London surpasses NY's murder rate.

via BBC

A spike in violent crime in London saw more murders committed in the city in February and March than there were in New York, figures show.

So far in 2018, the Met Police has investigated 46 murders, compared with 50 in the US city.

But, while New York's murder rate decreased from the end of January, London's rose markedly from that point.

Ex-Met Police Ch Supt Leroy Logan says it is proof that "London's violent traits have become a virus".

Statistics from the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Metropolitan Police, reported in the Sunday Times and obtained by the BBC, highlight narrowing murder rates between the two cities, which have similar population sizes.

Story here. 

This points to two things for me....

*  Major Metropolitan areas no matter where they are happen to be cesspools of despair, opulence and stupidity.  Some will live in the lap of luxury, others will be chasing dreams that will never be fulfilled and the majority will live in some type of hell on earth where crime is high and life is cheap.

*  Why any military force would even think about fighting in such an area is beyond me.  The humanitarian crisis that will ensue will gobble up resources and GIVE the initiative to an enemy that isn't concerned with CNN, media in general, human suffering or rules of engagement.

Long story short?

Avoid major cities like the plague.

If you just have the itch then pick locations carefully and if you're a military planner/theorists, STOP SNIFFING THE ELMERS GLUE and work this problem.

This fighting in major urban areas is a holdover from the SOCOM mafia trying to justify an after the war on terrorism reason for being.

Your primer on this subject?

Black Hawk Down....and that was a small city.

Not convinced?  Check out the official history of the fighting in Fallujah.

Still not convinced?

You're a zealot and there is no talking to you.

Side note.  Gun rights advocates are trying to point out that London is suffering from a knife culture and that its more deadly or as deadly as a gun culture.  

To me that's not the point.  The point is that humans in a confined geographic space act stupidly.  Its just not natural and behaviors are skewed to reflect that.

But forgetting all that.  

The knife culture is coming here.  S. Americans and people from the Pacific region (to include others from Africa and the Middle East) all come from knife cultures.  That will be the next big issue for police (besides terrorism).  Shoot no shoot will become even more chaotic because drawing to engage a fairly agile man with a knife from less than 20 feet away always ends badly.  They're gonna have to learn to shoot first...if they want to go home that is....which means even more societal chaos in the US>