“Decline of the Roman Empire” takes are always suspicious because the US empire simply isn’t the Roman Empire and the world we live in isn’t that world so whenever anyone suggests a historical determinism about how empires rise and fall according to a schedule you can safely discard their opinion.
But the take about Roman Jerusalem compared to Roman Dacia is an interesting one in that it makes a point about the utility of deference and when you actually have to use your military to deter your enemies that means you aren’t deterring your enemies.
Which is the same point the Indian general makes, that the fact Israel is constantly deploying its military to “deter” its enemies demonstrates the complete failure of the policy.
Israel only has to lose once and it’s Joever but they’re committed to risking it all every 5-10 years, and they simply won’t win every time.
Yeah, I didn’t mean to imply that’s what your analysis was saying, more my own comment about it. People using “The Roman empire fell because of X” sort of arguments are usually white nationalists trying to blame the wokes or wamen or something (and claim that if their personal bugbear isn’t dealt with it will cause the collapse of “the west” as well).
And this talk of Israel’s “deterrent” also brings to mind their “invincibility” of their Iron Dome and things like that. It isn’t enough for them to be stronger, they have to be invincible for their own narrative to work. And of course, as you say, they only have to lose once and it’s all Joever. We’ll see if that starts now, or within the next few years, but it does seem like they’ve arrived at the beginning of the end at this point. They can’t do anything to prevent their decline.
“Decline of the Roman Empire” takes are always suspicious because the US empire simply isn’t the Roman Empire and the world we live in isn’t that world so whenever anyone suggests a historical determinism about how empires rise and fall according to a schedule you can safely discard their opinion.
But the take about Roman Jerusalem compared to Roman Dacia is an interesting one in that it makes a point about the utility of deference and when you actually have to use your military to deter your enemies that means you aren’t deterring your enemies.
Which is the same point the Indian general makes, that the fact Israel is constantly deploying its military to “deter” its enemies demonstrates the complete failure of the policy.
Israel only has to lose once and it’s Joever but they’re committed to risking it all every 5-10 years, and they simply won’t win every time.
Yeah, I didn’t mean to imply that’s what your analysis was saying, more my own comment about it. People using “The Roman empire fell because of X” sort of arguments are usually white nationalists trying to blame the wokes or wamen or something (and claim that if their personal bugbear isn’t dealt with it will cause the collapse of “the west” as well).
And this talk of Israel’s “deterrent” also brings to mind their “invincibility” of their Iron Dome and things like that. It isn’t enough for them to be stronger, they have to be invincible for their own narrative to work. And of course, as you say, they only have to lose once and it’s all Joever. We’ll see if that starts now, or within the next few years, but it does seem like they’ve arrived at the beginning of the end at this point. They can’t do anything to prevent their decline.