I don't think it is just the weak they prey on. I would argue that they probably pray on big fish too. If you go after the small fish, it might bee too much effort for too little reward. I am sure there is some kind of tradeoff there.

Also, states/governments are, by (my own self-derived) definition, the strongest mafia organization in their geographical area, or within their 'border'. All of their subjects are weak to them. Your statement may make more sense when talking about one state in relation to another state.

All this talk of democracy, 'their own' and nationalism are just statist brainwashing from my point of view.

Governments have always preyed on any who are too weak to defend themselves. They are less obvious when preying on the weak in their own country in a democracy.

I was attempting to argue against this statement:

"When a predatory government isn't strong enough to prey on neighboring countries for loot ..., then it will prey on its own populace ...".

I don't think that is true. I would say that the "state" (always predatory) will not only prey on its own citizens but also neighboring states, which may happen regardless of its strength.

It would make sense for the state to not attack its neighbors when it is weak, however, it may still attack anyway because it may not have a choice when collapsing internally from exhausting its internal prey, such as may be the case with Venezuela. They didn't attack yet because the international community put up too much resistance, however, who knows what is going to happen down the road.

Please do elaborate.

Do you not think that technology increases productivity? It seems obvious, you can produce much more food with a tractor and fertilizer.

Or do you not think that there is more looting that can be done with more wealth available for looting? That is also pretty evident, the more stuff you have, the more can be looted. When there is no loot to be had, looting cannot physically take place.

Or maybe you don't think there is an increase in looters over time? It seems obvious also, you get more interest in looting when the reward is greater. Additionally, there is evolutionary pressure for predatory behavior. That is why nature has predators.

You seem to forget when Biden was in Pohland and told the troops that they were going to Ukraine 2 years ago… President Biden told US troops in Poland Friday that they will witness the bravery of Ukrainians fighting off Russia’s invasion “when you’re there”
Biden made the remark while addressing members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division after lunching on pizza and posing for selfies with dozens of paratroopers at a mess hall in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland.

“You’re going to see when you’re there, and some of you have been there, you’re gonna see — you’re gonna see women, young people standing in the middle in front of a damned tank just saying, ‘I’m not leaving, I’m holding my ground,’” Biden said.
The White House Quickly walked back his statement.

Weird, it’s almost as if he is not President but the Resident. There is no evidence that Joe Biden recieved 81,000,000 votes. There is overwhelming conclusive evidence that the enemy cheated every which way to usurp the will of the people. Biden is a Manchurian Puppet. Trump told US over and over for months they were going to cheat in the election
Trump knew and put safe guards into place. A simple clue that he did something was Chris Miller’s appointment. After understanding who Miller is , one needs to understand . What a psyop is . What Lawfare is . What a PlanDEMic is, what colluding with a Foreign govt to commit election interference is. We know that The Deep State is going try to to push US into a WWlll escalation. Trump told US that for the last 3 years.
Ohh yea it reminds me of his fake inauguration where Biden received a funeral send off with cannons at Arlington Cemetery. Another confounding truth is Trump speaking with Saudi Crown Prince bin Salman the other day. With all the Lawfare directed at Trump why is he not being Charged with the Logan Act? …Plus ,Now Mexican President is slowing the invasion at the southern border with Mexican troops by reinstating Trump era policy. A real p@ndemic seems to be TDS. Mild to severe cases abound.
I know the answers to these puzzling Questions. Many others have had that chance here to know as well. but were not interested in doing the research to understand. Oh well , keep being manipulated by the propaganda machine it seems to satisfy the preconceived notions. BTW have you made your investments in vaccines to halt it. From the CDC 8 days ago — April 1, 2024—A person in the United States has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus (“H5N1 bird flu”), as ...this election years fear porn?

I think we’re waiting for something like a (false flag) Russian attack on Poland - or similar. Then we’ll roll the war machine.

Inscription would be a superb mechanism to get their guns pointed at our heads.

not sure i buy the tech argument

Yes, Guyana has a new discovery of a billion barrels of oil offshore and Venezuela has been claiming that area for decades.
Follow the money (and resultant power), as usual.

I believe Venezuela was making noises about invading Guyana recently.

I don't think it is just the predatory government that is the problem. Society as a whole turns predatory.

US predation level isn't too bad compared to some other states IMHO, at least internally, however, I think it is accelerating quickly.

it would be meant as an act of war

Agreed, but I see closing the Strait as an "archduke" moment to use as an excuse to get the hot war rolling. I'm sure there are plenty of ploys the DS can contrive to do the same thing, but goading the religious nuts in charge if Iran to do something stupid is probably an easy one.

Yes, I can see your point here. History bears this out in many cases. When a predatory government isn't strong enough to prey on neighboring countries for loot like Nazi Germany did, then it will prey on its own populace like Stalin, Mao, and what we're seeing in Venezuela. IMHO, at this point the US DS isn't invading Mexico or Canada, which it has the power to do, but it is pressing its will around the world and is sure slapping around its own citizenry to feed itself.

