Miscellaneous News

siegecrossbow said:

To their credit they would brag about supposed sexual prowess rather than threatening to, you know, kill children. That IDF guy is giving major East Area Rapist vibes…

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Bellum_Romanum said:

The level of entitlement some Indian migrant workers in Canada's PEI province is next level. The more they act like this the more it'll bring harm towards their community.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1793316885498298434

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tokenanalyst said:

Depends, it will feel like it. Civilization may collapse after.

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FriedRiceNSpice said:

The oceans are far larger than you imagine, and the US has something known as the East Coast. There are also things known as fallout and nuclear winter. The US doesn't have the balls to attack North Korea, so US leaders will need to become a lot more psychotic/suicidal before even considering initiating nuclear exchange with China or Russia. The best strategy is to boost deterrence to the levels where they could be no doubt that the US would cease to exist if it were to initial a nuclear exchange while at the same time attempting to minimize the risks that the US would devolve to a state where it becomes insane enough to consider the possibility.

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FriedRiceNSpice said:

Reasonable? Extremely rarely. But rational? Most of the time. I'm going to refrain from inserting some cliche Sun Tzu quotes here, but you never want to underestimate your adversary. When formulating grand strategy, you should always assume that your adversary is going to act rationally in the pursuit of their interests.

When assessing US behavior, I think people need to ignore what Washington says and focus solely on what Washington does. The narrative pushed by US dominated media will never reveal the true reasons or intent behind US actions, as information warfare is just another tool in Washington's toolbox. The official narrative is primarily intended for consumption by the masses within the US and vassal states first and foremost, and secondly to extend influence in neutral states and sow discontent in adversarial states. Washington is run by (and I'm not talking about the average Congressmen and other participants in the theatrics) highly intelligent and rational people who are definitely not drinking their own Kool-Aid.

The US has a tendency to engage in projection, and I believe a fairly accurate, "tell" for the true intent of Washington is to take a look at what the US tends to project on China.

1) "The CPC prioritizes the survival of it's regime and it's monopoly on power rather than the interests of the Chinese people." -> "Our political elites prioritize their own survival and their monopoly on power rather than the interests of the American people."

2) "China engages in mercantilism and doesn't play by the rules of the rules-based international trading order." -> "We plan to revert to mercantilism and protectionism and abandon free trade since it no longer serves our interests to do so."

3) "China practices neo-colonialism and exploitation of the resources of developing nations through debt-trap diplomacy and dealing with corrupt dictators that regularly engage in human rights abuses." -> "We intend to monopolize the practice of neo-colonialism through our use of the IMF and military backing of corrupt dictators that will suppress dissent for us."

4) "China's naval buildup and aggressive actions in the SCS belies China's intentions to dominate trade and the nations of the regions and is a challenge to our belief of Freedom of Navigation." -> "We intend to maintain control over maritime trade and critical sea lanes throughout the world."

5) "China's window of opportunity of forced reunification is running out and will invade Taiwan within the next decade." -> "Our window of opportunity for maintaining our hegemony is running out and we intend to provoke a conflict in the Taiwan Strait within the next decade."

6) "China uses its economic clout to further it's political goals through economic coercion." -> "Sanctions and control of the global financial system are our means to achieve our political goals and coerce nations to act in our interests."

All of the US's actions should be viewed in the context of great power competition between the incumbent dominant world power and the rising world power. Of course, the US may make miscalculations here and there and conflicts of interest may arise within the different factions (ie the Israel lobby) that comprise Washington's political elite. Ultimately, discussions on China's grand strategy for navigating this great power competition will be far more productive if we can ignore the narrative pushed by the Western liberal media, detach ourselves emotionally, and view Washington as a rational actor in pursuit of maximizing its own interests.

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Bellum_Romanum said:

The level of entitlement some Indian migrant workers in Canada's PEI province is next level. The more they act like this the more it'll bring harm towards their community.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1793316885498298434

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Sardaukar20 said:

Interesting. Coincidentally, I had just watched Scott Ritter and Carl Zha arguing passionately over the US vs China war fighting mindset. In that argument Carl Zha also brought up this Mao quote that men, not atom bombs wins wars.

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