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> - most powerful propaganda machine (international and domestic) This is clearly false given the previous presidency. Russia's ability to project chaos and au

> - most powerful propaganda machine (international and domestic) This is clearly false given the previous presidency. Russia's ability to project chaos and authoritarianism vastly exceeds our own. Additionally our rhetoric (rules based international order) is clearly false given that our observable stance is rules for our enemies but not our "allies". We have been shown to be bad faith actors geopolitically. Xi's geopolitics is winning in many places. Domestically we are divided and conquered. You don't have to take that from me. You can look up what Mattis and Milley have to say on the state of American "unity". The constitution is overthrown by an openly corrupt judicial junta and the idea of things like Civil War and Texxit (the balkanization of America) are becoming less fringe every day. We literally had an attempted coup that most of the people who the coup was against are either completely impotent against or literally in denial about. That is deep political instability and chaos for enemies to abuse. > - genuinely powerful economy Our economy is not powerful. Our financing is powerful. Our economy looks powerful because the US Dollar is the worlds reserve currency, something China and Russia are working very hard to chip away at. In a war, financing takes a back seat to actual ability to produce. America's economy is built on intangibles. A powerful economy can make medical masks and bullets when they need to. That's not us. Inflation is barely managed, and "greed"flation, which is inversely proportional to a markets competitive forces, is definitely un-managed. > - most powerful war machine And yet our war machines strength is being tested. Ukraine is stalling. Inability to provide bullets is a clear indicator our war machine is weak. Ironically China is showing to have the superior war machine given the success of consumer drones. It's worth considering how much of an effect sanctions did not have. I don't think we have any kind of reputation for efficiently and quickly building any kind of infrastructure. 60 days for an ocean based logistics port? The Afghanistan exit wasn't exactly confidence building. > - best geopolitical "alliances" (see above) Half of our government is promising obstruction and isolationism. "America first" is not something countries in a functioning alliance say. The Nord Stream pipeline isn't something allies build. A president was impeached over how they interacted with an "ally" and then protected despite their abuse. The US is a paper tiger. America is imploding from the inside.

danaris 3y ago
> > - most powerful propaganda machine (international and domestic) > This is clearly false given the previous presidency. That doesn't follow. Just because another country has a propaganda machine that was, when fully engaged and focused on a a singular goal, able to achieve that goal in our country, doesn't mean that our propaganda machine isn't more powerful. It could just mean that ours was blindsided by this particular effort of theirs, or any of various other scenarios. Note that I'm not saying our propaganda machine is stronger—just that this particular argument is not remotely conclusive.
- mistermann 3y ago
  > able to achieve that goal in our country Even funnier: the truth value of the American domestic propaganda theory has major bearing on the truth value of this theory (or, fact as we say here in America, at least right thinking people).
- hayst4ck 3y ago
  I understand what you are saying in the rigorous sense, but I think what matters is a practical analysis. You are probably imagining things like Facebook and twitter being arms of Americas propaganda machine. Russia's machine successfully got a powerful faction in America to turn our tools inward to be used on Americans against American interests. America is now gridlocked and unable to project power. Not to stop russia, not to stop israel, not to stop China, not to marshal our allies. Russia has compromised our oligarchs (like Musk and Thiel), and co-opted their power to be used against Americans. It doesn't matter if you have a slingshot or an M16. What matters is if you get to eat venison from your hunt the next day. The hunting has less to do with the weapon and more to do with the hunter. Your model of nationality is monolithic. Oligarchs are trans-nationalits and act solely based on whats in their own self interest. Many oligarchs literally wield the resource or nations. Elon has more money than 150 different country's GDP. So if you want to analyze a nations intelligence stance you have to first look at the state of its aristocracy. The cold war was largely about authoritarianism vs democracy. Democracy is clearly in decline. Authoritarianism is clearly on the rise. Given that these are understood to be the main geopolitical goals of the east and west, I feel very confident about saying that we are being out competed. Ukraine was invaded and China is marshaling an army while openly talking about how they are going to use it. Our main geopolitical adversaries are telling us that we are weak and vulnerable. If they are rational actors, then you shouldn't be feeling very confident about the state of America's intelligence apparatus. That's not feedback to just throw away and ignore. Throwing away that feedback is using hope as a strategy. Our enemies are telling us they think we are weak, not that we are fundamentally sound but got surprised.

danaris 3y ago

> > - most powerful propaganda machine (international and domestic) > This is clearly false given the previous presidency. That doesn't follow. Just because another country has a propaganda machine that was, when fully engaged and focused on a a singular goal, able to achieve that goal in our country, doesn't mean that our propaganda machine isn't more powerful. It could just mean that ours was blindsided by this particular effort of theirs, or any of various other scenarios. Note that I'm not saying our propaganda machine is stronger—just that this particular argument is not remotely conclusive.

mistermann 3y ago
> able to achieve that goal in our country Even funnier: the truth value of the American domestic propaganda theory has major bearing on the truth value of this theory (or, fact as we say here in America, at least right thinking people).
hayst4ck 3y ago
I understand what you are saying in the rigorous sense, but I think what matters is a practical analysis. You are probably imagining things like Facebook and twitter being arms of Americas propaganda machine. Russia's machine successfully got a powerful faction in America to turn our tools inward to be used on Americans against American interests. America is now gridlocked and unable to project power. Not to stop russia, not to stop israel, not to stop China, not to marshal our allies. Russia has compromised our oligarchs (like Musk and Thiel), and co-opted their power to be used against Americans. It doesn't matter if you have a slingshot or an M16. What matters is if you get to eat venison from your hunt the next day. The hunting has less to do with the weapon and more to do with the hunter. Your model of nationality is monolithic. Oligarchs are trans-nationalits and act solely based on whats in their own self interest. Many oligarchs literally wield the resource or nations. Elon has more money than 150 different country's GDP. So if you want to analyze a nations intelligence stance you have to first look at the state of its aristocracy. The cold war was largely about authoritarianism vs democracy. Democracy is clearly in decline. Authoritarianism is clearly on the rise. Given that these are understood to be the main geopolitical goals of the east and west, I feel very confident about saying that we are being out competed. Ukraine was invaded and China is marshaling an army while openly talking about how they are going to use it. Our main geopolitical adversaries are telling us that we are weak and vulnerable. If they are rational actors, then you shouldn't be feeling very confident about the state of America's intelligence apparatus. That's not feedback to just throw away and ignore. Throwing away that feedback is using hope as a strategy. Our enemies are telling us they think we are weak, not that we are fundamentally sound but got surprised.