[ExI] put pain

[John Grigg]

Adrian Tymes wrote:
"In real life, "evil" and "competent" like that do not go hand in hand.
Putin is the best known modern example of someone trying to be both, and
Russia's been having some problems during his reign.  North Korea is a
better example of what happens when someone tries such methods for a
while."

The best example I can think of is the leader of China, Xi Jinping, who has
commissioned the organ harvesting, mass sterilization, rape and forced
re-education of many Uighyr people. And he is working on a high-tech
surveillance/tracking system to thoroughly monitor and control his own Han
fellow citizens. And yet despite this, he is an intelligent man who is
leading China into an era of continued economic prosperity and greatly
expanded military power. If his policies continue beyond his death, we will
see the continuation of a cold war between China and the United States and
her allies.

John

John

On Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 1:45 AM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> All North Korea has to do is look South to see that their government's
> doings are a total failure.  People starving, people trying to leave the
> country, etc.  So why don't they change?  It has to be because they are not
> interested in change or in their country's food problems.  They are
> interested in saber-rattling, not competence. Competence counts only in
> something the military is doing, not the economy.  So who is it that
> doesn't care?  Psychopaths.  If they had consciences they would change, eh?
>
> bill w
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 10:59 AM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>> In real life, "evil" and "competent" like that do not go hand in hand.
>> Putin is the best known modern example of someone trying to be both, and
>> Russia's been having some problems during his reign.  North Korea is a
>> better example of what happens when someone tries such methods for a while.
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 5:53 AM John Grigg via extropy-chat <
>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>
>>> In the classic near future thriller/borderline sf novel, The Profession,
>>> by Steven Pressfield, a former USMC lieutenant general war hero who is sort
>>> of an evil version of Douglas MacArthur (he successfully forced a CCP
>>> expeditionary force in Africa to retreat and go home, but nearly started a
>>> nuclear war, and so the current president fires him, but he returns to
>>> America and receives a hero's welcome), becomes president during very hard
>>> economic and foreign policy times for America. This is a man who had worked
>>> with the intelligence agencies, and has no qualms about killing enemies,
>>> foreign and domestic. He has his loyal henchman (assassins and special
>>> forces) kill off key senators, congressmen and journalists. They all look
>>> like accidents. The country senses something is up, but this man actually
>>> does turn the nation around. He gets the economy going, in part by
>>> intimidating the billionaire class, and getting them to invest in the
>>> economy rather than off-shoring money, and also to pay much higher taxes.
>>> All it takes is secretly kidnapping key members of their class and then
>>> threatening their lives! Well over half the nation adores this president,
>>> despite some elements of the "liberal media" being very worried about him.
>>> But in the end, karma catches up to the man in a Shakespearean way. Donald
>>> Trump could only dream in his most fervent power mad fantasies to be at
>>> this villain's level. I worry that one day we will actually elect someone
>>> with such monstrous talents who will be very hard to stop. Pressfield is
>>> one of America's finest writers, and his book about ancient Sparta, The
>>> Gates of Fire, is required reading at all of the military academies.
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 11:38 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
>>> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The idea that Trump (and this is here because it is not controversial)
>>>> could pull a coup is an idea that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
>>>> STaff, Gen. Mark MIlley has put paid to.
>>>>
>>>> He said that the military does not take an oath to individuals but to
>>>> the Constitution.  Surely you have seen this story.
>>>>
>>>> So what happens at the D of Defense is irrelevant.  They cannot order
>>>> the military to contravene the Constitution.
>>>>
>>>> Worry gone, over, done with, put paid to.
>>>>
>>>> Now can we worry about something else?
>>>>
>>>> bill w
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