

The Irish were a reluctant entry into the EU's drive towards mutual defence following the resurgence of Russia, and had hoped to maintain their traditional neutrality. However, diplomatic pressure from their EU partners - and in particular, the importance of EU funding for various development programmes within Ireland - and from the US under the second Bush administration, led to a referendum on the matter in 2014. While extremely close, with neutrality being championed considerably by Opposition parties and large sections of the public, a combination of provocations by Vostokoslavia elsewhere in Europe and exposés relating to certain pro-neutrality figures in Ireland having received money from Vostokoslavia, a very small majority won the day, and Ireland would commit to becoming part of the EU's mutual defence.

Ireland's position in this area is a...mixed one. The rest of the EU has made it clear that, while they'll help, they expect Ireland to carry its own weight. To that end, despite frequent opposition, defence spending has been increased, and a number of other EU countries have donated or subsidised equipment. Britain provided Warriors for the Cavalry, as well as helping install new radar systems and providing SAMs, while the Czech Republic provided - subsidised in part by France and Britain - a dozen Aero-170s and spare components to the Air Corps in 2015 (though it wouldn't be until 2019 that there were enough pilots trained in on fast jet operations to actually operate all of them). As of today, Ireland is actually able to respond to violations of its airspace by Vostokoslavian aircraft, and has more available manpower, but there's still a lot of deficiencies. Additionally, a sizeable sector of the public remains hostile to increased defence spending and Irish activity in this regard, as seen with the protests over participation in regular EU war-games and the even larger protests when a permanent Irish contingent (an infantry battalion and two of the Aero-170s) was first deployed to Finland in 2021.

Army Reserve members on a two-week summer camp in County Donegal. Arguably, the Reserve Defence Forces have benefited more from the increase in defence spending than the regular forces: an increased gratuity has seen an increase in recruitment and lower turnover, in particular among young newly-employed men and women seeking to augment their savings, while equipment has also seen upgrades. The Army Reserve currently numbers approximately 3,000 personnel.




​

 

[ajm8888]

Warrior IFV, one of twelve (plus spare parts) donated to the Irish Army by the British Army, c. 2019. With the British gradually replacing their Warrior fleet with the Boxer IFV, and with the Irish retiring their Scorpion light tanks, this donation was seen as making eminent sense.

The Irish were a reluctant entry into the EU's drive towards mutual defence following the resurgence of Russia, and had hoped to maintain their traditional neutrality. However, diplomatic pressure from their EU partners - and in particular, the importance of EU funding for various development programmes within Ireland - and from the US under the second Bush administration, led to a referendum on the matter in 2014. While extremely close, with neutrality being championed considerably by Opposition parties and large sections of the public, a combination of provocations by Vostokoslavia elsewhere in Europe and exposés relating to certain pro-neutrality figures in Ireland having received money from Vostokoslavia, a very small majority won the day, and Ireland would commit to becoming part of the EU's mutual defence.

Ireland's position in this area is a...mixed one. The rest of the EU has made it clear that, while they'll help, they expect Ireland to carry its own weight. To that end, despite frequent opposition, defence spending has been increased, and a number of other EU countries have donated or subsidised equipment. Britain provided Warriors for the Cavalry, as well as helping install new radar systems and providing SAMs, while the Czech Republic provided - subsidised in part by France and Britain - a dozen Aero-170s and spare components to the Air Corps in 2015 (though it wouldn't be until 2019 that there were enough pilots trained in on fast jet operations to actually operate all of them). As of today, Ireland is actually able to respond to violations of its airspace by Vostokoslavian aircraft, and has more available manpower, but there's still a lot of deficiencies. Additionally, a sizeable sector of the public remains hostile to increased defence spending and Irish activity in this regard, as seen with the protests over participation in regular EU war-games and the even larger protests when a permanent Irish contingent (an infantry battalion and two of the Aero-170s) was first deployed to Finland in 2021.

Army Reserve members on a two-week summer camp in County Donegal. Arguably, the Reserve Defence Forces have benefited more from the increase in defence spending than the regular forces: an increased gratuity has seen an increase in recruitment and lower turnover, in particular among young newly-employed men and women seeking to augment their savings, while equipment has also seen upgrades. The Army Reserve currently numbers approximately 3,000 personnel.




