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Remove Russia from that list…the Ukraine war has shown that the Russian military are chest-beating clowns tainted by massive corruption and incompetence. I kin

Remove Russia from that list…the Ukraine war has shown that the Russian military are chest-beating clowns tainted by massive corruption and incompetence. I kinda suspect China is the same, but we’re yet to see, and hopefully never see any invasion of Taiwan..

pharmakom 3y ago
USA is a large closed economy. China is a large open economy. I’m simplifying, but the bottom line is China definitely doesn’t want a Cold War scenario.
- Tommstein 3y ago
  > USA is a large closed economy. China is a large open economy. I’m simplifying, . . . . Yes, "simplifying" to the point of getting it completely backwards.
- boeingUH60 3y ago
  I think so too, but we should also understand that authoritarians are not rational. Before February 2022, I would have bet a big sum on Putin never authorizing a full-scale Ukraine invasion. There was just too much to lose and too little to gain theoretically…yet he did it anyways.
  - breckenedge 3y ago
    Putin was lied to about the capabilities of his forces. Now we’re seeing the same thing with Xi, except heads are rolling _before_ the invasion gets underway.
  - cpursley 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - dralley 3y ago
      Just because it's not literally "total war", does not make it limited in scope.
      - cpursley 3y ago
        Well, it is limited in scope and they literally stated their territorial objectives when they set out. Full scale is mobilizing your entire economy towards the war effort and calling up millions. And it’s taking out the opposing sides military and civilian leadership and all of their critical infrastructure. That’s full scale. I really hope we don’t see full scale.
        dralley 3y ago
        I believe they "started" with claiming that statements that the they were about to invade Ukraine were absurd lies, followed shortly later with claims they would control the entire country in three days along with some maps that included Moldova, followed shortly thereafter with lots of nuclear saber rattling when things started going south. There have also been dozens of assassination attempts against Ukraine's civilian and military leadership, and against Russia's as well, some of which have been successful. The fact that most attempts don't work out doesn't mean it's not happening.
        cpursley 3y ago
        > entire country in three days > dozens of assassination attempts > lots of nuclear saber rattling Sources, please.
    - nerdix 3y ago
      It absolutely was a full scale invasion. It just failed.
      - cpursley 3y ago
        [flagged]
- omginternets 3y ago
  By what measure is China an open economy? That flies in the face of their long history of currency manipulation and explicit protectionist policy.
  - spacebanana7 3y ago
    I believe GP means “open” in the sense of having a high degree of trade with the rest of the world. The US economy has more of a closed loop in that it consumes much of what it produces. China on the other hand imports most essential commodities and pays for them with the proceeds of exports.
SV_BubbleTime 3y ago
To be fair… Russia is fighting a proxy war with the US via Ukraine. Without US intelligence, Ukraine may be on a very bad spot.
- madwebness 3y ago
  While any war, as Hemingway wrote "no matter how necessary or justified - is still a crime", without US, even the events in 2008 and 2013 would not take place simply because they would not had been necessary due to Ukraine staying in the Russia's sphere of influence. This is an unwinnable war for Ukraine. It is bad for Russia and certainly puts a dark spot on its history, but if there is at least one large and powerful country without dark spots in its history, please tell me which one it is. Human history is catalogue of crime.
- bilbo0s 3y ago
  This is what it is to be in a multipolar world though. I agree with your implication. The military forces of Russia are not paper tigers. Don't believe the hype. But at the same time, you don't want to fight proxy wars? Ok. Great. Then don't screw with other nations. If they hadn't messed with Ukraine, they wouldn't be fighting a proxy war. The system works, again, because each of the major powers are comfortably confident in their ability to destroy the other 3. There is therefore, nothing to stop us from fighting a proxy war with Russia, because Russia will never use hard power to do anything about it. Unless Russia is suicidal, and they aren't, they will not escalate to a direct conflict with us.
  - madwebness 3y ago
    No one is suicidal, but escalation don't always work according to logic. It's people making decisions, and people are emotional. Another thing to consider is, if you're the one up top, perhaps pressing the red button and living in a nice warm bunker with staff serving you is much better than being ousted, voted out or accused of corruption and facing the probability of going to jail (depending on the country). So I wouldn't be so sure we're immune to the global war just yet.
  - Tommstein 3y ago
mensetmanusman 3y ago
China is purging everyone in the military that doesn't want war at the moment...

pharmakom 3y ago

USA is a large closed economy. China is a large open economy. I’m simplifying, but the bottom line is China definitely doesn’t want a Cold War scenario.

