Interesting dissertation. Discussion.

[Eurodriver]

http://depot.library.wisc.edu/repository/fedora/1711.dl:SD5MZE4C7RTVG84/datastreams/REF/content

I met this guy last week. Really decent dude, and is now an "expert" on Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. The US Navy has taken some of his writings (which I cannot find, but the "theme" of his work can be found in the above linked dissertation) to help tackle issues dealing with insurgents.

To extremely summarize his findings: he discovered that in the case of ghettos, previous selective repression of certain groups resulted in successful resistance whereas indiscriminate repression resulted in unsuccessful resistance.

Selective repression focuses on what people do, indiscriminate repression focuses on who people are. I.E. Jews who were singled out by the Soviets for establishing Zionist movements were more successful once captured by the Nazis because they had experienced being oppressed selectively, whereas Jews who were singled out by the Germans for being Jews had no time to establish underground/passive resistant movements because by the time it came about it was too late to really do anything.

I found it an interesting read, and I cant help and apply it to modern day America.

[sevenhelmet]

Gun owners with internet forums comes to mind... :D

[MountainRaven]

It has long been a thought of mine that in the (hypothetical) event of a tyrannical government in the US causing armed resistance, that any resistance fighters will by necessity, operate in close conjunction with elements of organized crime (from cartels and cartel-associated groups, gangbangers, to the Russian mob and the more "traditional" Italian mafia).

In fact, I think that an American civil war in such a situation would boil down to three factions:
1- The Founding Fathers: An "extremist" right-wing faction that - like ISIS - is supported by nobody but contains many or even most of the most highly trained, skilled, and disciplined fighters produced by the US. Would likely include a small, but extremely noisy group of genocidal/ethnic cleansing-mad racists. Weapons would be captured from government forces and other non-government faction(s). Criminal expertise network would be provided by KKK, Aryan Brotherhood, &c. Their aim would be to return the US to its Constitutional (and some would say Biblical) roots, but they are not ideologically compatible with either communo-socialist nations that make up America's traditional enemies (and would not seek their aid in any case) or capitalist/socialist nations that make up America's traditional allies (who would likely view the group as dangerous radicals).

2- The New Deal: A "moderate" socialist/communist/liberal faction supported by Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, &c. Probably wouldn't have as many seasoned fighters - but might have advisors and officers from the intelligence organizations and armed forces of those providing arms and other support. Arms would likely be brought in through drug cartels, Russian mob, &c. with criminal expertise provided by the same. Would likely have affiliated minority groups that engage in ethnic cleansing and/or genocide. Would be more ideologically diverse, giving them a level of compatibility with both America's traditional allies and enemies, and not afraid to embrace those nations and the strings attached to their assistance. This faction wants the government gone, but does not necessarily desire the sort of "extreme" return to the vision of the Founding Fathers as the first faction.

3- The Government. Authoritarian and corporate-fascist. Would likely receive some covert support from Mexico and other governments that are ideologically opposed to those working closely with the first two groups. Obviously the government would have gone tyrannical, operating outside the constraints of the Constitution (leading to the first two factions rebelling against the government). It would, of course, be doing everything in its power to maintain control over the country. Dissidents would be arrested and prosecuted. Freedom of religion and the RKBA would likely be abolished. Would be able to attract and keep well-trained and disciplined fighters through its ability to pay them well and likely widely employ PMCs to patch holes left by military and police forces that desert or defect to other factions. Its ability to construct and maintain complicated weapons of war - like tanks, APCs, and aircraft - would likely give it the ability to control most of the American breadbasket.

Like ISIS in Iraq and Syria - because of the dispersed nature of a likely American insurgency - each group would have some areas that they can directly control and are relatively "safe", some areas over which they have some control (but are not truly safe), and areas that are not under their control at all (many of these areas may be under the control of local militia or criminal organizations that might side with one faction at one time and another at another time, whose chief concern is the safety and security of their local operations and are less concerned about what the Big Idea Factions want - each group being small enough to not be worth the resources diverted from fighting the other two major factions but large enough to typically repel most other groups moving through or into their territory).

Fighting in and around the Mid-West would likely lead to a humanitarian crisis, as crops would be left unharvested - or some brilliant person decides to burn them as either part of a tactical effort to defend themselves or attack their enemies, or as a larger strategic scorched earth policy in retreat. Americans would starve. The UN would (attempt) to get involved with shipping rice and other food stuffs - although without the Mid-West to supply that food in the first place, it's ability to do so would be greatly impacted. Never mind the difficulty that the UN and UN Peacekeepers would have trying to deliver such produce to the average people and protect such supplies from being seized by any major armed faction.

Fighting would likely last for years, possibly decades in some areas. The US would become a failed state. Violence would almost certainly spill over the border - going both ways - with Mexico. The Canadian government might be destabilized by spill-over fighting, efforts by The Government or The New Deal to bring them into the war on their side, and the effective loss of its largest trading partner and closest ally. Over time, the US might gradually make a come-back as a dozen or two dozen incessantly warring states. At some point the original ideology of all sides would be forgotten and only enmity brought on by a desire to avenge some wrong against another state would remain.

In the meantime, the rest of the world would likely be thrown into chaos with the disappearance of its only superpower. NATO would likely militarize - or fold - as no one would be left to effectively check Putin's ambitions to rebuild the Russian Empire. The Middle-East would be dragged into interminable conflict between Iran (and its proxies) and Saudi Arabia (and its proxies), although the Saudis would find themselves greatly harmed by the disappearance of the US, they would likely find other allies to fill the gap, perhaps in China, Russia, or NATO. Israel, bereft of its primary arms dealer, would find itself only able to survive so long as it can play Sunni against Shi'a - if it ever were to fail, it would likely fall in an orgy of destruction. Africa might become the scene of a new Cold War between Russia and China. Taiwan, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam, &c. would have to buck up and form a new SEATO to protect themselves against China's growing influence in a Pacific Ocean where the influence of the US has vanished. Taiwan might be joined with the mainland - with their consent or against it. China would likely probably attempt to deploy peacekeepers to Hawaii (and the new SEATO would oppose any such effort). Russia, China, and OPEC would likely back Alaskan independence - and entry into OPEC, with closer ties to Russia and/or China as patron of their new-found freedom from the chaos of the collapse of the contiguous US.

Sorry for the rant/wall of text. In any case... nothing good happens.