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Looks like some of the helmets on the lads are a little tight.

 

[L'amateur d'aéroplanes]

Artilleryman from the 9th U.S Marine Regiment detached to a TRF1 battery of the 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment of the French Army during the siege of Abadan in Iran.

 

[dorkasky]

2013 Pyeonghwa Hwiparam, using the newer FIAT Siena platform. Since inception the Unification Church-run car company is using the Italian FIAT technology for their own car range. While sales are brisk in Korea, because Pyeonghwa Motors are de-facto FIAT's Asia branch, these cars are not allowed to be sold in Europe and the Americas due to conflicting with some of the FIAT lineup there. Pyeonghwa Motors were also authorized to sell some of FIAT's more distinct cars, but as FIATs.

Yeonmi Park, a Korean-American author. Born in North Korea, she recounted the chaos of the Second Korean War after her father was accused, arrested, and tortured for being a "defeatist". Reunited with the rest of her family in Mongolia. After leaving for China in 2004 together with the rest of her family, she was one of the few North Korean defectors allowed to stay in South Korea proper until after education and jobs, left for the United States in 2014. She and her family testified during the trial of Kim Jong-il in 2009. While she was criticized for her inconsistencies in her back story, she was embraced by parts of the American right for her outspoken criticism of the former North Korea and later China for "holding the rest of Korea" as a hostage. While not a member of the Unification Church, she endorsed the presidency of "Sean" Hyung-jin Moon in 2022.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, commander of the JTJ terror group in Iraq and Syria. He was called the "Pol Pot of the Euphrates" for his extremist terrorism and his atrocities against the Shia Muslims, Kurds, and Yazidis.

 

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

Looks like some of the helmets on the lads are a little tight.

Just a bit alright

 

[ajm8888]

Just a bit alright

It’s army reserve, pretty much universal that not all the helmets fit.

 

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

Royal Navy carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, c. 2019. Though a return to large-scale carrier operations had been decided even before the War on Terror, they were pursued with even greater vigour at the outbreak of the Second Cold War, as part of a major increase in defence spending for HM Armed Forces in general and the Royal Navy in particular, as concerns about American reliability drove home the need for Britain to be able to act to secure Atlantic shipping routes. As such, F-35s would be acquired considerably earlier than might have otherwise been the case, and a great deal of work was done to get both carriers ready and operational as soon as possible.

In the event of a major conflict, the role of the Royal Navy - strengthened not only by the addition of the two carriers but also an notable increase in the number of guided missile destroyers and attack submarines - will be to secure and keep open the sea-lanes to North America, in conjunction with the French and Spanish navies.

Spanish carrier Sofia, on patrol c. 2018. Built by the Spanish Navantia company like the amphibious combat vessel Juan Carlos, she is based heavily on the Italian carrier Cavour, thanks to a joint programme between Spain and Italy (and with wider EU backing, in particular from France). In the event of war, existing plans call for the Sofia and her 10-12 F-35s, plus escort vessels, to operate in the Atlantic in support of French and British carrier forces, while the Juan Carlos and escorts would assist France, Italy and other regional naval allies in securing the Mediterranean.

Italian carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi, c. 2020. Like Spain and Britain, she and the newer Cavour operate the F-35 as their strike element.

The European Union’s common defence policies, like those of NATO, strongly emphasise interoperability, as well as emphasising particular regions and the roles certain nations have in those regions. As an example, Italy is seen as a significant player in the securing of the Mediterranean together with other allies in the region should a conflict break out, and its Navy is increasingly built for that purpose.​

 

[L'amateur d'aéroplanes]

Off-topic, the fact that the British government has not chosen to install catapults on its new aircraft carriers is still incomprehensible given the cost of the program. We will see today that they are only large helicopter carriers.

 

[dorkasky]

Keiji Nakazawa, a Japanese Hiroshima nuclear bombing survivor and creator of the Barefoot Gen manga. A left-winger, he was accused of being a North Korean collaborator during the 2002 North Korean attacks on Japan. While vehemently denied such accusations, the fact that he said that the North Korean attack was "payback for Japanese mistreatment of Koreans during its colonial period and Japan should have stayed demilitarized" had enraged many in the Japanese right, causing his assassination by Tetsuya Yamagami, a JMSDF veteran of the Second Korean War in 2007.

