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Thanks, I learned a lot from that post! One minor quibble (which I don't think diminishes your main point at all): > We're no longer in a World War nor a Cold

Thanks, I learned a lot from that post! One minor quibble (which I don't think diminishes your main point at all): > We're no longer in a World War nor a Cold War... I don't think that's 100% correct. My impression is that PRC is waging a cold war against the U.S., but the U.S. government hasn't accepted that yet. I'm certainly no expert on the matter, though. I'd be very grateful for any correction.

dragontamer 5y ago
A big component of the Cold War era was NATO vs Warsaw, which has no modern equivalent. China is trying to rival us economically, and at best is aiming to maybe increase its sphere of influence out into the Pacific Ocean a bit. But back in the Cold War, Capitalists and Communists were splitting the entire world into two spheres... a communist sphere and a capitalist sphere. China isn't trying to spread its breed of nationalism across the world. Sure, its picking up African influence and Asian influence, but not quite in the same manner as NATO or Warsaw was picking up influence back then. If the influence is "just" economic influence, I wouldn't really worry too much. Unfortunately, there's a degree of "hot" war and saber-rattling going on that I find dangerous. Its very different from the Cold War: its entirely focused on Chinese interests and not so much a battle of ideologies around the world.
- CoastalCoder 5y ago
  Thanks, interesting counter-points. I agree that it's unlike the actual Cold War in several important ways: - The two sides aren't engaging each other via proxy wars, e.g. Vietnam. - The two sides haven't formed clear multi-national alliances, i.e. NATO vs. Warsaw. Things that do strike me as similarities: - Like the USSR, China's mood appears expansionistic. E.g., South China Sea, Taiwan, and (arguably?) Tibet. - Like the USSR, Russia also seems expansionstic. E.g., Georgia and (maybe) Ukraine. - Maybe less relevant, but China and Russia are to some extent authoritarian (removal of presidential term limits) and seemingly use state-sanctioned violence to suppress political opposition. So as with the Cold War, there's some degree of ideological divide between the two sides.

dragontamer 5y ago

A big component of the Cold War era was NATO vs Warsaw, which has no modern equivalent. China is trying to rival us economically, and at best is aiming to maybe increase its sphere of influence out into the Pacific Ocean a bit. But back in the Cold War, Capitalists and Communists were splitting the entire world into two spheres... a communist sphere and a capitalist sphere. China isn't trying to spread its breed of nationalism across the world. Sure, its picking up African influence and Asian influence, but not quite in the same manner as NATO or Warsaw was picking up influence back then. If the influence is "just" economic influence, I wouldn't really worry too much. Unfortunately, there's a degree of "hot" war and saber-rattling going on that I find dangerous. Its very different from the Cold War: its entirely focused on Chinese interests and not so much a battle of ideologies around the world.

CoastalCoder 5y ago
Thanks, interesting counter-points. I agree that it's unlike the actual Cold War in several important ways: - The two sides aren't engaging each other via proxy wars, e.g. Vietnam. - The two sides haven't formed clear multi-national alliances, i.e. NATO vs. Warsaw. Things that do strike me as similarities: - Like the USSR, China's mood appears expansionistic. E.g., South China Sea, Taiwan, and (arguably?) Tibet. - Like the USSR, Russia also seems expansionstic. E.g., Georgia and (maybe) Ukraine. - Maybe less relevant, but China and Russia are to some extent authoritarian (removal of presidential term limits) and seemingly use state-sanctioned violence to suppress political opposition. So as with the Cold War, there's some degree of ideological divide between the two sides.