Tommstein 3y ago
> USA is a large closed economy. China is a large open economy. I’m simplifying, . . . . Yes, "simplifying" to the point of getting it completely backwards.
boeingUH60 3y ago
I think so too, but we should also understand that authoritarians are not rational. Before February 2022, I would have bet a big sum on Putin never authorizing a full-scale Ukraine invasion. There was just too much to lose and too little to gain theoretically…yet he did it anyways.
- breckenedge 3y ago
  Putin was lied to about the capabilities of his forces. Now we’re seeing the same thing with Xi, except heads are rolling _before_ the invasion gets underway.
- cpursley 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - dralley 3y ago
    Just because it's not literally "total war", does not make it limited in scope.
    - cpursley 3y ago
      Well, it is limited in scope and they literally stated their territorial objectives when they set out. Full scale is mobilizing your entire economy towards the war effort and calling up millions. And it’s taking out the opposing sides military and civilian leadership and all of their critical infrastructure. That’s full scale. I really hope we don’t see full scale.
      - dralley 3y ago
        I believe they "started" with claiming that statements that the they were about to invade Ukraine were absurd lies, followed shortly later with claims they would control the entire country in three days along with some maps that included Moldova, followed shortly thereafter with lots of nuclear saber rattling when things started going south. There have also been dozens of assassination attempts against Ukraine's civilian and military leadership, and against Russia's as well, some of which have been successful. The fact that most attempts don't work out doesn't mean it's not happening.
        cpursley 3y ago
        > entire country in three days > dozens of assassination attempts > lots of nuclear saber rattling Sources, please.
  - nerdix 3y ago
    It absolutely was a full scale invasion. It just failed.
    - cpursley 3y ago
      [flagged]
omginternets 3y ago
By what measure is China an open economy? That flies in the face of their long history of currency manipulation and explicit protectionist policy.
- spacebanana7 3y ago
  I believe GP means “open” in the sense of having a high degree of trade with the rest of the world. The US economy has more of a closed loop in that it consumes much of what it produces. China on the other hand imports most essential commodities and pays for them with the proceeds of exports.

SV_BubbleTime 3y ago

To be fair… Russia is fighting a proxy war with the US via Ukraine. Without US intelligence, Ukraine may be on a very bad spot.

madwebness 3y ago
While any war, as Hemingway wrote "no matter how necessary or justified - is still a crime", without US, even the events in 2008 and 2013 would not take place simply because they would not had been necessary due to Ukraine staying in the Russia's sphere of influence. This is an unwinnable war for Ukraine. It is bad for Russia and certainly puts a dark spot on its history, but if there is at least one large and powerful country without dark spots in its history, please tell me which one it is. Human history is catalogue of crime.
bilbo0s 3y ago
This is what it is to be in a multipolar world though. I agree with your implication. The military forces of Russia are not paper tigers. Don't believe the hype. But at the same time, you don't want to fight proxy wars? Ok. Great. Then don't screw with other nations. If they hadn't messed with Ukraine, they wouldn't be fighting a proxy war. The system works, again, because each of the major powers are comfortably confident in their ability to destroy the other 3. There is therefore, nothing to stop us from fighting a proxy war with Russia, because Russia will never use hard power to do anything about it. Unless Russia is suicidal, and they aren't, they will not escalate to a direct conflict with us.
- madwebness 3y ago
  No one is suicidal, but escalation don't always work according to logic. It's people making decisions, and people are emotional. Another thing to consider is, if you're the one up top, perhaps pressing the red button and living in a nice warm bunker with staff serving you is much better than being ousted, voted out or accused of corruption and facing the probability of going to jail (depending on the country). So I wouldn't be so sure we're immune to the global war just yet.
- Tommstein 3y ago

mensetmanusman 3y ago

China is purging everyone in the military that doesn't want war at the moment...