u/NaibofTabr — NaibofTabr

When people you have maligned and persecuted show you compassion and give you aid, that should be humiliating and humbling.

Unfortunately it probably won't have that effect on the people who need it.

There is no paradox.

Tolerance is a social contract.

If you abide by the terms of the contract (e.g. tolerance) then the contract applies to you and you are protected by it.

If you do not abide by the terms of the contract then it is broken, and you are not protected by the contract.

Yeah their whole shtick has been mimicking American corporatism et al since before the 80s. Aint working out for them.

There absolutely was an effort in Japanese businesses to imitate American businesses in the 1980s, but it was also very much a two-way street and it's important to keep this in mind. Some of the toxic work culture elements that exist in the US corporate world today were imported. Also keep in mind that learning about other businesses was more difficult at the time because the Internet wasn't a thing yet. Computers were barely getting local proprietary networks in very few, leading-edge businesses. If you wanted to learn about business operarions in another country you'd have to buy physical media (newspapers, industry journals, commentary books) or visit in person. It was slow and expensive.

Ultimately a lot of what you're referring to tracks back to Theory Z which was also called "Japanese Management".

In fact there has been a lot of cultural crosstalk between Japan and the US, going back a long time. For instance, baseball

Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1859 and is Japan's most popular participatory and spectator sport. [...]

The Japanese government appointed American oyatoi in order to start a state-inspired modernization process. This involved the education ministry, who made baseball accessible to children by integrating the sport into the physical education curriculum. Japanese students, who returned from studying in the United States captivated by the sport, took government positions. Clubs and private teams such as the Shinbashi Athletic Club, along with high school and college teams, commenced the baseball infrastructure.

When the digital electronics revolution came in the 1970s, Japan was both a competitor and a partner for the US. In the 1980s Japan's economy rivaled the US. Frankly, a lot of it did in fact "work out" for them, though it's difficult to separate the economic success from the electronics industry boom (how much of the rapid development of electronics was dependent on the corporate culture that had developed during the previous decade? how much of the business success was a result of the demand for the electronics products? how much of the demand was created internally by the businesses themselves? how would you even go about drawing lines between them?). The exploding popularity of video games (a side effect of the electronics revolution) resulted in a massive cultural export from Japan to the rest of the world, including the US.

And really the rabit hole goes way deeper. I highly recommend this video: Kawaii: Anime, Propaganda, and Soft Power Politics. by Moon Channel

So what you said is *true*, technically, but it is really a half-truth which projects the idea that the relationship was somehow one-sided, when in reality it was very much not.

There's nothing functionally communist about the government of China.

There was no period without warfare or economic stability in Palestine.

I mean... there was time to build a bunch of modern residential buildings, hospitals and businesses (the things Israel is currently blowing up and bulldozing) and for people to live their lives without having to be armed 24/7. It *literally* has *not* been open warfare (at least for a little while), and yes there was some economic stability, enough for local Palestinian businesses to develop, for a semi-functional civilian government to form, and for civil services like hospitals and schools to be established. It hasn't just been a warzone for 100 years.

The uber wealthy have set the conditions for conflict based entirely upon greed.

Same as it ever was...

Palestine has been in perpetual war for sovreignty since the end of WWII.

Yup. Even longer, actually: Timeline of intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine

**1881**

The first wave of Jews arrive in Ottoman Syria in the First Aliyah after Zionism itself began some time in the 1850s

Eventually leading to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and ongoing conflict

Basically the violence has been constant, with occasional breaks to reload.

The Pax Americana is probably responsible for the relative stability of the '90s and '00s - there was still violence, car bombings and rocket attacks &etc, but not open warfare. That's obviously ending now.

My guess is that the period without warfare allowed Palestine to develop some economic stability and power of its own, which Israel perceived as a long-term threat. Combine that fear with greed and expansionism and you get the current attempt to erase Palestine.

Yeah I put a screen protector on mine right away. It's a portable device.

The combination of the etched screen and an etched screen protector definitely hurts the sharpness - I would've been better off with the standard glossy screen.

Have you installed a Linux operating system before?

The hardware swap is not difficult, but you do have to reinstall the OS on the new drive, so if you're not already familiar with that process it may be a hurdle. The good news is there shouldn't be any important data on it, so if you do have a problem you can just wipe it and start over.

I bought the original largest model, and in less than 6 months decided I wanted more than the 512GB. I wish I had saved the $200 and bought the cheapest model. There's no other appreciable difference.

He's never played with a full deck anyway.

futuristic technology

throwing a wrench into the US industry _right now_ is a pretty good deal.

This is the part I don't really get - they've spent *decades* working to control these resources, and I can't really see what benefit they get from this that offsets that time and effort.

Manipulating the flow and the prices makes sense. Cutting it off entirely just to participate in a dick-measuring contest with the US really doesn't make any sense. Nations are already looking at moving their supply chains *especially* for electronics after all the COVID disruptions. Encouraging those nations to go looking elsewhere for the entire supply chain just loses you business and influence, no matter how much short-term cost you inflict.

This is kind of interesting... China has been working on monopolizing sources of raw materials for awhile now, and putting them on the market cheap so that they become the de facto supplier, making it difficult or impossible for any other sources to be developed.

But... there are other sources of things like lithium and cobalt, it's just been cheaper to buy it from China so everyone does.

Cutting off the supply will cause some slow-downs and a bit of chaos in the short term but what will happen is local sources will suddenly become worth developing. What this does is effectively burn a big piece of China's economic power... I wonder what they're getting out of it right now? The impact won't last very long.

Aer

Rime

Stonefall

Shovel Knight

Journey

Spider Heck

Overcooked (1 & 2)

Snakeybus

Osmos

Sonic Mania

World of Goo

Duck Tales Remastered

Spyro: Reignited Trilogy

It is *now*...

Isn't there a beach over there with a mountain of used tires?

Most of the people who saw the results of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are dead. The people who grew up hiding under their school desks waiting for the bomb to drop are old.

The memory of the fear is fading.

History never repeats, but it often rhymes.

*no shit son*

I mean... nothing substantial, I guess you're right... but I'm also not claiming to know anything about Switzerland. I'm claiming to have actually read the article, and to have some reading comprehension which you are evidently lacking.

I think you've misunderstood. It sounds like you've interpreted the headline to mean that General Hodges is threatening to invade Switzerland. Perhaps you only read the headline and not the actual article.

"The best way to prevent a war is to prepare for it,” said the former commander of the US armed forces in Europe

[...]

The US Department of Defence is currently funding 100,000 soldiers in Europe, said Hodges. For him, it is clear that President Donald Trump will withdraw troops. “The only question is when, and how many soldiers he will withdraw,” said the former general. “According to everything I hear from Washington, Europe is no longer a priority.” Trump sees China as the main opponent of the US.

Hodges is stating the reality that Trump will withdraw US troops from Europe in the future, regardless of how bad an idea that is.

From Trump’s point of view, the US would be paying billions for the defence of Europe, said Hodges. [...] “Incidentally, the US benefits enormously economically from a stable Europe,” he said.

Trump is the kind of moron who only understands short-term profit (especially profit for himself) and doesn't give a shit about long-term international cooperation. Some very bad decisions are going to be made in the near future.

Hodges understands the value of European relationships but also sees the inevitability of what's coming and is trying to make the reality of it clear.