Mithril - a possible reality?

Mithril is fictional organisation in Full Metal Panic series which is a self appointed military force (or mercenary) that fights terrorism across the globe and intercedes on behalf of justice.

So can such a organisation be possible to even exist in our modern world? It makes alot of sense to have an independent force that has no financial or political self-interest in any of the contry's of conflicts. Because lets us put it bluntly, countries do not go and liberate people from injustices just because it is the right thing to do. When the US went to Iraq to bring down Saddam, you can say in that they had many major interest in it which to them was worth the men and resources for such an effort. But what about the conflicts in Africa? The corrupt goverments there? Does the US go and send their troops there to solve it? No because they don't have a major interest in it. Any country goverment before sending off major resources such as their army to anywhere will always put their self-interest first. Its just what a goverment is supposed to do.

A military/mercenary organisation such as Mithril is one where they can actually perform direct action on trouble regions without to say "It is not in my interest" or "There are other countries stopping me". Of course such an organisation must really have BIG connections and MAJOR financial resources to pull it off. And not to mention a major foothold in advance technology. And yes it seems quite a silly notion for an organisation main purpose to be just for justice. But it would really solve alot of the world's conflict when direct action is really neded instead of all these diplomacy and backroom talking crap that always happens.

I have been reading the Full Metal Panic novels which has better describes the organisation and I am really inspired by it. As much as it it fictional, if I ever been able to make my billion AND the right connections, I'll be sure to try to start up an organisation like that.

(continuation)
I should add that the Mithril organisation in Full Metal Panic only succeeds in what it does only because it is the only one that posseses advance technology.

So in the real-life Mithril gettin exclusive advance military technology is the major factor that will make it work. Which is something that is really hard to do in reality really.

You mention that those nations who have the power to combat "terrorism across the globe and intercedes on behalf of justice" do so only when the situation appeals to their self-interest so you propose a third party that acts outside of these governmental self-interest.

But how would one start this organisation without the rapport of these powerful nations?  Pressumably, being a nation-independent organisation, you will have to make up with advance technology for the lack of man-power.  How do you obtain such technology and the funds to maintain such technology?

Furthermore, how do you convince other nations that your organisation only pursues justice and is not the lackey of your sponerships?  Forget convincing others, how do you actually prevent your organisation from being corrupted?

What happens if in your pursuit of justice, you start inteferring with the interests of other nations and they declare your organisation itself to be a terrorist group?

I don't think direct action is the key, look at where it got the US and Israel.

>>3
The key step is that the core members of the organisation should be ex-military personnel who were once high ranks in these powerful nations. Through them you will have the connections to the powerful nations. Well assuming when they retired, they retired in good wiil with their commanders and leaders.And if you are lucky enough, you might have "under the table" agreements with these powerful nations. The CIA has always had black ops agreements with not-so-desirable elements to expand their interest.

To obtain the advance technologies realistically? Other than recruiting people who are at the top of their field and doing in-house R&S, I guess the other way is to buy over companies that are at the top of their industries in R&D. Discreetly that is.

And the financial side of it? Well one billionaire won't help it. It will take years to startup a Mithril-like organisation. Once the core funding sources like the companies that were bought, personal funding are established and mercenary work, then the real work can begin. That will still take years even decades.

I think the core order of the organisation is to perform direct action when it is blatant apparent. Such as Zimbabwe for example. Or the poppy fields in Afganistan.

I have some military background.  Who has good connections with investors or government embassies?

>>5
I think getting investors would seriously compromise the organisation. It would be better if the creator has himself billions of dollars to start out with and then build up from there.

I should add that decisions of what operations the organisation would take would be the trickiest part. Maybe start out with simple things like taking out drug lords, human smugglers etc etc. Because face it, there are still leaders out there of organised crime that goverments are either powerless to catch or are too corrupt to act in the in the first place.

>>6
Go Go Batman!

Hilarious, but no.

You might be able to make a small organization that specializes in assassination. Widescale conflict is far beyond anything a private entity could handle.

