Tankiedesantski [he/him]

Dedollarization and constant US imperial overreach are the two factors which are most likely to break US imperialism in the mid to long term.

American economic dominance is propped up by the ubiquity of the dollar in general trade as well as the Petro dollar. In general trade, more and more countries are pivoting to trading in their own currencies or Euros and Yuan and Rubles because of the destruction of confidence in the US dollar as a neutral reserve currency due to recent sanctions against Russia. In terms of the Petro dollar, the trend of decarbonization means that oil will be a less critical commodity over time and even now we see the likes of Saudi Arabia agreeing to sell oil to China in Yuan. Without US dollar dominance, America will not be able to print as many dollars to service its debts, which will lead to either inflation or debt default.

America, like the UK and France before it, doesn’t have the ability to fight all of its repressed imperial subjects at once. The cracks are starting to show at the US giving up against the Houthis in Yemen. The US and EU has also pegged its military prestige to the war in Ukraine, which is also starting to turn. Not only are they taking a reputational hit with every picture of a burnt out Abrams or Leopard, but lesser US allies are also starting to see that full US support doesn’t guarantee victory. Even within US policy circles there is some acknowledgement that defeat in Ukrain could lead to some sort of Suez moment for the US and NATO.

One of the other side effects of the tiny roads the video loves so much is that there’s entire areas that just don’t have bus service because busses physically can’t fit.

Nah it’s not that bad. Even the major urban canyons tend to have arterial roads and avenues that allow for greenery. It’s when you get to the narrow roads that the video dick rides where it starts to get darker because of two and three story houses so close to each other. But even then lots of people have house plants and small bushes, just not trees.

申し訳ありませんですが、人身事故のせで遅れました。

But where will the above ground utility poles go?

Trees are messy. If you plant one someone has to take care of it and sweep under it lest there be gasp fallen leaves on the ground. Trees also attract birds and Japanese boomers will literally call up the city office and complain about birds chirping.

Therefore, better to just have more pavement.

I have considered that, it’s one of the reasons I lived there for so long. When you actually have to deal with Japanese urbanism every day the dick riding Westoid commentariat becomes more and more annoying.

Japan’s urban land usage is terrible and there is no reason to replicate it in most places. The economics of building up in Japan are different to anywhere is that is not as earthquake prone (which is basically everywhere). That’s why neighborhoods in central Tokyo still have detached single family dwellings in large numbers which is not something that you see in most other large Asian cities that don’t have to worry about natural disasters. Anyone who talks about replicating Japanese urbanism anywhere outside the Ring of Fire should be forced to commit sudoku.

Tokyo only works because a huge proportion of the working and middle class are pushed out to satellite cities like Chiba, Saitama, and Kawasaki. Yes, there is public transport that gets them to Tokyo for their jobs, but unless you’re lucky enough to have flexible starting times you are crushed into cattle car conditions for upwards of an hour each way. Not to mention that as soon as you get outside the Yamanote circle line, it becomes basically impossible to take a train in any direction except towards Tokyo or away from Tokyo. Want to get from Nakano to Nerima by train? Fuck you, pay an entirely separate company for bus fare, potentially doubling the cost of your trip.

The narrow walkable roads are great until you notice that there’s no space for a physically separated cycle lane so bikes are forced to either weave in and out of illegally parked traffic or pedestrians on the footpath. Oh yeah but the drivers will know they don’t own the road right? My comrade in Christ, have you ever met a driver? There is no shortage of assholes who will threaten to run you down because you’re in their way except now where’s no footpath that physically stops them from doing so. Speaking of lack of physical separation, lots of houses and apartments have front doors that open right into the path of traffic because of how narrow the roads are. You don’t have to be a genius city planner to see how that shit is incredibly dangerous even for adults, never mind children and animals.

Speaking of illegally parked cars, many ostensibly two lane roads are only physically wide enough for one vehicle which sounds great because fuck cars but people end up haphazardly parking all over the place with their blinkers on to run errands, make deliveries, and pick people up or drop people off. Couple that with extremely expensive paid parking and insufficient parking enforcement and you get instances of emergency vehicles being literally unable to proceed because of parked cars and narrow roads.

The awesome flexible town planning and zoning rules that these videos always fellate produce copy paste concrete jungles with little thought given to greenery or parks or other public spaces. This is now becoming especially problematic because Tokyo is just a huge urban heat island with insufficient trees and green spaces, which is not working out well for a city where there’s a lot of older people who are expected to walk everywhere in 40 degree summer. Again, circling back to those cool narrow streets - they tend not to be very cool temperature wise because there’s physically nowhere to plant trees so there’s no fucking shade and everything is just houses and buildings which aren’t good shade.

This is just KKKraker weeaboo slop starting from a conclusion of “WOW JAPAN SO COOL HONORARY ARYANS GOOD TRANSPORT” and then working backwards to support that conclusion with a bunch of bullshit.

Biden is Hamas.

we are forced to live in a society.

“Is upholding fascist racial supremacy wrong? No, I’ve merely been upholding the fascist racial supremacy of the wrong people.”

Taiwan should have used military force - or again, that might makes right.

“Should have” used military might? Are you from a parallel dimension where the First United Front didn’t end in the Shanghai Massacre? Tell me how it went down in your reality then. Chiang embraced the CPC from behind with hugs and kisses as a show of his appreciation for their alliance against the warlords?

I don’t have a morality problem because Chiang was an incompetent and corrupt jackass who started the civil war that he ended up losing on the mainland and having to flee to Taiwan Island.

It is about what you believe justifies a nation’s independence

My arguments as to international law go precisely towards your factually incorrect and repeated assertion that Taiwan Island is a “nation” or a “country”. You accuse me of “deflection” but you repeatedly asserted a factual and legal inaccuracy and refuse to address it. Your problem if you can’t engage with the argument, not mine. There is no such thing as a country or nation called “Taiwan” in the world.

The outcomes of civil wars is widely acknowledged by both state practice and opinio juris as being a legitimate factor in the determination of sovereignty over a territory. If you don’t believe me, ask the Confederate States of America and the Republic of Vietnam about their experiences and get back to me.

There is no “morality problem” because there is no issue of morality here. Morality is not a factor in international law.

Ngl it was a difficult choice between NatSec Talking Points Journalist and School of Raytheon Rainbow Washing Bard.

International recognition in line with the principles of customary international law as codified in the Montivedeo Convention make right, but that’s not very snappy.

Skill issue. If I wanted to have a recognized independent country I would simply win the civil war instead of losing and then hiding in America’s skirt like a coward.

I took two levels of journalist before I multiclassed into rogue.

The Taiwan province English-speaking journalist class are shitting themselves because they know they’ll be up against the wall when reunification comes.

Waiting for memes to all converge on crabs.

I’m sure that the admission staff will take your application very seriously if you claim you were James Bonding it up for a few years.