Generational Dynamics World View - Printable Version +- Generational Theory Forum: The Fourth Turning Forum: A message board discussing generations and the Strauss Howe generational theory (http://generational-theory.com/forum) +-- Forum: Fourth Turning Forums (http://generational-theory.com/forum/forum-1.html) +--- Forum: Theories Of History (http://generational-theory.com/forum/forum-7.html) +--- Thread: Generational Dynamics World View (/thread-51.html) Pages:
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RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-14-2021 ** 14-Aug-2021 World View: Haiti earthquake There is probably no country in the world where the people are more miserable because of disease and poverty, especially after a massive earthquake in 2010. Apparently there's been another massive earthquake this morning. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/magnitude-7-quake-strikes-western-haiti-usgs-2021-08-14/ RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-14-2021 ** 14-Aug-2021 World View: Planning For Death Tom Mazanec" Wrote:> I have just been diagnosed with early stage dementia. Naturally, There are several things you should do to plan for the future. I've been forgetful my whole life, but it's gradually gotten worse. When I was younger, pre-personal computer, I used to carry around a pocket appointment calendar where I would write things down. I just did an internet search for that item and there are still many of them still available. When I got a personal computer, I would keep track of everything on computer files. At the end of each day, I'd print out the next day's schedule on a sheet of paper, and I'd carry that around all day, in the same way I used to carry the appointment calendar. During the day, I would write down things I needed to remember on that same piece of paper. At the end of the day, I'd copy the things I'd written down into my computer files, and then I'd print out the next day's schedule. So today I'm really lucky because my hip pain is so bad that I can't walk farther than the mailbox, and even that's a struggle. I'm especially lucky since I have to sit in front of my computer all day, which means I won't have to deal with the inconvenience of carrying around an appointment book or even a printed piece of paper. So today I haven't been diagnosed with dementia, but I forget things. So I keep track of everything on my computer -- bills, pills, accounts, names, phone numbers, phone calls, etc. There are special issues due to the fact that I write articles about almost 200 countries throughout history, so I have to have way to retrieve previous conclusions about any given country or event, and to keep track of new media sources. So I've set all that up, and I've written a lot of personal software to make it as easy as possible for me. So my point is that if you haven't already been using your computer to keep track of everything in your life, you should start doing so. If you're going to be forgetting things, then you need some system for keeping track of things that you might forget. That's one part of your planning. The other part of your planning is to decide how and under what circumstances you're going to kill yourself. This is particularly important if, as in my case, your pain grows worse every week. You need to kill yourself because at some point somebody who supposedly "cares" for you will decide to jab you with a needle, turn you into a zombie, and put you into a room similar to the ones where the Chinese put Uighurs for re-education and indoctrination. It will be a fate far worse than death, but those who supposedly "care" for you will make sure that you continue to suffer as long as they can. Nothing will matter to them more than keeping you alive so that you can continue to suffer for as long as possible, since that will make the people who "care" for you happy, even as they make vomitworthy statements about their hearts reaching out to you. By the way, if the ones who "care" for you get some sort of income or annuity on your behalf, then you're really doomed unless you kill yourself. (See Britney Spears) In your case, I gather that you're heavily embedded in the Catholic Church, so you would end up being a zombie in a Catholic "home" of some sort. Every now and then there's an investigation on the BBC of some Catholic home where the residents are absolutely miserable, and where their bodies are dumped into a mass grave when they die. So unless you kill yourself first, that's probably your fate. One thing that really pisses me off is that killing yourself is the most important decision of your life, and there's no one you can ask about it. It would be nice if you could ask you doctor, "I might have to kill myself one day. What's the best way to do it?" but that kind of question is forbidden. Though of course I violate the forbidden all the time, and several years go, I mentioned to my doctor in an offhand manner that some day in the future I might kill myself. Well he freaked out and began to scream at me at the top of his lungs, implying that I was crazy. I asked why he was getting so upset, and he screamed "Because I care about you." OK, but as the screaming continued, it appeared that there was another reason he was upset -- he would have to fill out paperwork and report me. I asked him how long he was going to keep me locked up. He said that it isn't up to him. I managed to calm him down