Untitled topic

Russia is quietly sapping the strength of Ukraine, NATO and the EU, and Israel is reaping the harvest from sowing discontent in the region for decades.

One day, a dozen angry palestinians who have been tirelessly beaten by the Israelis, are going to do something truly terrible to Israel, and there isn't anything they can do about it aside form make peace now.

Also, stop watching the news. It's poison.

> Russia is quietly sapping the strength of Ukraine, NATO and the EU, and Israel is reaping the harvest from sowing discontent in the region for decades.

I think it's the other way around, Ukraine is decimating Russias fighting strength, theres no other real way to explain Russias reactivation of T62 tanks and its frankentechnicals that it has been making from any spare gun it can find and a MTLB.

Yeah, every group is racist, mostly to the same degree I think...but, I can only talk with certainty about the places I've lived, as I'm only a member of one group, and I've only lived more than a year in a few places, so I don't really know outside of that: degrees could indeed be different, I guess in the ones I don't know. In my limited experience of Earth so far, I've seen racism expressed differently by different groups, but every group is racist indeed.

I wonder if this the press angle we were talking about is historically consistent? As in, pre WWI and WWII, did what would become allied powers have press that downplayed the ability of axis powers to fight? And vice versa?

I know once things got started it was like there was racist propaganda, but I'm not sure about prior. Based on our discussion I'd say: probably. But I don't know.

It's weird, it's sort of like perhaps the "silver lining" of negative racism from a recipient's point of view: you are chronically underestimated. This in turn gives you the advantage that any opponents you may have are chronically unprepared.

I like your point about: generally turns out that people are equally capable of killing each other and logistics is what makes or breaks any prolonged conflict seems very salient and succinct and accurate.

One thing I wonder about tho (and we are likely getting way off topic here, so I apologize for that!), is how does this factor into occupation / unconventional warfare?

I can't seem to reconcile right now the ideas that the US has the most advanced and powerful military on Earth, with the fact that is has failed (at least it seems to have failed, but I'm not an expert) in its last few unconventional conflicts. One reason I find this hard to reconcile is because I would think that logistics, people and ammo were abundant in Vietnam, and the Middle East, yet...victory was elusive, and certainly not decisive.

I suppose the technology caveat you mention breaks down when you have "step change" technology, like nuclear weapons, or a UFO breakthrough or whatever. But I suppose the advantage of that is reduced to the extent that it's evenly distributed. The bigger the step, the easier it is, I guess, to prevent that distribution. Nukes? Relatively easy to prevent getting into the hands of everybody. Guns? Not so much.

Anyway, way off topic, so yeah. Any interesting resources you recommend to know more about this stuff?

Hard to say how much. Certainly for a long period of history China was the most developed country in the world by various indexes of development (for one example see Morris' Why the West Still Rules for discussion of a few measures). Were it indeed regression to a mean stable condition, it would not exactly disprove the notion of their being very resilient.

It's true that some of the scale of its achievement could simply be a reflection of a similar achievement magnified by its population. It's also likely true that part of its achievement is to accomplish a unification of such a large population in the first place.

It may have been highly developed for much of world history, but its mean condition was not highly stable. Last century's convulsion was but one of many the Chinese people have put themselves through. You could conclude they are among the most warlike of any people, at least where domestic conflict is concerned. One can argue that is simply a reflection of a strong desire to unify a collective identity. However, their capability to both create and survive war and suffering is itself remarkable.

I think that weighs in favor of them having a high resilience. As Rocky Balboa says, "It's not about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." China has certainly taken plenty of hits, and kept moving forward. Many other places have "never recovered" from the hits they've taken.

I would not say that this means China's ascent is assured by any means. But they do seem to have remarkable resilience and capability.

But I don't know. Maybe they do not have that. I won't say here what's in their future, all I'm saying here what one could conclude seems likely, given a sober look at their present and past.

I honestly feel that all the discussion of China is off track for this question. I must bear some responsibility for that, tho, as I think I've talked a lot about it here. I'd prefer not to, one reason is because I think this question is about far more than just China.

I guess everybody is trying to push a narrative, and in general, where if we're being honest, gauging true intent and accuracy is hard, it seems a good strategy to consume a wide cross-section of resources if you hope to build up an accurate picture.

I also personally find the "reading between the lines" approach useful. Propaganda pieces often contain interesting stances, useful facts omitted in publications with different stances, and in general are just an interesting window into the thinking of people from a different background.

Over-specializing in any one silo of information makes you vulnerable to manipulation. Spreading your portfolio among many sources lessens your exposure and risk. There's also something to be said for reading a wide variety of sources, including propaganda, to develop your critical muscles, and improve your resilience to manipulation. The more exposure you have to it, the more you can see how it operates, and ultimately free yourself from it.

A sort of "conscious consumption" if you will, haha :).