Anyone interested in the Kurds and a US President abandoning its allies (though a different party) should read Rlfj's
https://storiesonline.net/s/76954/a-fresh-start-epilogue
Funny how Rlfj predicted what a US President would do 5 years ago with regards to the Kurds. Too bad we don't have a President Buckman to come to the rescue and save America's reputation with our allies.
Sean
The issues between the Turks and the Kurds goes back decades, if not centuries. In the Syria situation with ISIS...or ISIL or however you want to name them...we allied ourselves with a noble people (the Kurds) who wish another of our allies (the Turks) would cease to exist. The Turks return the favor.
The Middle East is a melting pot of millennia old animosity. Shite versus Sunni. Muslim versus Coptic. Aryan versus Asian. Iran versus Iraq. Isreal versus Everyone.
And Everyone versus those persistent, nosey do-gooders, the US of A. In that region, you can't win for losing.
I love A Fresh Start, I'm currently reading it for the third time. I would never use a fiction story to set foreign policy or send western troops to be killed and maimed.
The Kurds were a terrorist group for decades before they became an ally of convenience. Tales of the Kurds being wonderful westernised allies were Bush era propaganda. The PKK was and is a far left organisation terrorist group. Just like other terrorist organisations they have socially acceptable fellow travellers.
Kurds still kill women for marrying outside the tribe or without the parents permission. The 'leader' of the Australian diaspora fled back to Kurdistan after his daughter 'committed suicide' falling from a 14 story tower after refusing to marry as she was told. The killing happened in Europe where she had fled, so this was the moneyed class, not illiterate peasants.
Here is another example:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/187655.php
In return for help against Saddam and laying off the terrorism the Kurds were given their own autonomous nation within northern Iraq, complete with oil.
They tried to expand that into Northern Syria. They over reached.
Playing the Great Game, at the moment Kurdistan has to make peace with at least one of three neighboring countries to export its oil: Turkey, Syria or Iraq proper. Allowing them to drive to the sea across Northern Syria would allow them to bypass all three, directly export oil for dollars then make war against their neighbours. This would weaken Muslim Iraq and allow Saudi or Iranian influence to grow. It would create the risk of high intensity war on Turkey's southern border and instead of bottling Russia up in the Black Sea they may ally with them to free up their forces. Ergodan has been moving that way over the last sweveral years.
There is money in pipelines, which is probably why there is such a huge kickback against Trump's decision in the American media.
This discussion is political in nature, I've a feeling it will be short lived.
Bringing it back to literature, the Anabasis of Xenaphon tells of being an abandoned force in that era 2300 years ago.
John Ringo's ("Oh no John Ringo!") Last Centurion is a modern day re-write where a very thinly disguised President Hillalry Clinton abandons US forces in the region and they have to make their own "March to the Sea" to survive. Personally I think its the worst of his works I have read. A firebreathing anti-Democrat may enjoy it. The one point I took away is that the area has not changed in two and a half millenia, because the story still fit the inhabitants.
John Ringo's ("Oh no John Ringo!") Last Centurion is a modern day re-write where a very thinly disguised President Hillalry Clinton abandons US forces in the region and they have to make their own "March to the Sea" to survive. Personally I think its the worst of his works I have read. A firebreathing anti-Democrat may enjoy it. The one point I took away is that the area has not changed in two and a half millenia, because the story still fit the inhabitants.
Thinly disguised? Where? The MC called her by name several times - "The Bitch!".
And no, it's not the worst of his stories, not if you consider that last story that was co-written in the 'Ghost' series. THAT one was horrible. (And what's wrong with 'March to the Sea'? I thought Prince Roger did fine in that story. I'd like to see another, after he assumes the throne.)
I'd be curious as to your thoughts on Tom Kratman's 'Caliphate'. But you are correct, I think. Without the Jewel of God and Belisarius, Persia and the entire area are mainly the same as they were millennia ago.
I was refering to the Anabasis, which was a March to the Sea. Black Sea in this case.
I haven't read the Prince Roger series, I'll give it a try on your say so.
I skipped Tiger by the Tail. The reviews were bad and I was overdosed on mil-fic at the time. Thats also the reason why I didn't read Tom Kratman's or Mike Kupari's books, even though they were recommended by authors I enjoy.
Tiger by the Tail wasn't bad. Ringo should have done more research on nuclear reactors though. Other than that, it was on par with the rest of the series.
Ringo should have done more research on nuclear reactors though.
Also on tides, which would have avoided the error in "Under a Graveyard Sky"
Also on tides, which would have avoided the error in "Under a Graveyard Sky"
I only have a basic understanding of tides. I know that it is a differential force of gravity due to the differences in distance between the closer points and farther points from two celestial bodies. But I didn't catch what he got wrong in that book. What exactly did he screw up there?
What exactly did he screw up there?
Whilst they are bugging out and loading the boat reference is made to the tides. When talking to the police officer the wife says they are hurrying because of the tide, which alerts the officer, basic plot stuff. But then mention is made of there only being one high and one low tide a day, twelve hour tides, which is of course wrong, it is presented as fact, not presented as a character making an error.
I'll read that again with that in mind. Thanks.
