7 ms·

Attitude towards war depends on context. In 2007 "war" meant "Iraq" which was extremely unpopular, pointless, and had an imperialist flavor. Today "war" means G

by fwipsy 8mo ago

Attitude towards war depends on context. In 2007 "war" meant "Iraq" which was extremely unpopular, pointless, and had an imperialist flavor. Today "war" means Gaza, Iran, and Venezuela, but it also means Ukraine and Chinese aggression, possibly ramping up to an invasion of Taiwan. I suspect Amodei and many Anthropic employees are thinking of the latter.

somenameforme 8mo ago
[flagged]
- ashdksnndck 8mo ago
  It’s not that big of a coincidence that the countries that superpowers want to conquer, and need defending, are neighbors to the superpowers.
  - godelski 8mo ago
    So much so that it's actually the expectation! Country wants to expand its territory? Most likely place to extend to is those in its borders. It's literally the lowest hanging fruit. Small country being invaded by large country? Who are they most likely to turn to? Does it seem that unlikely that they'd go to the biggest actor who doesn't like that country? The enemy of my enemy? Coincidence? I think not! It's literally the most logical thing
  - somenameforme 8mo ago
    "Need" defending? I couldn't care less who rules Ukraine, Taiwan, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran, and these countless other places half-way around the world. It's not like China taking over Taiwan will have any impact on semiconductors. They're happy to play merchant to the world, independent of allegiance. E.g. - Ukraine complains about China supplying Russia with tech for their drones, while failing to recognize the countless "Made in China" stamps on their own hardware. When despots act subservient to the US we're more than fine being BFF with them. See: Saudi Arabia. Heck we're even aiding them in their little 'special military operation' in Yemen. So funny how the rhetoric changes depending on who's involved: "On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, staged a military intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni civil war." [1] So a president is overthrown by a popular insurrection, and then another country which was fond of the old government decides to take advantage of the situation to invade, primarily to further their own ends. This sounds oddly familiar, yet somehow the rhetoric around it is entirely different. Nah, I'm tired of this nonsense. If a country literally invades another country which we have a military alliance with then yeah - we have an obligation to intervene. But without that - I can think of far better ways to spend trillions of dollars than killing people half-way around the world. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi-led_intervention_in_the_Yemeni_civil_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi-led_intervention_in_the_...
    - GJim 8mo ago
      > I couldn't care less who rules Ukraine, Taiwan, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran Oh you will. You most certainly will.
      - somenameforme 8mo ago
        No I won't. No I certainly won't. This nonsense is fun for shit posting on the internet but it literally does not matter. Countries are driven by self interest. If we wanted to stop dicking around in other country's affairs then we could be trade buddies with pretty much whoever we wanted with absolutely zero consequence to ourselves, and likely substantial benefit. The thing about nukes, to say nothing of US geography, is that the chances of us being attacked is literally zero, unless it's a doomsday type nuclear bombardment affair. We don't even have to worry about things like a decapitation attempt since we're not surrounded by hostile military bases, or any other country's military bases for that matter. Whatever the rest of the world wants to do - that's their problem. This isn't necessarily isolationist because I'm perfectly happy trading and engaging in any positive way with other nations, but this sort of 'nation building' and geopolitical crap we try to do just about always fails, and the few times it hasn't (like South Korea) is far more incidental than consequential. We left them with an endless series of awful dictators in charge and they somehow stumbled their way into becoming a half decent place, independent of us.
- komali2 8mo ago
  People keep making this strange claim about Taiwan, the only liberal democracy in the East without a single American soldier on its soil. Almost like Taiwan is a sovereign nation uninterested in participating in the PRC and USA's fight for global hegemony.
  - godelski 8mo ago
    I think the funniest part is the fact that all the western countries are even afraid to recognize Taiwan's independence. It's a much better argument to say Korea or Japan are ruled by the US (and Korea and Japan absolutely hate one another!). Does the US have influence in Taiwan? Certainly! But if that meant Taiwan was the US's puppet then Taiwan would simultaneously be China's puppet. Schrödinger's Vassal
    - dotancohen 8mo ago
