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Thread: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

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    Default The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

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    The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Failure at the center has left the United States up for sale to the highest bidder.

    BY DAVID KLION | APRIL 2, 2019, 8:00 AM
    Foreign Policy illustration
    In his classic Foundation series, Isaac Asimov imagines a Galactic Empire, governed from the city-world of Trantor, that has maintained peace and prosperity for thousands of years but that is teetering on the brink of decline. The only person who sees this clearly is the psychohistorian Hari Seldon, who has mathematically determined that the core conditions for the Empire are unsustainable and will crumble over the course of centuries.
    As Trantor “becomes more and more the administrative center of Empire, it becomes a greater prize,” a disciple says as he absorbs Seldon’s calculations. “As the Imperial succession becomes more and more uncertain, and the feuds among the great families more rampant, social responsibility disappears.”
    Asimov published these words in 1951, at the peak of U.S. global power. But they might as well be describing Washington in 2019, an imperial capital whose elite have transformed it into a great prize to be feuded over as surely as Asimov’s future empire did—and as other empires have done in the past.
    How did a decadent ruling class become a national security risk, an existential threat to the American empire? The answer lies in the 1970s, when the weaknesses of the midcentury American social contract were exposed through stagflation, the energy crisis, and the disastrous Vietnam War.
    In response, America’s political elites embraced privatization, deregulation, massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the outsourcing of industrial jobs, and the financialization of the economy. Inequality has skyrocketed ever since, and much of the United States has experienced a steady decline while a handful of major cities, including Washington, have become hyperwealthy and almost unaffordable through the concentration of financial, tech, and media monopolies and their affiliated lobbyists. By now, many Americans know this story—but few think about what it means for their place in the world.
    There are two conventional ways of understanding America’s global role. According to one theory, the bipolar world of the Cold War has given way to a unipolar world in which the United States is the undisputed hegemon. Some observers see this as a good thing and champion American empire, while others see it as a bad thing and seek to resist American empire, but both sides agree that American empire is the defining feature of our era.
    A second theory, only different from the first by degrees, asserts that the post-Cold War world is multipolar, with the United States as the clear dominant power among many potential rivals, including countries such as China that might conceivably surpass the United States down the line.
    But what if neither theory is correct? The near-universal understanding of the United States as a powerful, unified global actor is flawed and in need of revision. The United States is less a great power exerting its will and more an open-air market for global corruption, in which outside powers can purchase influence, shape political outcomes, and play factions against each other in the service of their own competing agendas.
    That’s a familiar historical story. Although Foundation drew its direct inspiration from Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, history is replete with examples of seemingly powerful empires run by weak, divided elites and picked apart by outside powers.
    The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a vast aristocratic republic that dominated Eastern Europe in one form or another from the 14th to the 18th century, was wiped off the map by its neighbors, who found they could bribe its senators into paralyzing all political decisions. The Ottoman Empire of the mid-19th century was infamously dubbed “the sick man of Europe” as Western European powers chipped away at its territories and encouraged independence movements against it. During the same period, China under the Qing Dynasty was forced to give up numerous territorial concessions to European colonial empires—all of which, in turn, would themselves disintegrate within a century.
    It may seem absurd to compare the United States in 2019 to the decadent and crumbling imperial powers of the past. But consider the state of the capital right now. President Donald Trump, as almost everyone at least privately concedes, is incompetent at fulfilling his most basic responsibilities and a global laughingstock.





