C&C: Generals predicted the rise of Isis

[mechtek]

Soooo..... My favourite game probably ever is Command and Conquer: Generals. Its a great game, 2003, and its only expansion is 2004. Its 20 bucks for the C&C collection of 19 games on origin. But that's not important. What IS important is that I Have literally grown up playing that game. Since it came out when I was three, I have owned it, and played it A LOT. Even through the struggles, working out how to make a 12 year old game with a crappy netcode work on windows 10 is absolute hell, but I got it, and it was worth it. I know the entire thing by heart, and I have a lot of strong childhood memories tied into it. BACK ON TOPIC. The basic plotline, is that in 2013, a terrorist leader was assassinated. His name was Dr. Thrax, and he was the supreme leader of the arab terrorists. When he died, there was a power scuffle, and the resulting terror force was called the GLA (Global Liberation Army). The GLA proceeded to fight in Syria, Egypt, Somalia, Iran, Kazakhstan, and a few other middle eastern countries, before setting its sights on Europe. It invades Europe, and Europe is unable to deal with the threat, so they basically pretend its all k, while the US provides ineffectual fire-support. Simultaneously, the GLA invade parts of china, and bomb a parade with a nuke. Then China goes to town and annihilates the GLA with incredible power. The end result, is that the US basically fails to protect Europe, Europe is almost razed, and China swoops in and saves the day. 

 

Forgive my lengthy explanation, but there are more than a few real life similarities. First, look at Bin Laden. IDC if you think he is really gone, or just hiding. The fact is, Osama Bin Laden was a kingpin, who held all the terror factions together. He was assassinated, and all of the sudden, there was a power vacuum. Isis emerged from the vacuum. Just like the GLA after Thrax was killed. Then the GLA invade Europe and do a huge amount of damage with terrorism. Just like the refugee crisis. Once again, it really doesn't matter what your opinion of the refugee crisis is, or how you politically align. There is no denying Charlie Hebdo, the theater hostage situation, Nice, Brussels, the catholic mass incidents, the list goes on. There are some terrorists doing dome bad things. Just like a 2003 game by EA predicted. Then the US pulled all their forces out of the middle east. Just like in Generals. Then Isis attacked China. Which happened IRL, when a chinese embassy was bombed and Isis took responsibility. Then the GLA gained bio-weapons, but not any bio-weapons, they had SCUD missiles. Incidentally, Isis has a supply of SCUD missiles, and flaunts them on twitter. Then the US failes to back Europe. Just like in Generals, which also semi-accurately predicted the attack on a US-supplied airfield by GLA (Isis) supported militants. Generals also predicted, this one is reach just a bit, Iran getting hold of WMD missiles, or in real life, Iran getting hold of nuclear materials, which they are at this moment spinning into uranium 235. 

 

I hope someone appreciates this as much as I do. So many coincidences in one game, that all accurately predict the rise of Isis to power, blows my mind. I have grown up with this game, which is probably why its so remarkable to me, that almost 13 years after it's release, it predicts so much about the current events. If any of you have played C&C generals and have thought of any other similarities, please share. And give your thoughts. 

[Atmos]

one key problem with that series of connections.

When he was brought to justice, osama was far from being in any sort of position of leadership within al-Qaeda. He had been running for so long, and was being so closely tracked, that most of the other local leaders had already taken over basically everything. 

 

Also... most of what is isis today, was not part of al-Qaeda. AQ actually denounces them on a regular basis for being too extreme, and for plunging everyone in the middle east into such a bloody conflict. The leaders of isis however, were band together with Al-Qaeda in Iraq back in 04, but in 06 they branched out and started their own terror organization. Also, leading up to osama's death, AQ had been all but removed from power, and isis was already taking action.**Also, they're not refugees, they're migrants, plain and simple. Once you cross the border into europe and you decide to try and move to england for better economic opportunities, you stop being a refugee and become an economic migrant. 

 

I can appreciate the irony of the situation though, a lot of it lines up decently well. Then again... so do a lot of those early 2000 shooter games get pretty close to what's happening over there :3

Whether that's just coincidence, or the fact that the same thing has been happening in the middle east for the last four thousand years, is completely up to interpretation. 

[Master Disaster]

I think your getting confused by Al Quieda and ISIS. 

 

Bin Laden had nothing to do with ISIS nor does ISIS have a particularly large presence in Afghanistan. ISIS rose to power because Tony fucking Blair thought it would be a good idea to remove General Assad from his position as leader of Syria without giving any thought to who would replace him.