      > afraid to recognize Taiwan's independence. Does Taiwan claim independence? I thought that both the government in Beijing and the government in Taipei both claim that all of China is united, and that they are the legitimate government of that united entity.
      - XorNot 8mo ago
        Taiwan buys military equipment and operates it's own military very much like it is independent of China and views Chinese troops in it's territory as a threat.
        dotancohen 8mo ago
        Correct. However "in it's territory" includes inside mainland China.
      - YZF 8mo ago
        You're arguing semantics. The west refuses to recognize Taiwan as the legitimate government of China and refuses to recognize it as an independent country. Whatever they claim, the west (and most of the world) due to Chinese leverage/power refuses to recognize. Taiwan meets all the criteria for being a state. It controls land, population, it has a military, it has a government, currency, passports etc. etc. It's a de-facto country/state.
- krige 8mo ago
  That's a really weird claim about Ukraine, which the US leadership would love to sweep under the rug, leave alone to be taken apart, except for the bad optics - so they just drag their feet forever.
regularization 8mo ago
> Chinese aggression, possibly ramping up to an invasion of Taiwan. It's amusing amidst the US bombing Iran, incarceration the president of Venezuela and his wife after slaughtering everyone who was in the room with him, seizing oil tankers off Cuba, continuing the siege of Gaza and on and on to start getting sanctimonious about China. Taiwan is Kinmen island in Xiamen harbor, so a mainland invasion of Taiwan would be mainland China "invading" an island in its harbor. Also mainland China does not recognize Taiwan and mainland China to be separate countries. The US does not recognize Taiwan and mainland China to be separate countries. Taiwan does not consider Taiwan and mainland China to be separate countries. I'm not sure what the invasion would be, a country invading itself? It would be like if the US president sent armed agents to Minnesota who started killing people willy nilly - oh yaa, that just happened. The most satisfying thing is if mainland China did choose to reassert it's rightful authority in Taiwan against the colonial powers, there's absolutely nothing those western powers can do about it. Just like Russia's assertion over the West tring to nove it's NATO armies to its western borders in the Ukraine. It's amusing to see the US flailing about, hitting a Venezuelan here, a Cuban there to try to look tough. I guess Nicaragua is next on the list. The changes coming in the 21st century are welcome. A bozo like Trump as president is a sign of a fading West.
- margalabargala 8mo ago
  Actually dinosaurs existed in China before there were people. And their descendents, the birds, are still around. We should all consider it our moral duty to continue what was begun in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and overthrow the CCP and replace them with the true historical rulers, the chicken.
  - atomic_reed 8mo ago
    [dead]
- JumpCrisscross 8mo ago
  > Also mainland China does not recognize Taiwan By this logic, America not recognising by the sovereignty of Venezuela, Iran and Cuba—and Israel of Palestine, as well as vice versa—makes everyone an a-okay actor! > there's absolutely nothing those western powers can do about it. Just like Russia's assertion over the West tring to nove it's NATO armies to its western borders in the Ukraine Russia is a spent power and geopolitical afterthought because of Ukraine. Its borders with NATO have increased massively, all while reducing its security, economy and demography. Even Xi couldn’t fuck over China as thoroughly as Putin has Russia. But Xi going on a vanity crusade into Taiwan would essentially write off China’s ascendancy as a military and economic superpower this generation. > if mainland China did choose to reassert it's rightful authority in Taiwan against the colonial powers An aging dictator invading a democracy. At least Deng chose a quarry he could crush [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests_and_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests...
suddenlybananas 8mo ago
Iraq was much more popular in 2003 [1] than the current war in Iran is [2]. [1] "In the months leading up to the war, majorities of between 55% and 68% said they favored taking military action to end Hussein’s rule in Iraq. No more than about a third opposed military action." https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/03/14/a-look-back-at-how-fear-and-false-beliefs-bolstered-u-s-public-support-for-war-in-iraq/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/03/14/a-look-back-... [2] "Some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, which were conducted alongside Israeli attacks on Iran, while 43% disapproved and 29% were not sure" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/just-one-four-americans-support-us-strikes-iran-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2026-03-01/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/just-one-four-americans-sup...