    Trump’s administration is openly bought by foreign governments via his international network of hotels and resorts, including the one located directly between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, where a Saudi-funded lobbyist rented 500 rooms in the month after the 2016 election. His political party, which still controls the Senate and increasingly dominates the judiciary, has no interest in holding him accountable for any of this. And of course there’s the small matter of Russian interference in the 2016 election; as the limited information known so far from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report confirms, Trump and the Republicans were at the very least the passive and willing beneficiaries of efforts by a foreign power to influence the election outcome.
    But Trump is only a symptom, the most blatant and cartoonish example of how the influence of outside money in Washington has become routine over the past generation. From the pervasive influence of the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf monarchies over think tanks and media organizations to virtually the entire U.S. government kowtowing before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to China’s warm relationship with the Chamber of Commerce and with the heads of some of the most powerful U.S. companies to the funneling of foreign money through the real estate industries of the country’s largest and wealthiest cities—the U.S. government is for sale.
    To be sure, it isn’t only, or even primarily, foreign money that rules Washington. Powerful corporate interests in general have almost completely crowded out democratic accountability in the capital, including major U.S.-based industries such as finance, insurance, energy, and tech. Then again, is there any such thing as a U.S.-based industry anymore? Most of the biggest companies are multinational, with headquarters in major cities around the world and executives whose staggering wealth means they have more in common socially with their international counterparts than with most Americans.
    The complete deregulation of campaign finance and the subsequent legalization of corruption in Washington, on a scale unheard of in other developed countries, have resulted in a capital where the distinction between foreign and domestic monied interests is harder and harder to parse. The U.S. government, in other words, does not exist to serve the interests of Americans through either its foreign or its domestic policies; rather, it exists to perpetuate the interests of the globalized oligarchy.
    There’s an obvious counterargument to all of this: The United States still spends more on defense than the next seven countries combined, and it still operates a network of hundreds of military bases spread across nearly half the countries on Earth. No other country remotely rivals the United States in its ability to project military power. And no other country is as wealthy or mints the global reserve currency or wields as much soft power.
    At the same time, focusing entirely on the American empire from the top down can confuse causality. Focusing entirely on the American empire from the top down can confuse causality. Consider, for instance, the overthrow of Egypt’s post-Arab Spring elected leader Mohamed Morsi in a 2013 coup. In former White House advisor Ben Rhodes’s memoir, he describes President Barack Obama’s administration not as the driving force behind this coup but as the passive recipient of relentless pressure from its Saudi and Emirati allies, who waged an information campaign against the U.S. ambassador while plotting with the Egyptian military.
    Rhodes writes that he personally received a photo in the mail portraying the U.S. ambassador as an accomplice of the Muslim Brotherhood from Yousef al-Otaiba, the ubiquitous, hard-partying, extremely well-connected Emirati ambassador in Washington. While Rhodes and Obama also faced pressure from within the Washington establishment, they found their agenda for the Middle East repeatedly hijacked by foreign allies—the same governments that also lobbied, with varying success, for U.S. military operations from Syria to Yemen. American power, however mighty, means nothing if it’s being used for the ends of the highest bidders.
    So what if the American empire is coming apart at the seams? Good riddance, many would say. U.S. hegemony has been a disaster, spreading war and exploitation around the globe and poisoning the climate beyond repair. And that’s true: As Asimov observed, empires tend to fall because they overextend themselves, spoil their elites, and produce the preconditions for their own demise. But what we’re seeing is neither a considered, responsible withdrawal from empire in order to invest in urgent needs at home nor a revolt against empire by the world’s wretched. Rather, it’s a drawn-out, decadent collapse recognizable to any student of Rome or Constantinople. America is the sick man of the 21st century, and anyone who has watched its president bumble through a gathering of bemused, pitying world leaders knows it.

    Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/02...-21st-century/

    We are living in the precipitous decline of the once mighty American hegemon, and we can see this with street unrest and political divisions reminiscent of pre-civil war conditions.

    Such conditions were also observed prior to the Arab Spring: hordes of involuntary celibate males unable to succeed in society often become fertile ground for recruitment into extremist groups eg ISIS or even the rise of the white nationalist movement.

    Question is, who will be America's Diocletian ?

