bintananth
behind a desk
Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex. I was hoping I'd find a copy that didn't have peanut gallery after the fact commentary ...
United States Biden administration policies and actions - megathread
- Thread starter Tyzuris
- Start date
Yep, and he was promptly ignored by the powers in DC, because war, particularly low scale, long term conflicts, are profitable to them and their goals.
Well yeah.
But both sides have the same thought
War is human nature Bacle.
Humanity has never and will never live in peace.
I believe we can contain our competitive impulses to the sport arena, if we just decide as a species to stop wasteful wars for pride or geopolitical chess.
Hahahahaha.
War is human nature
bintananth
behind a desk
Not really. Sometimes one or more sides wants a fight. From what you've said in this thread you're on the "wants a fight" side. Most people don't want a fight and would rather just go about their day-to-day affairs without being bothered by interruptions.
See above. I hope that I never use any weapon when I'm not hunting. If I have to it won't be pretty because I might be able to kill someone with a thrown pebble, as could you.
Competition is part of human nature.
Competition does not necessitate war, particularly not now that nukes are a thing.
Doomsought
Well-known member
War is not caused by competition, war is caused by mutually exclusive politics, where compromise is not only impossible but to even attempt it is a betrayal of the highest order.
Even in the age of the nuke,war is not only p[ossible but preferable to some coursed of action. Global nuclear war has a bnetter outcome for humanity than global communism.
True.Global war would leave some enclaves of cyvilisation,but when global communism fall,we would have stone age hunter-gatherers again.Living in polluted world without resources.
Airedale260
Well-known member
Ahem. Some of us weren’t even born yet, thank you.
In all seriousness, however, I agree this isn’t the end of the world. George Friedman, of whose works I admit to enjoying, pointed out that whoever would be president after Trump would also follow the same policies and whatever of the past 50 years, because that was “how it’s always been done” (yes, I know it hasn’t, but bear with me).
As a general aside, the problem for Biden and Co is that they’re trying to apply a nearly 50-year-old policy mix in a world where that just doesn’t work, but it’s all he and his people know how to do. It’s up to whoever comes after him to recognize this and come up with innovative solutions. This is pretty much a trend in history.
Yes and no, but I can think of a number of personnel who would tell you and your SGM you’re both nuts, and not just commissioned officers.
Never mind the cost in lives among the military, what about the people through whose backyard you’re currently trading shots with your enemy? This isn’t fucking Call of Duty; civilian death tolls are horrific on their own, even when we try and minimize or avoid collateral damage as much as possible.
I’ll take “Incest and inbreeding that would horrify thefor $500, Alex.”
Because if anything, Trump was understating how corrupt DC is when he referred to it as “the swamp.” Press, lobbyists, politicians…the intermarriage (in many cases quite literally) is…something.
Basically, advancement to the senior executive levels in the government (whether career bureaucrats making their way up or political appointees who flit in and out of office and think tanks and whatnot) is pretty much the norm and has been since the 1940s at least.
If you’re expecting Sullivan to actually face consequences…I’m going to tell you now it’s not going to happen. Is what happened with the dossier a political hit job and an absolute farce? Yes. Do I think anyone is going to face legal consequences for this beyond those already charged? No.
What I do expect is Durham is going to write up a full report of just what the hell happened, explaining that the FBI, DOJ, and Obama White House looked at this thinking “Holy shit, we’ve got him” without verifying it, because it fit with their prejudices. It is going to result in a massive black eye for those agencies, and while the press will try to bury it, I would expect the voters to remember this when November rolls around.
Bigking321
Well-known member
Um...
They are the most radical far leftist administration we have ever had. All of their policy positions are of the farthest left fringe.
They might have to walk stuff back a lot because their extremism is to far for the vast majority of America but if they weren't facing resistance...
This is not the same 50 year old policy mix. It's a whole new level of bad.
Tiamat
I've seen the future...
I'll just leave here a famous passage by Carl Von Clausewitz:
"War is a continuation of politics by other means. We see, therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means. All beyond this which is strictly peculiar to War relates merely to the peculiar nature of the means which it uses. That the tendencies and views of policy shall not be incompatible with these means, the Art of War in general and the Commander in each particular case may demand, and this claim is truly not a trifling one. But however powerfully this may react on political views in particular cases, still it must always be regarded as only a modification of them; for the political view is the object, War is the means, and the means must always include the object in our conception."
"War is a continuation of politics by other means. We see, therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means. All beyond this which is strictly peculiar to War relates merely to the peculiar nature of the means which it uses. That the tendencies and views of policy shall not be incompatible with these means, the Art of War in general and the Commander in each particular case may demand, and this claim is truly not a trifling one. But however powerfully this may react on political views in particular cases, still it must always be regarded as only a modification of them; for the political view is the object, War is the means, and the means must always include the object in our conception."
bintananth
behind a desk
I was still in diapers when Carter left office.Ahem. Some of us weren’t even born yet, thank you.
Not fond of Friedman. You should read Keynes (The Economic Consequences of the Peace), Galbraith (The Great Crash, 1929), Veblem (The Theory of the Leisure Class), and Inchauste (Productivity Growth During The Great Depression).
Good luck finding a copy of the last one because the conclusion was too radical for publication: technology was advancing faster than workers could be trained.
I'm a fan of Friedman. Not really one of Keynes' simply b/c too many see his thinking as the be-all end-all of economic theory.
bintananth
behind a desk
The book of his I mentioned was what he had to say about the Versailles Treaty and not what he wrote later.
Wargamer08
Well-known member
I don't know, I think they might have been on to something.
bintananth
behind a desk
Ferengi males also forbade their females from using money and expected them to chew their food for them.I don't know, I think they might have been on to something.
I'm surprised they even made it into space from a rainy homeworld with only 178 words to describe rain. British English has about 104 per a quick Google search.
I'm pretty sure "frazzly" isn't one of them. It's one my wife uses and I can't make sense of it. I've tried since the frazzly day we met.
I still have no clue what frazzly rain actually is even after over two decades of marriage.