241–250 of 400 posts
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I think Israel (and, unlike GP, also Iran) are too small-time to start real global war. They're more the potential Bosnias or Serbias - small, belligerent countries that could drag their patrons into conflict.
Israel has "the bomb", they definitely could start a global war.
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So what it is speaking to me is It seems there is a war against Radical religious terrorists which is stateless and more regional, and stopping dictators.
> and stopping dictators If the US cared about stopping "dictators", why are there so many dictators allies of the US?
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> Not only nationalism. Current conflicts are rooted in the same prejudices as a hundred years ago. The root cause (this idea that somehow my nation/religion/race/etc is superior) Honest question: is it possible in your opinion for someone to not believe "my nation/religion/race/etc is superior" yet still be opposed to globalism? To me, this is what nationalism means, international cooperation while unequivocally mai…
I don't see how nationalism includes international cooperation. At best, it seems to me that international cooperation is a choice a nationalist might consider amongst protectionism, isolationism, imperialism/colonialism, and outright xenophobia.
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That's not how these systems work, at least in the US and Russia. "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner" by Daniel Ellsberg (who was involved in war planning before he leaked the Pentagon Papers) has some fascinating and scary info about this. Apparently there are backup systems in both countries that will fire nuclear weapons automatically (!) at predefined targets if certain cities are hit wit…
The point is more about even countries with a minimal nuclear arsenal being in relatively equal military footing as the countries with large arsenals because no country seems willing to risk losing one of their major cities to nuclear attack. So, threatening 100 cities is about the same as threatening 1 - no one will attack you.
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So what it is speaking to me is It seems there is a war against Radical religious terrorists which is stateless and more regional, and stopping dictators.
> and stopping dictators If the US cared about stopping "dictators", why are there so many dictators allies of the US?
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somehow my nation/religion/race/etc is superior "Somehow". The answer is found quite simply by this formula: "My [whatever] is the [whatever] I belong to." Even if you prove without a doubt that Islam is worse that Christianity, or that one race is worse than another, you won't likely convince the members that they therefore deserve less than they have, or that they should surrender to another. The core tautology sti…
It's quite refreshing, and not a little bit amusing, when you don't belong to anything. The world appears mostly insane.
The thing about war is that at some point, the conditions line up where it becomes seen as a solution (if not the only solution), and its not easy to see the point at which that will occur ahead of time. Will China's big sea grab start a war? So far, they've been able to smother any of their neighbor's push back, and have just ignored any international rulings against them. What about when they invade Taiwan, which t…
I find it laughable that you completely disregarded USA as one of the other "aggressive, belligerent" countries out there...
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USA's bombing list for the last 20 years alone speaks for itself: Sudan 1998 Afghanistan 1998 Yugoslavia 1999 Yemen 2002 Iraq 1991-2003 (US/UK on regular basis) Iraq 2003-2015 Afghanistan 2001-2015 Pakistan 2007-2015 Somalia 2007-8, 2011 Yemen 2009, 2011 Libya 2011, 2015 Syria 2014-2016
So what it is speaking to me is It seems there is a war against Radical religious terrorists which is stateless and more regional, and stopping dictators.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
USA's bombing list for the last 20 years alone speaks for itself: Sudan 1998 Afghanistan 1998 Yugoslavia 1999 Yemen 2002 Iraq 1991-2003 (US/UK on regular basis) Iraq 2003-2015 Afghanistan 2001-2015 Pakistan 2007-2015 Somalia 2007-8, 2011 Yemen 2009, 2011 Libya 2011, 2015 Syria 2014-2016
So what it is speaking to me is It seems there is a war against Radical religious terrorists which is stateless and more regional, and stopping dictators.
Countries which support the Al-Nusra front, which was affiliated to Al-Qaeda, which masterminded 9/11 an event which 90% of the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia or other gulf countries and 0 from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria or Iran.
The concept of righteous crusades has been around forever and it's stunning that it still works.
We are so close, probably within 50 to 100 years, of having technology far beyond what we can comprehend now. We have the chance to be multi-planetary, automate pretty much all work, and fullfil everyone's basic needs...if we don't destroy everything first. I'm going to be real pissed off if we screw this up.
We already have the means to automate pretty much all work and fulfill everyone's basic needs. We choose not to. As for multi planetary, why? Earth is paradise .