# Could I write a Military Thriller using internet sources for the technical details?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-write-a-military-thriller-using-internet-sources-for-the-technical-details/502105>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 6, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-write-a-military-thriller-using-internet-sources-for-the-technical-details/502105 "2009-07-06T17:42:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-write-a-military-thriller-using-internet-sources-for-the-technical-details/502105/41 "2009-07-10T14:57:55Z")

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> [@Erdosain](#):
>
> I like this Argentine thriller idea and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
> 
> Date: 2014. Argentina faces an impending mate shortage due to the effects of global warming and the new strain of mate blight that emerged in the summer of 2011. Uruguay has already collapsed due to the shortage and is a Somalia-type failed state with local warlords and hordes of solitary wandering men, all with a thermos under their arm. Argentina decides that to avoid the fate of their Platense brethren, they have no choice but attack Brazil and Paraguay and take their mate fields for the good of the country. The action is narrated by a young Argie recruit named Frodo who is sent into action.

A couple of things wrong with that scenario.

1. Argentina is to the south of Paraguay and Brazil, so their Yerba Mate harvests would be in danger due to global warming, while our “Mate belt” would simply move south.

2. There is no fucking way the Uruguayans would lost their mate supply, their charrua mate jihad would probably conquer the entire southern cone of south america in order to ensure that the spice… errr i mean the Yerba flow is not interrupted.

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-i-write-a-military-thriller-using-internet-sources-for-the-technical-details/502105/42 "2009-07-14T17:08:12Z")

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> [@RandMcnally](#):
>
> Why couldn’t the US be seen attacking Iran?

I don’t recall. It might have been that the Russians would intervene if there was some visible evidence pointing at us that they couldn’t explain away.

Mostly it was a cheap ploy by the author so that the American air force would have to watch the threat coming and be unable to stop it, and suffer losses. I thought it was a ridiculous plot twist at the time and I still do.

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