 

Sometimes having a ruthless dictator in power is better than trying to form a democratic government. 

[mechtek]

8 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

I think your getting confused by Al Quieda and ISIS. 

 

Bin Laden had nothing to do with ISIS nor does ISIS have a particularly large presence in Afghanistan. ISIS rose to power because Tony fucking Blair thought it would be a good idea to remove General Assad from his position as leader of Syria without giving any thought to who would replace him.

 

Sometimes having a ruthless dictator in power is better than trying to form a democratic government. 

He was not affiliated with Isis, because it did not exist before his death. After he was assassinated, however, Isis was formed in the power vacuum. Just like the GLA in the Generals timeline

[Master Disaster]

29 minutes ago, mechtek said:

He was not affiliated with Isis, because it did not exist before his death. After he was assassinated, however, Isis was formed in the power vacuum. Just like the GLA in the Generals timeline

Nope, as I said, ISIS was formed in Syria after General Assad was removed from power.

 

ISIS stands for Islamic state of Iraq and Syria. 

 

Quote

The group originated as Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and participated in the Iraqi insurgencyfollowing the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces. Joining other Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council, this group proclaimed the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in October 2006. In August 2011, following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, ISI, under the leadership of al-Baghdadi, delegated a mission into Syria, which under the name Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahli ash-Shām(or al-Nusra Front) established a large presence in Sunni-majority Al-Raqqah, Idlib, Deir ez-Zor, and Aleppo provinces. The merger of ISI with al-Nusra Front to form the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), as announced in April 2013 by al-Baghdadi, was however rejected by al-Nusra leader al-Julani, and by al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri who subsequently cut all ties with ISIL, in February 2014.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant

 

Bin Laden is Al Qeada and ISIS have no real presence in Afghanistan because AQ already control that region. ISIS operate in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria & Libya. 

[mechtek]

7 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Nope, as I said, ISIS was formed in Syria after General Assad was removed from power.

 

ISIS stands for Islamic state of Iraq and Syria. 

 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant

 

Bin Laden is Al Qeada and ISIS have no real presence in Afghanistan because AQ already control that region. ISIS operate in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria & Libya. 

Isis was allowed to persist in the way it does now, because power was decentralised. Al Qaeda was not the parent of Isis, I agree. However, Al Qaeda prevented any other major coalitions from forming. They were the bully in the schoolyard that stopped any other groups from expanding very far. The point is not, however, about the origins of Isis. The point is that this is almost exactly identical to the lore produced by a game made a decade before the events.

[Atmos]

12 hours ago, mechtek said:

He was not affiliated with Isis, because it did not exist before his death. After he was assassinated, however, Isis was formed in the power vacuum. Just like the GLA in the Generals timeline

 

11 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Nope, as I said, ISIS was formed in Syria after General Assad was removed from power.

 

ISIS stands for Islamic state of Iraq and Syria. 

 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant

 

Bin Laden is Al Qeada and ISIS have no real presence in Afghanistan because AQ already control that region. ISIS operate in Iraq, Syria, Nigeria & Libya. 

 

The organization that runs Isis is actually much older than both of those events.

What we now know as Isis, has been a thing since 2006; it was just over shadowed by other more powerful organizations and unable to take root with the us army still being heavily based in the middle east. al-Qaeda's fall from the lime light had almost nothing to do with isis' rise to power; it was almost entirely thanks to the syrian revolution and the US pulling 99% of its troops out of the middle east.

[mechtek]

4 minutes ago, Atmos said:

 

 

The organization that runs Isis is actually much older than both of those events.

What we now know as Isis, has been a thing since 2006; it was just over shadowed by other more powerful organizations and unable to take root with the us army still being heavily based in the middle east. al-Qaeda's fall from the lime light had almost nothing to do with isis' rise to power; it was almost entirely thanks to the syrian revolution and the US pulling 99% of its troops out of the middle east.

Exactly. And more importantly, it all happened just as was predicted in the 2003 EA title, C&C Generals

[Atmos]

27 minutes ago, mechtek said:

Exactly. And more importantly, it all happened just as was predicted in the 2003 EA title, C&C Generals

But, the rise of isis had almost nothing to do with al-Qaeda's fall from the spotlight... And notice that word "spotlight"? 

That's because al-Qaeda long before Osama's death had been removed from power, and his death had almost no impact what so ever on them, except pissing off the group.