by telling him that it would be years in the future. I know that it's three days from another time when a nutjob called the police who came to my apartment to "save" me while I was in the middle of writing a book, and they wanted to lock me up for three days, and they had an ambulance there and everything. So I made it clear that they would have to take me violently, and when they said they wouldn't be violent, I just said "let yourself out," and I went back to my computer and back to work. The medical people stared at me, took my blood pressure and asked me what pills I was taking. They eventually just left. So as you make your plans to kill yourself, that's the kind of thing you might have to put up with from nutjob do-gooder idiots. Here's one more anecdote, based on the fact that it's perfectly ok to kill a baby with decades of life ahead of him, but it's not ok for an old person to kill himself. I told a social worker that I might kill myself some day. She got all agitated, and said that I had no right to do that. That really made me laugh. I said, "Well, you're a woman living in Massachusetts, so I assume that you're a feminist, and I assume you go around all the time screaming 'It's my body, and nobody has the right to tell me what to do with it.' Well, I'm 7x years old, and it's my body, and nobody has the right to tell me what to do with it." I really enjoyed telling her that. It stopped her in her tracks. So anyway, you have to make a plan. You have a choice whether to let your morbid Catholic friends decide what meat locker they're going to store you in, or whether you'll take control of your own (end of) life. Unfortunately, you're pretty much on your own making that kind of decision. If you have a gun or a tall building available, then those are possible choices. Otherwise you may have to buy some poison or something like that to kill yourself. There are two problems here. One is that the jackass authorities and do-gooders make if their business to keep you from buying anything like that. And the second problem is that the Chinese are only too happy to sell Nembutol or a similar substance to you through mail order, but they charge a lot of money and just send you a bag of sugar. The best source of information of this type that I'm aware of is the Peaceful Pill Handbook. Just do an internet search for those words. I started subscribing to their monthly service several years ago for $85 for two years. You can also buy the printed edition of their book for $40, or you can find used copies online for less. But try to get as up to date a copy as possible. Before you can subscribe, they'll ask you to provide proof that you're over age 50. One wild card event is the timing of the attack by the Gongshi Blood Company. Whether they plan to colonize America or not, they're going to have to attack America because America will defend Taiwan and Japan. That could come at any time, though a lot of people believe they'll wait until after the February Olympics in Beijing. In my case, living on the edge of MIT, I'm lucky that I'll probably be killed by the first missile attack. But if you live far away from any likely target, then an attack by the Blood Company will keep you alive but make your life worse. That's another reason why you have to be prepared to kill yourself. Plan, plan, plan ahead. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-14-2021 ** 14-Aug-2021 World View: Taliban encircling Afghan capital Kabul, prepping final assault through east https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/08/taliban-encircling-afghan-capital-kabul-prepping-final-assault-through-east.php
The Taliban’s seemingly unstoppable offensive, which has seen the group take control of more than half of Afghanistan’s provinces in only nine days, is circling around the country’s capital and largest city in Kabul. Today the Taliban took control of the provinces of Paktika, Paktia, Laghman, Maimana and Kunar as well as Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan’s second largest city, and is consolidating its control of the east in preparation for its culminating assault on Kabul. ... The Afghan military is in complete disarray, and has been defeated in detail across the country. ... The Taliban’s strategy has given the Afghan government nowhere to run. After consolidating its control of more than 170 of Afghanistan’s contested districts, the Taliban swiftly moved to take the strategic north and deny the country’s power brokers their base of support. Concurrently, the Taliban seized the west and south, both which are firmly under Taliban control. With these three key regions secured, the Taliban has worked its way up from the south to quickly gobble up the eastern provinces, with the final objective being the assault of Kabul. -- Long War Journal RE: Generational Dynamics World View - Tim Randal Walker - 08-14-2021 I believe that not only the East Asian cultures alien to the West, but so are Middle Eastern cultures. Always something to keep in mind when formulating foreign policy. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - Tim Randal Walker - 08-14-2021 China and grey zone tactics. