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The title of this thread comes from an X post I just came across, in which the author expresses some unpleasant but necessary truths to acknowledge. Truths that are particularly applicable in the realm of geopolitics, a realm where disagreements, disputes, and conflicts occur in the complete absence of a universally agreed-upon Supreme Adjudicator who can resolve them, let alone a universally agreed-upon Supreme Enforcer who can make sure such resolutions stick.
By the standards of the medium, it's long. I'll just provide some excerpts:
There is a peculiar class of modern Westerner who believes history has been permanently retired. ... They live inside institutions built by violence, defended by men they no longer understand, and guaranteed by forces they refuse to acknowledge. Like tourists wandering a fortress, they admire the stonework while mocking the idea of a siege. ... History is not a morality play, it is a pressure test. When pressure rises, abstractions collapse first. Laws follow power; they do NOT precede it. Property exists only where someone can prevent it from being taken. Sovereignty is not declared, it is enforced. The modern West outsourced this enforcement, then forgot the invoice existed. ... So when someone points out uncomfortable realities (whether about Greenland, Venezuela, or the broader balance of power) they respond with ritual incantations: “You can’t do that.” “That’s wrong.” “That’s against the rules.” As if the rules themselves are armed. As if history paused because we asked nicely. ...
The entire post here:
Discussion (99)
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Very interesting and imho very true!! Thanks for sharing. I may not like the way the Trump administration is playing the geo-political game on many fronts but I know the game must be played no matter what the intelligentsia says. As Dr Kotkin has said many times…geo-politics will never go away.
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And wherever there's property tax, there's a government ready to take your property . . .
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Have to share a response to the X post cited in the OP, which echoes its arguments. Excerpts:
"... "stop, or i'll say stop again!" you'll cry. "but my rules, my international order!"
and the world will laugh and say "what of it?" and your system will fall to the barbarians because you forgot the nature of the real world.
it's a form of cargo cult thinking, a mistaking of rules for the prowess to enforce rules.
such mistakes are made by those who have only ever lived under the structures that those possessed of such prowess built and defended. ..."
Indeed.
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I like this one:
"IDK who need to hear this but civilization is a garden grown atop a graveyard. Ignore the soil, and someone else will plant soething far less gentle."
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Not everything that can be done is in your best interests. In any war, the enemy has agency also. Just because we can conquer Greenland doesn't mean we should conquer Greenland. Thought is required also.
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