by fwipsy 8mo ago

somenameforme 8mo ago

[flagged]

ashdksnndck 8mo ago
It’s not that big of a coincidence that the countries that superpowers want to conquer, and need defending, are neighbors to the superpowers.
- godelski 8mo ago
  So much so that it's actually the expectation! Country wants to expand its territory? Most likely place to extend to is those in its borders. It's literally the lowest hanging fruit. Small country being invaded by large country? Who are they most likely to turn to? Does it seem that unlikely that they'd go to the biggest actor who doesn't like that country? The enemy of my enemy? Coincidence? I think not! It's literally the most logical thing
- somenameforme 8mo ago
  "Need" defending? I couldn't care less who rules Ukraine, Taiwan, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran, and these countless other places half-way around the world. It's not like China taking over Taiwan will have any impact on semiconductors. They're happy to play merchant to the world, independent of allegiance. E.g. - Ukraine complains about China supplying Russia with tech for their drones, while failing to recognize the countless "Made in China" stamps on their own hardware. When despots act subservient to the US we're more than fine being BFF with them. See: Saudi Arabia. Heck we're even aiding them in their little 'special military operation' in Yemen. So funny how the rhetoric changes depending on who's involved: "On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, staged a military intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni civil war." [1] So a president is overthrown by a popular insurrection, and then another country which was fond of the old government decides to take advantage of the situation to invade, primarily to further their own ends. This sounds oddly familiar, yet somehow the rhetoric around it is entirely different. Nah, I'm tired of this nonsense. If a country literally invades another country which we have a military alliance with then yeah - we have an obligation to intervene. But without that - I can think of far better ways to spend trillions of dollars than killing people half-way around the world. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi-led_intervention_in_the_Yemeni_civil_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi-led_intervention_in_the_...
  - GJim 8mo ago
    > I couldn't care less who rules Ukraine, Taiwan, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran Oh you will. You most certainly will.
    - somenameforme 8mo ago
      No I won't. No I certainly won't. This nonsense is fun for shit posting on the internet but it literally does not matter. Countries are driven by self interest. If we wanted to stop dicking around in other country's affairs then we could be trade buddies with pretty much whoever we wanted with absolutely zero consequence to ourselves, and likely substantial benefit. The thing about nukes, to say nothing of US geography, is that the chances of us being attacked is literally zero, unless it's a doomsday type nuclear bombardment affair. We don't even have to worry about things like a decapitation attempt since we're not surrounded by hostile military bases, or any other country's military bases for that matter. Whatever the rest of the world wants to do - that's their problem. This isn't necessarily isolationist because I'm perfectly happy trading and engaging in any positive way with other nations, but this sort of 'nation building' and geopolitical crap we try to do just about always fails, and the few times it hasn't (like South Korea) is far more incidental than consequential. We left them with an endless series of awful dictators in charge and they somehow stumbled their way into becoming a half decent place, independent of us.
komali2 8mo ago
People keep making this strange claim about Taiwan, the only liberal democracy in the East without a single American soldier on its soil. Almost like Taiwan is a sovereign nation uninterested in participating in the PRC and USA's fight for global hegemony.
- godelski 8mo ago
  I think the funniest part is the fact that all the western countries are even afraid to recognize Taiwan's independence. It's a much better argument to say Korea or Japan are ruled by the US (and Korea and Japan absolutely hate one another!). Does the US have influence in Taiwan? Certainly! But if that meant Taiwan was the US's puppet then Taiwan would simultaneously be China's puppet. Schrödinger's Vassal
  - dotancohen 8mo ago
    > afraid to recognize Taiwan's independence. Does Taiwan claim independence? I thought that both the government in Beijing and the government in Taipei both claim that all of China is united, and that they are the legitimate government of that united entity.
    - XorNot 8mo ago
      Taiwan buys military equipment and operates it's own military very much like it is independent of China and views Chinese troops in it's territory as a threat.
      - dotancohen 8mo ago
        Correct. However "in it's territory" includes inside mainland China.
    - YZF 8mo ago
      You're arguing semantics. The west refuses to recognize Taiwan as the legitimate government of China and refuses to recognize it as an independent country. Whatever they claim, the west (and most of the world) due to Chinese leverage/power refuses to recognize. Taiwan meets all the criteria for being a state. It controls land, population, it has a military, it has a government, currency, passports etc. etc. It's a de-facto country/state.
krige 8mo ago
That's a really weird claim about Ukraine, which the US leadership would love to sweep under the rug, leave alone to be taken apart, except for the bad optics - so they just drag their feet forever.

