Generational Dynamics World View News

[Navigator]

You are correct that the House, if it is deciding a Presidential election, can only pick from among the top 3 electoral vote getters.

But note my quote, highlighted for emphasis:

(this is my pipe dream - they can pick ANYONE, and they could actually pick someone honest and competent).

It is my dream, though completely unrealistic as you point out, that representatives could actually pick someone honest and competent to serve as President.

[Guest]

Navigator mentioned the world will end up being ruled by dictators in a past post. What countries does he see becoming the new superpowers (or regional powers)?

[Guest]

Ready Yourself for a Turbulent 2021 and Beyond
https://survivalblog.com/ready-turbulen ... d/#new_tab

The year 2020 will be remembered as an exceptionally turbulent year, marked by multiple worldwide crises and massive urban protests and riots. It has been a year of significant drama and trauma. I do not expect that 2021 will mark a “return to normality.” If anything, 2021 will be just as jarring to our collective psyche.

In this essay, I’m posting my recommendations for SurvivalBlog readers on how to ready yourself and your family for any of the following in 2021:

Economic Turmoil
Sociopolitical Upheaval
Global Military and Terrorism Threats
Supply Chain Disruptions
Renewed Pandemic Lockdowns
Anti-Second Amendment Legislation
Urban Outmigration
A Resurgence of Inflation

I don’t claim to be any sort of prophet. I simply extrapolate from current events, trends, and my study of history.

Worth a read.

As for me, God has seen fit to make me dependent on blodd thinners and statins after a stroke. Prepping is pointless for me.

Good luck, everyone else. You're going to need it.

[John]

** 23-Nov-2020 World View: Guerrilla insurgencies

> These conclusions are based on examination of the following wars:
> Vietnam War, Iraq war, and Afghanistan war. What these three wars
> have in common is that they're all guerrilla insurgencies -- internal
> rebellions against the government. Why were we able to win the Iraq
> war, while losing the Vietnam and Afghanistan war. This analysis does
> not apply to wars fought by opposing armies.

> How would we test your theory against the "we do deserts, we don't
> do mountains (or jungles) theory?

In my article, I mentioned that the South Vietnamese "strategic
hamlet" program was based on a British program in Malaya a decade
earlier. In the Malay counter-insurgency program, where the
insurgents were ethnic Chinese, the "new villages" were built on the
edges of the jungles, and the Chinese civilians were kept in the
villages where the British could tightly control them, and separating
them from the Chinese Communist insurgents. The insurgents, of
course, melted into the jungles. But they were unable to steal food
and resources from the Chinese in the villages, which made it easier
for the British to defeat them.

The British Malay counter-insurgency program was itself based on an
earlier program during the Boer War. The following source compares
the two:

-- The Boer War and Malayan Emergency: Examples of British
Counterinsurgency pre- and post-“Minimum Force”
https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/b ... st-minimum
(SmallWarsJournal, 20-Dec-2018)

What's interesting about this comparison is that in the Boer War, the
Boer population was treated very brutally, put into concentration and
detention camps, with poor sanitation, overcrowding and lack of food,
and were targeted with very punitive techniques for control by a
colonial power. As the article describes in detail, during the time
between the Boer War and the Malay emergency, British doctrine changed
away from a harsh, colonial a "butcher and bolt" approach, evolving to
a "minimum force" and "hearts and minds" doctrine. So in Malaya, the
concentration camps were replaced by "new villages" which were much
more benign.

I would point out that the Malay approach could not have worked in the
Boer War, and did work in Malaya because ethnic Chinese were easily
distinguished from indigenous Malays.

[John]

** 23-Nov-2020 World View: Winning a war

> What makes a war ‘winnable’. I might differ that we ‘won’ in
> Iraq. I sort of agree that bringing in outsiders hated by the
> local population is not the way to go. However, if you look at it
> from the leader / elite / racket perspective, did we win any war
> for oil? Is the huge embassy built by Bush 43 abandoned? The
> military bases he built? Did the Middle East become destabilized?
> Did the US become war adverse, reluctant to put boots on the
> ground, one of the traditional things that happens as a result of
> a crisis?

> If Iraq was a victory, it was a partial one.

I guess it depends on what you mean by winning a war.

Using your criteria, someone could claim that we didn't win WW II.
Maybe we saved France and Belgium from the Nazis, but we lost Poland
and Hungary to the Soviets, which is just as bad. Europe was
completely destabilized by massive flows of refugees. America built
military bases in Germany, which are still there. There was a
neo-Nazi insurgency, which still exists at a minor level. So if WW II
was a victory, it was a partial one.

In the case of Iraq, I would evaluate it this way. We had three
objectives -- first to eject Iraq from Kuwait, then to get rid of
Saddam Hussein, and finally to defeat the AQI insurgency. We
succeeded at all three objectives.

In Afghanistan, we had two objectives -- first to destroy the Taliban
government, and then to control the Taliban insurgency. We succeeded
at the first, and failed at the second.

[John]

** 23-Nov-2020 World View: Trump and Biden

From e-mail:

> Good to know you are well. I read your latest
> posts. I'm on pins and needles with this vote debacle. The more I
> read the more depressed I get. My wife even is seeing that the
> things I have been saying since at least 2007 are accurate. But
> still I am hurt deeply by this excessive imbalance being
> revealed. And the disgusting behaviir of the media. Now they are
> posting chyrons disputing what Trump and his people say in real
> time, manipulating their viewers with their " undisputable" and
> "correct" pronouncements.

This may seem like a very dark time, since the Democrats and the media
have been relentlessly vindictive assholes for four years, and
continue to be, even after the election.

But one thing you can look forward to is that Trump will still be
around, and in a couple of months he'll be leading what he claims is a
new movement formed from the 72-74 million people who voted for him.
He may even say that he's running in 2024, and start holding rallies
again. And those rallies always draw tens of thousands of people.

Meanwhile Biden will have to start governing, as opposed to hiding in
his basement. He'll blame every problem on Trump, and Trump will be
right there to blame Biden. It should be interesting.

[Tom Mazanec]

Saudi Arabia scared Iran has nukes?
https://ronconte.com/2020/11/23/does-ir ... -reported/

[Navigator]

Navigator mentioned the world will end up being ruled by dictators in a past post. What countries does he see becoming the new superpowers (or regional powers)?

My belief is that after a major war, and after the collapse of the welfare states, the world is going to look something like a map of Germany after the 30 Years War (roughly mid 1600s).

Who becomes a major power after that is anyone's guess, but many will try to become one. Leaders will arise in many areas. If they can unify their "tribe" or ethnicity, instill a warrior ethos in their people, and have access to enough resources, then they can embark on conquests. Their aim will be to end up in a position similar to Charlemange (or better).

[John]

** 23-Nov-2020 World View: John Kerry is 'Climate Czar'

John Kerry is being appointed "Climate Czar."

An idiot pursuing idiotic policies.

It'll be fun having John Kerry to kick around again.

[Navigator]

Hopefully we will not see Hillary or Susan Rice on the appointment list. It also appears that the left's vision of Elizabeth Warren as Treasury sec is a complete non-starter.

Biden is owned by the Banks.