https://twitter.com/Ted34012828/status/1514355352992628742?s=20&t=-s-xuXLxTieMIWcBzobDTw
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I have not, but I am aware that is not the thesis, nor did Fukuyama predict an actual end to history. They both couch their language. Yet both authors offer a self-serving, feel-good reassurance to the narrative of western civilization’s superiority and inevitability that is so ingrained in us that we usually aren’t even aware it’s there.
The story starts in ancient Greece, then republican Rome followed by Pax Romana (which wasn’t very peaceful at all). We don’t talk nearly as much about the next 200 years of Rome, and we tend to overlook that it would be another thousand years before the Renaissance. But then there it is, and the Enlightenment and science and diplomacy and the war to end all wars oops, no there’d be another but progress! and Mr. Gorbachev Tore Down That Wall and we went to the moon and soon Mars and it’s going to be just like Star Trek because that’s us, spreading out across our one galactic republic, our manifest destiny of western liberalism and democracy!
It’s a history that covers less than 1% of the time our species has existed, and it usually excludes billions of people. I think that narrative gives people unreasonable expectations and that it is irresponsible to promote it.
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I’d have to double check, but that flag is a navy thing and not recent. Navys frequently have weird flags to represent their country. The US Navy uses a flag with stars but no stripes in that spot.
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Currently reading The End of History, and of course, the “standard” criticism of Fukuyama is widely off base. His argument is basically that the fall of the USSR undermined the legitimacy of communism, and that only generally liberal, democratic systems are now intellectually respectable. He felt that theocracy, nationalism, authoritarianism, etc. will stiff fight it out for many years and maybe forever. But, while I am not at this part yet, he notes that Hegel (1805ish) said that a new post-french revolution dawn was coming, and Hegel had a big influence on Marx, who felt that communism was the “final” stage of history. The West said, na, it democratic liberalism, and Fukuyama argues this is the better way to read Hegel. Basically, his argument is that many in the 19th and 20th centuries saw a better train a-coming, but no better train is coming.
Been on a Fukuyama binge lately and think he very perceptive about politics and history. His fairly recent The Origins of Political Order: From prehuman times to the French Revolution and Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Present Day are impressive works that provide a broad framework in which to understand history.
These works make The Dawn of Everything, which has been a hot book lately, look like the work of dilettantes.
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Have you read it? I haven’t. I kinda like Graeber and it sucks he had such an early, crappy death, but that book’s blurb seems very much like one where the content was chosen to fit a preexisting agenda.
Can’t remember if this has been posted yet, but back to Fukuyama and the actual topic of this thread:
I’ve read about 150 pages of it and it’s not bad and I’ll probably finish it, but I think a lot of their baseline assumptions/conclusions about the potential for human harmony are wrong. They do, however, provide some useful counterpoints to those of us inclined toward Hobbesianism. They probably softened me up 10% or so.
This podcast discussion is fairly critical, probably too critical, but is informative.
Fucking hell they did it
https://twitter.com/osinttechnical/status/1514379519611883525?s=21&t=w8CCXw38V5LegtvyRV09pA
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Russian news sites now confirming an incident onboard the Moskva.
Below is a report on the ship’s predictable movements from last week.
Moskva, and virtually all Russian warships, periodically returned to their home port of Sevastopol on Crimea. Interestingly, she berthed in her usual position, creating a predictable pattern of movements. This may be an indicator of how Sevastopol is seen as safe from attack. It is true that it is out of range of Ukrainian missiles, and defended by layered air defenses. There has been one air defense incident over the city, when S-400 missiles were launched on March 26. This does not appear to have changed Moskva’s pattern.
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The Russian navy cruiser Moskva by far is the most powerful warship in the Black Sea. If Russian President Vladimir Putin orders his troops to widen their war in Ukraine, Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, undoubtedly would lead the naval assault.
Think of Moskva as a 12,500-ton, 612-foot mobile missile battery with nearly 500 people aboard. She packs enough anti-ship missiles to wipe out the entire Ukrainian navy and enough air-defense missiles to swat away any conceivable aerial attack on the Black Sea Fleet’s amphibious flotilla.
The only Ukrainian forces that might have any realistic shot at Moskva are the new Neptune anti-ship missile batteries. The stealthy, radar-guided Neptune can strike ships as far away as 175 miles. Kiev has bought Turkish-made TB-2 drones and American-made radars that can spot targets for the Neptunes.
It’s not clear how many Neptunes it might take to punch through Moskva’s defenses. Nor is it clear how many Neptunes the Ukrainians possess.
In any event, Moskva is a big ship and has proved she can take a missile. The Georgian navy reportedly managed to score one hit on the cruiser back in 2008. She spent a year in drydock and was back at sea by 2010.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the missiles are actually British Harpoons but Ukraine is claiming them to be Ukrainian for disinformation. Not that easy to target a ship from 150 miles away.
Fuck ‘em
https://twitter.com/euan_macdonald/status/1514364019175473156?s=21&t=Imx-db0fTWTF4i-14jLpPQ
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Yeah, US special forces.
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Can you explain what you mean here?
if the hit was in Sevastopol’, the crew would be rescued for sure.
If Moskva sinks, will it be the largest warship sunk since WWII?
We don’t know where it was when it was struck but the Harpoon has a range of only 75 miles. Half the range of Neptune.