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Moved from the mudpit as the subject is not about an individual and current news but more abstract based on an observation
    alhoon is not a member of the infamous Hoons: a (fictional) nazi-sympathizer KKK clan. Of course, no Hoon would openly admit affiliation to the uninitiated.
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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by Exarch View Post
    Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/02...-21st-century/

    We are living in the precipitous decline of the once mighty American hegemon, and we can see this with street unrest and political divisions reminiscent of pre-civil war conditions.

    Such conditions were also observed prior to the Arab Spring: hordes of involuntary celibate males unable to succeed in society often become fertile ground for recruitment into extremist groups eg ISIS or even the rise of the white nationalist movement.

    Question is, who will be America's Diocletian ?
    Depends if the political will emerges to deal with wealth inequality in a fair way or we continue to slide into a plutocratic oligarchy. Maybe the new US dominance of the top 10 spots in super commuting will solve that Exarch.

    hordes of involuntary celibate males unable to succeed in society often become fertile ground for recruitment into extremist groups eg ISIS or even the rise of the white nationalist movement.
    Involuntary celibate? What????????????????

    As for white nationalism we have kinda had that for the whole time the country has been around.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

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    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by conon394 View Post
    Depends if the political will emerges to deal with wealth inequality in a fair way or we continue to slide into a plutocratic oligarchy. Maybe the new US dominance of the top 10 spots in super commuting will solve that Exarch..
    Perhaps but scientific advancement whilst laudable doesn't address the deep seated political problems in contemporary america. Even the Roman Empire was making advances in science well up until the Gothic and civil wars turned the empire into the dark ages.


    Involuntary celibate? What????????????????
    Background:
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    When you have large groups of sexually frustrated young males who have to no prospects in life, and are constantly being attacked by the media, the're going to become susceptible recruits for extremist groups, as we saw in 2017 with the rise of the white nationalist groups.
    The Arab Spring and ISIS used the sexual frustration of young arab men to topple governments, why would the exact same conditions in america be any different?

    As for white nationalism we have kinda had that for the whole time the country has been around
    america of the 50s and early 60s yes. America of today is undergoing the equivalent of the cultural revolution.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Perhaps but scientific advancement whilst laudable doesn't address the deep seated political problems in contemporary america. Even the Roman Empire was making advances in science well up until the Gothic and civil wars turned the empire into the dark ages.
    Well the second part was just a shout back to your thread on china lead in super computing and at the time I pointed out it would be temporary as soon as the new US EU and Japanese gear was up - which of course be temporary as well. Although I think the list is silly. far more important is utilization rate (china is very low) and what happens to the old machines - the US and Europe do a far better job if shipping old machines out in pieces to universities and industry. So I guess I would say its a good sighn for the US as said - the slide to oligarchy is not.

    When you have large groups of sexually frustrated young males who have to no prospects in life,
    I dunno I thinking whining here aside from the economic situation. I watched the ad an just randomly following a women while previously just sort of lurking on the street is kinda creepy. That is not making eye contact at say the coffee bar a wondering over after a smile. If living in your parents basement is a problem you should had liberal parents...

    But as I said the US defiantly needs to address both the spiraling cost of Health care and higher education and rather soon. Same for income inequality and concentration of wealth. But seeing as the EU is not exactly pulling itself together well and China has more than a few issues with hidden debt and a undressed rapidly aging population and Russia really only has its arsenal of nukes to keep in play... I assume the world will muddle along as multi polar state for quite a while where the US still as an equal likelihood of being at the top of the heap.

