Lord Sovereign
The resident Britbong
I know.
I must ask, however. Does power make you stupid? I know it corrupts people, but it just seems to strip them of all common sense and whatever cunning they used to get that power in the first place.
United States Biden administration policies and actions - megathread
- Thread starter Tyzuris
- Start date
I know.
I must ask, however. Does power make you stupid? I know it corrupts people, but it just seems to strip them of all common sense and whatever cunning they used to get that power in the first place.
LindyAF
Well-known member
I wouldn't look at it as stupidity, rather, it's an understanding of who the threats to themselves are and who their real enemies are.
America doesn't have any peer or even near-peer enemies right now. The only other nations that are even properly sovereign (i.e. could meaningfully make us bleed if we decided to invade) are Russia and China- and they have very small spheres of foreign dominance relative to our own. It's notable that the tension points between us and them are happening effectively next door to them, but around the world from us.
America doesn't have any peer or even near-peer enemies right now. The only other nations that are even properly sovereign (i.e. could meaningfully make us bleed if we decided to invade) are Russia and China- and they have very small spheres of foreign dominance relative to our own. It's notable that the tension points between us and them are happening effectively next door to them, but around the world from us.
Lord Sovereign
The resident Britbong
A great way to get those is by ruining your military capabilities!
LindyAF
Well-known member
Has China ever won a war that isn't in it's own backyard?
If the US and China dec war on each other right now over, say, some South China Sea stuff that somehow keeps escalating, how does that end?
strunkenwhite
Well-known member
Fair enough on the "NBD" aspect of things. Possibly I was motivated by pettiness after he made it clear he wasn't willing to have any substantive discussion with me, which is why I didn't bother engaging on anything other than the most elementary level of fact. I actually had a bit more in that post which I deleted; maybe I shouldn't have.
But, regardless of perhaps-petty feelings in this specific instance, the itch is genuine for me.
Oh believe me, I can relate. I want to correct stuff ALL THE TIME, despite making plenty of my own errors...
I have to continually remind myself that it just makes me look like a jerk.
You do know Ctber and Space are huge components to modern combat
DocSolarisReich
Esoteric Spaceman
The Eurasian block doesn't even have to actively do anything to maintain their sphere of influence, just deter the Atlantic Empire's naked thirst for 'regime change' and 'democracy' for long enough for the Empire to collapse in a stinking pile of its' own contradictions.
LindyAF
Well-known member
Are they components that actually change the outcome here?
I agree China is something of a threat, especially going forward, as is Russia- there's a reason I singled them out as "properly sovereign," but currently the american empire stretches from Taiwan to at least Germany, whereas China is trying to reinforce it's claim over... a sea it is on and a city on their own mainland.
You do understand enemy sats and such are vital pieces of their command and control system, right?
Also, there is no 'higher' ground than in orbit, and those that control the orbitals stand the best chance of winning a modern conflict.
LindyAF
Well-known member
Are you saying that China currently outperforms the US in Space to a sufficient extent to change the outcome of a conflict? We have like > 4x the number of satellites China does.
It's not about raw numbers, it's about what happens when those sats become targets.
China can revert to landline and line-of-sight comms a lot easier than we can in a conflict in most potential conflict zones.
We need our sats more than China needs theirs, and that's not even counting civie birds that would be collateral damage, or secondary targets.
Space is where a lot of our edge, and vunerability, both lie. So dismissing the impact of the space theater of combat/conflict, simply due to current raw numbers, is operating in an outdated mindset.
It is actually stretching to Poland. We have a lot of troops there.
And yes, Cyber and Space are such huge components, that the US military is throwing a lot of money into this fields, especially for the Army and Air Force
LindyAF
Well-known member
My question wasn't that Cyber and Space are huge components, it's if they're components at which China outperforms us by large enough margin that it swing the balance of power in favor of China.
Yes, see, IMO this is the key bit here. The reason why that's true is that "most potential conflict zones" are in either very close to China or actually in China.
DocSolarisReich
Esoteric Spaceman
China/Russia must want trouble, just look at how close they put their borders to our military bases!
LindyAF
Well-known member
^Yeah
We've kinda strayed from the topic, so here's some more Biden admin policy I haven't seen mentioned here yet:
White farmers blast $5bn promised to nonwhite farmers in Biden's relief: despite making up <13% of farmers, 50% of federal aid to farmers during the pandemic is being earmarked for nonwhites.
We've kinda strayed from the topic, so here's some more Biden admin policy I haven't seen mentioned here yet:
White farmers blast $5bn promised to nonwhite farmers in Biden's relief: despite making up <13% of farmers, 50% of federal aid to farmers during the pandemic is being earmarked for nonwhites.
An outright, blatantly racist policy that has nothing to do with covid.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Yeah, saw and posted the farming thing a while back.
I have the impression they want to export poor minorities from downtown LA slums and give them farms with this. A lot of this land seems to be grants to obtain farms and paying off land debt for purchases of farmland.
I've seen that pop up quite a bit on places like SB, often with the misconception that farming is easy because the plants grow themselves so really you just need to own tons of land, hire immigrant labor for four cents an hour to pick for you while you sip lemonade, and you're done. This is often paired with sentiments like "Poor farmer... owns 500 acres... pick one." They seem to think this will flip rural areas blue.
I have the impression they want to export poor minorities from downtown LA slums and give them farms with this. A lot of this land seems to be grants to obtain farms and paying off land debt for purchases of farmland.
I've seen that pop up quite a bit on places like SB, often with the misconception that farming is easy because the plants grow themselves so really you just need to own tons of land, hire immigrant labor for four cents an hour to pick for you while you sip lemonade, and you're done. This is often paired with sentiments like "Poor farmer... owns 500 acres... pick one." They seem to think this will flip rural areas blue.