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On the insight of China's rise? I don't know any particular source for this. Briefly, China, when ruled by the Hans, was largely isolationist. Even when they explored the known world with Zheng He's fleets, they were diplomatic and merely traded. No colonies. Today, you see the same diplomacy at work - with only limited military engagement when absolutely necessary. Their peaceful relations in the African and Latin regions support this -- regardless of what the US statement department claims. This is the nature of China. It is a trading nation. Relative to other great powers, it has been only infrequently expansionist. During its most expansive times, it was ruled by non-Hans. The idea that today's China wants to "take over the world" is the Western mindset/experience projecting itself onto China. They reason, "We colonized the entire planet when we were strong. So, of course China will do the same to us.". That fear is only part of the problem. The second problem is that America and some Western allies have never given up global conquest. From that perspective, China is a "threat" -- not to world peace, but to their ambitions.
Read this https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/
There was also a free book that summarized the main points under a similar title] Tragedy and Hope 101 I think?
Geopolitics isn't a tinfoil hat doctrine. It's studied at universities and people like Henry Kissinger write nonfiction books about it. If you'd like a primer, try Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley. Bill Clinton had Quigley as a professor and called him the biggest influence in his life.
Why's it so unbelievable?
Scott's comment sort of has thread-ender vibes to me, so I'll post one.
<em>Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time</em>, by Carrol Quigley.
The Amazon blurb is overly sensational, but not by as much as one might think. For more info I'd recommend checking out Quigley's Wikipedia page.
Excerpt:
> There does exist, and has existed for a generation, an international Anglophile network which operates, to some extent, in the way the Radical right believes the Communists act. In fact, this network, which we may identify as the Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other group, and frequently does so. I know of the operation of this network because I have studied it for twenty years and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960s, to examine its papers and secret records. I have no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have, for much of my life, been close to it and to many of its instruments. I have objected, both in the past and recently, to a few of its policies... but in general my chief difference of opinion is that it wishes to remain unknown, and I believe its role in history is significant enough to be known.
(This was written in 1966.)
> before the Church plunged Europe into the Dark Ages
If by the "Church" you mean the "collapse of the Western Roman Empire partly due to invasion and raiding" and by "plunged" you mean "precipitated the slow decline of the infrastructure of the society" and by the "Dark Ages" you mean the "Early Middle Ages" then there are plenty of history books, a good overview one is Europe: A History or for a wider view History: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day.
> Well you are entitled to your opinion.
Lol, thank you.
It's not really "an opinion" as "facts aren't opinions."
That you don't yet understand these issues doesn't change the facts.🤷♂️
> It makes very little sense to me.
I understand and that's ok. These are complex issues and hard to grasp until you are able to look at history "as it is" rather than "what you have been taught or would like it to be".
May I suggest that you read Caroll Quigley's excellent book:
Tragedy And Hope: A History Of The World In Our Time
https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/
It's more than 1200 pages long and not an easy read, but it will help you understand how it all works and who controls the world and what their plans are.
Bill Clinton called it:
"The most influential and important book he has ever read."
This book is very much part of "the education" that anyone who wants to be part of the new world order must read. It tells the truth...
Good luck to you.🙂
Adrian R. Bell is one of the leading experts in this field. He has a few books that might appeal to you. Also, there’s A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Tuchman, which covers a lot about warfare but also other cultural topics.
>How can you sustain ideological consistency when the majority of you are culturally right, and economically left?
Where's the contradiction?
>Firstly, how do you justify the common criticism from conservative circles of you people having right wing extremist views culturally with left wing extremist views economically.
We don't care. They're all shills, collaborators, or just misguided.
>Secondly, what made you lose faith in the free market, which over the decades pushed millions of people out of the free market and made America the economic powerhouse we have today.
False. Protectionism made America rich. Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Protectionist-Takeoff-1815-1914-Michael/dp/3980846687
>Would you prefer the economies of Communist China or Nazi Germany more appealing, where the state decides the limits of what corporations may or may not do?
China is more fascist than communist today, but the answer is yes.
>a common trend i’ve seen here is white supremacy, a desire to colonize, sometimes even enslave non white peoples.
You're either lying or just seriously misinformed.
Corrupt government payment systems is for sure a 21st century problem.
14th Century problems were more along the lines of Bubonic Plague, Hundred Years War, Brigandage, Rapine, Schism and such.
https://www.amazon.com/Distant-Mirror-Calamitous-14th-Century/dp/0345349571
> The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies... is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.
Carroll Quigley
https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I understand :) What got you into soccer? and random question but is soccer big over there? It's nice to meet an American fan. I play FPL as well. How your team doing? Mine hasn't been doing the best though and with Aguero scoring 5 goals this week, I'm very much regret not having him on my team. If you like European history then I recommend you check out "Europe: A history" by Norman Davies I linked to Amazon USA for you to check it out. It's a good book and a good read. I know what you mean about there being a lot of history here. I remember when I was younger when my family used go on holiday, we used stop at a car park that had a castle and monument there. I never really thought much of it until I was older and decided to look into what it was about. It turns out this happened there. Feels strange to know that it may have happened on one of the spots we may have parked. I've always wanted to visit Boston and D.C so I'll definitely check them out in the future. To be honest I haven't heard good things about Philadelphia, What's wrong with Philadelphia? One place I'd suggest you check out is York. After all, New York and York share history and name. There are many places I've love to visit in Europe too. Italy or Spain would be where I'd start. Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it.
Thanks :) I can't take credit for the "bitter worms in iron cocoons" part, which is modified from an anonymous poem cited in A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman. I'd also highly recommend that book for anyone out there looking to write medieval European fantasy.
