LittleGreenMan
Well-Known Member
I'm starting to hear serious people talk about WWIII, and it as an eventuality instead of as a possibility. That's disheartening on a couple levels: war talk leads to defensive measures by everyone, and it leads to people more accepting of the idea as necessary because the other side is preparing for war. The price of beef has risen 250% since 2010. The correlation are clear, between the fact that China has bought up farms and food processors in the west, and because it can’t feed itself in peacetime, it needs to stock up before it starts a war with the west, we can 2 plus 2 together. Once it has filled its larder, it can get on with it, beginning in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the Axis of Evil has enemies close to their own borders (which always seem to be the case through history) and evil govts are always on the prowl to justify harsh rule at home, so neighbors that can need conquering are useful as targets to focus the attention of the masses, when useful. Russia would like to own the wheat fields of Ukraine. Russia is using up a lot of young men, and China has had a surplus of young men as a product of the one-child policy fiasco from 1980 to 2016. Both have disproportionately large armies because it's a place to store young men who are unhappy with life in general who might blame govt for bad policies. You can watch them like a hawk and deal with trouble makers quickly.
Muslims young men and women are problems, too, and of their own making: Islamic schools limit female education and are better at teaching their youths to hate the infidel than rather then the tools necessary to advance in life. People are the Wealth of Nations, and we've known this since Adam Smith put it all together for us in 1776. Lands in the hands of the rich need peasants to work it, but they work harder and better and better for themselves and the nation if it's theirs. Nations that produce goods for sale and for trade enrich the workers that make them, the people that can buy them, the nation that can tax it all and goods sold in other countries imports wealth & revenue to tax, too. For that to happen the people must be free to work and own property and apply themselves in their own best interest. To the extent that govt can help that process along, it should, and it must if it wants prosperity. None of these mechanisms are in place in many Muslim nations because they are first & foremost authoritarian, no freethinkers allowed. The number of rag-tag Islamic warrior groups running around the middle east is testimony to the fact that not enough young Muslim men are busy working on making their first million.
Add to this mix of disgruntled men in the middle east those more ambitious Muslims who have emigrated to Europe & other western countries that brought their attitudes with them and you have small armies of would-be 5th columns if or when push comes to shove and it would be useful to hamstring the western culture they are now a semi-part of.
The North Koreans have just officially re-announced that North & South Korea are not separate counties, they are just waiting for reunification into one North Korea.
The regional mini-wars we have now between the free/western civilizations and the socialist/communist & Islamic countries look like they will expand, probably suddenly, into bigger and bigger events just like the 20s & 30s led to WWII. That's the path we're on; let's hope Trump can be elected before Joe screws this up so badly that there is no 2025.
Meanwhile, the Axis of Evil has enemies close to their own borders (which always seem to be the case through history) and evil govts are always on the prowl to justify harsh rule at home, so neighbors that can need conquering are useful as targets to focus the attention of the masses, when useful. Russia would like to own the wheat fields of Ukraine. Russia is using up a lot of young men, and China has had a surplus of young men as a product of the one-child policy fiasco from 1980 to 2016. Both have disproportionately large armies because it's a place to store young men who are unhappy with life in general who might blame govt for bad policies. You can watch them like a hawk and deal with trouble makers quickly.
Muslims young men and women are problems, too, and of their own making: Islamic schools limit female education and are better at teaching their youths to hate the infidel than rather then the tools necessary to advance in life. People are the Wealth of Nations, and we've known this since Adam Smith put it all together for us in 1776. Lands in the hands of the rich need peasants to work it, but they work harder and better and better for themselves and the nation if it's theirs. Nations that produce goods for sale and for trade enrich the workers that make them, the people that can buy them, the nation that can tax it all and goods sold in other countries imports wealth & revenue to tax, too. For that to happen the people must be free to work and own property and apply themselves in their own best interest. To the extent that govt can help that process along, it should, and it must if it wants prosperity. None of these mechanisms are in place in many Muslim nations because they are first & foremost authoritarian, no freethinkers allowed. The number of rag-tag Islamic warrior groups running around the middle east is testimony to the fact that not enough young Muslim men are busy working on making their first million.
Add to this mix of disgruntled men in the middle east those more ambitious Muslims who have emigrated to Europe & other western countries that brought their attitudes with them and you have small armies of would-be 5th columns if or when push comes to shove and it would be useful to hamstring the western culture they are now a semi-part of.
The North Koreans have just officially re-announced that North & South Korea are not separate counties, they are just waiting for reunification into one North Korea.
The regional mini-wars we have now between the free/western civilizations and the socialist/communist & Islamic countries look like they will expand, probably suddenly, into bigger and bigger events just like the 20s & 30s led to WWII. That's the path we're on; let's hope Trump can be elected before Joe screws this up so badly that there is no 2025.