ETA:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/high-tide.html
After a brief search, I find that the Gulf of Mexico and coast of Alaska are diurnal tides due to interference from the continents.
Most Atlantic and Indian Ocean tides are semi diurnal, with a small part of South America, the Arabian Sea, and the west coast of Australia and Indonesia experiencing mixed tides.
Ringo was obviously thinking about the Gulf of Mexico in the book which would be wrong for the NE and in particular NYC.
Clearwater Beach, Gulf Of Mexico Tide Chart for October 12, 2019
low tide 5:26am (0.72ft)
high tide 11:36am (2.88ft)
low tide 5:48pm (0.83ft)
high tide 11:42pm (2.76ft)
link
You missed something very important from the first link you posted earlier.
One location can experience different tide patterns throughout the month.
There are places that experience 12 hour tides. That doesn't mean they only have 12 hour tides throughout the month/year.
I did see that. I suggest reading that chapter of the book and looking up the tides in question. Joy is correct in the particulars that I could find.
there only being one high and one low tide a day, twelve hour tides, which is of course wrong
...if it's an Atlantic port, but not a Pacific one. A lot of tidal range comes not from the driving force of Lunar and Solar gravity, but from resonance in the ocean basins, roughly 12hr for the Atlantic, 24hr for the Pacific, which enhances the amplitude of components close in frequency, so Pacific ports generally have one high and one low tide per day, unlike the Atlantic twice-a-day. The frequency components are not just the simple Lunar and Solar cycles either, because of non-linear mixing of the frequencies at the shores - on a sloping shore it takes roughly four times the water to raise the level by 2in rather than 1in - so you get sum, difference and multiplied frequencies as well.
so Pacific ports generally have one high and one low tide per day, unlike the Atlantic twice-a-day.
No! No, no, no, no!
Go to Google, type in "What are the tides in [name any city on the pacific] today?" and you'll see that there are two high and two low tides every 24 hour period.
Where did you pull this horseshit out of?
Where did you pull this horseshit out of?
Quite a few years ago now, but it was either the UKHO (Admiralty Easytides) or the NOAA site, a decade or so ago when I was starting to do curve fitting to the local tides to predict further forward than the then few free websites would give me. I gave that up (after reasonable success, ~5cm and 5mins at 30 days, which is as good as many of the sites match each other) when I found a free website giving 5+ years predictions
I was overreacting (shouldn't have done, I apologize) to the diurnal Pacific tides vs quarturnal (quadurnal?) Atlantic claim. The geography claim is wrong. They are the same body of water.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." That was the logic behind allying with the Kurds. Soviets + English + America worked for the duration of WW2. Not so much after the fact. When the immediate cause for allying is settled, it doesn't take long for them to remember they hate each other.
In my opinion, the person/policy at fault here are the people responsible for the initial alliance of convenience.
Maxim 29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.
A truth that is universally ignored during war as PAOs write their propaganda.
Maxim 29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less.
A Howard Tayler fan?
I'll add;
9. Never turn your back on an enemy.
What if you are surrounded?
Then, kill them all and let god sort them out. Sort of like Isreal.
What if you are surrounded?
27. Don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.
What if you are surrounded?
4. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.
20. If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win.
What if you are surrounded?
Rule 20. If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win.
Rule 36. When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support.
Rule 4. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins.
I don't claim any particular expertise for tides. I will note multiple sources back up what I stated. The NOAA link listed the types of tides, diurnal being among them. The only places those exist that I can find was in that post.
Regardless, Ringo was wrong in the book. That much is clear.
Diurnal tides certainly exist. They also can phase in and out of semi-diurnal cycles, since they are interference patterns. If you look at the current (Oct 11-18, 2019) weekly tide chart for Port Fourchon, Louisiana, you will see that this weekend the sea is in a semi-diurnal cycle, but by Monday it will be in a diurnal cycle. Most of the time the location only has one high tide per day.
Generally the diurnal tides in the Gulf of Mexico are prevalent on the north end of the basin, and not so much on the west coast of Florida as in the Clearwater example given, which always has semi-diurnal tides.
If you want to see very odd tides, check out Port Saint Joe, in FL, which is "in the corner" of the Gulf and therefore can have anywhere between 2 to 8 tides per day. Granted, the tides are very small, sometimes a matter of an inch difference! But the location gets a mix of diurnal and semi-diurnal mechanisms.
Cheers
RS
I hate it when facts get in the way of a perfectly good story. Fiction is exactly that.
There have been a number of threads that drifted into gun porn and the perceived errors or inaccuracies described. For some of us an error in tides, flight times, distances between places etc are as if not more jarring. Writing fictional stories set in 'our' world should not excuse simple research or basic fact checking.
Granted there are times that things are 'adjusted' to enable the storyline, that is often called 'artistic licence', but that is not the same as simply screwing up basic facts either in error or due to lack of research.
That said, I'm far from his target audience and yet I happen to very much enjoy most of his work.
Fiction is exactly that.
What?! I though adventure stories were the way it happened, give or take a lie or two.
I hate it when facts get in the way of a perfectly good story. Fiction is exactly that.
Fiction is also called History, a version of past events acceptable to the victors.
True fiction is that written by a blind man in a dark room, as seen through the eyes of a black cat, that isn't there...