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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   32787 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 12, 2023

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Is there a recent historical example of barbarian mercenaries taking over the empire? There's instances in Africa where one ethnic group within a state created by an Empire dominates the military and uses that to rule society. I'm not sure African post-colonial states have comparable social and economic situations to the U.S. though.

If the American military suddenly became 70% Uzbek or something they wouldn't have a substantial share of the civilian population behind them, and there wouldn't be a primary export industry like oil or rubber or diamonds to seize control of and distribute revenue from to cronies.

Distribution to cronies is now strongest than it's ever been, but you are probably right - the military is not a good way to gain access to it in the US...

That almost certainly isn't true considering political patronage has been much more explicit in the past (e.g. prior to the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act).

That's definitely true in nominal terms but it also feels like a popular sentiment you could say at anytime in American History and people would agree with you which makes me curious if we have any objective metrics on it.

The American military also isn’t going to suddenly become 70% Uzbek. Or majority Guatemalan. Besides which, the privates don’t matter very much, military coups come from officers(who are going to be mostly white American even in a military with a lot of centracos).

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