"sure seems the biden cabal is dead set to start a high intensity war" I'm waiting for "them" to dress Americans in Russian uniforms (or some similar ploy) and hit us somewhere to make it look like the Russians started it (or maybe a ploy to goad the Ayatollahs in Iran). Just like the Germans did in Poland to get WWII started. At this point I wouldn't put any kind of evil past the DS and commies in charge. Hold on to your hat, it's going to be a rough ride.

"One saving grace that is perhaps new in the entire history of geopolitics is that the public is far more awake and aware of the fact that it’s not necessarily their “duty” to blindly go fight when their government calls on them to do so."

They will go. It will be either that or die of hunger or get pillaged by the opposing faction. In fact, most of them will want to do the pillaging themselves.

Technology has increased the productivity of society so much that it allowed much higher percentage of humanity to turn predatory then would naturally be allowed. So, these days only a small amount of productive people are supporting a rapidly increasing numbers of parasites. Once the level of predation reaches a critical point and the productive go galt, the world will descend into a war of all against all in which predatory factions will attempt to pillage each other for stuff until everything is destroyed and the parasites exterminate themselves (mostly).

This is in my view how Atlas Shrugged should have ended, a more realistic scenario.

WW3 is basically that. So, yes, it is inevitable. The minor details of which hotspot starts it or which archduke gets assassinated to get it rolling are completely irrelevant. The parasites need a hot conflict because they reach a limit of their ability to pillage peacefully when all their productive slaves go galt.

The Criminal Blinken says he is going to find a bridge for Ukraine to join NATO. I wonder why the US has not already sent the full force of our military to the beloved and ooooh so democratic Ukraine with its biolabs and C-A goons.

We have under attack and in WWlll since the insurrection and takeover of the Executive branch, if people can’t see it they have their head up their ass so far they are blind. There is no evidence that Joe Biden recieved 81,000,000 votes. There is overwhelming conclusive evidence that the enemy cheated every which way to usurp the will of the people. Biden is a Manchurian Puppet.
Trump knew and put safe guards into place. A simple clue that he did something was Chris Miller’s appointment. After understanding who Miller is , one needs to understand . What a psyop is . What Lawfare is . What a PlanDEMic is, what colluding with a Foreign govt to commit election interference is. We know that The Deep State is going try to to push US into a WWlll escalation. Trump told US that for the last 3 years.
Trump will be known as the peace President, he stated he could have peace in these proxy wars in 24 hrs , there is no doubt he will.

Ten days.
Darkness.
SCARE tactics (MSM).
D's falling.
R's walk-away/removed.
SA --> US --> Asia --> EU
Disinformation is real.
Distractions are necessary.
Focus was US today while real happening in SA under same context (military control, martial law, missile strike (rogue) etc).
Necessary.
POTUS' Twitter attack (see above).
Important.
Why is this relevant?
What was the last Tweet by POTUS prior to SA?
Why is this relevant?
SA (1), US (2), Asia (3), EU (4).
Where is POTUS?
Why is this relevant?
Military operations.
Operators in US.
Snow White
The Great Awakening
Godfather III
Q

Who did Trump just meet with ? SA Prince Mohammed bin Salman . The man who told Biden to pound sand. So many signs.

and if we had sane and non-treasonous leaders on the US we'd have more options here

Closing the strait isn't the end of the world.
It's just a slower less efficient delivery around Africa.
If that encourages hydrocarbon development in other
more friendly locales, then it can be a win.
It should also encourage use of coal which is plentiful
and clean, and development of better nuclear generation.
It's also an opportunity to make changes to naval forces
that are not effective.
Another $$$ boondoggle undoubtedly that enriches
banksters and drains the treasury of the middle class
(if anything remains.) Surface navy is mostly obsolete.

sure seems the biden cabal is dead set to start a high intensity war

either to fall stall an election defeat
or
to punish those that will hand them an election defeat and to cover their tracks / crimes against humanity

agreed
we are in the low intensity phase

I think WWIII has already commenced, especially on the economic front, but hasn't gone hot yet. With the Neo Communists (D) at the helm in DC going hot is almost inevitable as Iran will eventually shut down the Straits of Hormuz and oil distribution as pointed out in the article. The American commies would see that as a "go" to get hot, but with wokeness strangling the military things will not go well - same as China sees the opportunity to annex Taiwan. With a Trump at the helm "drill baby drill" would ramp up and the ME can shove its oil up the backside so the impact of Iran's Hormuz play would be lessened or neutralized. I also figure Trump would slap Zelensky in back of the head and cut a deal with Putin to end the shenanigans in Ukraine. I figure Trump would look the other way as Israel pounds the piss out of Hamas and Hezbollah and those idiots in Yemen. With a Trump/Putin deal and the ME mostly neutralized with American energy independence, the Chinese will take a breath and wait for another day. Just thinkin' out loud here. The biggest threat to America is the open border problem created mainly by the commies and all the potential hell that can be raised inside by all the military aged invaders.