Author suspects an anschluss will be the end scenario, just because the locals aren't enthusiastic enough about their local tyrants. Probably correct; modern militaries are in a box as nobody intelligent enough to be an effective fighter is patriotic anymore. That leaves fighting for ones' family or plunder (the former is being actively undermined by the government, and the latter expressly prohibited).
In short, the mechanics that made mass mobilization work have collapsed for the westernized (read: feminized) countries. This will make them international "sick men" who can do practically nothing about encroachment once their peer competitors such as China reach similar levels of capitalization.
This month's "must read". This will breathe new life into the conservatives.
What seems clear is that Biden’s inauguration marks the hegemony of an American oligarchy that sees its relationship with China as a shield and sword against their own countrymen. Like Athens’ Thirty Tyrants, they are not simply contemptuous of a political system that recognizes the natural rights of all its citizens that are endowed by our creator; they despise in particular the notion that those they rule have the same rights they do. Witness their newfound respect for the idea that speech should only be free for the enlightened few who know how to use it properly. Like Critias and the pro-Sparta faction, the new American oligarchy believes that democracy’s failures are proof of their own exclusive right to power—and they are happy to rule in partnership with a foreign power that will help them destroy their own countrymen.
What does history teach us about this moment? The bad news is that the Thirty Tyrants exiled notable Athenian democrats and confiscated their property while murdering an estimated 5% of the Athenian population. The good news is that their rule lasted less than a year.
Glad to see what guys like the daily reckoning figured out 15 years ago finally getting some more mainstream traction. Despite all our efforts, productivity has flatlined; we are strangled by red tape, or crowded out by .gov domination of the sciences. The guy's "Qualitative" focus is essentially just looking at productivity from the side. We are no better in any major field essentially because we are no more productive (in fact measurably less so).
At 0.1% interest already, this means inflation already makes it negative. Why the fuck did they go for Brexit if they were not going to get their act together? Who knows...
If the USA is so powerful, how is it that it failed to crush Russia? What about Iran? Or, in extremis, Venezuela? Yet, even the the last case, the “best” this supposed World Hegemon did was send a few clueless ex-special ops to get caught and give case of hysterical laughter to the entire Latin American continent!
The inability of the empire to yanno...be imperial is a slow poison, much like the factions I speak of in the previous post.
He correctly sees that lack of retaliation against enemies (showing weakness) to political factions is usually what causes revolutions. What he doesn't understand is that the Wokeists are already in charge, and this is more of a mass religious conversion of the elite.
I think the bias against the able in this new religion has planted the seed for future revolution, however. Without the able backing them they will increasingly rely on a hostile faction, making revolution inevitable.
I love how Scott leads on this one: "I know you are asking... Which ones!" 20 Years of fighting and the pentagram is still helping Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras murder each others' children.
The market for cruelty is a real thing. It is one special case of the market for power. As everyone has known since Gutenberg was a little boy, people like to read and believe things that make them powerful, or make them feel powerful. These powerful ideas experience a selective advantage in the Darwinian marketplace of ideas.
Important. I said much the same in "no market for liberty" -- there is no desire for freedom, but for "justice" AKA vengeance and cruelty.
