Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
- 47
- 1
What is this place?
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
If in doubt, please post it!
Rules
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Might this backfire on Ukraine by allowing Putin to cast it as a defensive war, giving him a freer hand to employ conscripts?
Not particularly. From a Russian legal perspective, the freer hand has already been secured via the annexation of the un-held territory. Putin doesn't need more political capital to change a law or anything, that's already been done. From a domestic politics perspective, the defensive casting probably doesn't sell, at least not in a way that doesn't invite semantic quibbling about how much Russians believe the propaganda versus parrot it.
More options
Context Copy link
Use of conscripts would technically mean a greater manpower replacement sustainability but at a cost of popularity.
As such, that is an explicit goal of Ukraine's. They want a greater use of conscripts by Russia. Would it be good or bad for the outcome of the war, who knows?
I don't know what is the mood like in Russia right now, but a defensive use of conscripts while volunteers focus on the offensive might be something you could sell to people.
Russia isn't manpower constrained given current recruitment methods (at the moment anyway), they materiel constrianed, which is why I said it would mean greater manpower replacement sustainability.
They can't outfit, mechanize and give air support to another army in addition to what they already have. If they could, they would have already.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link