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by h2zizzle 463 days ago
We just had that whole Cliven Bundy thing happen a few years ago, no? Also, large swathes of the western US, Alaska, Appalachia, etc., are often difficult for authorities to access (at least quickly).

It's important to be clear that the lack of government control in Central Africa has a lot to do with that same sort of geographic inaccessibility. There are whole countries in Asia that exist largely because of the difficulty of administering rugged frontier; the Amazon still exists largely because the Brazilian/Colombian/etc. governments understandably have trouble administering thousands of square miles of jungle.
2 comments
pessimizer 462 days ago
> We just had that whole Cliven Bundy thing happen a few years ago, no?

That's interesting because of how unusual it is. If there were hundreds of him, the US would be like central Africa.

> governments understandably have trouble administering thousands of square miles of jungle.

I'm sure that governments feel better that you understand their problems. You're replying to somebody who is enumerating those problems, not reviewing individual governments and giving them a star rating.

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h2zizzle 456 days ago
There are hundreds of Cliven Bundys.

The insistence on othering what clearly isn't an alien experience for our own society is annoying. It's also a bit dangerous, considering how the, "Just swoop in and merc the bastards," produced the Bundy approach; disrespect for the complexity of dealing with militias leads to tragedy.

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AnimalMuppet 462 days ago
The US doesn't have that kind of geographic inaccessibility. Cliven Bundy is alive, not because the US couldn't locate him, not because the US couldn't reach that location with overwhelming force, but because the US decided that killing him was a less optimal move than letting him be an annoyance for a while, and eventually arresting and trying him.
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h2zizzle 461 days ago
I don't think that's entirely it. It's true that they could have easily killed him, but that might have touched off a much wider-spread insurrection, in a location where the geography gives locals advantages in a guerilla-style approach to resistance. The choice then becomes, "Get involved in a domestic quagmire," or, "Carpet bomb conservation areas and natural wonders."

Maybe inaccessible is the wrong word. Less-accessible? And big. Lots of ground to cover, even when you have an AF base nearby.

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AnimalMuppet 460 days ago
Sure, I agree with that.
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