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Now is the time to invoke General Ulysses S. Grant — to close with and destroy the enemy, applying relentless pressure until they capitulate.

When I think of how I should beat a nuclear power, I always think back to the US Civil War ...

Opinion Columnists: Worse Than Worthless?

Russia is dragging down China's economy:

Presently, a badly weakened Russia represents a significant military and economic drag on China. Both economies are reeling due to collapsing fundamentals and under the weight of massive military expenditures.

Evidence that China's economy reeling:

Beijing is being forced to invest $1.4 trillion domestically “to revive the economy, authorizing local governments to refinance crushing debts that have left some cities unable to pay their bills.”

Russia is forcing China to invest domestically and allow local governments to refinance debts.

I realise this is just two op-ed writers (one of whom is a 'former' military intelligence officer), but whenever I read this kind of rhetoric from the States I remember an inverview I heard about ten years ago with a former senior diplomat whose career had spanned the 70s to the 2000s. In short his depressed, fatalist arguement was; America will destroy itself because it's given up on diplomacy. He argued that the US simply didn't train diplomats anymore and that the service was full of political think tank graduates with zero interest or understanding of diplomacy, all high on their own supply of limitless American superiority.

I can't find that interview (it was on some kind of early, possibly university linked affairs podcast) but for the decade or so since I've seen articles bemoaning the turmoil and staffing issues for the state department and diplomatic services.

During Obama's second term there was a bunch of articles from journalists on behalf of anonymous diplomats begging for a more robust focus on diplomacy and the service after his appointment of special envoys had failed and been filled with vanity appointments.

William Luers (plenty ghoulish, but less foaming at the mouth than those who came after) said to the New York Times that as viloence became frames as "less between states and more dealing with terrorists, the military and the C.I.A. have been in the driver’s seat in dealing with governments throughout the Middle East and in state to state relations.”

In 2021 a study was done to try and address the scale of brain drain:

Their report finds that “31.42% (797) of current officers surveyed are seriously considering leaving the Foreign Service and are actively exploring their options. Of these officers, 31.27% (247) plan to leave in the next year and 56.58% (447) plan to leave in the next five years. This indicates a clear discontent within the Foreign Service that will increase attrition above the Department’s historical averages”.

And the situation only seems to have gotten worse.

Ulysses S. Grant famously used precision deep-strike weapons to eliminate Vicksburg and Jackson instead of going down the Mississippi and taking them directly. Ukraine is right to imitate him.

now is the time to invoke General Ulysses S. Grant”

Great, they don’t understand 2 wars

If only Germany had V2 rockets they might have won

Mark T(h)oth

consigning us all to the eternal judgment