regularization 8mo ago

> Chinese aggression, possibly ramping up to an invasion of Taiwan. It's amusing amidst the US bombing Iran, incarceration the president of Venezuela and his wife after slaughtering everyone who was in the room with him, seizing oil tankers off Cuba, continuing the siege of Gaza and on and on to start getting sanctimonious about China. Taiwan is Kinmen island in Xiamen harbor, so a mainland invasion of Taiwan would be mainland China "invading" an island in its harbor. Also mainland China does not recognize Taiwan and mainland China to be separate countries. The US does not recognize Taiwan and mainland China to be separate countries. Taiwan does not consider Taiwan and mainland China to be separate countries. I'm not sure what the invasion would be, a country invading itself? It would be like if the US president sent armed agents to Minnesota who started killing people willy nilly - oh yaa, that just happened. The most satisfying thing is if mainland China did choose to reassert it's rightful authority in Taiwan against the colonial powers, there's absolutely nothing those western powers can do about it. Just like Russia's assertion over the West tring to nove it's NATO armies to its western borders in the Ukraine. It's amusing to see the US flailing about, hitting a Venezuelan here, a Cuban there to try to look tough. I guess Nicaragua is next on the list. The changes coming in the 21st century are welcome. A bozo like Trump as president is a sign of a fading West.

margalabargala 8mo ago
Actually dinosaurs existed in China before there were people. And their descendents, the birds, are still around. We should all consider it our moral duty to continue what was begun in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and overthrow the CCP and replace them with the true historical rulers, the chicken.
- atomic_reed 8mo ago
  [dead]
JumpCrisscross 8mo ago
> Also mainland China does not recognize Taiwan By this logic, America not recognising by the sovereignty of Venezuela, Iran and Cuba—and Israel of Palestine, as well as vice versa—makes everyone an a-okay actor! > there's absolutely nothing those western powers can do about it. Just like Russia's assertion over the West tring to nove it's NATO armies to its western borders in the Ukraine Russia is a spent power and geopolitical afterthought because of Ukraine. Its borders with NATO have increased massively, all while reducing its security, economy and demography. Even Xi couldn’t fuck over China as thoroughly as Putin has Russia. But Xi going on a vanity crusade into Taiwan would essentially write off China’s ascendancy as a military and economic superpower this generation. > if mainland China did choose to reassert it's rightful authority in Taiwan against the colonial powers An aging dictator invading a democracy. At least Deng chose a quarry he could crush [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests_and_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests...

suddenlybananas 8mo ago

Iraq was much more popular in 2003 [1] than the current war in Iran is [2]. [1] "In the months leading up to the war, majorities of between 55% and 68% said they favored taking military action to end Hussein’s rule in Iraq. No more than about a third opposed military action." https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/03/14/a-look-back-at-how-fear-and-false-beliefs-bolstered-u-s-public-support-for-war-in-iraq/ https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/03/14/a-look-back-... [2] "Some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, which were conducted alongside Israeli attacks on Iran, while 43% disapproved and 29% were not sure" https://www.reuters.com/world/us/just-one-four-americans-support-us-strikes-iran-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2026-03-01/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/just-one-four-americans-sup...