    I don't find the Arab spring analogy very apt. The US is (still) a mostly democratic republic and not a dictatorship of decades. If you don't like Wisconsin anymore or Alabama you can move to Cali or Boston... If you don't like California and what endless guns you can move to Idaho. There are some benefits to being a big diverse country that is still has two levels of sovereignty.
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

    'One day when I fly with my hands - up down the sky, like a bird'

    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    You should never underestimate young men though, they're literally the source of like 90% of the worlds problems, and I say this as a young man myself. Young men cause problems and violence by default, but couple it with them being unsuccessful and feeling disrespected, and that's when revolutions happen. Of course you can dismiss this as whining, and I would agree with that because many of them are losers, but they will still cause lots of problems because the young are stronger than the old, and men are stronger than women, and I'm talking physically here. they're also more likely to take risks and rebel. Old people and women don't start revolutions, young men do.

    so... when jobs increasingly are less dependent on muscle-power, meaning men's advantage compared to women evaporates, and when most women are succeeding better educationally than most men, you will find that women are on average better off than men. This is problematic when you consider that women generally want a man that is "successful", and success is relative to the woman's own position, and subsequently a man's measure of success is largely based on him "taking care" of his woman. The obvious problem then is that as the average women becomes more successful than the average men, many men find themselves being classed as unsuccessful and having no chance with women. this is problematic for women too of course, and i think much of the problems of loneliness and stress is due to this mismatch.

    It is what it is, but anyways, unlike women, who just become despressed and stressed by this, men will get angry and violent. So yeah, if things continue as they do, and they problably will, we will see more chaos. The sad truth is simply that variance in abilty is much greater in men than in women, meaning most people on the bottom of society AND the top are men, but most in the middle are women. Women don't need to be successful to be happy, because men generally don't care about their success, indeed they might prefer unsuccessful women as it makes themselves appear more successful in comparison. A succcesful man can marry a waitress, the reverse is generally not true. This leaves a big chunk of men who can't be succesful enough and will then resort to violence.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by conon394 View Post
    Well the second part was just a shout back to your thread on china lead in super computing and at the time I pointed out it would be temporary as soon as the new US EU and Japanese gear was up - which of course be temporary as well. Although I think the list is silly. far more important is utilization rate (china is very low) and what happens to the old machines - the US and Europe do a far better job if shipping old machines out in pieces to universities and industry. So I guess I would say its a good sighn for the US as said - the slide to oligarchy is not.
    Well as it happens, China may surpass the US in both quantity and speed in supercomputing by 2020:
    https://www.inkstonenews.com/tech/ch...rticle/3002504

    Not to mention, thanks to US attempts to use Chinese reliance on semiconductors as trade bargaining chips (pun intended), the Chinese semicondcutor industry will all but eclipse US chips, especially in the new field of AI chips: https://www.inkstonenews.com/tech/ch...rticle/3002504

    The stupidest thing US leaders could have done is compromise the economic interdependence between China and the US for some short term political gain, but that is of course the reason why the US is currently in decline, as per topic.


    I dunno I thinking whining here aside from the economic situation. I watched the ad an just randomly following a women while previously just sort of lurking on the street is kinda creepy. That is not making eye contact at say the coffee bar a wondering over after a smile. If living in your parents basement is a problem you should had liberal parents...

    But as I said the US defiantly needs to address both the spiraling cost of Health care and higher education and rather soon. Same for income inequality and concentration of wealth. But seeing as the EU is not exactly pulling itself together well and China has more than a few issues with hidden debt and a undressed rapidly aging population and Russia really only has its arsenal of nukes to keep in play... I assume the world will muddle along as multi polar state for quite a while where the US still as an equal likelihood of being at the top of the heap.

    I don't find the Arab spring analogy very apt. The US is (still) a mostly democratic republic and not a dictatorship of decades. If you don't like Wisconsin anymore or Alabama you can move to Cali or Boston... If you don't like California and what endless guns you can move to Idaho. There are some benefits to being a big diverse country that is still has two levels of sovereignty.
    NosPortatArma addresses your points well below.

    The increase in street violence these past 2 years is an indicator that the political climate is fast becoming, as Tim Pool puts it, a cold civil war.

    Black Lives Matter for eg is just the current iteration of the Black Panthers movement,although the BP were more socialist and were far more militant. BLM could harness the power of disenfranchised young black males to advocate a wakanda style enclave as observed amongst the no go zones in europe.

