When rocks, Molotov cocktails and bullets start flying indiscriminately, everyone becomes a target.
The following footage from Egypt depicts a civilian being shot and killed during the ongoing riots sweeping north Africa and the middle east. Really, it could have been any one of the four or five people standing next to him.
[WARNING: Graphic Violence]
If you want to be party to a riot, that’s your prerogative, but understand the risks. There will be much confusion, and many different sides. First, there’s the chance you’ll be mistaken for someone else and protesters you thought were with you turn on you for no apparent reason. Second, you may very well get hit by “friendly fire accidently. Third, there’s an increased likelihood that multiple factions of different groups get mixed up in brawls for personal or random reasons and you just happen to be in the vicinity when it happens.
And finally, the most compelling reason to either stay home, or go home when things seem to be spiraling out of control - deployment of U.S. military under emergency powers and/or martial law.
When hungry, broke and angry protesters hit the streets, government will respond, first locally, and then federally with the U.S. military. For an idea of how quickly a peaceful protest can turn violent, we recommend the Battle in Seattle, a movie based on the 1999 World Trade Organization riots. If you don’t think the U.S. military is prepared to get involved, think again. The 1999 riots saw very limited U.S. of military power.
If we were to see widespread, multi-city riots across America, be assured that the military is standing by to act as a policing force, as evidenced by the following picture which we pointed out in Pentagon and Military Actively War Gaming ‘Large Scale Economic Breakdown’ and ‘Civil Unrest’:
Notice the sign being held by the the role player acting as the protester.
Like Egypt, the U.S. government will deploy in force. Remember that soldiers are not trained to be police officers. The first thing they learned when they joined was to kill the enemy. Many of them have fought in urban settings overseas. And they will be deployed in the event of mass rioting or anything that is perceived to threaten national security, which these days includes everything from threats of violence to refusing to strip for TSA security personnel. Whether they want to, or they are deployed against their will, rioters and protesters will be the enemy, and if they feel threatened, they will fire.
If you want to avoid the obvious increased risk of being hurt, injured or killed, our best advice is to not be in the area. Stay home and protect your family if you have one, as there will be an increase in crime outside of the riot area as police shift to the hot spots.
If you’ve taken our past advice, you already have at least a 30 day emergency and reserve food supply, as well as water, fuel and a minimum of one home defense weapon. If the SHTF, you won’t need to worry about leaving the house at all.
The riots we are witnessing around the world are spreading. People are tired of being hungry, they’re sick of rising prices, they feel robbed of their pensions, ripped off by corrupt politicians and shadow bankers, and they are pointing the blame squarely on the elected (sometimes self appointed) officials running their countries. Europe, North Africa, the Middle East - could the US be close to seeing the same in our cities?
If you think there’s even a small chance of this happening, why not prepare for it?
1 comment:
Excellent advice
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