Rural Anarchy

That was definitely a major component. But as someone with a small library on my bookshelf on insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, the amount of support the NeoCons had from academia once they made the case is wild. Didn't work, but by god they planned! This is just "war... and vibes"

I hate that I can relate to this in any way.

Yeah, that shit was planned with the brightest and best of the NeoCon minds. In the words of Mike Tyson, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. But there was definitely a LOT of (poor) planning for the GWOT.

No "redemption arc" for anyone from either party that tries *now* to stop what's happening. But I might hate them less if they do all they can to stop it now. If people like Massey and Tillis survive this moment, we'll deal with them later. But for now, let them throw wrenches.

Right there with you. So many politicians could have at least pumped the brakes on where we are earlier. But now that they know how bad it can get, if they try to slam on the brakes after not seeing it sooner, I welcome it. No love for Tillis, Massey or MTG. But throw wrenches in gears everywhere.

And Russia, China, Iran, and the British MI6.

He's not even a good troll. He's just looking to create controversy and get attention. Just shallow behavior because he feels small and wants attention. Pathetic. I can't respect him as an academic or as an internet troll.

I am absolutely an old school internet troll with decades of experience, even though I don't use this account to do it. But this particular kind of trolling that targets important societal institutions and practices? Nah. Screw this guy and his pro-AI BS.

Makes sense considering he was so focused in the article about calling out "BlueSkyism" in agreement with Nate Silver.

But he'll get a like from "Groyper1488" on Twitter for talking shit about BlueSky and maybe that's important to further academic publishing in his opinion.

I'm fully capable of hating people without letting it consume my mental health or "give them power over me". And it can be a hate that burns like a thousand suns. My secret is keeping it balanced with the love I have for people that are hated by the people I hate. Indifference is my only fear.

This is the way.

I researched extremism groups for years, including all the awful videos they post. I'm hardened to what the worst people on earth and there is NO WAY you could make me watch that.

...on the ceiling, pink Champagne on ice.

I mean, it's not that far to Cairo, right? Just catch an Uber from Tel Aviv!

I couldn't catch that break. And then it set below the trees and wasn't about to drive to a hill with a tripod in my bathrobe.
Glad you got a shot!!

As a prepubescent kid expecting that I would die in a nuclear exchange or be raptured to Heaven at any moment (grew up VERY Evangelical)... Probably not great for my development, and I might still be unpacking that shit in my mid 40s. 😭

Only a few replies and they are all more clever or witty than anything I can come up with.

So I'll just say "good luck" in your attempt to discern strategic (or even tactical) goals from this.

Oh, absolutely. I just think Putin is a lot smarter than Trump and can think about second and third order consequences in a much more rational manner. Trump can't even think about direct consequences of his actions.

I mean, that's totally fair. If we had a full Cold War nuclear exchange, folks in Australia weren't making it out alive either! I just got the benefit of knowing that being close to a US SAC base with nukes on it that my end would be very instant. It wasn't the fallout I worried about! 😂

I'm mostly just joking, but but like half the companies on earth were started by a half joke and an idea.

I might possibly see a scenario where Putin decided on a tactical nuke if a push further than Ukraine went poorly, but even that stretches the imagination. Trump using a tactical nuke? I wish we lived in a world where that was unthinkable like it was a few years ago.

Yup. China isn't really a threat unless they get a nuke hitting their soil. And then it's just strikes to cripple military ability. They don't have the nukes or the desire to kill civilians in Houston or Minneapolis or even LA. We're now the loose cannon.

Know any supply chain research folks that can help us get in contact with the plant in China that makes those? We might get rich! 😂

We all know what some kiloton bombs did in Japan in 1945. The level of death and destruction.

Knowing what bombs at many megatons are capable of still messes with me. And yeah, glad bombs like the Mk17 and B-41 don't exist any more!!!

My granddad had no idea that I was autistically hyperfocused on his descriptions of nuclear weapon function and effects. And what it would do to my brain even after he died. But even before, I grew up as a little kid knowing that living close to Carswell was death if nukes launched in the 80s.

LOL, fair, the "vaporizing" isn't the best word choice. Small comfort to those that aren't in the few hundred meters from impact that die of a 5psi blast wave and the hellfire that spreads even further.

Oh god yeah. That's how the scary Muslim terrorists that couldn't get actual nukes were going to attack us AT ANY MOMENT!!!!!

At least according to our fearmongering politicians.

But that acute threat of nuclear holocaust wasn't as sharp after the Cold War. Because it felt like a "Capitalist" Russia and the US were less likely to start throwing nukes. And that was probably true to some degree. And even China isn't a threat that the USSR/Russia is for ending it all.

Absolutely agree there. The fall of the USSR didn't just erase a thousand missiles pointed at us, and we still have ours pointed at them (and China and probably a lot of other places). I think just the need for demonizing the USSR went away and the "fear them" shifted to Islam with the public.

But yeah, I didn't do the math, and it's a lot more 500lb conventional bombs than I suggested.

Not vaporizing cities, but definitely small parts of a large city. And shit like fallout and radiation poisoning.