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Originally Posted by Zhukov
Actually, I personally see a difference. There would be no difference in these times, since anyone who is against the US/Russia/West is a terrorist, though.
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Not if they're a state.
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Originally Posted by Zhukov
You can fight a government without the use of terror tactics. Shooting soldiers, blowing up army supplies, stealing weapons etc.
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How is shooting soldiers and blowing up military depots not inducing terror?
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Originally Posted by Zhukov
I see terrorism as doing something with the express aim of scaring people, with the terror the main aim, i.e bigger than the actual damage you cause. Partisans in WWII didn't cut telephone cables to scare the Germans into surrendering, they did it to cut lines of communication, still the Germans reffed to them as terrorists.
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Partisans in WWII didn't just tamper with communications, the killed off duty German soldiers and collaborators (noncombatants).
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Originally Posted by Zhukov
Blowing up a train and killing 14 civilians, however, has no military gain, but it causes people to be scared, supposedly so scared that they give up fighting you. Dropping an extremely large conventional weapon to 'shock and awe' the population into compliance has the same effect - a) it's a terror tactic and b) it rarely works.
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Here's the thing, it can have military gain. Terrorism has a almost 100 percent failure rate, historically, but suicide terrorism, especially sustained campaigns, has actually proven to be effective in some instances. The US, France, Israel, all have pulled military forces out of areas as a result of suicide campaigns.
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Originally Posted by Zhukov
The generalisation, 'Chechen rebels', are on both sides, since they fight conventionally against the remaining Russian forces in their state, and by using terror tactics both in Chechnya and in the rest of Russia.
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. . . Ok?
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Originally Posted by Zhukov
Still, it seems that there is no such thing as a freedom fighter anymore. Officially. If you take up arms to defend yourself against the government then you are a terrorist, no matter your aims or actions.
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There never was a freedom fighter, only terrorists. It's all rhetoric.