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Notes -
I'm not sure if you're simply adding to my statement or disputing it. I fully agree with the point you're making here.
Adding some reinforcement to the quoted part — that was a rhetorical "you, the reader", not "you, Tretiak" in that first question; I can see, re-reading my comment, how that could be unclear. Sorry about that.
And maybe a bit of disputation on the necessity of "ideological buy-in with the rest of the population." Again, it seems like you mostly just need that from your military/enforcers, not powerless peasants (the long commented correlation between labor-intensity of warfare and levels of "democratization"). I mean, look at any time one group of people have conquered and subjugated another. (How much "ideological buy-in" did the Romans ever get from the Jews?)
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