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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34877069
Malian special forces have entered the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako, to end a siege by gunmen who had been holding 170 people hostage. The gunmen stormed the US-owned hotel, which is popular with foreign businesses and airline crews, shooting and shouting "God is great!" in Arabic. Malian state TV is reporting that 80 people have now been freed. At least three people are reported to have been killed in the siege that started around 07:00 GMT. Six staff from Turkish Airlines were at the hotel when it was attacked, and a Chinese guest told China's state news agency Xinhua he was among about seven Chinese tourists trapped there. A French presidential source said French citizens were also at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Reuters news agency reports.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali
Official languages: French
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @04:54PM
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday November 20 2015, @05:13PM
Ok, you don't think it would be the KKK? Here are some other options:
- The Michigan Militia and similar groups.
- The Bloods, the Crips, or another gang.
- Aryan Nation and other Neo-Nazi organizations.
- A cult with a similar apocalyptic outlook as the Branch Davidians of Waco Texas.
- Church of Scientology.
Remember, you're talking about finding an entity with no connection to the government, with weapons and enough organization that they can function as a pseudo-government in whatever areas they manage to control. In this hypothetical world, there are no cops who are understood to be the legitimate expression of the will of the people. There's the government army, and there's everybody who wants to fight them (most likely splintered into hundreds or thousands of different groups), and there's all the civilians caught in the middle.
The groups that would have the most success fighting the government are not going to be nice people: For example, the Roman Catholic Church is big and organized, but isn't armed and thus can't be much help militarily. You and your neighbors with AR-15s may be well-armed, but you are not very well organized and serious conflicts will likely erupt over who should be in charge - especially when you meet up with the resistance from the next neighborhood over and there's a question about whether your neighborhood leaders are in charge or the other neighborhood's leaders are in charge, especially when you're attacked and now there's a question about whether to save your neighborhood or the other neighborhood.
That makes my "Government or the KKK?" scenario not as far-fetched as it sounds. As a sibling post pointed out, many Iranians were faced with that kind of decision in the late 1970's.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @05:30PM
The KKK are neither organized nor powerful. They are mostly a bunch of backwoods hicks mouthing off to each other about how they are going to run the world someday. The fact that you do think they are organized and powerful speaks volumes about your tenuous grasp on reality. I hope this clarifies things for you.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday November 20 2015, @05:36PM
In a crisis, 50 well-armed people in the backwoods loyal to an Imperial Wizard is a more effective fighting force than most people or organizations can put together. For the sole reason that everybody else is even weaker.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Friday November 20 2015, @06:55PM