And forget about R&D. That takes a lot of money, and you can be absolutely certain that no country will allow that sort of tech to fall into the hands of anyone other than their own military.

You're better off spending all that cash on training a small number of troops to the best of their ability, and providing them reliable COTS weaponry that they want.

>>8
I guess it will have to wait a couple of decades to get R&D to a major advance level if the organisation just recruits brilliant minds fresh out of university. Cos lets just say one docile company discovers a new stealth technology, is the local goverment going to barge in and demand that it be handed over?

Maybe in space?

>>9
In all honesty, yes.

hey guess what, mithril is super-strong silver used to make armor and small weapons.

>>9
I think you missed the "that takes a lot of money" part. And >>11 has a point too.

Furthermore, allow me to make clear that technology is no silver bullet, no matter what gee whizbang toys the US government likes to wow its citizens with. When push comes to shove, it's a human being who occupies a territory, not a machine.

Invest in the people, not researching tech. So long as you can afford the best COTS weaponry your troops routinely find useful, you shall not want.

>>13
I guess the reason why I was thinking more on the R&D side of things because its the only way for such an organisation to compensate for the lack of manpower. Because the organisation still has to be kept confidential if its to operate freely and as such recruitment will be severely restricted.

Not to mention that if the organisation went full swing, I think the US govt will not like it one bit and start retaliating.

(continuation)
Minus the logistics of setting up such an organisation, does it actually benefit the world? An organisation that that "acts outside of governmental self-interest".

Even then the more you think about it, no goverment would ever tolerate such an organisation. Or hopefully when its reputation rises, goverments will actually start requesting help.

>>14
You can't compete on R&D. Don't bother trying.

Besides, as I said, tech is not as important as you think. The basics are a knife and gun; everything else is up to training, discipline, and group-work. You'll get a lot more value for the dollar if you invest in your troops.

For example, take a look at wargames between the US and other Western countries. While the elite units of these countries are roughly comparable (simplification), a regular US soldier has a difficult time competing against his counterparts, even with the advantage of more advanced tech that the US enjoys.

That is not to say that technology is useless. It does give an advantage when in trained hands, but you don't have such liberty. You have to invest the money you have to have best effect. By using the best COTS you can get, you'd still be ahead of 95% of the opponents you'd face, and someone else would be paying for all that R&D (and testing, refining, yadda yadda).

>>16
"By using the best COTS you can get, you'd still be ahead of 95% of the opponents you'd face"
Until when it comes a time when such an organisation has to face the US or similar nation face to face then we're screwed.

So other than the good personnel and best COTS that are around, the political connections are the biggest hurdle I guess.

Interpol right now does something a little bit similar to what you're taliking about; only they are police not military.  Intermil?

>>17
If you're facing someone like that, you're screwed anyway. No amount of tech will help you there. Organizational structure will.

Mithril, as depicted in FMP, is organized must like current-day terrorist organizations, just with a more rigorous military discipline. Such organization are not made for conventional engagements.

>>19
I think that's a crucial point.  I mean, say in the future, a superpower like China/India/US has a propped up government somewhere.  That puppet administration caters to the whims of its master but on the side, is also heavily corrupted and brutually authoritarian.

So this Mithril organisation goes in and brings down that puppet government via key assassinations.  The superpower behind all this gets pissed and makes up some evidence to declare the organisation a terrorist group sponsored by xx government.  How do you counter that?  No amount of big connections will help you if you piss off enough big wigs.

>>18
But Interpol still worries about juricdictions and permissions. This Mithril-like organisation would be covert and perform a more direct-action operations.

>>20
>>19
That is why superior technology would help in countering the forces of such a powerful nation. But like VASTLY superior which in reality is really hard/impossible to achieve; the stuff sci-fi is made out of. Unless of course you happened to come upon Alien technology.

In >>20 situation, I think the counter action though is not direct confrontation but a battle of public opinion. If you have public opinion on your side, no matter the central govt says they will have to bow down to public opinion. Not to mention if they did made-up some evidence to set-up the organisation, you will just counter it to prove to the media that its false.