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - Tim Randal Walker - 08-14-2021 Russia and gray zone RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-14-2021 ** 14-Aug-2021 World View: Population Density delusion Apparently I've been deluded on the subject of population density. For years, China has had a one-child policy to prevent overpopulation. And I've always been under the delusion that this was because China was the most densely populated country in the world, at least among the big countries. And I was aware that China's population is four times as high as America's population, in a smaller area. But it turns out that India has a much higher population density than China: 424/sqkm for India vs 149/sqkm for China. In fact, there are 82 countries, large and small, with higher population densities than China, as can be seen from the following web page: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-by-density Pakistan, for example, has 255/sqkm. The UK is at 281/sqkm. Vietnam is at 296/sqkm. Japan is at 334/sqkm. South Korea is at 512/sqkm. So OK, I've been deluded all these years. But now I wonder, what the hell is the big deal with China? None of these other countries had a "one child" policy. Why did China? RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-15-2021 ** 15-Aug-2021 World View: Watching the fall of Kabul I've been watching the fall of Kabul on al-Jazaeera and the BBC. The BBC is calling it the worst foreign policy disaster in decades -- since the Egyptians defeated the British in 1956 over control of the Suez Canal. Many people say they're in shock over this happening. Britain has a long history in Afghanistan, and people interviewed by the BBC recently have been talking about abandonment and betrayal. I'm listening to one British official saying, "I hang my head in shame" over what is happening." The Taliban are saying that they're holding back from a full invasion of Kabul to give the Afghan government a chance to resign, and give the new Taliban government legitimacy. This also gives several thousand people in the American embassy a chance to flee to the airport, so that there won't be people hanging off of helicopters as the were in the Fall of Saigon in 1975. An interesting aspect of the collapse of the Afghan forces is that in one city after another the existing government has simply resigned, and turned the government over to the Taliban in a friendly manner. There are two major side effects in each case. First, guns, tanks and drones and other weapons that the Americans left behind for the Afghan forces to defend themselves are now in the hands of the Taliban. Second, hundreds of Taliban fighters who had been in jail are now out and free to fight again. As I've been saying for years, southern Afghanistan is governed by ethnic Pashtuns. The Afghan officials are Pashtuns. The Taliban are radicalized Pashtuns. So the Taliban have been entering each city and there has often been a brotherly transfer of power. The major exception so far has been the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, near the border with Uzbekistan. Many people have been fleeing across the border to escape the advance of the Taliban. Mazar-i-Sharif was the site of some of the bloodiest massacres in 1997 between the Northern Alliance (Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks) and the Taliban (Pashtuns), following the Afghan civil war. When the Taliban are in power again, it's absolutely certain that there will be a new massacre by the Taliban in Mazar-i-Sharif. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-taliban-f600d6faf28e9c2ccb454ad176987b19 No matter how you look at it, the Pashtuns are a minority ethnic group in Afghanistan, and they will not have the allegiance of anything like the entire country. Many groups will now be seeking bloody revenge for the atrocities committed during the 1990s. Note: Afghanistan's 2004 constitution recognizes 14 ethnic groups: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Baloch, Turkmen, Nuristani, Pamiri, Arab, Gujar, Brahui, Qizilbash, Aimaq, and Pashai https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/#people-and-society According to 2010 data from the US Department of State, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan is the Pashtun (including Kuchis), comprising 42% of Afghans. The Tajiks are the second largest ethnic group, at 27% of the population, followed by the Hazaras (9%), Uzbeks (9%), Aimaq (4%), Turkmen (3%), Baluch (2%) and other groups that make up 4%. https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghan-ethnic-groups-brief-investigation RE: Generational Dynamics World View - pbrower2a - 08-15-2021 (08-14-2021, 08:52 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: ** 14-Aug-2021 World View: Population Density delusion Wstern tourists in China rarely travel to the large, thinly-populated parts of the PRC that have few people -- and little to attract foreigners. Tibet is quirky to the extent that it remains culturally Tibetan, but even there the populated area is mostly around Lhasa, a tiny area of Tibet that can support a fairly-dense population. The Tibetan Plateau, the Tarim Basin, Inner Mongolia, and western Manchuria are either high mountains or very arid cold deserts or near-deserts. China extends from the tropical South (Hainan, somewhat comparable to South Florida) to the subarctic region bordering on southeastern Siberia in Manchuria (basically middle-Quebec north of Quebec city with colder, drier winters. You will notice that aside from the St. Lawrence Valley in Quebec Province, zones of dense population in the US and Canada fade into near-oblivion north of about the middle of New Hampshire (Mr. X, you should be familiar with this, Toronto, roughly Saginaw and Muskegon in Michigan, Green Bay, and the Twin Cities. Go farther than this, and you will see where the corn belt has given way to the wheat belt, and in turn the potato belt. North of that, where rainfall is adequate, is forest. I see that in Michigan. West of about Lincoln, Nebraska and either Fort Worth or San Antonio, farming gives way to ranching and population densities drop off dramatically. The vast majority of the population of the People's Republic of China lives from about Beijing southward and only as far west as the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau. Much territory of the PRC is essentially a cold version of the Australian Outback, and, yes, Australia is one of the most thinly-populated large countries in the world (Argentina, Canada, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, and a bunch of countries almost exclusively in the Sahara excepted). Much of the PRC is too cold or too dry for any intense agriculture except in comparative oases. Outside of those high mountains and cold deserts or near-deserts, China is densely populated much like western Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, or the urban centers of the northeastern quadrant of the USA. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-15-2021 ** 15-Aug-2021 World View: Ashraf Ghani flees for his life Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani has fled Kabul, for some other country, possibly Tajikistan. The Taliban have now entered Kabul, and are demanding total control of the government with no transitional stage. Ghani's Minister of Education was interviewed on the BBC and said that she can hardly believe he fled, that she had trusted Ghani, and now will never trust any politician again. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-15-2021 ** 15-Aug-2021 World View: One Child Policy (08-15-2021, 10:37 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: > The vast majority of the population of the People's Republic of This explains why China's population density is roughly average, but it doesn't explain why the Gongshi Blood Company has had a one-child policy, when other roughly average countries do not, and why the Blood Company wants to colonize America. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-15-2021 ** 15-Aug-2021 World View: Young Zealots Analysts have been making one idiotic statement after another. "Women and girls will be able to go to school or work, as long as they wear the hijab." "The Taliban will be moderate, because they need international support." Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the Afghan operation has been a total success. This is just like DHS secretary saying that the border is closed. Starting from Biden on down, this is the worst American government in my lifetime, with one disastrous policy after another. There's only one analyst today that said something sensible: "The Taliban leaders are being moderate, but after they're in power, because they don't want to repeat the 1990s atrocities. But once they're in power, it's the young zealots who will be committing atrocities." That's the Generational Dynamics position, and that's exactly right. Other analyst observations of interest: "The US army has been looking at a map of provinces, while the Taliban have been looking at a map of tribes." "The people of Afghanistan on social media are furious that Ashraf Ghani fled the country, and he will pay the consequences." RE: Generational Dynamics World View - pbrower2a - 08-15-2021 (08-15-2021, 11:05 AM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: ** 15-Aug-2021 World View: One Child Policy Ethnic Chinese people have been emigrating from China or from overseas Chinese communities in large numbers. I'm not going to say that that is colonization. Should such people supplant America's meth fiends and especially the fools who die because of their refusal to take reasonable measures against COVID-19, then such is likely a net gain. My experiences with Chinese-Americans have largely been positive, so I am not scared. Colonization by force (that is, World War III) is a different matter. I question whether top Chinese leadership is crazy enough to risk nuclear war. The one-child poliy was made to prevent overpopulation and thus huge famines. That is an act of peace toward Humanity. China will have its trading activities everywhere not overtly hostile to China... which probably now includes Afghanistan. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - pbrower2a - 08-15-2021 (08-15-2021, 02:21 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: ** 15-Aug-2021 World View: Young Zealots I predict that there will be guerilla activity against the Taliban regime which has never shown even a pretense of democratic norms during its existence. Ashraf Ghani did the reasonable thing in view of what happened to the Soviet puppet Mohammad Najibullah, who met this end: Quote:Najibullah was at the UN compound when the Taliban soldiers came for him on the evening of 26 September 1996.[7] The Taliban abducted him from UN custody and tortured him to death, and then dragged his dead (and, according to Robert Parry, castrated[77]) body behind a truck through the streets of Kabul. His brother, Shahpur Ahmadzai, was given the same treatment.