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Lisan al-Gaib! (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/politicalcartoons@lemmy.zip
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[–] 59 points 7 months ago (11 children)

I mean, I get it, but I always feel like linking trump to fictional villains is not doing him justice. If I remember the books correctly Baron Harkonnen was a somewhat competent dictator.

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  • [–] 21 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    The Fremen in the books were the finest soldiers in the galaxy. And Baron Harkonnen in the book (and the films) fucked up big time, by being completely unaware of their numbers or their quality.

    I am reminded of Putin's expectation of a 3 day special military operation in Ukraine. Baron Harkonnen's intelligence fuckup was arguably even worse.

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    I mean, the Fremen predominantly lived in areas that the rest of the galaxy considered uninhabitable, in sietches hidden in caves, with a better understanding of their planet than anyone else. You can call it a mistake, but how exactly were the Harkonnen's supposed to accurately gauge Fremen manpower? I wouldn't call it a fuckup on their part, more a strength of the Fremens.

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    You can call it a mistake, but how exactly were the Harkonnen’s supposed to accurately gauge Fremen manpower?

    Hum... By having any bit of humility and looking.

    But that's one point where the book is completely realistic.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Okay, you look. you only see empty desert, because that's what the Fremen want you to see, and they have complete control over what the enemy gets to see of them.

    Like surveiling them as an outsider is impossible. Leto sent Gurney as a peaceful envoy seeking cooperation, and the best Gurney could come up with is "there's a lot more than we thought." Considering Harkonnen rule, there's no shot any advance scouts would learn as much; in fact, I'd say most wouldn't return.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    They have several opportunities to see the Fremen riding the worms already in the book. As you said Leto discovered they were much more numerous than it was widely believed. And that is with just a short occupation before everything happens.

    Harkonnem certainly had plenty of opportunities to discover he was underestimating them.

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  • [–] 11 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Leto sent an advanced team to do some basic recon ahead of their arrival. When they did arrive, they got a report (I believe from Gurney) stating that there were far more Fremen than previously believed.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago*

    I feel like there is some sort of trade comparison to be made here (build up spice reserves before having to cede control of the deliberately-damaged production facilities, and then selling those reserves as the new government flounders with a broken situation) - but honestly not sure which world leader that best represents at the moment?

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