All is not good...

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by R P, Jul 8, 2021.

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  1. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    lol. Nobody can run me off easily because I don't get easily offended. Don't get me wrong, I actually think some debating is a bit fun.

    Yes I am 30. I doubt there are very many young people in this forum. It seems to be mostly dudes who are old enough to be my dad or grandfather. lol

    I do not work in law; I just talk to other people on the internet about politics and listen to various live streams about history. I am a civil engineer by trade. I have never lived in Washington; just the southeast. I was just able to go to Hawaii once when I was in highschool. I traveled a ton when I was in highschool. lol
     
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  3. Sorry, when you said don't come here, I thought you were talking about Seattle. Yes, there are definitely some old fuddy duddies on this forum. Being an engineer, though, you and Bob should see more eye to eye.

    OK, have at it...
     
  4. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    I have never been to Seattle before. lol. I have actually never been to the pacific northwest before at all. Fuddy-duddy is a compliment - old fashioned is the best. lol Bob and I would probably only agree on certain design principles, he is electrical and I don't know much about that.
     
  5. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    Yeah, the last one certainly doesn't look promising. Afghanistan was always going to be another Vietnam - anyone paying attention would have known that. The last one is a good reason to justify boycotting stuff from China. Why feed your enemy?
     
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  7. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

  8. Not if they can put their nukes on these missiles. which are in range of Japan, not to mention what they could do to SK. And remember, China has their back, and can use them as a proxy to cause lots of fear and mayhem in the region.

    And the region is definitely concerned.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/east-asia/north-korea-missile-us-japan-south-korea-b1919715.html
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2021
  9. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    Nah. MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction - is a deterrence mechanism. China will not start crap with anyone until US military power collapses, which it could be headed that way (Did Milley actually do what the rumors say? If true, not good). No clue what the future holds on that.
     
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  11. China plays the long game. But in the short term if they see weakness and opportunity, they will take advantage and advance their agenda.
     
  12. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    Well, China is certainly trying to play the long game. Their economic policy will be their downfall though.

    There are 4 primary factors that make a nation stable in the long run:
    • Free Markets
    • Rule of Law
    • Traditional morals/ethics & traditional culture
    • Border Security.
    China excels at border security, and is improving somewhat on traditional morals/ethics. They have recently banned the portrayal of feminine men in their media and they are ramping up efforts to grow their boys into proper men (seems like the approach there is a bit more top down for my tastes). This wouldn't be my approach to the problem, but it is a step in the right direction. China's culture is still repairing itself after the Cultural Revolution - they actually have a positive, transcendental purpose for themselves. Not one I would ascribe to, but it's certainly better than what is currently dominating the West. I would say that China's rule of law is unbalanced - this is largely due to their extreme economic interventions. Yes, the elite in China care only about Chinese interests - this is how a more stable nation is supposed to function.

    Meanwhile, the West is effectively destroying itself on all fronts. Western markets have incrementally become less free over time. Nowhere close to as bad as China, but the trend certainly isn't reversing - that is for sure. Western culture is rapidly devolving into hedonistic, materialistic consumerism. Any sense of transcendental purpose in the West has rotted into nihilistic virtue signaling where people are encouraged to find their identity in evil vices - essentially the embodiment of the warning in the later half of Romans 1. The trend of Western decline is massively accelerated by mass immigration - we essentially have open borders at this point. What's clear is that the leaders in Western nations have no allegiance to the citizens - they are more concerned with creating these horrendous, unsustainable, pluralistic societies by destroying their own civilization in the process.

    Is China doing better than the West? At this moment no, but the trend is clearly in the yes direction, assuming China adopts better economic policy.
     
  13. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

  14. China is testing the US. They will push it just like they did with Hong Kong. Words didn't stop them there. And they won't with Taiwan either. Do you really think the US will step up and militarily protect Taiwan?

    And look what is happening with Israel. Congress is considering to stop giving them Iron Dome support.
     
  15. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    At this rate no. If anything, there would probably be some informant in the US government who would warn China beforehand if the US government decided to intervene. lol

    I am ok with this. Israel is more of a liability than an ally.
     
  16. So you are OK with a radical Islamic country (Iran) using a proxy to lob missiles over the border of a long time friend and ally. Israel has managed to make peace with most mid east Arab countries. But this one is still vows to wipe Israel off the map. The Iron Dome is strictly a defensive weapon.
     
  17. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    Not my problem. It isn't the responsibility of the US to get militarily involved in every single conflict worldwide.

    Plus, Israel really isn't that great of an ally either. Definitely something worth looking into. lol.
     
  18. But why deny selling them Iron Dome to defend themselves?
     
  19. SouthernDude

    SouthernDude Active Member

    I don't care if Israel buys weapons with their own money and I don't care if private American companies manufactures the weapons. I just don't want to pay for it with my tax dollars. Why should American taxpayers essentially subsidize the national defense of over half the world, especially nations that really aren't that great allies? It's insane.
     
  20. Yes, that is a point. But why start with Israel? As it happens, though, funding has been approved again. Yes, being the world's policeman/peacekeeper does carry a cost. Trump tried to change that with Nato funding, but looks like that initiative will fade again.
     

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