If you have public opinion on your side

You have massively underestimated the power of propaganda. This isn't a battle you can win either, at least not with the media's current situation. The internet may change the equation, but I doubt it'd be enough.

>>22
Hmmm maybe the first act on starting up a Mithril Organisation is to take over media companies first?

If you can do that, why bother with Mithril in the first place? If you control public opinion of a major power, you'll go a long way towards getting the politicians of that power to do the dirty work.

Perfect example of goverment self-interest is the current Iran Nuclear Weapon Crisis.

US and the EU are imploring Iran to not develop their nuclear program. And its at a dead end even at the UN Security Council because the major powers like Russia, China and India have economic deals with Iran like oil and prefer to just let Iran do whatever it wants.

So what would Mithril do in this situation? Hmmm I guess if Iran went ahead, just have Mithril watch over Iran nuke program and at first sign of weapons development, sabotage it.

>>12
Ehl oh elz. Glad I wasn't the only one. I saw the topic and went "UH OH RPG NUT ALERT!"

You must leave no trace on the physical or political map. Remember, although killing may compromise secrecy, the choice between leaving a witness or a corpse is no choice at all. You are a Splinter Cell.

Osama Bin Laden had an organization once, called Al'Qaeda. It operated above and beyond what the government (Afghanistan) could openly do. Bin Laden used his soldiers to destroy places which he deemed unsuitable to his vision of the world. He had money and power, R&D, and enough weaponry to field a small army.

To some impoverished Muslims in the dust fields of Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, etc, sometimes you'll find someone who approves of his actions -- he went above and beyond what any government could do, and struck out against oppression!

This sounds distinctly similar to Mithril, but from an entirely different perspective.. one where "we" are the bad guys, instead of the "good" guys.

Afghanistan was a host government, Al Qaeda was essentially independent of Afghanland.

But >>28 raises an interesting point that kind of ties in with >>22.  If the propaganda machine in several ally nations kicks-in in overdrive overnight and drums you up like Al Qaeda, you're screwed.

>>30
Well the idealogical thinking is that justice will prevail and the truth will show itself up no matter what sort of untruth propoganda is put up.

But the difference between Al Qaeda and Mithril is that to Al Qaeda, civilians are part of their army. When they suicide bomb a crowded street, they just assume that civilians should die for their cause. Mithril organisation on other hand is milittary organisation that tries to reduce collateral damage to zero. Mithril is in the business of SAVING civilians. Not changing goverment ideals.

>>31
Sorry if this comes out as a troll but I have to ask, if Al Qaeda changed their modus operandi to just attacking government figures and military personnels, then would there be a difference betwen Mithril and Al Qaeda?

I'm surprised that nobody has brought up the anti-terrorist unit RAINBOW, from the Tom Clancy novel.

I'm surprised that nobody has brought up the anti-terrorist unit RAINBOW, from the Tom Clancy novel.

>>32
When Mithril decides on the merit of the mission, it is whether innocent lives will be of harm no matter what race or religion. Also if hypothetically Al Qaeda only went for military targets and did not hurt any civilians, their goal is for the mere destruction of the western world or anything that doesn't agree with Islam. They essentially prevail for their religion only. If a major drug shipment was being sent to China and no one was stopping it, Al Qaeda won't give a damn.

Mind you Al Qaeda also doesn't care about how they aquire their funds to the point that they are willing to be drug lords themselves. Mithril will just make money out of legitimate means such as commerciallisation of new technology that was self-researched and mercenary work.

>>32
When Mithril decides on the merit of the mission, it is whether innocent lives will be of harm no matter what race or religion. Also if hypothetically Al Qaeda only went for military targets and did not hurt any civilians, their goal is for the mere destruction of the western world or anything that doesn't agree with Islam. They essentially prevail for their religion only. If a major drug shipment was being sent to China and no one was stopping it, Al Qaeda won't give a damn.

