News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why American cities can’t keep up with infrastructure maintenance (2017). Parent comment

Re:Why American cities can’t keep up with infrastructure mai... by rbg246 on Sunday October 04, 2020 @09:01AM (#24678718)
US has never done anything in foreign affairs for free.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why American cities can’t keep up with infrastructure mai... by readarticle on Sunday October 04, 2020 @09:10AM (#24678769)
Quite right. The US guaranteed the security of allies and their trade in exchange for opposition to the soviets, who no longer exist.

The current post soviet (& fledgling post ME) situation actually is relatively “free” though, there is an absolutely massive amount of inertia in place.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why American cities can’t keep up with infrastructure mai... by natmaka on Sunday October 04, 2020 @11:37AM (#24679781)
The Pentagon's New Map (Thomas P.M. Barnett) offers interesting insights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon's_New_Map

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why American cities can’t keep up with infrastructure mai... by 082349872349872 on Sunday October 04, 2020 @01:01PM (#24680485)
Barnett's #4 (war in the context of "everything else") is straight outta Clausewitz.

Interesting to see how he differs from 1984[1]:

Oceania is split across Old Core, New Core, and Disconnected.

Eurasia is split across Old Core and New Core.

Eastasia is split across New Core and Disconnected.

Disputed territories are contained within Disconnected.

Guess I'll track his trichotomy to see if it has any better explanatory power.

[1] roughly (in our world I think Eastasia is smaller): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nations_of_Nineteen_Eighty-Fou...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why American cities can’t keep up with infrastructure mai... by koheripbal on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @10:32AM (#24698040)
Nations never do anything for "free". Nations act in their own self-interest.

That is the nature of politics.

[ Parent | on HN ]