Smithsonian publishes tons of really cool books full of illustrations and explanations that cover tons of different topics. History, dinosaurs, space, history of firearms, etc. Many are made for kids but many are geared more towards adults. I think they're super fascinating to browse through. Here is one example -
History: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day
If you just search Smithsonian books on Amazon you will find lots of them.
Although the title says what every American needs to know, I think this book is good for non-Americans who work or interact with Americans: The New Dictionary Of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know
The historian Carroll Quigley did better than that. He was granted admission to a cabal of bankers and political figures who worked together outside of party and country to further their aims. They had various incarnations - think of a cell structure rather than a monolithic faction. But again, this was the side of things he was allowed access to, and it was understood this was only the tip of the pyramid.
https://www.amazon.ca/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X
There is this really comprehensive encyclopedia of cultural knowledge that you might find helpful: The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know https://www.amazon.com/dp/0618226478/
Get the book "A Distant Mirror", it's exactly what you're looking for. It's all about the 14th century, the 100 Years War, and France in particular. VERY good book
https://www.amazon.com/Distant-Mirror-Calamitous-14th-Century/dp/0345349571
your grasp of psychology is funny bot/fed. How is your history?
This is the fed's favorite book
https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=1U7JZEWQ31P23&keywords=tradegy+and+hope+carroll&qid=1648471349&sprefix=tradegy+and+hope+carroll%2Caps%2C372&sr=8-1
This one:
https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X
The other, newer version is about 800 pages, and watered-down... I wonder why.
I'm not going to retread old territory, homie. But I'm an economist that works in healthcare and I actually do know economic history. The kind of opinion most of LibRight has on PCM is the kind you can only have when you practically live your entire life behind a computer screen and you neither read nor interact with the world.
There are things the government straight up blows at. America for instance has never understand bureaucracy, but that's not because it's an innate flaw of bureaucracy, it's simply bureaucracy done wrong. Or in the case of specific government institutions, it's strategic incompetence, which doesn't mean the system doesn't work. It was designed broken. On purpose.
Nobody's going to do even the slightest bit of research on the topic. Practically everything here is ideologically driven. I have no aim or purpose to convince anybody. Practically everything I do here is just comment hijacking, to play it violin and post things that some observer of the post will check out on his own. I'm not dumb enough to waste my time arguing with anyone on Reddit. I'm here to entertain myself and occasionally inspire.
why the fuck would the hospital press on with this shit
There's a really good book about this mentality: The March of Folly, by Barbara Tuchman. From Amazon:
Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Barbara W. Tuchman, author of the World War I masterpiece The Guns of August, grapples with her boldest subject: the pervasive presence, through the ages, of failure, mismanagement, and delusion in government.
Drawing on a comprehensive array of examples, from Montezuma’s senseless surrender of his empire in 1520 to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Barbara W. Tuchman defines folly as the pursuit by government of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives. In brilliant detail, Tuchman illuminates four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly: the Trojan War, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by the Renaissance popes, the loss of the American colonies by Britain’s George III, and the United States’ own persistent mistakes in Vietnam.
Tldr: arrogance, basically. Once they've made a decision they can't go back on it for fear of looking stupid, so they choose to look stupid by blundering ahead instead.
Don't vote, it is your implicit approval of the entire political system. Your way of saying "I'm good with all that is happening so I will participate in your system."
>The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies... is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.
It is unpleasurable to read, Marx wasn’t a good writer at all and the style of writing does not make this something you read to enjoy. Talking about “original versions” is worthless because there’s barely any around and if they are filled with outdated arguments and facts. Hence the many prefaces by Engels later on. Engels pumped out loads of versions, there’s probably thousands of “official” versions.
I just took the big publishers and averaged out, Penguin for instance often goes over 300 pages even into the 400s with it’s classics line. The most common/popular version on my local bookstore is a bit over 180 pages. https://www.amazon.com/Communist-Manifesto-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140447571
https://www.amazon.nl/Friedrich-Engels-Karl-Marx-Communist/dp/0141395907/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=communist manifesto&qid=1635781357&sr=8-4
It also wasn’t initally published as the communist manifesto, it only got shortened to that almost 30 years later.
Very cool, I've read Quigley's work too, very important but, let's he honest, mostly very boring. I haven't read the skull and bones book itself just information about it unfortunately.
The other big one, literally, from Quigley is Tragedy & Hope. But it is a fucking monster, Tragedy & Hope 101 is a much shorter and well done summary of the book and isn't all that long.
Between all these various pieces and their own individual details we kinda know how power has rolled for the last century-ish. Feels like/hoping it might be tumbling down now.
Indeed the guy is an academic treasure. He's written a bunch of brilliant books, many of them quite technical, some more catered to the mainstream. This one I found quite tough going, but over the years I've learned more jargon so maybe I could understand it better.
Eg one of his books looked at forgotten American economists and their contribution to Economic theory - this was in the 19th century before economics became totally ideologically cleansed.
Just one of his many contributions.
Is taking the ability to vote supposed to be a threat? Sweet, easy victory for us, have at it government.
>The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies... is a foolish idea. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.
Carroll Quigley, Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time
I would also recommend The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know
There are short paragraphs about major events and cultural touchstones that you can read about. Then you can further read about anything that interests you.
Hi everyone, What do y’all think about this visual world history book from the Smithsonian? It looks excellent for visual learners and for history novices like me
History: From the Dawn of Civilization to the Present Day https://www.amazon.com/dp/1465437975/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_3WYNN4AQPEBWE9BC4EHW