Mind you Al Qaeda also doesn't care about how they aquire their funds to the point that they are willing to be drug lords themselves. Mithril will just make money out of legitimate means such as commerciallisation of new technology that was self-researched and mercenary work.

(continuation)
And grave injustices of the world that goverments just choose to ignore like Zimbabwe and the Dafur Conflicts. Would Al-Qaeda do anything there? Hell no.

It's those kind of conflicts that an organisation like Mithril will be most useful.

>>34
Wasn't Rainbow Six associated with the US Goverment?

Mithril is a bad idea.  Nobody should have that much power, not even governments.  You get a group out there which has no ties to anyone, how long is it going to take members of said group to start working for only their own ends?  If they invest in a big company, they can further its interests without opposition or the outrage of people who might have the ability to curb their activities (citizens, I mean)

>>39
THe problem with trying to do this via big companies is that you are limited to what you do financially and you have to disclose everything. If you were for example secretly helping a politician to win power over a dictator using company resources, you are supposed to disclose it. As a corporation you are responsible to your shareholders which is the public. Unless you can gurantee that ALL your shareholders hold the same ideal as you, they are gonna demand why is company resources spent that way. Shareholders ultimate goal is profits. And doing good deeds doesnt mean profit most of the time as reality is.

Though ur rite, Mithril would have too much power and might just buckle because of it and go all bad. Thats the only main weakness of Mithril is the fragility of human conviction.

>>36
>>37

But that can be twisted to be viewed as Al Qaeda being an organisation who adheres to their Islamic ideology and seek to protect/expand their ideology by means of their elite group.  And Mithril as an organisation who adheres to their capitalistic/democratic ideology and seek to protect/expand their ideology by means of their elite group.

That perspective can even be construed to say that Al Qaeda is more passive, choosing to only intervene in key areas whereas Mithril is even more ambitious and seeks to influence a greater stage.  (Again, this only 'makes sense' if Al Qaeda targetted only military and government.)

I kind of see the logic behind that type of reasoning and how it can be used against Mithril.

Join the Secret Ideological Organization ACROSS today!

>>41
Al Qaeda basically fights for Islam. And this is where it different. It does not tolerate other religions. Other cultures to them are the devils work. On top of the that, the Islam they preach is the extremist one. Though assuming Al Qaeda only DID targetted millitary and govt targets, then 9/11 wouldn;t had happened and Im sure the public will just think of them as just another hostile army and not a terrorist group. A terrorist group uses terror. The IRA was something like this but even if they did gave warning before each bomb attack their targets were most of the time were civilians. They aimed to cause terror.

Mithril would not be in the business of terror. It would be the exact opposite. And Mithril's aim is for the whole of mankind. I don;t think its ideas are capitalistic though.

Another world conflict that Mithril would be involved in is the pirating activities in the Straits of Malaca.

As an actual organization most of the members would turn out to be  exactly like Blueno.

>>44
Unless you paid each merc enough to make each of them millionaires. That would mean Mithril must have trillions in capital.

age

>>46
Useless fuck.

Human motives are being over-simplified throughout; to suggest that any one reason can move a country to spend trillions kill a half a million and sacrifice thousands is hopelessly naive. an effort like that requires the moblization of many divergent interests; many people must get their share of many different pies. over-simplification is only useful as a tool of demonization, which is why it's so ironic to see it employed so cavalierly by anglo-european liberals. what's good for the goose, hmm?... it's every bit as disgusting as watching american democrats recently call for state's rights in support of gay marriage.

since the turn of the millenium, anglo-european politics have become so balkanized that anyone choosing sides is either an imbecile, or doing so merely out of hopeless desperation... where any rational, ethical person would instead realize that both sides are acting like children, and pull to the center.

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I planned a mission to 'remove' Robert Mugabe from power....everything was ready to go and then.....the funding fell through. Money is EVERYTHING in this game. Dont think for one second you can just hop on a plane somewhere and start fighting the bad guys. Better taking out the bastartds in charge.

>>50
That was not Mugabe but Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Mark