Geo Political Risk

[Panda-NZ-]

This is a crazy planet we live on. We had so much hope in the 70s

America for these upcoming mid-terms seems to look at Russia and think "yeah, that's what we want here".

[BlackPeter]

My hope is that filling peoples bellies should be a given. The human race should be perusing art, science , sport, engineering etc. People should tell the truth. We shouldn’t have to wade through a sea of lies to try and work out the truth. The lies that you see all the time , particularly in politics but it seems to be everywhere climate change is a good example where it is very hard to get to grips with the real underlying science.

I share your aspirational goals. Not sure, though the human race is made for living well and in eternal peace and being honest with themselves and others. Unfortunately - evolution always rewarded the species who managed to outcompete others. It didn't discriminate against species which lied, raped or murdered and it clearly favoured the stealing of resources from others. Only success criterium of evolution is the ability to successfully breed and to gather more resources than the others.

I guess what result should we expect as outcome of this selection process?

[davflaws]

I guess what result should we expect as outcome of this selection process?

Over the last fifty years, the evolution of human's cooperative ability and tendency vs selection pressure towards selfishness has recieved a lot of attention from sociobiologists.

Our last common ancestor with the chimps lived about 6 million years ago, and (as I understand it) what distinguished the branch of apes that became human from the ones that didn't was selction pressure on a group rather than individual level. Groups that developed the ability to cooperate did better than those that didn't, despite selection pressure for selfishness on an individual level, and it is our unparalleled ability to cooperate which developed as a result that has allowed us to dominate the earth.

An illustrative example of group vs individual selection is cage farmed chickens. On an individual level, a combative, stroppy "dominant" chicken wil outlay the others in their cage, but a cage without a particularly combative, stroppy "dominant" chicken, will outlay a cage with one.

[Davexl]

What Could Bring Putin Down?

Regime Collapse Is More Likely Than a Coup

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukrai...r4XqCRD-2uZ95w

[Brain]

Really interesting posts from BlackPeter and Davflaws. Thanks gents.

[Davexl]

Some good stuff in here for those interested...

Ukraine’s Intel Chief On How The War Ends, Putin’s Nuclear Threats, Iranian Drones, And More

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...m_medium=email

[Davexl]

Imagine a few of these based in the South Pacific, say Fiji...

A-10 Warthogs Are Operating From A Tent Village In Palau

A-10Cs in Palau reflect a push to confront threats to bases from China and how the Warthog community wants to be part of the solution.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...m_medium=email

[Davexl]

Some unusual goings on...

Second U.S. Ballistic Missile Submarine Makes Unusual Appearance In Just Two Weeks

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...m_medium=email

[Davexl]

News been quiet lately on SCS...

China’s Man-Made South China Sea Islands Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before

New aerial images of Beijing’s manmade islands in the South China Sea provide greater detail about their infrastructure and defenses.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...m_medium=email

[Davexl]

Putin faces humiliation as commanders flee Kherson, Ukraine

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe...herson-ukraine