[78] Najibullah and Shahpur's bodies were hanged from a traffic light pole outside the Arg presidential palace the next day in order to show the public that a new era had begun. The Taliban prevented Islamic funeral prayers for Najibullah and Shahpur in Kabul, but the bodies were later handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross who in turn sent their bodies to Gardez in Paktia Province, where both of them were buried after the Islamic funeral prayers for them by their fellow Ahmadzai tribesmen.[78][/url] There is simple death, and death Taliban-style. Scary, huh? [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Najibullah#cite_note-brother&brotherdead-78] I'll refrain from any discussion of the competence of American negotiation in the Doha Accord aside from giving the year (2020). RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-17-2021 ** 16-Aug-2021 World View: Fighting to the last bullet Burner Prime" Wrote:> One thing most of you don't realize is that in the same way This is complete nonsense. This is a generational Crisis era in America. Afghanistan is in a generational Awakening era. That's why the Afghan forces melted away. Even when we fought a war during an Awakening era, the Vietnam war, we lost that war, and it was a debacle, but we still put up a good fight for a while, because the American armed forces could impose discipline even during an Awakening era. Of course, there were soldiers hiding out in Canada or holding antiwar protests, but the American forces still did an honorable job. We didn't just collapse like the Afghans. The Afghan army collapsed for the reasons I've been saying for years. Most of the Afghan army are Pashtuns, and the Taliban are radicalized Pashtuns. Many people in each army are brothers or cousins of people in the other army. So the Taliban could sweep through the country through tribal and family relationships. In case of a war with China today, in a generational Crisis era, there is no chance at all that the American armed forces will fold. They'll fight to the last bullet. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-17-2021 ** 16-Aug-2021 World View: Regeneracy event Guest Wrote:> John, given the universal shock/outrage over Afghanistan, could No, absolutely not. Believe me, when an ACTUAL regeneracy event occurs, you won't have to ask. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-17-2021 ** 17-Aug-2021 World View: Don't be evil aeden Wrote:> Arguing for Netscape as Google abandoned do no harm is like Actually, the motto that Google abandoned in 2016 was "Don't be evil." It was good timing, since Google is now a leader in the evil Democrat Stalinist Faschist regime. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - John J. Xenakis - 08-17-2021 ** 17-Aug-2021 World View: The mood in South Korea and Taiwan Guest Wrote:> https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1231636.shtml Guest Wrote:> Today, my manager (I work in Seoul) told me that while watching It's hard to overestimate the size of the catastrophe unfolding in Afghanistan, with fallout that will last for years. The catastrophe was capped off by that ridiculous speech on Monday by the doddering Bernie, who can barely read a teleprompter. The stupidity and incompetence of the Biden administration is enormous. He threw open the southern border with no plan and disastrous consequences. He closed the Keystone pipeline with no plan and disastrous consequences. He advocated defunding the police in multiple cities, with no plan and disastrous consequences. He shut down Bagram airbase overnight, with no plan and disastrous consequences. He pulled troops out of Kabul with no plan and disastrous consequences, requiring him to send back 1000 troops, then 1000 more, then 1000 more, then 1000 more. When he announced 9/11 as the final withdrawal date, I said he was dumber than a bag of hammers, and three weeks from now we'll see the consequences -- a likely resurgence of al-Qaeda celebrating the defeat of the United States after 20 years inside the American embassy. On the other hand, there is some leverage to be had. Unlike 20 years ago, Kabul is a large urban city, with thousands of workers doing everything from driving buses to teaching to fixing elevators in government buildings to keeping the electric grid running, and the Taliban will need international aid to pay for those services. Also, Afghanistan has water problems and other environment problems, including those caused by climate change, and they will need international help with those. China, Russia and Iran will be offering to provide some of that aid, in return for exploiting Afghanistan's mineral resources. So what does this mean for American defense of South Korea and Taiwan? It would seem that this would indicate that America would not defend its allies. But actually, it could have the opposite effect. The Biden administration will not want to have a second black eye, so they may actually be more likely than previously to provide a defense. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - Tim Randal Walker - 08-17-2021 I would imagine that people in Taiwan, South Korea, and elsewhere are beginning to look upon the USA as a dubious ally. I can't say what Biden will do next. My own point of view is...don't be ambiguous...either act as a firm ally, or withdraw our military. Be decisive, one way or the other. RE: Generational Dynamics World View - pbrower2a - 08-17-2021 Neither South Korea not Taiwan is under corrupt, incompetent rulers. |