Interested in reading this, want to start reading more books about diplomatic/foreign office/international relations.
Anyone read it before?
>>902534
>falling for the book meme
Ive had it for a couple years and sortve... forgot to read it. Forgot I had it until the other day
Will be monitoring thread
Which one is right and why is it Compatibilism?
>>902432
But what if we go with branching many realities theory? That all possible outcomes are predetermined, and all possible outcomes happen.
>>902432
the dhamma is right
>>902456
Shit.
If something is predetermined, there can only be one possible outcome.
In the other realities, for a different result, something must have happened differently, and therefore wasn't predetermined.
If it comes down to quantum determinism that might change things but the only other explanation could be hard indeterminism or libertarianism in this case.
USSR could have prevented losing the Cold War by drastically lowering the budget on overseas military bases, and focusing its efforts on securing alliances with India, Pakistan, Persia, Middle East and China.
Perhaps invading Japan and sending more troops to Korea when it mattered would have been a good move.
Pic related is a commie block, the USSR should have made economic reforms earlier on the game.
Discuss.
what overseas bases?
The USSR fell because of rampant military spending, up the 30% and potentially more according to Gorbachev.
All hidden as "industry" so it looked like they had low amounts of military spending. But yes, their problem was the private sector wasn't private, it was hypermanaged and ultimately not given room to grow or innovate. They employed people but didn't always pay them, they made things they didn't necessarily need, they built cities they couldn't maintain.
They were desperately afraid the West would invade the USSR, while also being afraid of rebellion and coups in the home country, leading to a really fucking economic profile and lots of distrust at the higher levels. Stalin's ridiculous paranoia certainly didn't help either.
The fact of the matter was the Reds didn't have that big of an economy, nor a particularly stable one, and the industry they did have suffered heavily in WW2.
US industry grew stronger ten times over and showed no signs of slowing down. It could create more tanks with a smaller budget than the Soviets could, and that scared them. Not to mention the US had the lion's share of good scientists and the funding to get them to work, and the Soviet scientists were by no means bad, but they were outnumbered and could only dream of the funding the West was handing out. They fell behind technologically, economically, and as the Cold War dragged on they began to lose influence as well. Vietnam was probably their biggest success but it cost them dearly in funding and weaponry and ultimately did nothing to hurt the US in the then and now. If anything the lessons learned in SEAD and counterinsurgency and battlefield weaponry application only served to help reform and strengthen the US, while the Soviets only learned of how ineffective their advanced SAMs were at stopping US air domination and how their fighters couldn't actually stand toe to toe with US fighters.
The Cold War was a clash of economies and the US's economy was bigger and better.
Have you actually read Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra from beginning to end? Did you understand every line of it? How long did it take you to fully read it?
I am on Part 3 now. Each section takes me like 30 minutes at least to get through, and I only allow myself a couple hours of reading at a time on days where I feel my best, so it has been a very slow, patient read for me. But I feel like I am absorbing just about all of it as a result.
>>902290
>absorbing
>not filtering concepts ans changing them on a molecular level
Plebs do seem to come on mondays
>>902298
>reinterpreting the philosophy before becoming acquainted with it on a personal level
No thanks. Absorption is step one.
>>902304
Is that so? Do you think Nietzsche had a green face too?
What does /his/ think of the gulags?
Were the Soviet purges really necessary?
What would have happened if Stalin didn't kill so many people?
>>902134
In terms of absolute no they were not necessary. They were on the contrary unethical (obvious, I know). That being said for the ''communist'' regime to stay in place, yes they were essential because the ''communist'' party never acheived through communism so they had to use other means to stay in place (shut up the opposition being one of those)
Gulag Archipelago is a compelling, perhaps moderately exaggerated source on the subject.
As the other anon said the purges were entirely necessary, as Stalin's regime was propped up by silencing dissent and spreading fear of getting canned.
Good ideas don't require force. Bad ideas do. Really bad ideas require lots of it.
Do you think Bolivia and PerĂº could have won the war against Chile? and how?
>>902060
Aye, they should've made better use of their coca supplies.
>>902060
Peru and Bolivia are like 90% indios, and those fucks have lost every war they've ever fought that wasn't amongst themselves.
Was it autism?
>>902013
Probably.
Most philosophers were spergs and NEETs
The Holy Roman Empire was most certainly Holy, Roman, and an Empire
Now, now my good man, this is no time to be making enemies.
>>901656
It most certainly old man
>>901630
The Sectarian German Confederation
Have received this book just a day ago. Is it legit or not?
Why not read it and tell us?
Can't read liberation runes.
>>901639
Because I'm not a historian and I read that several claims of the book are contested, so I sought for the opinions of true historians that populate this board.
ITT: YFW modern art canon
MFW Drips, lines, and form
>>901468
Pardon?
Why did 19th/early 20th Century women appear to have rounder faces than more recent women?
>>901207
Probably because they couldn't manipulate angles like pic related
>>901207
>making generalizations from one pic
women have more rounder faces without make up
was this a thing? it seems difficult.
also general black sails accuracy thread if anyone's up for it, I guess.
>>900846
It is pretty difficult, but it did happen.
Artemisia's men did so.
There was one battle in China where it also happened.
But generally you did this shit when people are distracted by something else.
ITT: recommended readings on modern convention that will help anons understand history better.
https://kat.cr/schweser-cfa-2014-secret-sauce-level-1-2-3-t9527898.html
bump, i'm thirsty
>>900632
I've got nothing to add, but bump.
ITT : glorious war music with a story
example : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0K7XS_hl44 about the Franco-Prussian War
>>900499
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TiqO2h9hFJA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqdxBh4ZUeM
>>900598
not sure why this always sounds go gimmicky. I wouldn't die to this shit. I'm glad they only brought the drums onto the battlefield.
General discussion of WW2. Ask questions relating to the war.
>>900430
Did the British really use condoms to keep sand out of stuff in North Africa?
>>900436
kek, never heard of that before but apparently its a fairly well known ww2 anecdote.
http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/01/rubber_wars
Unrelated to the war, but looking into this, I found that one of the plans the US came up with during the cold war was to airdrop enormous condoms labeled small onto the Soviets in order to demoralize them and make them think the russians had small penises. I really don't know if I can believe this, but I've read some books about CIA plans during the cold war and they are much wackier.