hahaha I love that you knew what kind of tank it is and about the political situation here! This guy was on the Syrian side of the border, abandoned when HTS swept the country in December. The entire road leading up from the border with Jordan is littered with them... I wanted to jump out of the car and take some photos, but it felt very... HEM, not safe to do.
From what I've seen here I'd say not much military gear is left, and all of it that remains is way outdated. Just lots of Ak-47s now.
Oops, I think my anorak tendencies are showing, lol. I know huge amounts of useless stuff, but less that's useful. I guess that makes me an ignorant asshole too 😁 I do try to follow what's going on around the world, but get far more useful info by ignoring the Western media and looking for information from as many other sources (especially primary ones) as possible.
Oh geez I hope my comment didn't come across as sarcastic! I genuinely think it's awesome that you knew about the governmental change in Syria; I feel that not enough people pay attention to Syria despite what a pivotal country it is! And I've spent my life around all sorts of gamers, and many of them were into tanks, so tank knowledge is something I think is rad!
And the news, bleh yeah... I feel like the best I'm left with is cross referencing firsthand accounts because I've seen time and time again that what is reported is often a half-truth at best 😩
That's part of why I wanted to be so specific about where I saw the tank and add a bit about the demilitarization I've seen happen here- I don't want to accidentally imply anything false or inflammatory about what's going on here as Syrian current events are often coated in all sorts of falsehoods.
Hey no, I didn't take it as sarcastic at all ! Although to be honest I'm so socially inept that I probably wouldn't notice even if it had been 😆
I have to admit I find current affairs endlessly fascinating, even though I recognise how much it can mess up the lives of the people involved, or even just living nearby. Once you scratch below the surface fluff and misdirection, it's possible to follow the money, and more often than not doing that leads you to who is really trying to influence things.
Joining the dots to see the underlying patterns of influence and agenda is the bit I most enjoy; it needs the ability to link seemingly unrelated things and to gather lots of little bits of information (which is why I love how you were able to be so specific).
Sometimes it leads to scary places, other times you can just breathe a sigh of relief and just go "yep, everything here is no more messed up than normal". 😁