    Quote Originally Posted by NosPortatArma View Post
    You should never underestimate young men though, they're literally the source of like 90% of the worlds problems, and I say this as a young man myself. Young men cause problems and violence by default, but couple it with them being unsuccessful and feeling disrespected, and that's when revolutions happen. Of course you can dismiss this as whining, and I would agree with that because many of them are losers, but they will still cause lots of problems because the young are stronger than the old, and men are stronger than women, and I'm talking physically here. they're also more likely to take risks and rebel. Old people and women don't start revolutions, young men do.

    so... when jobs increasingly are less dependent on muscle-power, meaning men's advantage compared to women evaporates, and when most women are succeeding better educationally than most men, you will find that women are on average better off than men. This is problematic when you consider that women generally want a man that is "successful", and success is relative to the woman's own position, and subsequently a man's measure of success is largely based on him "taking care" of his woman. The obvious problem then is that as the average women becomes more successful than the average men, many men find themselves being classed as unsuccessful and having no chance with women. this is problematic for women too of course, and i think much of the problems of loneliness and stress is due to this mismatch.

    It is what it is, but anyways, unlike women, who just become despressed and stressed by this, men will get angry and violent. So yeah, if things continue as they do, and they problably will, we will see more chaos. The sad truth is simply that variance in abilty is much greater in men than in women, meaning most people on the bottom of society AND the top are men, but most in the middle are women. Women don't need to be successful to be happy, because men generally don't care about their success, indeed they might prefer unsuccessful women as it makes themselves appear more successful in comparison. A succcesful man can marry a waitress, the reverse is generally not true. This leaves a big chunk of men who can't be succesful enough and will then resort to violence.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    I wouldn't put too much stock in this. These predictions are usually based on everything continuing on exactly as it is right now. But throw in the tiniest change and the future can go off in a radically different direction.

    Within living memory the Soviet Union was a mighty global superpower, until it collapsed almost overnight. Japan was going to be the new economic hub of the entire planet, then it had the lost decade. China was a backwater with a third world economy, then Deng Xiaoping came along and turned it around into one of the most powerful economies in the world (whether it stays that way is another story).

    So yes, the US might be in a decline from a certain angle. But whether this is just the normal highs and lows any state goes through or something more serious is very hard to predict with any accuracy.

    As for these "incels", I'm not worried much about them either. Their defining trait is their bitterness sure, but also their laziness. People like them, who revel in victimhood, eventually reach the point where they only feel validation if their life stinks. And they defiantly, proudly, stay there. Because to better their situation or alter their behavior in any way would be evidence that they aren't powerless victims and nobody is really working behind the scenes trying to come up with ways to hold them back. But then they would have to admit that maybe their jerk of a boss had a point when they didn't promote them because of their bad attitude, sense of entitlement, and lack of work ethic. Or that the reason women don't want to be around them isn't because of "feminazis" but because they act possessive and creepy and believe they are owed sex with any woman they want on command. It's much easier to just throw up their hands and never try rather than try something else or change their behavior.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    these incels may be losers, but losers can still do mass shootings, cause violence, and join extremist groups. Merely dismissing them as losers isn't enough. No society benefits from having a significants amounts of angry young men. sidenote: that's why it's especialy stupid to allow immigration of unskilled young men into highly developed economies, as these men will definitely become angry losers. No suprise there's problems with gangs and extremisms in immigrant disaporas, it's a variant of the same incel effect as with whites. Summary: young men cause problems, so try atleast try not to increase their number if you can't give them something meaningful to do.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Consistent with the theme of the late Roman empire, the citizens young of America are proving themselves too soft and cowardly to enlist in the military and fight for the glory of Murrica:
    Fewer Americans want to serve in the military. Cue Pentagon panic
    Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...pentagon-panic

    Not to mention the growing privatisation of US military expeditions with the likes of Xe/Blackwater and other PMCs resembles the barabrisation of the late Roman army.

