Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

Trevor wrote: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:49 am What the left says about China now reminds me a great deal of the beliefs surrounding Nazi Germany in the 1930s and even after the war: that they were this ultra-efficient juggernaut that we were lucky to defeat and only with overwhelming numbers. That they were so much smarter, so much more advanced than we were.

The reality is, the Nazi government was a corrupt, dysfunctional mess that was lucky to get as far as it did; they were never going to win in the long run. In the extremely unlikely event they did, it would have collapsed the same way as the Soviet Union, only more rapidly, given they'd be surrounded by enemies on all sides. That they got as far as they did is largely due to luck and Allied miscalculation. They could have invaded Germany in 1939 and by their own admission, Germany wouldn't have been able to stop them. Their war machine would have ground to a halt had the Soviets not provided them with raw materials, chiefly oil.

Bad off as we are, China's situation is even worse. Now this doesn't mean they're facing imminent collapse (though the Soviet Union looked unstoppable until it suddenly wasn't) but they've got massive issues. The one-child policy has been a disaster, their cities are all but unlivable, and most have realized they're not going to transition into a democracy as they develop. Quite the opposite. Given the report their population shrunk in 2021 before it was deleted, I expect China's had a huge Covid death toll, despite it not being reported.

Tom Mazanec wrote: Sat Feb 19, 2022 1:15 pm

Trevor wrote: Sat Feb 19, 2022 11:49 am What the left says about China now reminds me a great deal of the beliefs surrounding Nazi Germany in the 1930s and even after the war: that they were this ultra-efficient juggernaut that we were lucky to defeat and only with overwhelming numbers. That they were so much smarter, so much more advanced than we were.

The reality is, the Nazi government was a corrupt, dysfunctional mess that was lucky to get as far as it did; they were never going to win in the long run. In the extremely unlikely event they did, it would have collapsed the same way as the Soviet Union, only more rapidly, given they'd be surrounded by enemies on all sides. That they got as far as they did is largely due to luck and Allied miscalculation. They could have invaded Germany in 1939 and by their own admission, Germany wouldn't have been able to stop them. Their war machine would have ground to a halt had the Soviets not provided them with raw materials, chiefly oil.

Bad off as we are, China's situation is even worse. Now this doesn't mean they're facing imminent collapse (though the Soviet Union looked unstoppable until it suddenly wasn't) but they've got massive issues. The one-child policy has been a disaster, their cities are all but unlivable, and most have realized they're not going to transition into a democracy as they develop. Quite the opposite. Given the report their population shrunk in 2021 before it was deleted, I expect China's had a huge Covid death toll, despite it not being reported.

Victorious Third Reich is a science fiction cliché of Alternate History. But a new AH series depicts a WWII that lasts longer and kills many more, but still ends up in an Allied victory:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089XYMG9H?bi ... sb_pc_tukn
I am reading it for free on Kindle Unlimited while waiting for the pot to boil over