Screenshot of the videogame Battlefield 3, about the Battle of Tehran. The plot starts with the protagonists fighting the Second War on Terror and ends with them in an alternate 2020 trying to stop a Russian invasion of Poland.

Screenshot from the Homefront Videogame, 2011. It is an alternate history where North Korea defeated South Korea during the Second Korean War, and together with China, conquered the rest of Asia and invaded America. Critical and gamer reception is mixed at best.

 

[dorkasky]

Belarusian representative to the UN Andrei Dapkuinas speaking at a UN body, circa 2022. Even after the formal integration of Belarus and Ukraine to Vostokoslavia, Moscow has allowed Belarus and Ukraine to retain separate UN membership, similar to the situation in 1945 where the Belarusian and Ukrainian SSR were separate members of the United Nations.

It has been said that the DMZ was never gone but merely moved up: here, Korean soldiers walked near the new DMZ near the Chinese occupied zone, circa 2021.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard recruits during the Iranian front of the War on Terror, 2003.

 

[TrevorFromStarWarsBackup]

Keiji Nakazawa, a Japanese Hiroshima nuclear bombing survivor and creator of the Barefoot Gen manga. A left-winger, he was accused of being a North Korean collaborator during the 2002 North Korean attacks on Japan. While vehemently denied such accusations, the fact that he said that the North Korean attack was "payback for Japanese mistreatment of Koreans during its colonial period and Japan should have stayed demilitarized" had enraged many in the Japanese right, causing his assassination by Tetsuya Yamagami, a JMSDF veteran of the Second Korean War in 2007.

Screenshot of the videogame Battlefield 3, about the Battle of Tehran. The plot starts with the protagonists fighting the Second War on Terror and ends with them in an alternate 2020 trying to stop a Russian invasion of Poland.

Screenshot from the Homefront Videogame, 2011. It is an alternate history where North Korea defeated South Korea during the Second Korean War, and together with China, conquered the rest of Asia and invaded America. Critical and gamer reception is mixed at best.

Irrelevant, but one of my teen-years favourite game franchises. I can see why it ended/died out.

 

[Jett-Power]

Screenshot of the intro of the Nostalgia Critic, played by War on Terror veteran: Doug Walker.

The Nostalgia Critic is a popular YouTube web series and the most popular series for the Channel Awesome brand. Walker plays an exaggerated film critic who reviews films from his childhood. Internet reviews then imitated this style in the late 2000s and early 2010s. He also reviewed films about the War on Terror, mainly the Iranian theater, as he "felt nostalgic for that period in his life." Walker also appeared at colleges talking about his experiences in the War in Iran, where he famously said, when describing the battle of Tehran, "I did it so you didn't have to."
Walker fell under criticism when the Not So Awesome document was released in 2018, where ex-employees of Channel Awesome expressed their grievances and bad experiences at the company. While Walker was rarely mentioned in the document, he was criticized for not standing up for his fellow content creators. However, when Walker spoke about the document, he defended the actions of the CEO of Channel Awesome, saying it was explained because he was also a veteran of the War on Terror. Walker's comments drew ire from numerous people online. One of them was Joe Vargas, otherwise known as Angry Joe, another War on Terror veteran and Channel Awesome employee (who left when the document was released), calling Walker's comments "an insult to veterans in every war" and "an excuse to justify the worse things you can do in that position."

 

[Jett-Power]

Russian tanks entering Transnistria, February 5, 2010.

Acting Moldovan President: Mihai Ghimpu delivering a speech announcing that Moldova has rejoined Romania, ca. early 2011.

 

[Jett-Power]

2004 United States presidential election [1]

Blue-Democrat- Paul Wellstone/John Edwards
Red-Republican- Mike Huckabee/Rudy Giuliani

2008 United States presidential election

Blue-Democrat- Paul Wellstone/John Edwards
Red-Republican- Mitt Romney/Sarah Palin

2012 United States presidential election

Blue-Democrat- Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine
Red-Republican- George W. Bush/Condoleezza Rice

References
1. The thread did say that from 2008 onwards, Iowa voted Republican. However, it did say that Wellstone had 298 electoral votes.