    My bet however is on a White Nationalist faction mounting a coup or seperatist movement in the near future. They would also have a large pool of sexless, sexually frustrated young white males to draw from.
    Last edited by alhoon; April 25, 2019 at 03:33 AM.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    For a sick man Europe sure has a lot of nukes, active carrier groups and allies. They are so "weak" (please note irony commas) that even when they make a mistake countries get wiped. That's is not a state ripe for dismemberment, which is what is implied by "sick man of...".

    By comparison the Ottoman state in the late 19th century was subject to regular economic and geographic plundering as its more powerful neighbours and constituent parts dictated the course of events. Even then the Ottoman core retained some stubborn endurance to the last.

    If Texas, California and New England secede, native Americans and Hispanics actively agitate for (and win) autonomy and independence from Washington, and Canada, the EU and China prise away whole states from the Union then maybe you can call the US a sick man.
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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by Exarch View Post
    Consistent with the theme of the late Roman empire, the citizens young of America are proving themselves too soft and cowardly to enlist in the military and fight for the glory of Murrica:
    What a poor article. A little short on facts and brushes aside the key data point is that the US military is an employer now and thus one can hardly be surprised they find the need to raise wages and bonuses when the economy is in a sustained expansion with low unemployment.

    My bet however is on a White Nationalist faction mounting a coup or seperatist movement in the near future. They would also have a large pool of sexless, sexually frustrated young white males to draw from.
    Yep I will die in fear of guys hiding in their parents house they will surly u tube me to death with more videos. Separatist from what and where?
    IN PATROCINIVM SVB Dromikaites

    'One day when I fly with my hands - up down the sky, like a bird'

    But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place; some swearing, some crying for surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.

    Hyperides of Athens: We know, replied he, that Antipater is good, but we (the Demos of Athens) have no need of a master at present, even a good one.

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    What America faces is a broad crisis of the Neo-liberal system. This system has brought wealth inequality to all, and is also not giving productive capital the sort of room it historically had in every capitalist so-called "developed' economy. This generates an over-reliance on the services sector, and a shortfall which ensures the young men of today won't do any of the jobs theyr fathers and grandparents did.

    And America does nothing but to foster this same system, even to her own detriment. So what happens is this... America must be - necessarily - geared towards the promotion of a system that values her own autarchy and independence, instead of shipping factory jobs to China. And the rest of the so-called "West" must follow suit.
    "Romans not only easily conquered those who fought by cutting, but mocked them too. For the cut, even delivered with force, frequently does not kill, when the vital parts are protected by equipment and bone. On the contrary, a point brought to bear is fatal at two inches; for it is necessary that whatever vital parts it penetrates, it is immersed. Next, when a cut is delivered, the right arm and flank are exposed. However, the point is delivered with the cover of the body and wounds the enemy before he sees it."

    - Flavius Vegetius Renatus (in Epitoma Rei Militari, ca. 390)

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by conon394 View Post
    What a poor article. A little short on facts and brushes aside the key data point is that the US military is an employer now and thus one can hardly be surprised they find the need to raise wages and bonuses when the economy is in a sustained expansion with low unemployment.
    ...and now you have military trained involuntary celibates with little to no job prospects once they leave the military.

    See, one of the biggest lies the military will tell you to get you to enlist is that your skills are transferable to the civilian world. It's a load of crap coupled with the travesty that the Veterans Affairs office is always underfunded so good luck with the big FU from Uncle Sam after your service.

    Secondly, with automation, all of those factory jobs are going to be defunct, never mind outsourced. It's why the Yang Gang is a real thing in this Presidential election cycle

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Ottoman Empire was considered the sick man of Europe because it declined militarily, economically, territorially, and stagnated technologically. European powers were able to dominate it. Not sure how we can say something similar for USA.
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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by PointOfViewGun View Post
    Ottoman Empire was considered the sick man of Europe because it declined militarily, economically, territorially, and stagnated technologically. European powers were able to dominate it. Not sure how we can say something similar for USA.
    so the saying goes, history rhymes rather than being an exact carbon copy.

    And similarly to the ottomon empire, the US is multi ethnic and the fastest growing political philosophy in america is identitarianism, not dissimilar to the self determination of the many ethnicities in the ottomon and austro-hungarian empires.

    Sure the FBI could do another Hoover and castrate the current iteration of the Black Panthers: the BLM movement but this is a perennial problem that will only continue especially as the growing number of young, angry white males are alienated from american society. Couple this with the right to bear arms and have militias and you're looking at a powder keg of civil war 2.0.

    I hazard a guess most twc posters come from privileged backgrounds, which would indeed be the case for those who can afford high performing PCs to play total war games. They're not the ones affected by the opioid crisis or the joblessness or the NEET demographic if at all.Couple this hopelessness with the inability to get a girlfriend or wife and your demographic of young, angry white males becomes an army for any up and coming rising american hero ready to restore the united states to its former glory.

  17. #17

    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by Exarch View Post
    so the saying goes, history rhymes rather than being an exact carbon copy.

    And similarly to the ottomon empire, the US is multi ethnic and the fastest growing political philosophy in america is identitarianism, not dissimilar to the self determination of the many ethnicities in the ottomon and austro-hungarian empires.

    Sure the FBI could do another Hoover and castrate the current iteration of the Black Panthers: the BLM movement but this is a perennial problem that will only continue especially as the growing number of young, angry white males are alienated from american society. Couple this with the right to bear arms and have militias and you're looking at a powder keg of civil war 2.0.

    I hazard a guess most twc posters come from privileged backgrounds, which would indeed be the case for those who can afford high performing PCs to play total war games. They're not the ones affected by the opioid crisis or the joblessness or the NEET demographic if at all.Couple this hopelessness with the inability to get a girlfriend or wife and your demographic of young, angry white males becomes an army for any up and coming rising american hero ready to restore the united states to its former glory.
    I don't expect a carbon copy but a few similarities would be nice. USA is nowhere near the multicultural level of the Ottoman Empire. Things just don't click enough.
    The Armenian Issue

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by PointOfViewGun View Post
    I don't expect a carbon copy but a few similarities would be nice. USA is nowhere near the multicultural level of the Ottoman Empire. Things just don't click enough.
    Perhaps, but the USA is failing and declining and has been for the past 10 years at least, since the GFC.

    It's only recently, that more tangible demonstrations of the lack of US power are more evident: inability to control vassals, social unrest, the breakdown of the family unit, the promiscuity of american women, the increase in incels, etc etc ec

  19. #19

    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by Exarch View Post
    Perhaps, but the USA is failing and declining and has been for the past 10 years at least, since the GFC.

    It's only recently, that more tangible demonstrations of the lack of US power are more evident: inability to control vassals, social unrest, the breakdown of the family unit, the promiscuity of american women, the increase in incels, etc etc ec
    A lot of those have been true for most of the decades. Some go down, some go up. In the same time frame various corporations from USA dominated the world markets. Things shift.
    The Armenian Issue

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    Default Re: The American Empire Is the Sick Man of the 21st Century

    Quote Originally Posted by PointOfViewGun View Post
    A lot of those have been true for most of the decades. Some go down, some go up. In the same time frame various corporations from USA dominated the world markets. Things shift.
    To be specific, US corporations dominated in the 80s due to the acquiescence of its prime rival: 80s Japan via the Plaza Accords and the self containment of the soviet union.

    In the current era, we have a China that has learnt from Plaza Accord Japan and already surpasses the US in key tech features, and a resurgent Russia which is committed to rolling back US power.

    And then there's the internal rot, from the disintegration of the nuclear family, to all those other things i listed above. The only thing that could conceivably save the united states is if they all converted to islam.

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